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+ border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ + border-style: solid; + border-color: #000000; + clear: both; } + pre {font-size: 85%;} + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Travels in the Interior of North America, +Part I, (Being Chapters I-XV of the London Edition, 1843), by Alexander +Philipp Maximilian, Prince of Wied, Edited by Reuben Gold Thwaites, +Translated by Hannibal Evans Lloyd, Illustrated by Karl Bodmer</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Travels in the Interior of North America, Part I, (Being Chapters I-XV of the London Edition, 1843)</p> +<p> Early Western Travels, 1748-1846, Volume XXII</p> +<p>Author: Alexander Philipp Maximilian, Prince of Wied</p> +<p>Editor: Reuben Gold Thwaites</p> +<p>Release Date: February 7, 2012 [eBook #38784]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRAVELS IN THE INTERIOR OF NORTH AMERICA, PART I, (BEING CHAPTERS I-XV OF THE LONDON EDITION, 1843)***</p> +<p> </p> +<h4 class="center">E-text prepared by Greg Bergquist, Melissa McDaniel,<br /> + and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br /> + from page images generously made available by<br /> + Internet Archive/American Libraries<br /> + (<a href="http://www.archive.org/details/americana">http://www.archive.org/details/americana</a>)</h4> +<p> </p> +<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10"> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Note: + </td> + <td> + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive/American Libraries. See + <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/earlywesterntrav22thwa"> + http://www.archive.org/details/earlywesterntrav22thwa</a> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +<p> </p> +<div class="tnbox"> +<p>Transcriber's note:</p> +<p>This book's editors sought to "reproduce the old text as closely as practicable, with +its typographic and orthographic peculiarities." The transcriber has honored that intent.</p> +<p> The pagination of the original edition which is being reprinted is indicated by enclosing within +a box the number of the page at its beginning, e.g. <span class="opage">24</span>.</p> +<p>Unnumbered illustration pages have been moved to the closest reference in the text.</p> +</div> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h1>Early Western Travels</h1> +<div id="title_pages"> +<p class="sm_date">1748-1846</p> +<hr /> +<p class="vol_no">Volume XXII</p> + +<p class="series_title">Early Western Travels</p> + +<p class="lg_date">1748-1846</p> + +<p class="description">A Series of Annotated Reprints of some of the best +and rarest contemporary volumes of travel, descriptive +of the Aborigines and Social and +Economic Conditions in the Middle +and Far West, during the Period +of Early American Settlement</p> + +<p class="edited">Edited with Notes, Introductions, Index, etc., by</p> + +<p class="reuben">Reuben Gold Thwaites, LL.D.</p> + +<p class="editor">Editor of "The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents," "Original +Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition," "Hennepin's +New Discovery," etc.</p> + +<p class="vol_no">Volume XXII</p> + +<p class="vol_description">Part I of Maximilian, Prince of Wied's, Travels in the +Interior of North America, 1832-1834</p> + +<div class="figcenter p4"> +<img src="images/illo_004.jpg" width="87" height="100" alt="logo" /> +</div> + +<p class="cleveland">Cleveland, Ohio</p> +<p class="arthur">The Arthur H. Clark Company</p> +<p class="pub_date">1906</p> + +<p class="copyright"><span class="smcap">Copyright 1906, by</span><br /> +THE ARTHUR H. CLARK COMPANY</p> +<hr /> +<p class="all_rights">ALL RIGHTS RESERVED</p> + +<p class="lakeside">The Lakeside Press</p> +<p class="rrdonnelley">R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS COMPANY<br /> +CHICAGO</p> +</div> + +<h2>CONTENTS OF VOLUME XXII</h2> + +<div id="toc"> + +<p class="section"><span class="section_head"><span class="smcap">Preface to Volumes XXII-XXIV.</span> <i>The Editor</i></span><span class="page"><a href="#Page_9">9</a></span></p> + +<p class="section"><span class="smcap section_head">Travels in the Interior of North America.</span> [Part I, +being chapters i-xv of the London edition, 1843.] <i>Maximilian, +Prince of Wied.</i> Translated from the German +by <i>Hannibal Evans Lloyd</i></p> + +<p class="sub-section">Author's Preface<span class="page"><a href="#Page_25">25</a></span></p> + +<p class="sub-section">Translator's Preface<span class="page"><a href="#Page_31">31</a></span></p> + +<p class="sub-section">Text:</p> + +<p class="chapter"><span class="chap_head">CHAPTER I—Voyage to Boston, Stay in +that City, and Journey to New York, +from May 17th to July 9th, 1832</span><span class="page"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></span></p> + +<p class="chapter"><span class="chap_head">CHAPTER II—Stay in New York, Philadelphia, +and Bordentown, from the 9th +to the 16th of July</span><span class="page"><a href="#Page_57">57</a></span></p> + +<p class="chapter"><span class="chap_head">CHAPTER III—Residence at Freiburg and +Bethlehem in Pennsylvania, from July +30th to August 23rd</span><span class="page"><a href="#Page_72">72</a></span></p> + +<p class="chapter"><span class="chap_head">CHAPTER IV—Journey to the Pokono, +and through the Blue Mountains to +Mauch Chunk, in the Coal District, +from the 23rd to the 30th of August</span><span class="page"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></span></p> + +<p class="chapter"><span class="chap_head">CHAPTER V—Description of Mauch Chunk +and its Coal Mines—Journey through +the Lehigh Valley to Bethlehem, and +last Residence in that Town, from +August 31st to September 16th</span><span class="page"><a href="#Page_119">119</a></span></p> + +<p class="chapter"><span class="chap_head">CHAPTER VI—Journey from Bethlehem +to Pittsburg, over the Alleghanys, from +September 17th to October 7th</span><span class="page"><a href="#Page_128">128</a></span></p> + +<p class="chapter"><span class="chap_head">CHAPTER VII—Journey from Pittsburg to +New Harmony, on the Wabash, from +the 8th to the 19th of October</span><span class="page"><a href="#Page_144">144</a></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">6</a></span></p> + +<p class="chapter"><span class="chap_head">CHAPTER VIII—Description of the Country +about New Harmony, in Indiana, +and Winter Residence there from +October 19th, 1832, to March 16th, 1833</span><span class="page"><a href="#Page_163">163</a></span></p> + +<p class="chapter"><span class="chap_head">CHAPTER IX—Journey from New Harmony +to St. Louis on the Mississippi, +and our Stay there, from March 16th +to April 9th</span><span class="page"><a href="#Page_198">198</a></span></p> + +<p class="chapter"><span class="chap_head">CHAPTER X—Journey from St. Louis to +the Cantonment of Leavenworth, or +to the Borders of the Settlement, from +the 10th to the 22nd of April</span><span class="page"><a href="#Page_237">237</a></span></p> + +<p class="chapter"><span class="chap_head">CHAPTER XI—Journey from the Cantonment +of Leavenworth to the Punca Indians, +from April 22nd to May 12th</span><span class="page"><a href="#Page_255">255</a></span></p> + +<p class="chapter"><span class="chap_head">CHAPTER XII—Voyage from L'Eau qui +Court to Fort Pierre, on the Teton +River (the Little Missouri), and Stay +there, from May 13th to June 4th</span><span class="page"><a href="#Page_291">291</a></span></p> + +<p class="chapter"><span class="chap_head">CHAPTER XIII—Voyage from Fort Pierre, +on the Teton River, to Fort +Clarke, near the Villages of the Mandans, +from the 5th to the 19th of June</span><span class="page"><a href="#Page_330">330</a></span></p> + +<p class="chapter"><span class="chap_head">CHAPTER XIV—Voyage from Fort Clarke +to Fort Union, near the Mouth of the +Yellow Stone River, from the 19th to +the 24th of June</span><span class="page"><a href="#Page_356">356</a></span></p> + +<p class="chapter"><span class="chap_head">CHAPTER XV—Description of Fort Union +and its Neighbourhood</span><span class="page"><a href="#Page_376">375</a></span></p> +</div> + +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOLUME XXII</h2> +<div id="loi"> + +<p>Facsimile of title-page to Maximilian's <i>Travels</i><span class="page"><a href="#illo24">23</a></span></p> + +<p class="center">(The following are text cuts in original)</p> + +<p>Bear-trap<span class="page"><a href="#illo107">107</a></span></p> + +<p>Indian pipes<span class="page"><a href="#illo175">175</a></span></p> + +<p>Neck-yoke and plow<span class="page"><a href="#illo175b">175</a></span></p> + +<p>Formations of limestone rocks<span class="page"><a href="#illo213">213</a></span></p> + +<p>Omaha Indians<span class="page"><a href="#illo269">269</a></span></p> + +<p>An Omaha boy<span class="page"><a href="#illo269b">269</a></span></p> + +<p>Omaha war club<span class="page"><a href="#illo269c">269</a></span></p> + +<p>Punca war club<span class="page"><a href="#illo269d">269</a></span></p> + +<p>Punca Indians in buffalo robes<span class="page"><a href="#illo287">287</a></span></p> + +<p>Method of wearing hair<span class="page"><a href="#illo287b">287</a></span></p> + +<p>Bows, arrows, and quiver<span class="page"><a href="#illo287c">287</a></span></p> + +<p>Tents of the Sioux<span class="page"><a href="#illo319">319</a></span></p> + +<p>Plan of Fort Pierre<span class="page"><a href="#illo319b">319</a></span></p> + +<p>Dakota pipes<span class="page"><a href="#illo323">323</a></span></p> + +<p>A Dakota, with plaited hair<span class="page"><a href="#illo323d">323</a></span></p> + +<p>A Teton<span class="page"><a href="#illo323c">323</a></span></p> + +<p>Hill of baked clay<span class="page"><a href="#illo323b">323</a></span></p> + +<p>Antlers of deer<span class="page"><a href="#illo347">347</a></span></p> + +<p>Sioux burial stages<span class="page"><a href="#illo347b">347</a></span></p> + +<p>A Blackfoot musical instrument<span class="page"><a href="#illo361">361</a></span></p> + +<p>Stone battle-axe<span class="page"><a href="#illo361b">361</a></span></p> + +<p>Assiniboin pipes<span class="page"><a href="#illo361c">361</a></span></p> + +<p>Pipe for warlike expeditions<span class="page"><a href="#illo361d">361</a></span></p> +</div> +<p><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9"></a></p> +<h2>PREFACE TO VOLUMES XXII-XXIV</h2> + +<p>Early trans-Mississippi exploration was undertaken largely +in the interests of science. The great expedition of Lewis +and Clark (1804-06) was, both in conception and plan, +a scientific excursion. Bradbury and Brackenridge voyaged +up the Missouri (1811) in search of rare plants and +animals, Nuttall sought the Arkansas (1819) on a similar +errand. Long's expedition (1819-20) was entirely scientific, +both in organization and objects; while Townsend +crossed the continent with Nathaniel Wyeth (1834) to +secure a harvest of rare birds in the mountains and beyond. +In the early nineteenth century, scientific collection was +the chief object of ambition among thoughtful explorers—to +secure for the world a complete catalogue of its plants +and animals was worth much toil and hardship, heroic endeavor, +and mighty daring. To such, the still unknown +regions of the New World offered strong attractions. There +were in the trans-Mississippi and in South America, +spread out upon mountains and prairies and bordering far-flowing +streams, fresh races of barbarians yet uncontaminated +by civilized contact, beasts of prey, birds of brilliant +plumage, and unknown plant species.</p> + +<p>Among those to whom this call of the New World came +clearly, was a German savant, prince of a small house in +Rhenish Prussia. Even while upon Napoleonic battle-fields, +he felt a desire for the wilderness, and news of the victory +of Waterloo reached him upon the far-distant rivers of +Brazil. His later journey to North America was but the +completion of a purpose formed in early boyhood. Alexander +Philip Maximilian, Prince of Wied-Neuwied, was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">10</a></span> +born in the quaint capital of his little Rhenish sovereignty in +September, 1782. The eighth child of the reigning Friedrich +Karl, natural aptitude for study early marked his career +for that of a scholar. Nevertheless, in obedience to the +call of patriotism, he entered the Prussian army and was +present at the battle of Jena. Soon thereafter he was +captured and for some time suffered imprisonment. Exchanged +and returned to Neuwied, he continued the scientific +pursuits which had long interested him; but a fresh +military crisis called him once more into service, in which +he rose to a major-generalship, won the honor of the iron +cross at Chalons, and entered Paris with the victorious +army in 1813. Reminiscences of this warlike experience +came to him twenty years later in the Missouri wilderness, +when he notes that the song of the Assiniboin warriors +before Fort McKenzie resembled that of the Russian soldiers +heard in the winter of 1813-14.</p> + +<p>While successful as a soldier, at heart Maximilian was +a searcher for knowledge. In his boyhood his mother had +encouraged his love for natural history, and under the direction +of his tutor he had begun a collection that was creditable +to a youth. Later, in his university course, he came +under the influence of the celebrated Professor Johann +Friedrich Blumenbach, and as a favorite pupil absorbed +from him a keen desire to contribute to the world's stock +of knowledge. Throughout what leisure he could snatch +in the Napoleonic campaigns, the young prince was planning +a scientific expedition to Brazil, and no sooner was he finally +released from martial duties than he made preparations +that culminated, early in 1815, in a departure for that +country. Joined in South America by two German scholars +who had preceded him thither, the trio spent two years in +the tropical forests of that country, studying its flora and +fauna, and above all the native races. After the return +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">11</a></span> +to Germany, Maximilian's succeeding years were spent in +arranging his collections and preparing for publication the +results of his journey. His <i>Reise nach Brasilien in den +Jahren 1815 bis 1817</i> (Frankfurt, 1820-21) was soon translated +into French, Dutch, and English; later appeared +<i>Beitrage zur Naturgeschichte von Brasilien</i> (Weimar, 1825-33), +designed to accompany the atlas of ninety plates, entitled +<i>Abbildungenen zur Naturgeschichte Brasiliens</i> (Weimar, +1822-31). The publication of these works gave Maximilian +an honored place among scientists, and proclaimed his +ability as an exploring naturalist.</p> + +<p>By 1831 the prince was engaged in preparations for his +second great enterprise—a visit to North America, including +a scientific exploration of the trans-Mississippi region. +Embarking on an American packet at Helvoetsluys, May 17, +1832, our traveller arrived in Boston amid the salvos of +artillery ushering in the anniversary of American independence.</p> + +<p>Maximilian was accompanied on this voyage by a young +Swiss artist, Charles Bodmer, whom he had engaged to +paint primitive landscapes in the New World, together with +portraits of its aborigines. The artist's work proved eminently +successful, as evidenced by the rare quality of the +plates engraved from his sketches, which we reproduce in +the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv. Bodmer—born +in Zurich in 1805—had studied in Paris; after his +excursion to America with Maximilian, he returned to his +former haunts, finally settling with the artist colony at Barbizon, +in the forest of Fontainebleau, where he became a +successful landscapist, and received medals of honor at the +salons of 1851, 1855, and 1863, and in 1876 the ribbon of +the legion of honor. One of his canvases was purchased +by the French government for the Luxembourg gallery. +His son Henri, also a painter, was recently exhibiting in the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">12</a></span> +Paris salons. During the winter spent at Fort Clark, Bodmer +experienced several adventures. At one time he was for +several hours lost upon the prairie; again, his paints and +oils congealed in the zero-blasts of the Dakotan winter. His +interest in his task, however, was unwearied; by cajolery, +bribery, and rare patience he secured sittings from famous +Indian chiefs, faithfully presenting their portraits to the +world in the full equipment of savage finery, thus giving us +an unexcelled gallery of Indian types and costumes.</p> + +<p>In addition to this admirable artist—in some respects +perhaps the most competent draughtsman who has thus far +sought to depict the North American tribesmen—Prince +Maximilian was accompanied by his faithful jäger Dreidoppel, +who had been with him in Brazil, and who rendered +efficient service on the Missouri hills and prairies.</p> + +<p>"There are," our author tells us in his preface, "two +distinct points of view" from which the traveller may study +the United States—he may consider its present conditions +and its future prosperity; its resources, population, immigration, +and "gigantic strides of civilization." Maximilian's +own purpose, however, was to collect data concerning the +remnants of its aboriginal population, and the primitive +state of its fields and forests; these he sought to observe +and to perpetuate both in description and drawing. The +America of the Eastern states had therefore slight charm +for our traveller, his object being to reach the frontier as +soon as was consistent with his scientific purposes.</p> + +<p>Tarrying briefly in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, +communities which he describes in a few terse sentences, +he sought the forests of Pennsylvania for preliminary experience +in the simpler phases of woodcraft and hunting, +as well as to visit the German immigrants settled in this +region. He had expected to journey westward by way of +the Great Lakes, but the appearance of cholera at Detroit +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">13</a></span> +and Buffalo made this plan impractical; instead, he visited +the Moravians at Bethlehem, and made a leisurely journey +through northern Pennsylvania, inspecting the coal mines +and the geological structures. In the early autumn the +prince and his two companions reached Pittsburg, but +there finding the water in the Ohio too low for navigation, +they went overland to Wheeling, where they embarked +(October 9) for the descent of the river. At Louisville, +they found that the cholera scourge had preceded them, +whereupon with but a brief stay they continued their +voyage to the Wabash, where they turned aside to visit the +colony of naturalists settled at the Indiana town of New +Harmony.</p> + +<p>For some years Maximilian had been in correspondence +with Thomas Say, the entomologist, who had accompanied +Major S. H. Long's expedition, and was now managing +the property of William Maclure, president of the Philadelphia +Academy of Natural Sciences, who had purchased +Robert Owen's communistic settlement on the Wabash, +founded in 1825. Owen's two sons, Robert Dale and +William, were still in the vicinity, together with Charles +Alexander Lesueur, a French naturalist of repute. Even +more attractive than the society of the scientists was the +presence of a good library of Americana and natural history, +at that time probably the best west of the Atlantic seaboard. +Here, therefore, on the banks of the Wabash, our naturalist +contentedly spent the winter of 1832-33, preparing for his +journey into the Far West, and studying the antiquities and +natural sciences of America. During these months, Bodmer +made a voyage to New Orleans, but returned in time to set +forth with his patron, March 16, 1833. After a steamboat +journey to the mouth of the Ohio and up the Mississippi, they +arrived at St. Louis before the departure for the interior of +the usual spring caravans of the Western fur-traders. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">14</a></span></p> + +<p>At this entrepôt of the wilderness trade, Maximilian +presented letters to its prominent citizens, and was invited +by General William Clark to accompany a deputation of +Sauk and Foxes, headed by Keokuk, on a visit to the imprisoned +Sauk chiefs, Black Hawk and his confrères, at +Jefferson Barracks. The interest with which Maximilian +regarded these first North American barbarians whom he +had come so far to see, is well expressed in the narrative. +Black Hawk he describes as a "little old man, perhaps +seventy years of age, with grey hair, and a light yellow +complexion, a slightly curved nose, and Chinese features, +to which the shaven head, with the usual tuft behind, not +a little contributed." The meeting between the prisoners +and their free countrymen appeared to the prince most +affecting.</p> + +<p>Maximilian had desired to visit the Rocky Mountains +and their inhabitants, and accordingly planned to join one +of the annual fur-trading caravans that, under the auspices +of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, set off for their +rendezvous in the heart of the Cordilleras. From this purpose +he was dissuaded by General Clark, Major Benjamin +O'Fallon, and other St. Louis folk cognizant with the situation. +They represented to the illustrious traveller that +these caravans avoided rather than sought the Indians; +and that if they met, the encounter was apt to be hostile +rather than friendly. It would also be extremely difficult to +transport any extensive collections of fauna and flora by +the land route. They thereupon advised a visit to the +American Fur Company's trading posts on the Missouri +via that company's annual steamboat, a plan which met +the approval of the scientist and his companions.</p> + +<p>The tenth of April, 1833, the travellers boarded the "Yellowstone," +on its third trip to the posts of the upper Missouri. +Before parting with Major O'Fallon, the latter gave them +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">15</a></span> +a manuscript map copied from one prepared during the +Lewis and Clark expedition by Clark himself, the topographer +of that famous exploring party. This chart +was constantly used by the prince. His narrative recites +the daily routine and incidents of the river voyage on the +outward route. By April 22 the steamer had reached +Fort (then Cantonment) Leavenworth, and ten days later +they were at Bellevue, just below the present Omaha. It +was not until the eighteenth of May that the prince's party +were greeted by their first sight of buffalo, and by the last +of that month they had arrived at Fort Pierre, the company's +main post among the Sioux. Here our travellers were +transferred from the "Yellowstone" to her sister steamer, +the "Assiniboine," a newer, larger boat with, however, a +lighter draught; the latter was to continue to the upper +river, while the "Yellowstone" returned to St. Louis.</p> + +<p>Slowly the party steamed up the river, past the Sioux +territory and the Arikara villages into the land of the Mandan +and the Minitaree, where on June 18 they were landed +at the company's Fort Clark, just below a Mandan village +several miles above the present Bismarck, North Dakota. +Tarrying here but one day, the steamer continued its journey +to the mouth of Yellowstone River, where Fort Union +was reached on the twenty-fourth of June. After spending +two weeks at this point, Maximilian and his suite were +transferred to a keel-boat, and continued their voyage to +Fort McKenzie, on Maria's River, among the treacherous +Blackfeet.</p> + +<p>Here, during a stay of two months, the German naturalist +was initiated into the mysteries of the fur-trade, came to +understand the jealousies and rivalries of Indian tribes, and +witnessed a battle before the stockade of the fort, between +Blackfeet and Assiniboin warriors. Because of this +intertribal quarrel and the consequent restlessness and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">16</a></span> +untrustworthiness of the neighboring barbarians, it was +deemed inexpedient by the fur-traders for the travellers to +advance farther into the Rockies, and Maximilian had +need to content himself with such glimpses of the mountain +ranges as could be had from the bluffs of Maria's River, +and the upper reaches of the Missouri. The "Assiniboine" +having long since departed on the home trip, the chief +factor at Fort McKenzie built a barge for the princely +visitor, upon which Maximilian embarked (September 14), +together with a small crew of <i>voyageurs</i>, two cages of live +bears, and several animal pets.</p> + +<p>Since wintering in the mountains had proved impracticable, +our author determined to occupy the long cold months +now at hand with the most interesting aborigines of the +upper river. For this purpose he selected the Mandan and +Minitaree, both because of their settled habitations and of +the interest that these tribes had awakened in previous +travellers. Known first to the early French explorers, it +was from their villages that the Vérendrye brothers had in +1742 set forth on their explorations toward the "Shining +Mountains." Located at the upper bend of the Missouri, +they were readily accessible to British traders of the Assiniboin +and Saskatchewan valleys, who were found as habitués +in their villages by Lewis and Clark, in 1804-05. Accordingly +Maximilian requested permission of the American +Fur Company officials to pass the winter at Fort Clark, the +Mandan post. McKenzie accommodatingly ordered to be +built for the famous traveller a small house within the stockade, +and every facility to be given him for making records of +the neighboring tribesmen. In company with Toussaint +Charbonneau, Lewis and Clark's former interpreter, the +German visitor attended various ceremonies, dances, and +feasts, took many portraits of the chiefs, and studied the +manners and customs, and myths and superstitions of this +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">17</a></span> +vanishing race. The latter part of the winter the prince +suffered with a serious attack of scurvy, from which, however, +he recovered in time to set forth for the lower country +on the breaking up of the ice.</p> + +<p>By the eighteenth of May he was once more at Fort +Leavenworth. After brief visits at St. Louis and New +Harmony, he journeyed eastward by way of the Ohio Canal +and Lake Erie, stopped to wonder at the majesty of the +Falls of Niagara, and on July 16, 1834, embarked at New +York on the Havre packet for the Old World. A large +portion of his collections were left behind at Fort Pierre, to +be forwarded with the season's furs by the annual steamer. +A fire occurring on the "Assiniboine," but few of these +natural history specimens ever reached him, and one object +of the prince's American visit was thereby frustrated.</p> + +<p>An interesting reminiscence of the visit of Prince Maximilian +is found in the journals of Alexander Culbertson, a +young fur-trade clerk who accompanied the scientist from +Fort Union to Fort McKenzie. Culbertson says: "In this +year an interesting character in the person of Prince Maximilian +from Coblentz on the Rhine, made his first appearance +in the upper Missouri. The Prince was at that time +nearly seventy years of age [fifty-five], but well preserved, +and able to endure considerable fatigue. He was a man of +medium-height, rather slender, sans teeth, passionately fond +of his pipe, unostentatious, and speaking very broken +English. His favorite dress was a white slouch hat, a black +velvet coat, rather rusty from long service, and probably +the greasiest pair of trousers that ever encased princely +legs. The Prince was a bachelor and a man of science, and +it was in this latter capacity that he had roamed so far from +his ancestral home on the Rhine. He was accompanied +by an artist named Boadman [Bodmer] and a servant whose +name was, as near as the author has been able to ascertain +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">18</a></span> +its spelling, Tritripel [Dreidoppel] ... McKenzie subsequently +visited him in his palace at Coblentz, where he lived +in a style befitting a prince, and was received with great cordiality +and entertained with lavish hospitality. He inquired +whether the double barrelled gun and the meershaum had +reached their destination, as he had remembered his promise +and forwarded them soon after his return to Europe. +They had not, and never were received, for it subsequently +appeared that the vessel in which they were shipped was +lost; so they are probably now among the ill-gotten hoards +of the Atlantic."<a name="FNanchor_1" id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p>The years immediately following the prince's return to +Europe were spent in preparing the results of his journey +for the press. This proved to be his last foreign expedition, +but he nevertheless continued absorbed with studies and +consequent collections at his native place until death removed +him in 1867. A few months before that event he +wrote an interesting letter in English to the artist George +Catlin, whose account of Mandan religious ceremonies had +been discredited by many. The prince therein speaks of +reviving the "quite forgotten recollections of my stay among +the Indian tribes of the Missouri, now thirty-three years +past," and says that not only does he know "most of the +American works published on the American Indians," but +he possesses many of them.<a name="FNanchor_2" id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> His library and collections are +yet cherished as the chief treasures of Neuwied, where his +grand-nephew Wilhelm still directs the principality's affairs.</p> + +<p>The narrative of Maximilian's North American journey +was first published in German, having been written, as the +author says, for foreigners rather than Americans, its title +being <i>Reise in das Innere Nord-America in den Jahren 1832 +bis 1834</i> (Coblentz, 1839-41), and its form two handsome +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">19</a></span> +quarto volumes, with an atlas of Bodmer's remarkable +engravings. A French edition in three volumes, with the +atlas, appeared at Paris in 1840-43. The Englished version, +undertaken by H. Evans Lloyd, was issued in London in +1843, in one quarto volume. This latter translation we +here reprint for the first time. In addition we have included +in the Appendix to our volume xxiv, the twenty-three Indian +vocabularies, one of the glories of the German original, +which feature has never been reproduced in any other of +the translated editions. Carefully recorded and scientifically +collated by a trained observer and scholar, they form a +contribution to American philology now impossible to duplicate. +But five years after Maximilian's visit to the upper +river, smallpox broke out among the tribes, and carried its +ravages to such an extent that bands once powerful were +reduced to scanty remnants. The Mandan were at the time +reported to be absolutely annihilated; a few, however, are +still living on Fort Berthold reservation, in North Dakota. +Maximilian's observations are the more valuable because +made in the plenitude of that tribe's power and prosperity, +before their diminished numbers made them subservient +to the invading fur-traders.</p> + +<p>In addition to the vocabularies, and unique in the present +English edition, we present Maximilian's account of the +Indian sign language, his catalogues of birds for both the +Missouri and Wabash river valleys, and a summary of his +meteorological observations on the upper Missouri. All of +these were omitted from the London edition of 1843. It has +been our purpose to give to American readers the entire +scientific as well as narrative product of the prince's famous +expedition.</p> + +<p>While the chief value of the present work lies in its ethnological +significance, it is highly interesting as an historical +description of natural conditions west of the Mississippi, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">20</a></span> +seventy years ago. The author's style is simple, natural, +and unforced, rather the expression of the scientific than of +the literary type of mind. A traveller of today, gliding +across the plains and along the windings of the Missouri +in a palace-car, may follow the pages of Maximilian and +the plates of Bodmer, and thus obtain as clearly as words +and pictures can express, an accurate presentation of the +trans-Mississippi region in 1833. These volumes are thus +a fitting supplement to the work of the prince's great progenitors, +the American explorers, Lewis and Clark.</p> + +<p>In preparing this volume for the press, the Editor has +had throughout the valuable assistance of Louise Phelps +Kellogg, Ph.D., who in turn has been aided by Clarence +Cory Crawford, A.M. The translations from the German, +not given by Lloyd, have been made for the present reprint +by Asa Currier Tilton, Ph.D., chief of the department of +maps and manuscripts in the Wisconsin Historical Library.</p> + +<p><span class="left65">R. G. T.</span></p> + +<p class="i2"><span class="smcap">Madison, Wis.</span>, November, 1905.</p> + +<p class="p6 center"><span class="smcap">Part I of Maximilian, Prince of Wied's, Travels +in the Interior of North America</span></p> +<hr /> +<p class="center s09">Reprint of chapters i-xv of London edition: 1843</p> + +<div class="figcenter p6"><a name="illo24" id="illo24"></a> +<img src="images/illo_024.jpg" width="401" height="600" alt="" /> +</div> + +<div id="folio_title"> +<p> +<span class="b12">TRAVELS</span><br /> +<span class="s09">IN</span><br /> +<span class="b15">THE INTERIOR OF</span><br /><br /> +<span class="b20">NORTH AMERICA.</span></p> + +<p><span class="s09">BY</span><br /> +<span class="b10">MAXIMILIAN, PRINCE OF WIED.</span></p> + +<p><span class="s09">WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD,</span><br /> +<span class="s07">AND A LARGE MAP.</span></p> + +<p><span class="s07">TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN,</span><br /> +<span class="b10">BY H. EVANS LLOYD.</span></p> + +<p><span class="s09">TO ACCOMPANY THE ORIGINAL SERIES OF EIGHTY-ONE<br /> +ELABORATELY-COLOURED PLATES.</span></p> + +<p><span class="s07">SIZE, IMPERIAL FOLIO.</span></p> + +<p><span class="b10">LONDON:</span><br /> +<span class="b10">ACKERMANN AND CO., 96, STRAND</span><br /> +<span class="s07">MDCCCXLIII.</span></p> +</div> + +<p><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a></p> +<h2>AUTHOR'S PREFACE</h2> + +<p>Immense additions have been made of late years to our +knowledge of the extensive continent of North America. +A large portion of that country, which, only a few years +ago, was covered with almost uninterrupted primeval forests, +and a scanty, scattered population of rude barbarians, +has been converted, by the influx of emigrants from the +Old World, into a rich and flourishing State, for the most +part civilized, and almost as well known and cultivated as +Europe itself. Large and flourishing towns, with fine public +institutions of every kind, have risen rapidly, and every +year adds to their number. Animated commerce, unfettered, +unlimited industry, have caused this astonishing advance +of civilization in the United States. The tide of emigration +is impelled onwards, wave upon wave, and it is only the +sterility of the North-west that can check the advancing +torrent.</p> + +<p>We already possess numerous accounts of these daily-increasing +States, and there are many good statistical works +on the subject. We have even excellent general works on +the physical state of this continent, among which Volney's +"Tableau du Climat et du Sol des Etats Unis," holds a high +rank.<a name="FNanchor_3" id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> Little, however, has yet been done towards a clear +and vivid description of the natural scenery of North America: +the works of American writers themselves on this subject, +with the exception of Cooper's and Washington Irving's +animated descriptions, cannot be taken into account, as, in +writing for their countrymen, they take it for granted that +their readers are well acquainted with the country. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">26</a></span></p> + +<p>For this reason I have endeavoured, in the following work, +to supply this deficiency to the best of my ability, and have +aimed rather at giving a clear and faithful description of +the country, than at collecting statistical information. +Hence these travels are designed for foreign, rather than for +American readers, to whom, probably, but few of the +details would be new.</p> + +<p>There are two distinct points of view in which that remarkable +country may be considered. Some travellers are +interested by the rude, primitive character of the natural +face of North America, and its aboriginal population, the +traces of which are now scarcely discernible in most parts +of the United States; while the majority are more inclined +to contemplate the immigrant population, and the gigantic +strides of civilization introduced by it. The account of my +tour through a part of these countries, contained in the +following pages, is chiefly intended for readers of the first +class. I have avoided the repetition of numerous statements +which may be found in various statistical publications; +but, on the contrary, have aimed at a simple description +of nature. As the United States were merely the basis of +my more extensive undertaking, the object of which <span class="opage">vi</span> was +the investigation of the upper part of the course of the Missouri, +they do not form a prominent feature, and it is +impossible to expect, from a few months' residence, an +opinion on the social condition and character of that motley +population.</p> + +<p>The indulgent reader, following the author beyond the +frontier of the United States, will have to direct his attention +to those extensive plains—those cheerless, desolate prairies, +the western boundary of which is formed by the snow-covered +chain of the Rocky Mountains, or the Oregon, where many +tribes of the aborigines still enjoy a peaceful abode; while +their brethren in the eastern part of the continent are supplanted, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">27</a></span> +extirpated, degenerated, in the face of the constantly +increasing immigration, or have been forced across the +Mississippi, where they have for the most part perished.</p> + +<p>The vast tracts of the interior of North-western America +are, in general, but little known, and the government of +the United States may be justly reproached for not having +done more to explore them. Some few scientific expeditions, +among which the two under Major Long produced the most +satisfactory results for natural history, though on a limited +scale, were set on foot by the government; and it is only +under its protection that a thorough investigation of those +extensive wildernesses, especially in the Rocky Mountains, +can be undertaken.<a name="FNanchor_4" id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> Even Major Long's expeditions are +but poorly furnished with respect to natural history, for a +faithful and vivid picture of those countries, and their original +inhabitants, can never be placed before the eye without +the aid of a fine portfolio of plates by the hand of a skilful +artist.</p> + +<p>In my description of the voyage up the Missouri, I have +endeavoured to avail myself of the assistance of an able +draughtsman, the want of which I so sensibly felt in my +former travels in South America. On the present occasion +I was accompanied by Mr. Bodmer, who has represented +the Indian nations with great truth, and correct delineation +of their characteristic features. His drawings will prove +an important addition to our knowledge of this race of men, +to whom so little attention has hitherto been paid.</p> + +<p>After mature consideration, I have judged it desirable to +throw the account of my voyage on the Missouri itself into +the form of a journal, as the daily notices were numerous, +but the variety very trifling; so that the patience of the +reader will unfortunately be tried a little in this part of the +narrative. In those uninhabited, desert countries the traveller +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">28</a></span> +has nothing but the description of the naked banks of +the river, and the little diversity they afford, interrupted at +times by the adventures of the chase, and occasional meetings +with Indians; the reader will therefore excuse many +observations and unimportant descriptions, which would +have been omitted if the materials had been richer in variety. +I need still more indulgence with respect to many observations +on natural history, but for this the loss of the greater part of +my collections will be a sufficient excuse. The cases containing +them were delivered to the Company, to be put on +board the steamer for St. Louis, but not insured; and, when +the steamer caught fire, the people thought rather of saving +the goods than my cases, the contents of which were, probably, +not considered to be of much value, and so they were +all burnt. This may be a warning to future travellers not +to neglect to insure such collections.</p> + +<p>Though the main object of my journey, namely, to pass +some time in the chain of the Rocky Mountains, was defeated +by unfavorable circumstances, I should have been +able, but for the loss of my collections, to communicate +many new observations, especially in the department of zoology, +which are now more or less deficient. The accounts +of the tribes of the aborigines, and <span class="opage">vii</span> especially of the +Mandans and Manitaries, are more complete, because I +spent a whole winter among them, and was able to have +daily intercourse with them. Authentic and impartial accounts +of the Indians of the Upper Missouri are now +especially valuable, if the information that we have since +received is well founded, namely, that to the many evils +introduced by the Whites among those tribes, a most destructive +epidemic—smallpox—has been added, and a +great part of them exterminated: according to the newspapers, +the Mandans, Manitaries, Assiniboins, and Blackfeet +have been swept away except a small remnant. The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">29</a></span> +observation of the manners of the aborigines is undoubtedly +that which must chiefly interest the foreign traveller in those +countries, especially as the Anglo-Americans look down on +them with a certain feeling of hatred. Hence we have +hitherto met with little useful information respecting the +Indians, except in the recent writings of Edward James, +Long, Say, Schoolcraft, M<sup>c</sup>Kinney, Cass, Duponceau, +Irving,<a name="FNanchor_5" id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> and a few others; and as good portraits of this +race have hitherto been extremely rare, the faithful delineation +contained in the portfolio of plates accompanying this +work will be interesting to the friends of anthropology and +ethnography.</p> + +<p>Several men, of great eminence in the learned world, have +had the kindness to contribute to the publication. President +Nees Von Esenbeck has undertaken the determination and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">30</a></span> +description of the plants which I brought home;<a name="FNanchor_6" id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> Professor +Goldfuss, of Bonn, that of some fossil shells; Professor +Göppert, of Breslau, that of the impression of fossil plants +from Mauch Chunk;<a name="FNanchor_7" id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> Professors Valenciennes at Paris, and +Wiegmann at Boston, the comparison of some zoological +specimens with those in their cities;<a name="FNanchor_8" id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> and Lieut.-Col. W. +Thorn, the construction of the map; for which obliging assistance +I beg leave to offer to these gentlemen my sincere +thanks.</p> +<p><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a></p> + +<h2>TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE</h2> + +<p>The author, in his Preface, gives so full an account of +the objects and results of his travels in the interior of North +America, that it would have been unnecessary for me to +prefix any observations of my own, were it not for some +circumstances, connected with the translation, which seem +to require explanation.</p> + +<p>The prospectus of the German original announced that +the work would consist of two large quarto volumes, accompanied +by a portfolio of above eighty beautifully coloured +copper-plates, executed by eminent artists at Paris, from +the original drawings. Some specimens of the plates having +been brought to London, were so much admired by many +competent judges, that Messrs. Ackermann were induced +to agree with the Paris publisher for a limited number of +copies of the plates; and as it might justly be presumed that +the English purchasers would be desirous of having the +narrative of the travels, it was resolved to publish a translation +compressed into a single volume. By selecting, however, +a page of a large size, the translator has been able to +retain all the most interesting parts, omitting only minute +details of the measurements of animals, &c. All the chapters +illustrative of the manners, customs, traditions, and +superstitions of the Indians are given without abridgment, +and these, as the author justly observes, are by far the most +attractive and valuable portions of the work. The papers +in the Appendix, giving an account of the plants collected, +are also inserted entire, and have been kindly revised by my +friend Sir William Hooker.<a name="FNanchor_9" id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">32</a></span></p> + +<p>The principal omission is that of the very extensive vocabularies +of the languages of the different Indian tribes.<a name="FNanchor_10" id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> +They are written so as to represent the pronunciation in +German, and have, in numerous instances, special directions, +as thus: kontschue (<i>on</i> as in French, <i>schue</i>, short and quick, +<i>e</i>½). It appeared to be a hopeless and unprofitable task to +rewrite these vocabularies, and to represent the true pronunciation +in English. Those who are curious in such matters +will find many specimens in Mr. Catlin's interesting +work.<a name="FNanchor_11" id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">33</a></span></p> + +<p>The numerous Indian proper names are, of course, written +in the original as pronounced in German. It has been +thought best to leave them unchanged, merely requesting +the reader to observe, in general, that the consonants +are pronounced as in English; only that <i>ch</i> is guttural, +as in the Scotch word <i>loch</i>; that <i>sch</i> is pronounced <i>sh</i>, +and that the vowels have the same sound as in French, +<i>ah</i>, <i>a</i>, <i>ee</i>, <i>o</i>, <i>oo</i>.</p> + +<p>The author alludes, in his Preface, to the recent fearful +ravages which have been caused among the Indian races by +the small-pox. The origin and extent of these ravages will +be seen from the following very affecting letter on the subject:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p> +<span class="opage">ix</span>"<span class="smcap">New Orleans</span>, <i>June 6, 1838</i>.—The southern parts of the United +States, particularly Florida, Alabama, and Louisiana, are as healthy as +can be wished; there has been no appearance of the yellow fever, and +even at the Havannah only a few isolated cases have occurred. During +the autumn, winter, and spring, the small-pox has carried off many +victims among the whites, and thousands of the Indians; but it has +now wholly disappeared in the territory of the Union, in consequence +of a general vaccination of persons of all ages. On the other hand, we +have, from the trading posts on the western frontier of the Missouri, +the most frightful accounts of the ravages of the small-pox among the +Indians. The destroying angel has visited the unfortunate sons of the +wilderness with terrors never before known, and has converted the extensive +hunting grounds, as well as the peaceful settlements of those +tribes, into desolate and boundless cemeteries. The number of the +victims within a few months is estimated at 30,000, and the pestilence +is still spreading. The warlike spirit which but lately animated the +several Indian tribes, and but a few months ago gave reason to apprehend +the breaking-out of a sanguinary war, is broken. The mighty +warriors are now the prey of the greedy wolves of the prairie, and the +few survivors, in mute despair, throw themselves on the pity of the +Whites, who, however, can do but little to help them. The vast preparations +for the protection of the western frontier are superfluous: +another arm has undertaken the defence of the white inhabitants of +the frontier; and the funeral torch, that lights the red man to his dreary +grave, has become the auspicious star of the advancing settler, and of +the roving trader of the white race.</p> + +<p>"The small-pox was communicated to the Indians by a person who +was on board the steam-boat which went, last summer, up to the mouth +of the Yellow Stone, to convey both the government presents for the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">34</a></span> +Indians, and the goods for the barter trade of the fur dealers.<a name="FNanchor_12" id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> The +disorder communicated itself to several of the crew of the steam-boat. +The officers gave notice of it to the Indians, and exerted themselves to +the utmost to prevent any intercourse between them and the vessel; +but this was a vain attempt; for the Indians knew that presents and +goods for barter were come for them, and it would have been impossible +to drive them away from the fort without having recourse to arms. +Two days before the arrival of the steam-boat, an express had been +received at the trading fort, 2000 miles west of St. Louis, with the +melancholy news of the breaking-out of the small-pox on board; this +was immediately communicated to the Indians, with the most urgent +entreaties to keep at a distance; but this was as good as preaching to +the winds. The survivors now lament their disobedience, and are as +submissive as the poor dogs which look in vain in the prairie for the +footsteps of their masters. The miserable remnants of the Indians +implore us not to abandon them in their misfortune, and promise, if +we will take pity on them, never more to disobey our commands.</p> + +<p>"The disease first broke out about the 15th of June, 1837, in the +village of the Mandans, a few miles below the American fort, Leavenworth, +from which it spread, in all directions, with unexampled fury.<a name="FNanchor_13" id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> +The character of the disease was as appalling as the rapidity of the +propagation. Among the remotest tribes of the Assiniboins from fifty +to one hundred died daily. The patient, when first seized, complains +of dreadful pains in the head and back, and in a few hours he is dead: +the body immediately turns black, and swells to thrice its natural size. +In vain were hospitals fitted up in Fort Union,<a name="FNanchor_14" id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> and the whole stock +of medicines exhausted. For many weeks together our workmen did +nothing but collect the dead bodies and bury them in large pits; but +since the ground is frozen we are obliged to throw them into the river. +The ravages of the disorder were the most frightful among the Mandans, +where it first broke out. That once powerful tribe, which, by accumulated +disasters, had already been reduced to 1500 souls, was exterminated, +with the exception of thirty persons. Their neighbours, the Bigbellied +Indians, and the Ricarees, were out on a hunting excursion at the time +of the breaking-out of the disorder, so that it did not reach them till +a month later; yet half the tribe was already destroyed on the 1st of +October, and the disease continued to spread. Very few of those who +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">35</a></span> +were attacked recovered their health; but when they saw all their relations +buried, and the pestilence still raging with unabated fury among +the remainder of their countrymen, life became a burden to them, and +they put an end to their wretched existence, either with their knives +and muskets, or by precipitating themselves from the summit of the +rock near their settlement. The prairie all around is a vast field of +death, covered with unburied corpses, and spreading, for miles, pestilence +and infection. The Bigbellied Indians and the Ricarees, lately amounting +to 4000 souls, were reduced to less than the half. The Assiniboins, +9000 in number, roaming over a hunting territory to the north of the +Missouri, as far as the trading posts of the Hudson's Bay Company, +are, in the literal sense of the expression, nearly exterminated. They, +as well as the Crows and Blackfeet, endeavoured to fly in all directions, +but the disease everywhere pursued them. At last every feeling of +mutual compassion and tenderness seems to have disappeared. Every +one avoided the others. Women and children wandered about in the +prairie seeking <span class="opage">x</span> for a scanty subsistence. The accounts of the situation +of the Blackfeet are awful. The inmates of above 1000 of their +tents are already swept away. They are the bravest and the most crafty +of all the Indians, dangerous and implacable to their enemies, but faithful +and kind to their friends. But very lately we seriously apprehended +that a terrible war with them was at hand, and that they would unite +the whole of their remaining strength against the Whites. Every day +brought accounts of new armaments, and of a loudly expressed spirit of +vengeance towards the Whites: but the small-pox cast them down, the +brave as well as the feeble; and those who were once seized by this +infection never recovered. It is affirmed that several bands of warriors, +who were on their march to attack the fort, all perished by the way, +so that not one survived to convey the intelligence to their tribe. Thus, +in the course of a few weeks, their strength and their courage were +broken, and nothing was to be heard but the frightful wailings of death +in the camp. Every thought of war was dispelled, and the few that are +left are as humble as famished dogs. No language can picture the scene +of desolation which the country presents. In whatever direction we +go, we see nothing but melancholy wrecks of human life. The tents +are still standing on every hill, but no rising smoke announces the +presence of human beings, and no sounds but the croaking of the raven +and the howling of the wolf interrupt the fearful silence. The above +accounts do not complete the terrible intelligence which we receive. +There is scarcely a doubt that the pestilence will spread to the tribes in +and beyond the Rocky Mountains, as well as to the Indians in the +direction of Santa Fé and Mexico. It seems to be irrevocably written +in the book of fate, that the race of red men shall be wholly extirpated +in the land in which they ruled the undisputed masters, till the rapacity +of the Whites brought to their shores the murderous fire-arms, the +enervating ardent spirits, and the all-destructive pestilence of the small-pox. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">36</a></span> +According to the most recent accounts, the number of the Indians +who have been swept away by the small-pox, on the western frontier +of the United States, amounts to more than 60,000."<a name="FNanchor_15" id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> +</p> +</div> + +<p>The general correctness of the melancholy details given +in the above letter has been confirmed to me by several travellers +who have visited these nations since they were desolated +by this awful epidemic. The almost total extinction +of these tribes greatly enhances the value and importance +of the full and interesting particulars imparted by his Highness.</p> + +<p class="left65"> +H. EVANS LLOYD.<a name="FNanchor_16" id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> + +<p> +<span class="smcap s09">Charterhouse Square</span>,<br /> +<span class="i2 s09">May 1st, 1843.</span></p> + +<h2>TRAVELS IN THE INTERIOR OF<br /> +NORTH AMERICA, IN THE<br /> +YEARS 1832, 1833, AND 1834</h2> + +<p class="center b15"><b>[PART I]</b></p> + +<hr class="l15" /> + +<p><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a></p> + +<p class="chapter1_start">CHAPTER I</p> + +<p class="center">VOYAGE TO BOSTON, STAY IN THAT CITY, AND JOURNEY TO NEW YORK, +FROM MAY 17TH TO JULY 9TH, 1832</p> + +<p class="chapter_summ">Voyage—Boston—Festival of Independence—The American inns—Charlestown—Monument +on Bunker's Hill—Cambridge—New +England Museum—Pawtucket—Providence—Embark on board +the Boston—Voyage to New York—Fine view of that city.</p> + +<p>Voyages to North America are become everyday occurrences, +and little more is to be related of them than that +you met and saluted ships, had fine or stormy weather, and +the like; here, therefore, we shall merely say that our party +embarked at Helvoetsluys, on board an American ship, +on the 17th of May, in the evening, and on the 24th saw +Land's End, Cornwall, vanish in the misty distance, and +bade farewell to Europe.</p> + +<p>Even when we were in latitude 48° 40′, and for several +days afterwards, we had very unfavourable weather and violent +storms, which were succeeded, on the 10th of June, by +calms. On such days, shoals of dolphins crowded round +the ship, and some men got on the bowsprit to throw the +harpoon at them. The mate was at length so fortunate as +to drive his harpoon through the body of one of these monsters +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">38</a></span> +of the deep, an event which was hailed with loud +cheers. By the aid of several sailors the heavy prey was +drawn upon deck. The animal, after it was wounded, made +desperate efforts to free itself, and the harpoon had nearly +given way, when the fish was secured by a rope thrown under +the pectoral fins.</p> + +<p><span class="opage">2</span> On the following day we had some of the flesh dressed +as steaks, which we found to be very good; indeed, we preferred +them to all other meat. I did not know, at that time, +that I should soon find dog's flesh relishing! It is necessary +to remove the blubber immediately; because, if this precaution +be neglected, the flesh contracts a taste of train oil. +The liver in particular is excellent.</p> + +<p>On the same day we were to the south of the bank of Newfoundland, +and, therefore, steered in nearly a northerly direction. +On the 19th we were in a thick fog. White and other +petrels flew round us, with some gulls, and birds resembling +sea swallows, with a forked tail. We sounded, but found +no bottom. On the 20th, however, we were on the bank, +where, at half-past eight in the morning, the temperature +of the air was +5¼° Reaumur, and that of the water, +2¾°. +At two in the afternoon, with thick fog, the temperature of +the air was +8°; that of the water, +4°. We then had +a calm, and sounded in thirty-five fathoms. Large whales +and flocks of sea-birds showed that we were on the bank. +A hook and line being thrown out, we caught a fine cod, +from whose stomach clams were taken, which served as a +bait for other fish. We were on the middle of the lower +point of the great bank, when large dolphins, quite black, +called by the Americans blackfish, swam rapidly past in +long lines, alternating with porpoises, which threw up white +foam as they leaped and tumbled on the waves. A diver +was shot while swimming, and flocks of black petrels hovered +round us. A dead calm succeeding, a boat was put +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">39</a></span> +out to give chase to the latter. Fat was thrown out to entice +the birds, and many of the little black petrel, (<i>Procellaria +Pelagica</i>), were shot, and also some of the birds, called +by Charles Bonaparte,<a name="FNanchor_17" id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> <i>Thalassidroma Wilsonii</i>, which very +nearly resemble each other in colour, as well as in shape. +A snow white gull (probably <i>Larus eburneus</i>) flew about +the ship. On the 26th of June, we had been just forty days +at sea, and at noon were off the lower part of Sable Island +bank, in fifty-five fathoms, but did not see the island itself. +We steered towards Nova Scotia, but the wind soon forced +us in a southerly direction. We had many indications of +the vicinity of land, and from this time we proceeded more +satisfactorily, till the 3rd of July, at noon, when, to the joy +of all, we descried land. Cape Cod Bay lay to the south +of us, about fifteen miles distant. It showed low sandhills, +with dark bushes on them. About two o'clock we could +distinguish a lighthouse of moderate height, with a wind-mill, +and several other buildings. As the wind was unfavourable, +we were obliged to tack often, in order to sail into +the great bay of Massachusetts, which we did in the finest +and most lovely weather. The cool of the evening had +succeeded the heat of the day; the dark blue mirror of the +sea shone around us, moved only by a gentle breeze, while +a few white or dark brown sails hastened to the coast, +which was already veiled in the evening mist. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">40</a></span></p> + +<p>Sublime repose prevailed in this extensive and grand +scene, our ship alone was in a state of activity. Various +preparations were made for the approaching landing, while +we Europeans looked eagerly at the distance. I had hoped +in vain for a sight of the famous sea serpent; it <span class="opage">3</span> would +not shew itself. I had, in the sequel, opportunities to speak +with several American naturalists on the subject, but they +all looked upon the story as a fable.</p> + +<p>The moon rose in the utmost splendour, and lighted up +the unagitated surface of the sea, and the fishing-boats which +lay at anchor. Before midnight we saw Boston lighthouse, +and soon afterwards several other such lights on the coast, +which are a most welcome sight, and increase the impatience +of the stranger in a remote quarter of the globe.</p> + +<p>The following day (4th of July), on which I landed for +the second time in the New World, was the anniversary of +the day on which America proclaimed its independence. +Early in the morning, the salutes of artillery resounded from +the coasts, which we now saw clearly before us. In the +centre, in the direction of the city of Boston, was the white +lighthouse, with its black roof, on a small rocky island,<a name="FNanchor_18" id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> and +around it several little picturesque islands, partly of white +sand, with plots of grass; partly rocks, which adorn the +beautiful bay. At a distance we saw some low mountains, +the coast covered with numerous villages, obscured by the +smoke of the gunpowder, and numbers of ships and boats +sailing in every direction, all adorned with gay flags in +honour of the day. We passed in succession several islands, +the lighthouse, the telegraph, and drew nearer and nearer +to the coast of the Continent, diversified with gentle eminences +covered with corn, or beautifully green as in England: +and here and there, in the bays and inlets, adorned with +lofty trees. These coasts, with the numerous white buildings +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">41</a></span> +of the towns and villages, presented a most charming scene +in the splendour of the morning sun. At length the long-expected +pilot came on board, and in the bay, on our right, +we saw the city of Boston, and many steam-boats before it. +The sea had no longer the blue colour, but the green tinge +which it has on all coasts, and was covered with medusæ, and +the leaves of the sea grass, which grows on these shores. +The heat was very great, 18° in the shade, by Reaumur's +thermometer, on board the ship, when we cast anchor at +India Wharf, Boston, on the forty-eighth day of our voyage. +The temperature in this oblong basin, which is surrounded +with large magazines of naval stores, was by no means +agreeable at the moment of our arrival; we, therefore, left +the ship as soon as possible, and repaired to the Commercial +Coffee House, where we took up our quarters.</p> + +<p>Boston, an extensive city, with above 80,000 inhabitants,<a name="FNanchor_19" id="FNanchor_19" href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> +reminded me, at first sight, of one of the old English towns; +but various differences soon appeared. The streets are +partly long and broad, partly narrow and irregular, with +good flag pavement for foot passengers; the buildings are +of brick or stone; but in a great portion of the old town the +houses are of wood; the roofs are, for the most part, covered +with shingles; the chimneys resemble those in England, but +do not seem to be so lofty; the dark colours of the buildings +give the city, on the whole, a gloomy appearance. <span class="opage">4</span> There +are many important buildings and churches, which have +been described by numerous travellers. In the front of the +houses there are frequently little plots of garden, next the +street, in the English fashion, planted with tall, shady trees, +and flowers. Strangers will immediately look for American +plants, especially for those species of trees which are generally +cultivated in Europe; but, instead of them, they will +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">42</a></span> +observe only European trees, such as Lombardy poplars, +Babylonian willows, syringa hibiscus, chestnuts, elms, &c., +and it was with much difficulty that I found some stems of +the catalpa, which was just then on the point of flowering, +and some other native trees. Besides the little grass plots, +planted with flowers, in the front of the houses, there are, +in Boston, many plantations and avenues of very tall and +shady elms, which, like the same species in England, are +remarkably vigorous and flourishing. Among these avenues, +the principal is that called the <i>Commons</i>, where there were +fireworks in the evening of the 4th of July.</p> + +<p>Washington-street is looked upon as the finest and longest +street in Boston; its length is nearly equal to that of the +whole city. Here, as in the first cities of Europe, there are +numerous fine and elegant shops, with the most costly articles; +and the productions of the West Indies. Cocoa-nuts, +oranges, bananas, &c., are nowhere to be found so fresh, +and in such perfection as in the seaports of North America. +On account of the celebration of this day, most of the shops +were closed; but then the entire population seemed to throng +the streets, and the gay crowd was very interesting to strangers, +as it was not difficult to catch the general features. +Though a great part of the Americans have much of the +English stamp, there are, however, some essential differences. +The peculiar character of the English countenance seems to +have disappeared in America, in the strange climate; the +men are of a slenderer make, and of taller stature; a general +expression of the physiognomy seems to be wanting. The +women are elegant, and have handsome features, but frequently +a paleness, which does not indicate a salubrious +climate, or a healthy judicious way of living.<a name="FNanchor_20" id="FNanchor_20" href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> Straw hats, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">43</a></span> +trimmed with black or green ribbons, were in general use. +Cloth was much worn, and everything was according to the +newest English and French fashions. Among the busy +throng were a great number of negroes, who, in the Northern +and Eastern States, have been made free. Not far from the +public walks was a small narrow street, almost entirely inhabited +by negroes and their hybrids. The stranger in +Boston looks in vain for the original American race of the +Indians. Instead of its former state of nature, this country +now shows a mixture of all nations, which is rapidly proceeding +in the unjustifiable expulsion and extirpation of the +aborigines, which began on the arrival of the Europeans in +the New World, and has unremittingly continued.</p> + +<p>After we had enjoyed a hasty view of the city, we returned +to our inn, where we had an opportunity of making ourselves +acquainted with many new customs, differing from +those of Europe. It must be confessed that the arrangements +in the large and much frequented inns of <span class="opage">5</span> the great +towns in the United States, are, in many respects, inferior +to those of Europe. The rooms are very small, and all have +beds in them: parlours, that is, rooms without beds, must be +hired separately. The hours for meals are fixed—three +times in the day; and the signal is usually given, two or three +times, by ringing a bell. In general, a number of persons +habitually take their meals in these inns; they besiege the +house before the appointed time arrives, and, when the signal +is given, they rush tumultuously into the eating-room; every +one strives to get before the other, and, for the most part, +the crowd of guests is far too great, in proportion to the +number of the black attendants. Then every one takes possession +of the dish that he can first lay his hands on, and in +ten minutes all is consumed; in laconic silence the company +rise from table, put on their hats, and the busy gentlemen +hasten away, whom you see all the day long posted before +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">44</a></span> +the inns, or at the fire-side in the lower rooms, smoking cigars +and reading the colossal newspapers. The hat, which the +Americans seldom lay aside, except in the company of the +women, is always taken off at table, which is certainly no +small exertion in this land of perfect liberty, as Captain Morrell +expresses it.<a name="FNanchor_21" id="FNanchor_21" href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> Elegance of dress is far more common +in America than in Europe; but then this is all that the +gentleman in America cares about, when he has finished +his mercantile business, read the newspaper, and performed +his part in the government of the State. I have often been +surprised at the crowd of idle gentlemen before and in the +American inns, who spend the whole day in total inactivity; +and these elegant loiterers are, in fact, a characteristic feature +of these inns. Here, too, there is a peculiar arrangement, +which many travellers have noticed, and which we do not +meet with in ours—I mean the bar-room, where a man +stationed behind the bar, mixes compounds, and sells all +sorts of beverages, in which a quantity of ice and of freshly +gathered peppermint leaves are employed. Very agreeable +cooling liquors are here prepared, which the heat of the +climate calls for. In the evening the European is surprised +at being desired to pull off his shoes before a number of +people in the bar-room, and to exchange them for slippers, +which are piled up in large heaps. The attendance is, in +general, indifferent. There are scarcely any white servants, +or, at least, they are almost useless; all menial offices must +be performed by blacks, who, though free people, are still +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">45</a></span> +held in contempt by the Americans, who so highly estimate +the dignity of man, and form a rejected caste, like the Parias +in India.</p> + +<p>At the approach of evening, on the 4th of July, the whole +population of Boston was in motion; but the streets were +soon entirely deserted, and all the inhabitants had collected +in the promenade, called the Commons. The sight was +highly interesting. An extensive piece of ground, covered +with green sward, stretches in a gentle slope to the water, +and is surrounded by avenues of lofty, shady elms. Numerous +paths cross each other in the centre, and here there is a +gigantic elm, with a wide-spreading crown, measuring from +thirty to forty paces in diameter. We regretted that the +great crowd of people rendered it impossible to approach +this fine tree, on <span class="opage">6</span> this busy evening. All Boston, rich and +poor, was here assembled, in the most elegant dresses. +Groups were sitting, or lying in the grass; rows of tables +and little stalls were set out, where there was a real oyster +feast, in which the people indulged to an extent that rendered +the appearance of the tables anything but inviting. As it +grew dark, there was a very indifferent display of fireworks, +on the eminence, in honour of the day, the expense of which +was defrayed by subscription. Several companies of city +militia had previously paraded the streets; they are all volunteers, +who equip themselves, and that in a very superior +manner; but their uniforms are very gay and motley, as may +be expected, where every one is left to follow his own taste. +Each company, or troop, had a different uniform—one red, +another blue, and, in part, richly embroidered with gold. +There were very few men in a company. It seemed very +strange that the musicians, who preceded them, were, for +the most, in plain clothes of all colours, with round hats. +"The Yankee-doodle," the favourite popular song of the +Americans, was heard in different directions; and it is much +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">46</a></span> +to the credit of this motley assemblage, that there was no +impropriety of conduct or unseemly noise. The effect of +the light on the mixed crowd of whites and negroes was very +interesting, and we enjoyed the scene till the coolness and +damp of the night air made us retire to our inn.</p> + +<p>On the following morning, the shops were opened, and +Boston resumed its usual appearance of commercial activity. +Our baggage was put on board a schooner bound to New +York, to which city I wished to go by land. Our next excursion +was to the monument on Bunker's Hill, from which +there is the best view of the surrounding country.</p> + +<p>Early in the morning we got into our carriages, and drove +rapidly through the streets, refreshed by the cool morning +breeze, where many wagons were arriving with the productions +of the environs. We noticed vehicles of various +descriptions, with four or two wheels, often with an awning +of linen, or leather, open at the sides, and drawn by two or +four horses. The drivers, generally in a white summer dress, +with straw hats, sit on a bear skin, which is here worth eight +or ten dollars. On the causeway, out of the city, the dust +was troublesome, but a number of water-carts (like those +used in the streets of London) were already preparing to +water the road.</p> + +<p>Boston is joined to the continent by a narrow tongue of +land, at the two sides of which creeks, or bays run into the +land. Over these creeks there are several long wooden +bridges, made to draw up in the middle, one of which leads, +in a north-west direction, to the neighbouring town of Charlestown; +another, more to the south, to Cambridge, where +there is a college, or university. All these places have been +described by several travellers. We took the road through +Charlestown, to the Navy Yard, close to which is the eminence +on which the Bunker's Hill monument is erected. The +hill is called Breed's Hill, and immediately beyond it is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">47</a></span> +Bunker's Hill, where the English troops were posted during +the battle fought in 1775. The Americans were repulsed, +and lost their leader, who was a physician. The monument +in memory of this action <span class="opage">7</span> has been begun on the foremost, +or Breed's Hill. The granite (Quincy granite) employed in +it is found in the neighbourhood, and is of a grey colour.</p> + +<p>It was intended, originally, that this monument should +be 210 feet high; it is now meant to be only 180 feet high. +What is already done is a pyramid between fifty and sixty +feet in height, which was covered with a temporary wooden +roof. Withinside, a convenient stone staircase leads to the +top, and from the small windows in the roof, there is an incomparable +view over the city of Boston, Charlestown, the +two inlets, the long bridges, the Bay of Boston, with its +diversified islands, and the ships with their white swelling +sails, coming from, and bound to, all parts of the world. +Looking into the country, there is an alternation of verdant +hills, numerous villages, and dark woods; the whole forming +a highly picturesque landscape. Cattle were grazing near +the monument, on the green hill; a well-dressed boy was +employed in milking the cows.<a name="FNanchor_22" id="FNanchor_22" href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p> + +<p>From Bunker's Hill we went to Cambridge, and had, on +this road, the first sight of an American landscape. Meadows, +partly covered with arundinaceous plants, corn-fields, +and European fruit trees, alternated with small thickets and +groves. The apples that grow here are said to be yellow, and +not particularly good; they are chiefly used to make cider. +On almost all these fruit trees we saw caterpillars' nests of +extraordinary size, they being often a foot and more in diameter. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">48</a></span> +The butterfly which produces them must be in vast +numbers, and it is surprising that more care is not taken to +destroy them. The road was bordered with trees, as is +generally the case here; we observed <i>Celtis occidentalis</i>, +Lombardy poplars, partly lopped, and not growing to any +great height. The thickets consisted of oaks, with various +deeply indented leaves, in general of a beautiful shining +green; different kinds of walnut, ash, and elm, which always +attain a great height here, and, where they stand free, the +stems are clothed with thick boughs down to the ground. +The low thickets were of a bright green, and in adjacent +meadows, which were partly marshy, grew plants, much +resembling those of Europe, such as <i>Ranunculus</i>, <i>Pyrethrum</i>, +several with white flowers of the genus <i>Syngenesia</i>; both +a white clover and a red clover, common with us, seemed to +be generally cultivated, as well as potatoes, corn, and maize. +This part of the country has, on the whole, the European +character—like England, for instance—but it is even now +more wooded, and pines of different kinds give a variety: +the population, too, is distributed in a different manner. +In one of the nearest thickets, a little songster (<i>Sylvia æstiva</i>), +and some other birds, reminded me that I was not in Europe, +but on the borders of the northern part of the New World, +and the beautiful Icterus Baltimore flew to the higher thickets; +and I very well distinguished its black and bright red +plumage. These new objects gave <span class="opage">8</span> us great pleasure, and +we only regretted that we could not immediately pursue them. +On the summit of the gentle eminences we came to Cambridge +College, which is very agreeably situated on a verdant lawn, +shaded with trees, and surrounded by avenues of elms, +Weymouth pines, maples, ash, planes, and other shady trees. +The buildings stand separately; and in all the gardens of +the neat habitations, we observed, in general, European +plants—the rose, syringa, hibiscus, and but few American +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">49</a></span> +plants, of which the trumpet tree was not then in blossom. +My visit might have been very interesting if I had known +that Mr. Nuttal,<a name="FNanchor_23" id="FNanchor_23" href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> one of the most active naturalists and +travellers in North America, held an office in this college.</p> + +<p>On our return to Boston, we visited many of the curiosities +of the city, which are enumerated in various works. +Among them I mention only the New England Museum,<a name="FNanchor_24" id="FNanchor_24" href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> +as in part, at least, an institution for natural history, but +where the expectation of the stranger is grievously disappointed. +These museums, as they are styled, in all the +larger cities of the United States, except, perhaps, the Peale +Museum, at Philadelphia, are an accumulation of all sorts +of curiosities, the selection of which is most extraordinary. +Here we find specimens of natural history; stiff, awkward, +wax figures; mathematical and other instruments, +models, bad paintings and engravings, caricatures; nay, +even the little prints out of our journals of the fashions, &c., +hung up without any order. Among the animals there are +some interesting specimens, but without any ticket or further +direction. This collection was placed in several stories +of a lofty house, in narrow passages, rooms, and closets, +connected by many flights of steps; and to attract the public, +a man played on the harpsichord during our visit—a +concert which could have no great charms for us.</p> + +<p>Boston, however, has much that is worthy of notice, +and numerous excellent institutions, respecting which the +many descriptive works may be consulted, which treat on +the subject more in detail than a passing traveller can do. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">50</a></span> +As my time was limited, I took places in a stage-coach that +was to set out at noon for Providence, from Bunker's coach-office, +at the Marlborough hotel. The establishment of +stage-coaches, and the mode of travelling in this country, +have been accurately described by Duke Bernhard of Saxe +Weimar;<a name="FNanchor_25" id="FNanchor_25" href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> I therefore merely say, that we went in a commodious +stage, with nine seats inside, and four good horses, +which carried us at a rapid pace from Boston to New Providence, +forty-one miles distant, where we embarked for New +York.</p> + +<p>The causeway was a good, solid, broad road, paved in +some places, and very dusty at this dry season; it led over +low hills and plains. Near the city there is a great number +of pretty, and some elegant country houses; and as they +became less numerous, they were succeeded by the houses +of the farmers and planters, which are spread over the whole +country. All these farm-houses are slightly built, boarded, +and roofed with shingles; often grey, of the natural colour +of the wood; but many of those belonging to the richer class +are neatly painted, and variously ornamented. The walls, +even of large buildings of this kind, are extremely thin, and +one would think they <span class="opage">9</span> must be too slight for the cold +winters of this country. It seems quite inconceivable that, +throughout the United States, you find only open fireplaces; +and very rarely good stoves, against which the Americans +are prejudiced, because they are not aware of their great +superiority. The business of the occupant is painted on +the house in large letters, as in England and France.</p> + +<p>The road by which we travelled was often bounded by +hedges, or by walls of blocks of granite, or other kinds of +stone, on which plantain, elder, stagshorn, sumach, &c., +were growing. In the low marshy meadows were willows, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">51</a></span> +a kind of reed mace, cotton grass, rushes, and, in the water, +adder's tongue. Near the road, the hills, which here and +there gradually rise to a great elevation, are covered with +shrubs and trees, among which we noticed some firs, mixed +with the other trees.</p> + +<p>Juniper trees, from fifteen to twenty feet high, grew in all +these woods, partly as underwood. In the low grounds, +near the road, we observed luxuriant tufts of various kinds +of oak, walnut trees—some with large shining leaves, +chestnuts, now in blossom, and many other kinds of trees +cultivated in European gardens. Wild vines, with the under +side of the leaves whitish, twine round many of the bushes; +but, in these northern parts, they do not attain a great height. +These thickets alternate with open tracts of land, where the +peasants, tanned by the powerful American sun, wearing +large straw hats, were busily employed in making hay.</p> + +<p>However small and poor the dwellings, we still saw at the +windows, and before the doors, the women, most elegantly +and fashionably dressed, engaged in their household employments. +In this land of freedom, nobody, of course, +will allow his neighbour to have an advantage over him; +hence we often see silk gowns, and the newest fashions of +all kinds, in laughable contrast with the poor little habitations. +Small country carts pass the traveller, in which, beside +the owner, who drives, sits a country lady, handsomely +attired, who looks like a copy of some <i>journal des modes</i>. +The dress of the countrymen is, in general, not so fine, but +is, in some degree, according to the man's circumstances.</p> + +<p>We were much pleased with some thick forests of oak, +with beautiful glossy (often deeply indented) leaves, of a +great variety of forms. Forests, consisting wholly of the +Weymouth pine, alternated with the oak. The trunks were +large, but the height of the tree was not great in proportion. +Among them there was always a number of dead trees; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">52</a></span> +others had a quantity of bearded moss hanging on them; +in a word, though so near to the habitations of man, and in +a cultivated country, they had more of the wild character +of unreclaimed nature than our European forests. In many +places there were openings into dark forests, to a great +distance; and, now and then, into lovely valleys, with a lake +or a river, where the white buildings had a very picturesque +appearance, contrasted with the dark woods and the green +meadows. Mr. Bodmer, however, was not satisfied with +all these landscapes: he had expected to find, at once, in +America, forms differing from those of Europe; but these +must be looked for under another zone; for, in <span class="opage">10</span> North +America, the general character of the vegetation resembles +that of Europe. In some parts, we remarked in the meadows +large stones, something like those in Westphalia, or in the +Westerwald, in Germany.</p> + +<p>We changed horses at three places, at one of which we +had dinner, which, as in England, was ready when the +passengers arrived. The regulations here have an advantage +over those in most parts of Europe, inasmuch as fees are +nowhere given, so that you cannot be molested by the importunity +of the driver: on the other hand, the coachman +dines at the same table as the passengers. You are, however, +pretty secure against the conversation of unpolished +people, because the Americans are usually mute at table.</p> + +<p>Towards evening we reached Pawtucket, a neat town on +the river of the same name, in the state of Massachusetts. +The place has manufactures of various kinds, and is animated +by trade and industry. The river empties itself into +Narraganset bay, and is said to have falls of fifty feet. We +soon travelled the few miles from this place to Providence. +The evening being fine, the journey was very pleasant: the +road was full of stages, cabriolets, farmers' wagons, and +smart country ladies, whose veils on their large fashionable +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">53</a></span> +hats waved in the wind; they were generally seated in little +chaise carts, the seats of which were covered with bear +skins.</p> + +<p>At Providence, which we reached before night, we put up +at Franklin House, a respectable inn. A crowd of idle gentlemen +and other curious persons stared at us, and laughed in +our faces, when they found, by our pronunciation, that we +were foreigners. We had to pass some days here, waiting +for the return of a steam-boat from New York; we therefore +employed this interval in exploring the town and neighbourhood.</p> + +<p>Providence is a busy town, the capital of the state of Rhode +Island, and situated on an arm of the sea. It is built partly +on sandy hills, partly on the low ground next the sea, has +some good new streets, and a brisk trade, as appears from the +many ships at anchor. There is no want of handsome shops, +and several public buildings deserve notice; such as twelve +churches, several colleges, and other public institutions, which +I forbear to enumerate. In the churches the singular style +of the architecture calls for censure:—they are of brick, with +steeples variously ornamented, but often painted with glaring +colours; for instance, the lower part reddish brown, with the +frames of the windows and of the doors white; the upper +part bright yellow with white. There is a considerable degree +of luxury at Providence. The women appear in the +streets in the most expensive dresses; and the country ladies +(farmers' wives), whom I have so often mentioned, dressed +in silk, and wearing large straw bonnets and veils, bring +milk to market in little carts. This love of finery is quite a +characteristic trait in the American people; but it is, at the +same time, an indication of prosperity; for it is true that, +in this country, there are neither poor nor beggars; and if +you see people doing nothing, they are generally new comers +from Europe. Negroes and their coloured descendants +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">54</a></span> +are more numerous here than in Boston and the northern +parts.</p> + +<p><span class="opage">11</span> The next day was Sunday, in the observance of which +the Americans are very scrupulous. All the people, with +their books under their arms, proceeded to the churches, the +bells of which were very slowly tolled. The streets were quite +still on this day, and all the shops closed; but, then, numerous +carriages and cabriolets, filled with finely-dressed people, +were in motion. We strolled about the surrounding country, +which, in general, has a dead and rather sterile appearance. +Here, too, we saw, almost exclusively, European trees and +flowers in the gardens; there were, however, some peculiar +to the country, among which the magnolia was now in +blossom.</p> + +<p>Intelligence had been received from New York that the +cholera had broken out there, and that numbers of the inhabitants +were leaving the city. On the arrival of the Boston +steam-boat, the Captain confirmed this unwelcome news, +which, however, did not deter us from embarking in this fine +vessel for New York. On the 8th of July, in the afternoon, +we went on board the steam-boat, which had above 100 passengers. +The Boston was a large, handsome vessel, about +the size of a frigate. It had three decks; in the lower part +was the large dining and sleeping room, where above 100 +persons were very well provided for. On the middle deck +there was a cabin for the ladies, with twenty-four beds. +The numerous attendants were negroes and mulattoes of +both sexes, all free people. The vessel had two low-pressure +engines, which are thought to be less dangerous than +the high-pressure engines, though the Americans affirm the +contrary. On the upper deck was a pavilion, with glass +windows, in which, when the weather was unfavourable, +the company could sit and enjoy the prospect.</p> + +<p>When all the passengers were on board, one of the engines +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">55</a></span> +was set to work, and when we got further from shore, the +other also. The low, sandy coast, partly covered with trees, +where towns alternated with forests, quickly disappeared. +The sky was dark and cloudy, and a cool, fresh breeze blew. +We reached the strongly fortified town of Newport, where +many small vessels lay at anchor. The place is distinguished +by three forts, and other fortifications, and a lighthouse. +When twilight set in we were already in sight of the open +sea, which, however, remained visible for a short time only, +because we steered to the right, into the channel between +the continent and Long Island.</p> + +<p>On the morning of the 9th of July, the sky was gloomy, +and the sea much agitated. On our left we had the coast +of Long Island, which, in general, is not high, but has some +more elevated parts, with an alternation of sand, bushes, +and brushwood. Some very picturesque and diversified +inlets run into the land. The channel becomes gradually +narrower, and the beauty of the landscape increases in the +same proportion. One narrow place is called Hellgate: there +are here many rocky islets covered with sumach bushes +(<i>Rhus typhinum</i>). At length, turning round a point of the +continent, a new and most picturesque scene presented itself. +We were in what is called the East River, an arm of the sea, +open towards New York, which is connected with the Hudson +or North River, one of the most beautiful rivers in North +America. At the conflux <span class="opage">12</span> of both, lies the city. The +banks of the East River are like an English park, shaded +by beautiful copses and groups of lofty trees: the ground +was clothed with the brightest and most luxuriant verdure, +with tall tulip trees, planes, Babylonian willows, Lombardy +poplars, and many others, alternating with green +meadows, where there are neat, and often elegant country-houses; +and the eye is charmed by many fine prospects and +a great diversity of scenery. Passing the Navy Yard, which +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">56</a></span> +is situated on a point of land, the great city of New York, +with its innumerable masts, lies before you. As you approach +and enter the broad and extensive piece of water formed +by the conflux of the East and North Rivers, you see the +whole mass of houses, with countless ships, which line both +the banks to a considerable distance, with a forest of masts, +to which few other cities can present a parallel. The steamer +landed us at a spot where, notwithstanding the heavy rain, +there was a great crowd of people collected. Porters, black +workmen, and coachmen in abundance, with loud cries, +and much importunity, offered their services; and we immediately +proceeded to the American Hotel, a considerable +inn, in one of the handsomest squares in the city. +</p> + +<p><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a></p> + +<p class="chapter_start">CHAPTER II</p> +<p class="center">STAY IN NEW YORK, PHILADELPHIA, AND BORDENTOWN, FROM 9TH TO +16TH JULY</p> + +<p class="chapter_summ"> +New York—Bloomingdale—Hoboken—New Brunswick—Trenton—Bordentown—Philadelphia—Fair +Mount, with the water-works—Stay +at Bordentown—Park of the Count de Survilliers—Excursions +in the forests—Return to Philadelphia.</p> + +<p>New York is but little inferior to the capital cities of +Europe, with the exception of London and Paris. It has, +at present, 220,000 inhabitants, and its commerce is so extensive, +animated, and active, that, in this respect, it is +scarcely surpassed by any. There are so many descriptions +of this great city, that to say much on the subject would be +merely repetition. The first impression that it made on me +was very striking, on account of the beauty of its situation. +In the interior the style of building resembles that of many +English cities. It has one remarkably fine street, called +the Broadway, which traverses its whole length; other parts +are old, and not so handsome. In the Broadway, which is +the favourite resort of the fashionable world, is an uninterrupted +line of shops, but little inferior to those of London +and Paris. The city is extremely animated, and people of +all nations carry on business here. We were assured that +the population had been diminished, in a few days, by the +emigration of 20,000 of the inhabitants, who had fled to other +towns for fear of the cholera.<a name="FNanchor_26" id="FNanchor_26" href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> It is well known that this +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">58</a></span> +lamentable disease had been very fatal in Canada, and had +now penetrated into the Northern States of the Union: it +was raging in Albany, on the Hudson, at Detroit, and on +the great lakes, so that it seemed as if it would defeat our +project of beginning our journey to the interior by that route. +This had been my plan, in which the recommendations of +our worthy countryman, Mr. Astor,<a name="FNanchor_27" id="FNanchor_27" href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> would have been of +great service, as he is the founder and head of the American +Fur Company, which has spread its trading stations over +the whole of the interior of North America. I formed +numerous interesting acquaintances, in a short time, in New +York. Several estimable fellow-countrymen, Messrs. Gebhard +and Schuchart, and Mr. Iselin, did their utmost to +afford us their counsel and assistance. Mr. Schmidt, the +Prussian consul, contributed not a little to make our stay +in this city agreeable; and so did Mr. Meier and other of +our German friends. Mr. Schmidt has a country-house at +Bloomingdale, <span class="opage">14</span> where we passed some very pleasant +days in the circle of his amiable family. Mrs. Schmidt, an +American lady, had visited Europe and travelled in Germany, +and remembered, with pleasure, the banks of the +Rhine.</p> + +<p>The house at which Mr. Schmidt resides in the summer, +is charmingly situated on the banks of that picturesque +river, the Hudson, seven miles from the town. The pretty +dwelling-house, with a veranda all round, covered with +passion flowers, honeysuckles, the red trumpet flower, and +other beautiful climbing plants, stands on a verdant lawn, +shaded by lofty trees, among which we observed the finest +kinds of this country, the trunks of which were slender, +and straight as pillars. The park extends to the Hudson, +where the tall sassafras, tulip, oak, walnut, and other trees, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">59</a></span> +protected us by their shade; while the large steam-boats, +rapidly passing on the bright surface of the Hudson, had +a very picturesque effect. Mr. Schmidt had the kindness +to afford us an admirable view of what is called the island +of New York. Near Bloomingdale is a large and very well +conducted lunatic asylum, from the lofty roof of which we +enjoyed an inexpressibly beautiful, extensive, and interesting +prospect of the whole country. From this spot we +overlooked the East and North Rivers, the broad bend of +the latter, and its high banks towards Albany; to the north, +dark forests, with detached dwellings and country seats; +and, in all directions, luxuriant green thickets, towns, +villages, and handsome country-houses. At our feet, contrasting +with that rich and noble view, full of variety and +life, we looked down on the buildings and court-yards of the +hospital, in which we could observe the patients; while, in +another enclosed space, Virginian deer were sporting and +playing. This asylum is a very excellent establishment, +and contains a great number of patients: the physician resides +in the house, and was so good as to show us over it. +New York has many such useful institutions,—hospitals, +poorhouses, and houses of correction, in which latter the +young, who may still be reclaimed, are not mixed with +the old, hardened offenders, but are kept apart. There is +an asylum for the deaf and dumb, &c.</p> + +<p>Our returning from Bloomingdale, in the evening, was +extremely agreeable, the weather being delightful. In the +dark thickets and woods were swarms of fire-flies; and from +the marshes and pools came the croakings of the frogs, with +which we were not yet familiar; but we did not hear that of +the celebrated bull-frog.</p> + +<p>The most beautiful spots and environs of New York are +indebted for the attraction of their views, to the variety of the +waters surrounding the city: thus, for instance, at the end +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">60</a></span> +of the Broadway, is the Castle Garden, formerly a circular +fort, the walls of which are converted into a public walk. +From the wall itself is a fine prospect of the noble harbour, +the neighbouring city, the banks, the opposite coast, and the +broad river, where ships of every kind and of all nations +are coming and going. Another favourite place of resort +is the garden at Hoboken, the name of which indicates its +Dutch origin, for it is well known that the Dutch founded +the first considerable settlement in this place, numerous +traces of which still remain. <span class="opage">15</span> The communication with +Hoboken is by means of a steam-boat. The garden extends +along the banks of the Hudson, and the lofty trees and +thickets are pleasing and interesting to the stranger. The +tall hickory and other kinds of walnut trees had now their +fruit half grown. Storax trees (<i>Liquidambar styraciflua</i>), +with their maple-like leaves, grow very high and straight, +<i>Gleditschia triacanthos</i> and <i>inermis</i>, with wild vines, climbing +round them; and many other fine forest trees afford protection +against the heat of the summer. Many European +trees and shrubs, too, have been planted here. Thus we +saw a hedge of whitethorn, the growth of which, however, +was stunted by other wood. Many birds, whose notes were +unknown to us, were heard in these shades. On my first +visit to New York, I was interested by some collections of +natural history; for instance, two museums, one of which, +belonging to Mr. Peale, is, however, much inferior to that +of his brother at Philadelphia. Being anxious to see Philadelphia, +I hastened to set out for that city, and left New +York, where the cholera was daily spreading more and more.</p> + +<p>On the 16th, at six in the morning, I embarked on board +the Swan steam-boat, which was so crowded with passengers +that there was scarcely room to sit down. On our left we +had Staten Land; but we soon turned to the right, into the +river Raritan, on which New Brunswick is situated. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">61</a></span></p> + +<p>New Brunswick is a village, consisting of many straggling +streets, where all the passengers landed from the steam-boat, +and took their seats in stage-coaches, drawn by four horses, +which were standing ready to receive them. The heat was +great, the company very mixed, and I had the misfortune +to have noisy and disagreeable companions. A long hill, +with steep sides, which appears to consist of a reddish clay, +extends along the water-side to New Brunswick. On the +eminence above the town it was naked and rather sterile; +the road was bad, and we were roughly jolted as we drove +rapidly along. Meadows, fields of clover, rye, oats, and +maize succeeded each other in the vicinity of the habitations, +as well as plantations of European fruit trees, full of large +caterpillar's nests, but flourishing in the greatest luxuriance. +The beautiful red trumpet flower partly covered the sides of +the houses, about which Italian poplars and Babylonian +willows were frequently planted; the latter are often very +high and spreading. The cattle are partly without horns. +Sheep and swine were numerous.</p> + +<p>While we were changing horses at Kingston, negro and +other children offered milk, little cakes, and half-ripe fruit +for sale, of which a great deal was bought. Some German +peasants, lately arrived from Europe, who were welcomed +by their relations, previously settled in the country, completely +filled a couple of stages, and were not a little merry, +in their low German language, at which Americans laughed +heartily. From this place the country was rather woody. +Here and there were fine forests, the shade of which was +very refreshing in this hot weather. The growth of timber +was very fine. A pretty wild rose blossomed among the +bushes in the meadows. Oak, sassafras, walnut, chestnut, +plane, and tulip trees, displayed their luxuriant foliage of +various and often glossy green. The tulip trees, when young, +are distinguished by <span class="opage">16</span> their pyramidal shape and beautiful +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">62</a></span> +light green leaves; they were at this time covered with +their seed vessels, which were full-grown, but not ripe. The +branching phytolacea, and the thorn-apple with its large +white flowers, which were now open, as well as several +plants brought from Europe, grew in abundance by the road-side, +also species of sumach, partly entwined with wild vine; +and in the forest was underwood of <i>Rhododendron maximum</i>. +We passed rapidly through Prince Town, and arrived at +Trenton, on the Delaware, a straggling town, lying among +thickets, on the low banks of the river. A long, covered +wooden bridge led to the opposite bank of this broad river, +which was animated by ships and boats. Such colossal, +covered wooden bridges are very common in the United +States; and many travellers have already described the construction +of these useless masses of timber. From Trenton, +we hastened over a sandy tract to another place on the river, +opposite to which is Bordentown, and at a short distance +lay the steam-boat, Trenton, ready to convey us down the +river to Philadelphia. We descended the fine river Delaware, +the low, verdant banks of which are covered with many +towns, settlements, and country houses; here and there, +too, with forests of oaks, &c., and of a kind of pine (<i>pinus +rigida</i>).<a name="FNanchor_28" id="FNanchor_28" href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> After taking dinner, at which we were waited +on by negroes and mulattoes, we reached Philadelphia about +five or six o'clock.</p> + +<p>This city extends a great way along the right bank of the +Delaware, but has by no means so beautiful and striking an +effect as New York. It is large and regularly built; the long, +straight streets crossing each other at right angles. The +modern part of the city is handsome, consisting of lofty +brick buildings, ornamented in the English fashion; but the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">63</a></span> +older parts of Philadelphia consist of low, mean houses. It +is very judicious that, in hot weather, an agreeable shady +walk is formed by awnings spread before the houses, +and that the streets are well watered. The water-works are +at Fairmount, where there is a basin, from which pipes convey +the water to every part of the city.</p> + +<p>The streets which run at right angles to the Delaware +are called by the names of different kinds of trees—Mulberry +Street, Walnut Street, Chestnut Street, &c.: the +streets which cross them are numbered, First Street, Second +Street, Third Street, &c. Chestnut Street, without doubt +the finest, is full of life and traffic. A part of it has, in the +middle, a shady avenue of lime trees; and, besides, there are, +in many of the streets, rows of trees which do not yet afford +much shade. Splendid shops, in almost uninterrupted succession, +line the streets, and you find here all the manufactures +and produce of the other quarters of the globe. The +ancient, injudicious practice of having the churchyards in +the towns is still retained in America. They are filled with +great numbers of whitish monuments, of various forms, often +planted with high trees, and lie quite exposed to view, being +separated from the street only by an iron railing. Philadelphia +has a considerable number of public buildings, +especially many churches and meeting-houses of <span class="opage">17</span> different +religious denominations, most of which are extremely +plain brick buildings, without any external ornaments whatever. +This country has no history like the Old World, and +therefore we look in vain for the ancient Gothic cathedrals, +and those awe-inspiring monuments of past ages, from which +the traveller in Europe derives so much pleasure and instruction. +Besides the churches, the principal buildings +are the State House, where the independence of the country +was proclaimed on the 4th of July, 1776, the United States +Bank, the Bank of Pennsylvania, the Exchange, the University +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">64</a></span> +and the Medical College, the Mint, some hospitals, +the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, and many others, which it +would lead us too far to mention here.</p> + +<p>Philadelphia would make a more striking impression if +we could find a spot commanding a view of the whole; but +as it lies in the plain between the rivers Delaware and Schuylkill, +which unite five miles below the city, no such spot is to +be found.</p> + +<p>It is well known that this city was founded, in 1682, by +William Penn, a Quaker, who concluded, under an elm tree, +which recently fell down from age, a convention with the +Delaware Indians, the proprietors of the soil, by which +they ceded to him a tract of land. Philadelphia, literally +"the city of the brethren" (Quakers), contains people from +all the nations of Europe, especially Germans, French, and +English. In some parts of the city, German is almost exclusively +spoken. In the year 1834, the population consisted +of 80,406 whites, and 59,482 people of colour. I arrived in +Philadelphia at an unfavourable moment, for the cholera had +already manifested itself also in that city. Letters of introduction +from Europe procured me a kind reception in some +houses; but, on the other hand, I had not an opportunity +of becoming acquainted with several scientific gentlemen, +because, being physicians, they were now particularly engaged. +Professor Harlan, M. D., well known to the learned +world as an author, was of the number.<a name="FNanchor_29" id="FNanchor_29" href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> Mr. Krumbhaar, +a German, to whom I had letters, received me with much +kindness, and introduced me to many agreeable acquaintances. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">65</a></span> +He took me to the water-works at Fair Mount, one +of the most interesting spots near the city, which are indeed +worth seeing. The road led past the House of Correction, +where young offenders, who are still capable of being reclaimed, +are confined. On the bank of the river, there are +buildings in which large wheels set in motion the machinery +by which the water is raised to the reservoirs, on an eminence +about eighty feet high, whence the pipes are carried +to all parts of the city. The rocky eminence, from which +a fine, clear spring rises, is provided with stairs and balustrades, +and adorned with elegant pavilions, which command +a view of the water-works, and of the beautiful valley of the +Schuylkill. It is a favourite promenade, and daily resorted +to by numbers of persons, as they can have all kinds of +refreshments there. Beautiful plants, the catalpa, plantain, +&c., grow among the rocks with great luxuriance, being +watered by the springs. We crossed the great bridge over +the Schuylkill, to return to the city, where I made but a short +stay, because my fellow-travellers were still detained at New +York, waiting for our baggage from Boston. As <span class="opage">18</span> all the +roads were crowded with fugitives from New York, it was +not a favourable moment for travelling; I therefore resolved +on an excursion to Bordentown, in order to obtain some +little knowledge of the forests of New Jersey.</p> + +<p>I left Philadelphia, on board the Burlington steam-boat, +about noon, and arrived at Bordentown between four and +five o'clock. At this place are the estates of the Count de +Survilliers (Joseph Buonaparte), who had but lately sailed +for Europe.<a name="FNanchor_30" id="FNanchor_30" href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> The pleasant country house, in the fine park, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">66</a></span> +is about 300 paces from the village, near to the high road, +and near, also, to the iron railway from Amboy to Camden, +opposite to Philadelphia.<a name="FNanchor_31" id="FNanchor_31" href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> Workmen were employed in +making this road, in doing which, advantage was taken of +the hollow of the valley, so that the railway was much below +the common road, or the street of the town. I found some +interesting plants in the woods opposite the Count's park. +There were three or four kinds of oak, among which are the +<i>Quercus ferruginea</i>, with its large, peculiarly shaped leaves; +the white oak, the leaves of which are the most like the +European; also, varieties of walnut trees, chestnuts, and the +sassafras, a fine, tall tree, which was just then in blossom, +the leaves of which often vary in shape. The undergrowth +of this forest, in which pines were mixed with other trees, +consisted of <i>Rhododendron maximum</i> (Pennsylvania mountain +laurel) and kalmia, the latter of which, in the deep shade, +was already out of flower; but the former still had its large +bunches of beautiful white or pale red blossoms, and was +from ten to fifteen feet high. The stiff, laurel-like, dried +leaves of this fine plant covered the ground, and crackled +as we passed along, which reminded me of the Brazilian +forests, where this occurs in a much greater degree. On +open, uncultivated spots, the great mullein (<i>Verbascum +thapsus</i>), with its yellow flowers, and large, woolly leaves, +grew in great abundance, and likewise the phytolacea. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">67</a></span> +Among the thick blackberry bushes, entwined with vines, +by the road-side, I observed the little striped squirrel, which +doubtless climbs to get at the fruit.</p> + +<p>At ten o'clock, the heat was already so intense that I +returned to the inn, where I arrived very much fatigued. +This house is very pleasantly situated on an eminence above +the Delaware, at the place where the steam-boats arrive, +and from which there is a fine view of the arm of the river, +and the adjacent lowland, covered with woods and thickets. +A great ornament of this landscape is the white garden-pavilion +of Count Survilliers, which rises above the thick +groves on the left bank of the Delaware, above Bordentown. +In the cool of the evening I usually went to this park. The +house itself is a pretty building, on a lawn near the water-side, +where oleander and orange plants are placed. The park +is very shady, and extends along the Croswick Creek, towards +which the bank forms a steep, wildly wooded declivity. In +this wood there was likewise a thick undergrowth of <i>Rhododendron +maximum</i>, now in full blossom. On an eminence +immediately above the river, stands a kind of tower, several +stories high, upon a terrace, from the gallery of which is a +fine and extensive view over the low, wooded country, and +the arms of the river. From this place winding paths lead +through the gloomy forest of <span class="opage">19</span> pine trees, of different +varieties, where many birds, of kinds unknown to me, were +flying about. The cat bird (<i>Turdus felivox</i>, Vieill.), whose +voice has a slight resemblance to that of a cat, was very +numerous in this place. From the top of the wooded bank +a sort of bridge has been carried out, a great height above +the river, and a square place furnished with seats, from +which you overlook the whole country. An old Canadian +pine stands at the edge of the bank, some branches of which +we carried off, by way of memorial. The view from this +place is remarkably beautiful; to the right and left extends +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">68</a></span> +the river, or rather broad brook, which, at the feet of the +spectator, is covered with water plants. The yellow-blossomed +<i>Nymphæa adversus</i>, and the beautiful <i>Pontederia cordata</i> +grow here in great abundance. There was plenty of +occupation for the botanist and the ornithologist, and the +sportsman would have reason to be satisfied, for in the neighbouring +thickets there were deer (<i>Cervus virginianus</i>), and +hares (<i>Lepus Americanus</i>), which frequently crossed our +path.<a name="FNanchor_32" id="FNanchor_32" href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p> + +<p>On my return to Bordentown, I found before the door +of the inn a number of gentlemen lying in more than +easy positions on the benches; the chief subject of conversation +was the cholera, which filled the whole country with +terror.</p> + +<p>It was precisely the hottest part of summer, and it was +scarcely possible to protect one's self against the swarms of +European flies, which are very numerous. On this account +there are, in the inns, negroes and mulattoes, who attend at +table, and give the company rest from those troublesome +insects, and, at the same time, cool air, by fanning them with +fans, made of feathers, often those of the peacock. Fans are, +in fact, an article of luxury, and are purchased in the towns; +they are made of the tail feathers of the wild turkey, the crane, +or the swan, of palm leaves, &c. It was so hot in the daytime, +that it was hardly possible to leave the house; and the +cholera, therefore, spread rapidly in New York. In this +sultry season, the evenings were really refreshing, and gave +new life both to men and animals. When it became dusk, +luminous insects flew about, and the crickets chirped in notes +like those in Europe, but in more rapid succession.</p> + +<p>On the following day I visited other places and woods in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">69</a></span> +the vicinity of Bordentown. The town itself is built in the +country fashion, with regular, broad, unpaved streets or +roads, and the houses lie detached from each other, shaded +by rows of trees: this is very necessary, for now, at 10 +o'clock in the morning, Fahrenheit's thermometer, in the +cool passage of the inn, was at 73°. The avenues of trees +in the town consisted of robinia, paper-mulberry, large-leaved +poplars, which exude an aromatic gum, weeping willows, and +Syrian mallow, which latter grow to the height of ten +and even fifteen feet. These plants, with their beautiful +flowers, flourish here in much greater perfection than in +Germany. In the gardens we observed monarda (Oswego +tea), <span class="opage">20</span> the Indian cress (<i>tropæolum</i>), purple convolvulus, +buckthorn (<i>Lycum Europeum</i>), the climbing trumpet flower, +vine, catalpa, larkspur, &c.</p> + +<p>From Bordentown I sometimes passed beyond the iron +railroad, and penetrated into the neighbouring forest. Five +or six species of oak, several kinds of walnut trees, beeches, +chestnuts, and dogwood, formed the thick wood, the undergrowth +of which consisted of <i>Rhododendron maximum</i>, +kalmia, rhus, and tall juniper.</p> + +<p>On the 23rd of July I left Bordentown, and returned to +Philadelphia, as our baggage had not yet arrived from Boston. +I made use of this interval to examine the museum of Mr. +Titian Peale, which contains the best collection of natural +history in the United States. There is the fine large skeleton +of the Ohio elephant (<i>Mastodon, Cuv.</i>), and likewise most of +the animals of North America, pretty well stuffed. Among +them I noticed, especially, the bison, the bighorn or wild +sheep of the rocky mountains, the prairie antelope (<i>Antilocapra +Americana Ord.</i>), the elk (<i>Cervus major</i>, or <i>Canadensis</i>) +the grisly bear (<i>Ursus ferox</i>), and others. Mr. Peale, the +owner, accompanied the expedition under Major Long to the +Rocky Mountains, where he procured part of these specimens +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">70</a></span> +himself.<a name="FNanchor_33" id="FNanchor_33" href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> There are likewise many specimens of foreign +animals; for instance, a rhinoceros; and the collection of Indian +dresses, utensils, and arms, is, I think, the most important +that I have yet seen. I was particularly interested by +some oil paintings of Indian villages and scenery by Seymour. +This artist also accompanied Major Long's expedition. Mr. +Peale's collection deserves precedence above all the public +museums in the United States, for its more scientific arrangement, +and because fewer trifling nicknacks have been +admitted into it. Mr. Peale has also travelled in South +America, and his health was still suffering from his visit to +that country.</p> + +<p>As the study of the aboriginal nations of America had peculiar +attractions for me, I searched the shops of all the +booksellers and printsellers, for good representations of that +interesting race; but how much was I astonished, that I +could not find, in all the towns of this country, one good, +that is, characteristic representation of them, but only some +bad or very indifferent copper-plates, which are in books of +travels! It is incredible how much the original American +race is hated and neglected by the foreign usurpers. Only +a few eminent men, who have felt this reproach and defect, +are now exerting themselves to rescue from oblivion the +neglected materials, scarce as they now are, after it has become +next to impossible to collect anything complete respecting +the history of many exterminated Indian tribes. Messrs. +Morse, Smith Barton, Edwin James, Say, Duponceau, Schoolcraft, +Cass, Mc Kenney, and some others, are an honourable +exception in this respect. A fine work, with coloured lithographic +plates, was contemplated at Philadelphia, which +deserves encouragement; it was to give the history of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">71</a></span> +several Indian tribes, with portraits of their chiefs, for which +the Government was ready to furnish all the materials in its +possession. It seems that this important publication has at +length been carried into execution. +</p> + +<p><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></a></p> +<p class="chapter_start">CHAPTER III</p> + +<p class="center">RESIDENCE AT FREIBURG AND BETHLEHEM IN PENNSYLVANIA, FROM +JULY 30TH TO AUGUST 23RD</p> + +<p class="chapter_summ"> +View of the Country—Population of German Origin—Freiburg—Residence +there—The Rocky Valley—Excursions—The Colony +of the Moravian Brethren at Bethlehem—Residence there—Excursions. +</p> + +<p>All the members of our party had now joined, and, though +our baggage was not yet arrived from Boston, I resolved, +in order to make myself acquainted with the interior of Pennsylvania, +to take up my abode in the settlement of the Moravian +Brethren at Bethlehem. I had previously paid a visit +to the place, and found it very favourably situated for our +object. On the 30th of June [July], before daybreak, in the +finest weather and bright moonlight, we drove through the +long streets of Philadelphia, and passed the churchyards, +with their white, ghost-like monuments and tombstones. The +day broke when we got out of the city. On both sides of the +road were country houses, alternating with fields, enclosures, +gardens, and parks; and high trees of various kinds were +everywhere planted by the road-side. We passed through +Germantown, a scattered village, and, by eight o'clock, +arrived at Chestnut Hill, where the passengers usually breakfast. +The inn was rather uncleanly, and the coffee so bad, +that a portly Quaker in our company would not take this +beverage, of which he was otherwise very fond. At table +we were molested by innumerable European flies, though a +servant girl took great pains to drive them away, by waving +a large green bough over our heads.</p> + +<p>The whole country, as far as Bethlehem, and much farther, +is chiefly inhabited by the descendants of German emigrants, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">73</a></span> +who all speak an indifferent low German, and say that they +rather converse in German than in English. The appearance +of the country in this part is not particularly pleasing. +Fields of potatoes, clover, oats, and maize as high as a man, +alternate with meadows and little thickets, and all the fields +are surrounded with hedges or wooden fences. At Montgomeryville, +the horses are changed a second time, and the +road becomes more diversified. <span class="opage">22</span> The habitations of the +country people are generally small, often rather poor, frequently +composed of boards, covered with shingles; sometimes +they are merely great block-houses, like the cowkeeper's +cottage in Switzerland. These cottages are surrounded with +little gardens, in which there are various kinds of European +plants, such as the hollyhock, hibiscus, larkspur, balsam, &c. +The <i>Hibiscus Syriacus</i> was everywhere in blossom, in the +greatest beauty. I have never seen this fine plant so high +and vigorous, or its flowers so large and splendid, in Europe, +as here. They are of three varieties of colour—white, purple, +and bright pink, the latter by far the most beautiful. +In general, the trees and shrubs in this country are very +vigorous. The vegetative power increases the more you +advance towards the south, and the prodigious fertility of +the soil remains long unimpaired, even after it has been +stripped of its primeval forests.</p> + +<p>The country, as we advanced, was gradually more and +more wooded. We drove through fine young woods of +slender oaks, walnuts and chestnuts, ash, sassafras, beech, +tupelo (<i>Nyssa sylvatica</i>), and other tall trees, all, with the +exception of a single spot, without any underwood or young +trees, which is a proof that there is no intention of perpetuating +these woods for future use. In many parts they are on the +way to total destruction, for they contain neither timber fit +for felling, nor young plants; and if it is thought fit in future +to raise timber in these ruined forests, the country people +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">74</a></span> +must be checked in their love of destruction, and forest laws +and regulations introduced. It is fortunate for Pennsylvania +that the rich coal mines have been discovered. There was a +very agreeable succession of woods and meadows, and we saw +great numbers of the beautiful red-headed woodpecker, +which, when it spreads its wings, displays a large surface as +white as snow. It is often seen sitting on the fences where +the ground squirrel and the reddish squirrel, with dark lateral +stripes (<i>Sciurus Hudsonius</i>), frequently resort. The first, +in particular, is seen in great numbers about all these fences, +running backwards and forwards on them. The birds which +we particularly remarked were the robin, the blue bird, the +fox-coloured thrush, the goldfinch, the turtle-dove, &c. The +<i>Caprimulgus Virginianus</i>, which the Americans call the +night hawk, was flying about in a meadow in bright sunshine. +I have seen these birds everywhere, flying about in +numbers, in the daytime, like <i>Azaras Nacunda</i> in Brazil. +This species, too, shows, when on the wing, the white transverse +stripes which are observed in many species in that +country. Crows and blackbirds are common, but there are +very few birds of prey, which are far more numerous in +Brazil. The forests in this part of the country become more +lofty; the crowns of the trees spread wider, and afford a +thicker shade. Travelling by a road which runs alternately +through corn-fields, meadows, and agreeable eminences, we +arrived at Freiburg, a straggling village, almost wholly inhabited +by descendants of German emigrants. We stopped +here a couple of days, to make excursions in the forests, and +took up our quarters in a tolerably good country miller's +house, close to which a Jew had set up his store.</p> + +<p>On the 1st of August, conducted by my obliging neighbour, +the German Jew, and some <span class="opage">23</span> others of the inhabitants +of the neighbourhood, we made an excursion to the Rocky +Valley, which was represented to us as very well worth +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">75</a></span> +seeing. We proceeded through meadows and between fences +for about half a league, and often saw the large prairie lark +(<i>Alauda magna</i>, Linn.; <i>Sturnella</i>, Vieill.), which usually sits +on the ground, on the grass, or on the branch of a shrub, and, +when scared, often lights on the pines. Its song is short, and +not disagreeable. This handsome bird is shy of the sportsman, +and flies away betimes, when it may immediately be +recognized by its short, outspread tail, the side feathers of +which are white. Our path lay past isolated farm-houses, +most of the inhabitants of which spoke German, and we then +reached the forest, where we shot many fine birds. We next +passed by several lonely log or block-houses, before the doors +of which the children, many of them very poorly and dirtily +dressed, were at play, and seemed to be the only possession +of the inhabitants. The sky was overcast, and it rained, +while the weather was very warm, which obliged us to visit +the cool draw-wells of the peasants. From this place the +forest was more and more filled with blocks of primitive +rocks, mixed with hornblende and quartz, and these blocks +lay about irregularly, some of them very large, and covered +with various kinds of lichens. In this wild wooded spot, our +guides could not tell where they were, till a German peasant +showed us the rather hidden path, which could hardly be +distinguished among the many blocks of stone. The <i>Actæa +racemosa</i>, with its long spikes of white flowers, was growing +everywhere, four or five feet high, like the <i>Digitalis +purpurea</i>, in the mountain forests on the Rhine.</p> + +<p>The wood now became thicker, and fuller of brushwood. +We reached the bed of a stream, now dry, likewise quite +filled with blocks of stone, which we followed, leaping from +block to block, till we came in sight of the place called the +Rocky Valley. Here, on a gentle hill, is a free prospect +through the forest up the stream, where prodigious masses +of great blocks of stone were so piled up, one over another, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">76</a></span> +that a tract, from 150 to 200 paces in breadth, appears quite +covered with them, exactly like similar heaps of stone, especially +basalt, in Germany, some of which are found in the +countries on the Rhine, where they are called <i>beilsteine</i>. No +shrub or blade of grass can grow among these boulders, and +the rain, which continued to fall, made them so slippery that +it was dangerous to climb over them. No living creature +was to be seen in this wilderness, nor, as I said before, was +there any vegetation. These blocks seem to have been +accumulated and piled up by some impetuous torrent, and +it is said that, at the season of the year which is less hot +and dry, the sound of water running under the stones is +heard.</p> + +<p>From this place we returned to the habitation of the German +peasant who had showed us the way, where we refreshed +ourselves with brandy-and-water. The inmates of the house +were, in part, engaged, sitting under the shade of the trees, +in cutting shingles, which they sold. They were much astonished +at our double-barrelled guns, with percussion locks +and safety caps. There are now scarcely any wild animals +in these forests; hardly any but the grey fox, the <span class="opage">24</span> Pennsylvania +marmot (ground hog, or <i>wood chuck</i>), the grey and +the red squirrel, have escaped the love of destruction of the +invaders.</p> + +<p>On our return to Freiburg, I found our countryman, Dr. +Saynisch, of Bethlehem, whom I had previously met with. +He is a naturalist, and, being well acquainted with this part +of the country, was able to give me much interesting information +concerning it. He stopped a couple of days with +us, and we set out on a shooting excursion the same afternoon.</p> + +<p>On the 2nd of August, early in the morning, we left Freiburg, +in the most beautiful weather, and our host drove us +in his dearborn (such is the name given to a small covered +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">77</a></span> +vehicle), and two spirited horses, to Bethlehem, the road to +which afforded us much pleasure. The country is very agreeable: +meadows, corn-fields, habitations, and copses succeeded +each other on the side of low hills; and the fine valley, called, +by the inhabitants, Upper Sakena, is remarkably fertile. +The road was here and there shaded by large trees, and a +small pond was extremely interesting to us; for, besides +many curious birds, we saw tortoises everywhere on the +banks, and on old stumps in the water, which, however, +were very shy, and plunged below the surface as soon as we +approached them. In the sultry heat of noon, we reached +the Moravian settlement, Bethlehem, where we put up at a +German inn.<a name="FNanchor_34" id="FNanchor_34" href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p> + +<p>This settlement is built on the top and the side of a hill, +at the foot of which the Monocasa brook joins the Lecha +(Lehigh). The Lecha is celebrated for its picturesque valley, +which is at first wild and wooded, and lower down, fruitful +and well cultivated. At present, Bethlehem is no more than +a village, but it is rapidly increasing, and has already some +pretty considerable streets, which, however, are still unpaved. +The church is a large, neat, light building, quite +in the plain style of the German churches of this sect, and +gives the place a pretty appearance, being situated nearly at +the top of the hill. Another large building is the girls' school, +which has a shady garden, planted with timber trees, the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">78</a></span> +lower part of which is on the Monocasa, where flowers of +many kinds attract the little humming-birds. The lower +part of the village, consisting of but a few houses, one of +which is the inn where we lodged, and where there is a long +wooden bridge over the Lecha, is situated in Lehigh county; +and the large upper part, in the county of Northampton, +the boundary line of the two counties passing through the +place. Like all the settlements of the industrious brethren, +Bethlehem has a number of different trades, mechanics and +field-labourers. New settlers are continually arriving, and +it will, in time, become a place of importance. The inhabitants +are, for the most part, Germans; but there are likewise +many English, and divine service is performed in the +church in German and English alternately, and most of the +inhabitants speak both languages. The country about Bethlehem +is agreeable and diversified; the climate very healthy. +Large woods alternate in the vicinity with the fields of the +inhabitants, and a canal, from the coal district of Mauch +Chunk to the Delaware, gives animation and support to the +country by the numerous boats that navigate it. All kinds +of <span class="opage">25</span> European field and garden plants are cultivated here, +and likewise maize; they have even begun to plant vines; +but what is called the Alexander grape, yields a rather acid +beverage, which they usually sweeten with sugar. We were +told that much better wine is produced in the country about +Lancaster, in Pennsylvania, near York. Fruit does not +seem to thrive so well in the United States as in Europe: the +peach, however, may, perhaps, be excepted.</p> + +<p>I became acquainted with the directors of this colony: +Mr. V. Schweinitz, well known in the literary world as a +distinguished botanist, Mr. Anders the bishop,<a name="FNanchor_35" id="FNanchor_35" href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> and the Rev. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">79</a></span> +Mr. Seidel. All these gentlemen received me in a very +friendly manner, and Mr. Seidel, in particular, showed me +much kindness. Dr. Saynisch lived in the same house with +me, and I derived great benefit from his knowledge of the +country. Our whole time at Bethlehem was devoted to excursions +in the neighbouring country. Opposite the place, +on the other side of the Lecha, is a range of mountains, or +moderate hills, beautifully wooded, which afforded a great +variety of pleasant walks. The mountains are covered with +picturesque forests of oak, walnut, and other timber trees, +under which there is, generally, a thick covert of tall <i>Rhododendron +maximum</i>, which was still adorned with its magnificent +large tufts of flowers. In these dark shades we soon +learned to distinguish the notes of the different birds, among +which was the flame-coloured Baltimore bird, which we +recognized, at a distance, by its splendid plumage, when it +was flying to its remarkable pendent nest, of which we saw +several. The Lecha, the bottom of which was covered with +naked blocks and masses of stone, is adorned by picturesque +islands, some of them of considerable extent, to which +we made many interesting excursions. Numerous kinds of +aquatic plants grow in the water; and among these plants +we saw numbers of tortoises. Mr. Bodmer made a very +characteristic drawing of this wood and water scenery.<a name="FNanchor_36" id="FNanchor_36" href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> +When we had crossed the river, we landed on the island in +a dark, lofty, airy grove, where all the kinds of trees common +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">80</a></span> +in this country grow vigorously, and entirely exclude the +sun's rays. The ground is clothed with many fine plants: +the beautiful <i>Lobelia cardinalis</i>, which is common in all this +part of the country, was in blossom on the banks, as well +as many other plants.</p> + +<p>This beautiful forest was peopled by a great variety of +birds; besides those above-mentioned, we saw, in the crowns +of the highest trees, the bright red Tanagra, the black +and red Baltimore bird, the humming-bird, with reddish-brown +eyes; the greenish heron, and the ash-coloured kingfisher, +flew up from the stones on the bank. Whenever we +were overtaken by a shower of rain on these lovely islands, +we took shelter in the hollow trunks of old plane trees, of +which there is one capable of holding ten persons. In these +cool shades we did not much feel the heat of the summer, +but it was very oppressive in the town; at nine o'clock in the +evening the temperature of our apartment was 18° Reaumur +(72½° Fahrenheit), and there were frequent thunder-storms. +At noon the temperature in the cool passages of our house +was at 23° or 24° Reaumur (86° Fahrenheit).</p> + +<p><span class="opage">26</span> We made frequent excursions to these charming +islands; and Mr. Bodmer, who went thither every day to +complete his sketch of the forests, generally came back +laden with tortoises (<i>Emys odorata</i> and <i>picta</i>) and other +amphibia, or fresh water shells. This <i>Emys picta</i> is one of +the most beautiful kinds of this family in Pennsylvania: +there is certainly no country in which tortoises are so numerous, +and of such a variety of species, as North America.</p> + +<p>The banks of the Lehigh, chiefly covered with high woods, +differ from the more open banks of the Monocasa, where +extensive thickets of reed and reed mace (<i>Typha</i>) are the +abode of the beautiful red-shouldered Oriole. The little +shrub-like oak (<i>Quercus chincapin</i>) grows in abundance on +the hills that border this stream. We made other interesting +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">81</a></span> +visits to the wooded Lecha mountains, on the north or north-east +bank of that river, below Bethlehem. They are thickly +covered with high timber and much underwood, and from +their summits there is a fine prospect over the whole of the +surrounding hilly country. The chestnut trees have been +very much thinned in these forests, as the wood is highly +valued, not for fuel, as it is light and porous, but for fences, +because it is said to remain uninjured in the ground for +sixty years.</p> + +<p>The splendid bright red Tanagra was not uncommon in +these forests; but we now met with none that were quite red, +because the old males put on, towards autumn, the plain +olive-coloured plumage of the females. Many of these fine +birds had still bright red spots, which showed that they were +undergoing a change in their plumage. Only a couple of +species of the genus Tanagra, which are so numerous in the +Brazilian forests, are found in all North America; but the +manner and mode of living of these animals are everywhere +the same. They are quiet birds, not remarkable for their +song, but make up for this deficiency by the splendour of +their plumage. The small hare (<i>Lepus Americanus</i>) and +the grey squirrel were almost the only quadrupeds we +saw in these woods; but of the class of amphibia there +were many kinds. The larger wild animals have almost +wholly disappeared. All North America was formerly one +interminable forest, only there were what are called prairies +in the western parts beyond the Alleghany mountains; but +all Pennsylvania, a state comprising 44,500 square miles, +was a primeval forest, which was thinned in a short time by +the numerous settlers who flocked to this country. The +larger species of game disappeared in the same ratio; and +in the immediate vicinity of Bethlehem there are now not +even any deer. It was mentioned to me as a very rare occurrence, +that a bear had been seen here two years before, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">82</a></span> +and was immediately pursued, but in vain, by the hunters. +Some small animals still live in these forests, which, however, +are not to be found except at night; among these are the +opossum (<i>Didelphys Virginiana</i>) and the skunk (<i>Mephitis +Americana</i>). The first is not frequently met with in these +parts; the latter, on the contrary, is not uncommon.</p> + +<p>In order to catch the skunk, our hunters went by night to +the Lecha mountains, and searched the forest with hounds, +and almost always attained their object. The dogs killed +the animal by biting it, and were sometimes a little perfumed. +It has been reported that they <span class="opage">27</span> avoid the smell; but I +can testify that we did not meet with any confirmation whatever +of this statement. In fact, the stories told of the offensive +smell of this animal are rather exaggerated, for an European +polecat is often nothing behind the skunk in this +disagreeable quality. The hunters brought home a half-grown +skunk alive, and we kept it in a box in the garden, +where it was very tame and quiet, and never emitted the +slightest smell. We opened the box, and let it run about at +liberty. It is only when alarmed that the skunk is offensive +to the olfactory nerves. The hollow trees in these forests +were the abode of the pretty flying squirrel, which, however, +is not to be seen in the daytime. The banks of the river +are inhabited by the musk-rat, which is often seen swimming, +and is sometimes taken in the fishing nets.</p> + +<p>One of our usual walks, during our stay at Bethlehem, +was up or down the banks of the Mauch Chunk canal. This +canal is divided from the Lecha by a dam, on which grow +many fine plants, about which numbers of humming-birds +were fluttering. In my whole journey through North America, +I nowhere found these pretty birds so numerous as here. +They hummed about the yellow flowers of the broad-leaved +tree primrose (<i>Oenothera</i>), of the violet <i>Asclepias incarnata</i> +(swallow wort), of the <i>Impatiens fulva</i>, with its deep orange-coloured +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">83</a></span> +flowers, &c., and we shot many of these little creatures, +among ten of which we found, at the most, one male, +with deep red throat. The dam was bordered with stones +at the sides; and among them were numbers of the striped +ground squirrel. Tall thistles are the constant resort of the +goldfinches, which picked the woolly seeds from the flower +heads. At some mills, on an island near the road, there +was a grove of tall trees, the dark shades of which were +animated by many interesting birds, especially the beautiful +Baltimore bird and the flycatcher (<i>Muscicapa ruticilla</i>), +which is distinguished by the same colours, and is frequent +here. Under the old stems, and from the roots of the trees +on the bank, the great bull-frogs leaped into the water, however +softly and cautiously we approached. Their deep, +hollow note was not heard so much in this season, as in the +spring and the beginning of the summer. I nowhere saw +these frogs so numerous as here in Pennsylvania.</p> + +<p>Opposite to these hills, on the other bank of the Lecha, +was a wood of very tall, old trees, the airy, shady crowns of +which were inhabited by birds of more different kinds +than any other place in this neighbourhood. From that +wood we always returned loaded with booty. There, too, +we observed interesting butterflies, such as <i>Papileo turnus</i>, +the beautiful black and blue philenor, and other species. +The thick hedges near the houses were the resort of numerous +cat-birds. The fishing-hawk hovered over the river, +watching for prey, and we often saw the three-striped viper +(<i>Coluber sirtalis</i>) glide among the grass.</p> + +<p>To the north and north-west of Bethlehem the woods +consist of oaks without any underwood, the cattle having +their pasture there. All these interesting excursions greatly +increased our collections; and the Rev. Mr. Seidel, who had +a good library, and a taste for the study of Nature, had the +kindness to provide us with the necessary literary assistance. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">84</a></span> +We lived here <span class="opage">28</span> very agreeably in the society of well-informed +men and fellow-countrymen, and our residence at +the extremity of the place, close to the woods and fields, +afforded us the most favourable opportunity for our researches +and labours; and our landlord, Mr. Wöhler, from +Westphalia, did everything in his power to assist us in our +occupations. This, in some degree, indemnified me for the +deplorable loss of time occasioned by the delay in the arrival +of our baggage. I should have reached the Western States +long before, if I had not been obliged to wait for those indispensable +articles. During our stay here, we often saw +German emigrants arrive, almost all of whom were from +Würtemberg, Baden, or Rhenish Bavaria. In the most +lamentable condition, without money, without the slightest +knowledge of the country or the language, they were going to +meet their precarious fate. They were generally refused +admittance at the English inns, and then Wöhler, not without +considerable expense, took on him to forward them on their +journey.</p> + +<p>We received news from Philadelphia that the cholera had +rather abated; it had entirely spared Bethlehem and its +vicinity. The canal colliers gave me an opportunity of sending +my collections to New York, which I did in the beginning +of September. The Flora of the country had then produced +its white, yellow, or purple autumnal flowers; the golden +rod, sunflower, Eupatorium, and some kinds of Aster were +in blossom, and the white flowers of the <i>Clematis Virginiana</i>.</p> + +<p>The weather now remained very uniformly hot during the +whole of July and August, with occasional thunder-storms; +and if the summers in the United States are usually of this +temperature, as we were assured, they are more equally hot, +and for a longer time, than that season is in Germany. In +order to make myself acquainted with Nazareth, the other +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">85</a></span> +settlement of the Moravian brethren, I drove there in company +of the Rev. Mr. Seidel. It is ten miles from Bethlehem. +On the road to it lies Altoona, consisting of some scattered +habitations, and afterwards, on approaching the Monocasa, +Hecktown. Nazareth is a pleasant place, with some unpaved +streets, and has a gymnasium for the education of +young clergymen. All the masters are Germans, but their +instructions are given in the English language. The building +seems to be old, and not very spacious. From the roof +there is a fine, extensive prospect to the blue hills on the +banks of the Delaware, and to the verdant, wooded banks +of the Lecha. The gymnasium has a small cabinet of natural +history. The church is not so large as that at Bethlehem, +but can be easily warmed in the winter. A little beyond the +garden, which has many shady walks, is the churchyard, +where the flat, square tombstones, with short inscriptions, +lie in regular rows, near to each other. The names of the +brethren interred here show that most of them were Germans. +There is a very fine prospect from the higher part of this +churchyard. The greensward is here thickly covered with +European thyme. Nazareth has about 350 inhabitants, +and sixty youths in the gymnasium. There are in the place +a good inn, shops of various kinds, &c. Mr. Herrman,<a name="FNanchor_37" id="FNanchor_37" href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> the +present director of the establishment, had the kindness to +show us everything worthy of notice, and we had only to +regret that we could not enjoy longer the pleasure of his +company, as we were <span class="opage">29</span> obliged to return to Bethlehem +in the afternoon. Mr. Gebhard, from New York, who had +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">86</a></span> +surprised us by an unexpected visit, returned direct from +Nazareth to his own residence. The view of these Pennsylvanian +landscapes would be much more agreeable if the +numerous wooden fences did not give them a stiff, unnatural +character. Some idea may be formed of the number of +these fences from the fact that, in the short distance of ten +miles, persons going on foot, direct from Bethlehem to Nazareth, +have to climb over twenty-five of these fences. +</p> + +<p><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"></a></p> +<p class="chapter_start">CHAPTER IV</p> + +<p class="center">JOURNEY TO THE POKONO, AND THROUGH THE BLUE MOUNTAINS TO +MAUCH CHUNK, IN THE COAL DISTRICT, FROM THE +23RD TO THE 30TH OF AUGUST</p> + +<p class="chapter_summ"> +Easton on the Delaware—Morris Canal—View of the Blue Mountains—Delaware +Gap—Dutotsburg—Chestnut Hill—Sach's Public +house on the Pokono—Height of the Pokono—Long Pond—Tonkhanna +Creek—Tobihanna Creek—Inn of the Widow Sachs—Saw-mill +on the Tobihanna, with the Bear-trap—Stoddart's Ville +on the Lehigh—Shade Creek—Bear Creek—Extensive View of the +Mountains—Wilkesbarre in the Valley of Wyoming, or Susquehannah +Valley—Falls of Solomon Creek—Hanover Township—Neskopeck +Valley—German Settlers—Lausanne—Neskihone or Neskihoning +Valley—Picturesque Scenery on the Lehigh—Mauch +Chunk.</p> + +<p>In order to make ourselves acquainted with the interior +of Pennsylvania, and the Alleghany mountains, which are +the most interesting part of that state, we left Bethlehem +early in the morning, on the 23rd of August, in a light, +covered carriage, driven by our landlord, Wöhler, who was +well known in all this country. Dr. Saynisch and Mr. Bodmer +accompanied me. I left my huntsman behind to look +after our affairs at home. The country was enveloped in fog, +as had been generally the case for some time past, till the +sun dispelled it. We took the road to Easton, where the +fields were partly cleared, and covered with stubble, partly +planted with clover, maize, potatoes, and buckwheat, which +was just in flower. The ground was gently undulating, with +an alternation of fields, and woods of walnut and oak. This +country belongs to the secondary limestone formation; where-ever +the ground was broken up, limestone was seen, and in +the woods were several limekilns, the produce of which was +lying on the fields in large heaps, to be spread over them for +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">88</a></span> +manure. Isolated farm-houses are scattered along the road. +They are slightly built of wood, many of them very small; +but there are a great number of wealthy planters in this State. +The little gardens of these houses were generally planted +with European flowers, and on the road-side in the hedges, +the kermes-oak and juniper abounded, and their berries +attracted numbers of thrushes. Horses and horned cattle +are very numerous, and the first, which are often of a very +good breed, are left, day and night, at liberty in the meadow, +and little trouble is taken about them. <span class="opage">31</span> The peasants +are very bold in riding and driving, never use drags to their +wheels, but drive down the hills full trot. In the hot and +dry season, this country is often in want of water, and even +the cisterns made by the farmers then become dry, so that +the cattle must frequently be driven five or six miles to +water. This arid tract is called by the inhabitants, in their +German language, "das Trockene land," the dry land.</p> + +<p>We now saw, on our right hand, the heights on the banks +of the Lehigh, covered with verdant forests, which we were +again approaching. The double call of the <i>Perdix Virginiana +et Marylandica</i>, called, by the Americans, quail or +partridge, sounded in the clover fields; the ground squirrel +ran along the fences; the red-headed woodpecker flew from +tree to tree; and plants of various kinds, <i>Verbascum thapsus</i> +(great mullein), <i>Antirrhinum linaria</i> (the common toadflax), +<i>Phytolacea</i>, <i>Rhus typhinum</i> (Virginian sumach), <i>Eupatorium +purpureum</i>, golden rod, &c., grew by the road-side; the +dwelling houses were surrounded with large orchards, and +the apple trees were loaded with small yellow apples of an +indifferent kind, and immense caterpillars' nests covered +many of the branches. A great deal of cider is made, but the +culture of fruit seems to be, in general, in rather a backward +state. The cherry trees, too, were covered at this time with +their small, bad fruit, which, as in Europe, was eagerly +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">89</a></span> +sought after by numbers of birds. After travelling twelve +miles, we arrived at Easton, a small town with a population +of 2,000 inhabitants, the capital of Northampton county, +situated at the conflux of the Delaware and the Lehigh. We +alighted at the inn with many country people, and immediately +set out to take a walk in the town, while breakfast was +preparing. The streets of Easton cross each other at right +angles; they are not paved, excepting a footway on the sides, +paved with bricks; the largest of them runs with a gentle +declivity to the Delaware. In a square in the highest part +stands the Court-house. The buildings in the place are, in +general, only two stories high; and the most interesting spot +is the terrace, near the bridge over the Delaware. This +bridge is 600 English feet long, has three arches, is quite +closed, covered with a strong roof, and has fifteen glass +windows on each side; it is painted yellow, and the building +of it, like all similar undertakings in the United States, was +a private speculation, and brings in thirty per cent., a toll +being paid.</p> + +<p>We crossed this bridge, and walked down the river, till +we came opposite to the spot, immediately below the town, +where the Lehigh, issuing from its picturesque valley, between +the rocky hills covered with pines and other trees, falls into +the Delaware. Near to the former, on the same side, is the +mouth of the Mauch Chunk canal; and on the other side of +the Delaware begins the Morris canal, leading to New York.<a name="FNanchor_38" id="FNanchor_38" href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> +A great number of men were busily employed at this spot. +On the banks of the Delaware grew <i>Datura Tatula</i>, with its +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">90</a></span> +purple flowers, tall Virginian junipers, a verbena, and other +plants; and the three-striped viper darted through the low +bushes.</p> + +<p><span class="opage">32</span> Returning to the inn, we loaded our guns and proceeded +on our journey. As soon as we were out of the town, +we went up the Delaware on the right bank, and crossed a +bridge to Bushkill, a picturesque stream, flowing between +lofty shady trees, on banks richly covered with a variety of +plants. From this spot the way becomes extremely romantic +and agreeable. It leads close by the bright mirror of the +river, which may be full 200 paces broad, in the shade of the +dark forest of plane, oak, tulip, walnut, chestnut, and other +trees; and on the left hand rises the steep rocky wall, covered +with many interesting plants, which are protected by the +shade of the trees. The river soon becomes broader, and we +came to isolated habitations situated in shady groves. We +stopped at one of them to send a messenger, on horseback, +back to Bethlehem, where the drawing materials, of which +we had so much need, had been forgotten.</p> + +<p>The rocks often came so close to the bank of the river, +that there was scarcely room for two carriages to pass each +other: lofty forest trees afforded a welcome shade. In many +places the rock stood out. Dr. Saynisch struck off with his +hammer some fine pieces of saussurite (<i>Hornstone</i>), and talc, +with mica; but a slate formation soon succeeded, and we +were glad that we had taken good specimens of the preceding. +Continuing our way, in the shade, by the banks of the river, +we frequently came to other steep rocks, till the wilderness +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">91</a></span> +again gave way to human habitations, where we stopped at +the White House to water our horses and take some refreshment. +From this place the country was more diversified. +The road still runs by the side of the river, which was animated +by boats, and by numbers of ducks and geese. The +Mudrun creek here issues in a very picturesque manner, between +high trees, from a small side valley. A little farther +on, we left the Delaware to ascend some pretty high hills. +We proceeded along the side valley of Martin's creek, in +which there are some spots of marshy meadow, where the +splendid <i>Lobelia cardinalis</i>, which is usually found on the +banks of all these rivers, attracted the eye by its deep red +flowers. We then passed a naked lateral defile, where stubble, +and clover fields, and woods, which we saw at a distance, +reminded us of some parts of our own country. The road +led over the heights, alternately gently ascending and descending +till we came to the little village of Richmont, where +we watered our horses, which suffered from the great heat, +and ascended a considerable eminence, on which there is a +mean looking church, called Upper Mount Bethel. We +then proceeded through a more elevated plain, where, on the +left hand, in a north-west direction, is a near prospect of the +Blue Mountains, which form the first chain of the Alleghany.</p> + +<p>This first chain is said to be only 2,000 feet above the level +of the sea; but it extends here further than the eye can reach, +and is uniformly covered with verdant, primeval forests. It +runs in the direction from north to south, and has no characteristically +shaped peaks, or remarkable forms, so that there +is nothing picturesque in the total effect. With the exception +of some parts, especially the beautiful Catskill mountains, +most of the landscapes of North America are characterized +by this want of striking outlines, and this constitutes the +great difference between them and <span class="opage">33</span> the views in Brazil, +where the mountains and the outlines of the horizon are almost +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">92</a></span> +always marked by the most striking forms, as is usual +in primitive mountains.</p> + +<p>In the chain before us, we remarked an opening in a northerly +direction, where the Delaware breaks through; this +is called the Delaware Water Gap, or the Delaware Gap. +It is twenty-three miles from Bethlehem, and was the place +of our destination to-day. We were now two miles from it. +After passing the little town of Williamsburg, we saw before +us, almost in all directions, luxuriant verdant woods, and +eminences rising behind each other. As our horses hastened +to the valley, the height of the mountains seemed to increase. +At length the bright Delaware appeared before us, and we +soon reached its banks. The river here forms the boundary +of Warren County in New Jersey. On the opposite side we +perceived a large glasshouse, managed by Germans, called +Columbia Glasshouse, where many who have possessed it +have already become bankrupts.</p> + +<p>As we approached this defile, we observed a water-snake +swimming in the river, which suffered itself to be carried +down with the stream, but disappeared as soon as we approached. +We procured one on the following day, as they +are not uncommon here.</p> + +<p>We had now reached the mountain chain, which rose bold +and steep on both sides, and at every step became more and +more contracted. Just before the defile, or gap, is an inn, +behind which, at the distance of hardly a couple of hundred +paces, runs the steep rocky wall of grauwacke and clay slate, +here the predominant kind of rock. This high wall is +crowned on the summit with pines, and covered at the base +with various other trees, while the middle part is naked and +rugged. At the foot of the mountains are luxuriant fields +and meadows, in which the fine cattle were grazing. From +this spot the rocky wall approaches nearer and nearer to the +river, the banks of which, rude and desolate, are covered +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">93</a></span> +with many broken trunks of trees confusedly thrown together, +many of which were still lying in the water. This is the +effect of the rising of the river, and the breaking-up of the +ice in spring, which had caused more extensive damages in +the spring of 1832 than on any former occasion within the +memory of man. Where the banks of the river are flat and +sandy, thickets of young planes often supply the place of +the willows on the banks of our European rivers. The plane—called +by the German inhabitants water maple, or water +beech; by the Anglo-Americans, buttonwood, or sycamore—flourishes +particularly near the water, or in low, moist situations, +where it attains its colossal growth in perfection. +These young planes, on the bank, were almost entirely +stripped of their bark by the action of the water.</p> + +<p>The inn, Delaware Gap, is supposed to be 600 feet higher +than Philadelphia, and the steep wall of rock behind it is +elevated 600 or 700 feet above it. We might have stopped +here for the night, but, as it was early, we preferred passing +the Gap. The road now led immediately along the bank +of the river, and then obliquely upwards on the steep wooded +western rocky wall. The savage grandeur of the scenery +is very striking. The forest has underwood of <span class="opage">34</span> various +kinds, where numbers of interesting plants attracted our +attention. Picturesque rocks, over which water trickles, +covered with various coloured mosses, lichens, and beautiful +ferns, stand between the trunks of the trees, and form shady +nooks, caverns, seats; while all the forest trees of this country, +mixed with pines, particularly the hemlock spruce fir, and +the Weymouth pine, make a dark wilderness that inspires a +feeling of awe.</p> + +<p>The valley of the Gap leaves the river just room enough +to force its way between the steep walls of rock; and, if you +turn and look back in this interesting ravine, you see against +a steep-wooded height what is called the Indian ladder. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">94</a></span> +There are several islands in this part of the river, which are +partially stripped of their wood by the action of the current, +but some of them have pretty lofty trees on them. At the +distance of about a mile from the narrowest part of the Gap, +we reached a lonely house, where a man, six feet high, and +very corpulent, came to meet us; he was of German descent, +and his name was Dietrich. He would willingly have received +us for the night in his small public-house, but there +was no accommodation for our horses, and we therefore +proceeded on our journey. In a short time we reached an +eminence, at the turn of the rocky wall, where the solitary +dwelling of a Frenchman, named Dutot, is built on a steep +rock, high above the river. From this place the valley becomes +more open, and the mountains less steep as you recede +from the Delaware. A bad road leads over some eminences +to a large open place in the woods, forming a hollow, where +the poor little village, Dutotsburg, consisting of twelve or +thirteen scattered dwellings, is situated. Here we took up +our night's lodging in a tolerable public-house, which is also +the post-office for the stages, and is kept by a farmer named +Broadhead.</p> + +<p>We had scarcely taken a little rest, when a poor old man +entered, who was the first person that had settled in this +part of the country; his name was Dutot, and the village +was called after him. He was formerly a wealthy planter +in St. Domingo, and possessed 150 slaves; but, being obliged +to fly during the revolution, had purchased a considerable +piece of land here on the Delaware, and commenced building +Dutotsburg. He had previously lost part of his property +by the capture of ships, and his speculations here too seem +to have failed. The property melted away, and the last +remnant of his possessions was sold. He had built houses +and sold them, so that he might be called the founder of the +whole of Dutotsburg; yet, after all this, he is reduced to a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">95</a></span> +state of great poverty, and his situation excites the compassion +of travellers who pass that way.</p> + +<p>As the country about Delaware Gap was highly interesting +to me, we remained here on the following day, the +24th of August. We were early in motion, when the rising +sun beautifully illumined the mountains. Our guide, +Wöhler, had accompanied young Broadhead on a shooting +excursion in the woods; the rest of us went different ways, +each with his gun, till breakfast time. Near the village, a +small stream, the Cherry Creek, meandered through the +thickets and meadows, where numbers of birds came to +drink, while the report of the fowling-pieces of our sportsmen +<span class="opage">35</span> echoed from the neighbouring wood. After +our return, I accompanied old Dutot to see his house and +his family. He himself had nearly forgotten his native +language, and his family knew nothing of it. We found in +this house a delightful view into the ravine of the Delaware +below, and afterwards took the way to the romantic wild +tract which we passed through on the preceding evening. +Several plants were here pointed out to me, to the roots of +which the inhabitants of the country ascribe great medicinal +virtues; for instance, the snake root, perhaps <i>Aristolochia +serpentaria</i>, which is said immediately to stanch the most +violent bleeding of any wound; and, above all, the lion's +heart (<i>Prenanthes rubicunda</i>), which is commended as a +sovereign remedy against the bite of serpents. Old Dutot +related a number of successful cures which he had performed +with this root. This plant has a tall flower stem with +many flowers, and large arrow-shaped leaves; its root is +partly tuberous, partly long, pretty large, and branching, +of a reddish yellow colour, and contains a milky juice. It +is boiled with milk, and two table-spoonfuls are taken as +a dose. The swelling, caused by the bite of the reptile, is +said speedily to disappear, after chewing the root. The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">96</a></span> +Delaware Indians,<a name="FNanchor_39" id="FNanchor_39" href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> who formerly inhabited all Pennsylvania, +made this remedy known to an old man, from whom +it was inherited by the family of Dutot. The latter had himself +been among the Indians, and gave me some information +respecting them. They, as well as the river, were called +after an English nobleman, but they named themselves <i>Leni +Lenape</i>, that is, the aboriginal, or chief race of mankind, +and they called the river <i>Lenapewi-hittuck</i> (river of the +Lenape). They are the <i>Loups</i>, or <i>Abenaquis</i> of the French, +inhabited Pennsylvania, New Jersey, &c., and were formerly +a powerful tribe. A great part of them dwelt, subsequently, +on the White River, in Indiana, after they had been much +reduced by the whites; but, in 1818, they were compelled +to sell the whole of this tract of country also, to the Government +of the United States, and lands have been allotted to +them beyond the Mississippi, where some half-degenerate +remnants of them still live. They are said to have previously +dwelt between fifty and sixty years in the territory of the +present state of Ohio. They buried their dead in the islands +of the Delaware, which are now partly in possession of old +Dutot, but wholly uncultivated, and of little importance. +It is said that human bones are still constantly met with on +turning up the ground, and that, formerly, Indian corpses +were found buried in an upright position, which, however, +seems to be uncertain, and with them a quantity of arrow-heads +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">97</a></span> +and axes of flint; but all these things were disregarded +and thrown away, nor had Dutot anything remaining but a +thin, smoothly polished stone cylinder, with which those +Indians used to pound their maize. I was filled with +melancholy by the reflection that, in the whole of the extensive +state of Pennsylvania, there is not a trace remaining +of the aboriginal population. O! land of liberty!</p> + +<p>Our excursion was extended to the public-house situated +on the other side of the Delaware Gap, where we found a +live specimen of the red fox of this country (<i>Canis fulvus</i>, +Desm.), which we had not before met with. Loaded with +plants, and other interesting objects, we returned to <span class="opage">36</span> +Broadhead's house, where all the persons of our party successively +arrived, each with something interesting. Some +boys brought me the beautiful water-snake which we had +seen on the preceding day. Mr. Bodmer had taken a faithful +view of the Gap, near Dietrich's public-house.</p> + +<p>We left Broadhead's on the 25th of August, early in the +morning. The place which we wished to reach on this day +is called the Pokono, and is the most elevated point of the +first chain of the Alleghanys or Blue Mountains. Our road +led in a south-westerly direction, along Cherry Creek, through +a pleasant valley diversified with meadows, thickets, and +woods, and gradually ascending.</p> + +<p>As we rose higher and higher over gentle hills, we met a +disagreeable, raw, cold wind, and reached, on the elevated +plain, an isolated church, with a few habitations round it. +On our asking the name of the place, a person, pretty well +dressed, said, "he did not himself know the name of the +place; the clergyman, a German, came, about once in a +month, from Mount Bethel, to preach here."</p> + +<p>On reaching the top, we saw before us the highest ridge +of the Blue Mountains, the summit of which, as I have said, +is called Pokono, where an unbroken tract of dark forests +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">98</a></span> +covers the whole wilderness. We gradually advanced towards +a more bleak and elevated region, where pines and +firs more and more predominated. On an elevated plain we +were surrounded, as far as the eye could reach, with woods +or thickets of low oaks, from which numbers of slender, +half-dried, short-branched pines (<i>Pinus rigida</i>) shot up. +These pines originally formed the forest—the oaks, only +the underwood; but the former have, for the most part, +perished in the fires, with which the settlers have, in the most +unwarrantable manner, without any necessity whatever, +destroyed these primeval forests. On a part of the highland, +cleared of wood, through which the road passes, we saw a +row of new wooden houses, and at once perceived that timber +is the source of the subsistence of the inhabitants. Boards, +planks, shingles, everywhere lay about, and large quantities +are exported. Shops, where most of the common necessaries +of life were sold, had already been established in this new +settlement.</p> + +<p>From this place, called Chestnut Hill, from the abundance +of chestnut trees in the forests, the road declines a little, and +you see, on all sides, numerous saw mills, which prepare +for use the chief product of the country. The outside cuts +of the pine and firs were piled up in large stacks; scarcely +any use is made of them, and they may be bought for a +trifle. We had to pass five or six times the windings of Pokonbochko +Creek, the banks of which are agreeably bordered +with thickets of alder, birch, willow-leaved spiræa, and the +<i>Lobelia cardinalis</i>. A great number of skins of different +animals were hung up at the house of a tanner, such as grey +and red foxes, racoons, lynxes, &c., which led us to ask +what beasts of the chase were to be met with, and we learned +that deer and other large animals are still numerous. Rattlesnakes +abound in these parts; they showed us many of their +skins stuffed, and one very large one was hung up on the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">99</a></span> +<span class="opage">37</span> gable end of a house. Some persons eat these dangerous +serpents from a notion that, when dressed in a certain +manner, they are an effectual remedy against many diseases.</p> + +<p>We had here a foretaste of the wild scenery of North +America, which we might expect to find in perfection, in +uninterrupted primeval forests on the Pokono; we, therefore, +did not stop here, but hastened to the less inhabited, +more elevated, and wilder region, where the mixture of firs +in the forest already began to preponderate. We halted, +and took our dinner at an isolated public-house, kept by +a man of German origin, whose name is Meerwein. Forests +surrounded the verdant meadows about the house, in +which woodcocks were numerous. In a little excursion in +the forest I saw splendid bushes of <i>Rhododendron maximum</i>, +kalmia, Andromeda, <i>Rhodora canadensis</i>, <i>Ceanothus +vaccinum</i>; and in the shade of the first, <i>Orchis ciliata</i>, with +its beautiful orange-coloured flowers, which is found also +nearer to Bethlehem.</p> + +<p>The entertainment in this solitary house was pretty good +and reasonable; all the inmates, except one man, were Germans. +If we had stopped for the night, they would have +gone out for us with their guns, as deer and pheasants +abound in the forests. Having taken the opportunity of +forwarding our collections to Bethlehem by the stage which +passed the house, we proceeded on our journey. From this +place the road continues to ascend, traversing a fine thick +wood, frequently crossing the stream. An undergrowth of +scrub oak and chestnut is spread uniformly, and without +interruption, over the whole country, the pines, as already +mentioned, rising above it, most of which have suffered by +fire; for in the dry season these woods have often been destroyed +by extensive conflagrations, which have generally +been caused by the negligence of the wood-cutters and +hunters. Even now, clouds of smoke rose at a distance, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">100</a></span> +and announced a fire in this great lonely wilderness. The +high road is here carried directly through the forest; it is, +for the most part, laid with wood, covered with earth, which +requires carriages with good springs.</p> + +<p>When you have nearly reached the most elevated part +of this wilderness, and look back, you have a grand prospect. +Lofty ridges rise one above another in a narrow valley, +all covered with dark forests, and, on the right and left, +high walls of rock close the valley. We soon reached the +highest summit of the Pokono, or second chain of the Blue +Mountains, which, as I have said, forms the most easterly +of the Alleghanys.</p> + +<p>Mr. Moser, a young botanist, had accompanied us from +Bethlehem, and I undertook with him an excursion to a +neighbouring lake on the top of the Pokono, while Dr. Saynisch +prepared the birds that had been killed, and our other +hunters went out to look for stags and woodhens.</p> + +<p>We proceeded about half an hour along the high road, +when we perceived the summit of the Pokono, and then turned +to the right towards an old decayed cottage, where oxen +were grazing among the thick bushes, and followed a scarcely +perceptible path through the wilderness. We crossed a +valley, with thickets and scorched pines rising above them, +where the ground was covered with various kinds of plants. +An old path led us half a league over an eminence; after +which we <span class="opage">38</span> found a valley, where the lake, called Long +Pond, is situated, surrounded by low reeds and rushes, +among pine woods and various interesting shrubs. On the +narrow lake we found a small boat, in which Mr. Moser +pushed about to botanize. He procured in this manner the +pretty blue flowering <i>Pontederia lanceolata</i>, a red flowering +<i>utricularia</i>, <i>nymphæa</i>, &c. Though this wilderness was +perfectly lonely, we did not see any water-fowl, and, in fact, +very little animal life, so that the botanist finds much more +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">101</a></span> +employment than the zoologist. The lake is about a mile +long, has but little open or clear water, and receives its supply +from the Tonkhanna Brook. When Mr. Moser reached +the bank again, he called to me that he was very near a +rattlesnake, the rattle of which he had distinctly heard; but, +though we looked diligently, we could not find the animal +which we had long wished to possess, because the ground +was so thickly overgrown with plants. One of the sons of +Mr. Sachs, our landlord, had been lately bitten by a rattlesnake +while fishing, and they affirmed that he was soon +cured by tea made of the bark of the white ash, which is +said to be an infallible antidote to the bite of serpents.</p> + +<p>At noon, while we were all taking some repose, we were +suddenly alarmed. A mink, or minx (<i>Mustela vison</i>), a +small beast of prey, resembling the European lesser otter, +had had the boldness to attack, in broad daylight, the poultry +that were about the house, and was shot. Our hunters had +had no success, a single pheasant being all they had procured.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon Mr. Bodmer joined us, having been +driven hither by Broadhead. We immediately went out to +look in the neighbourhood of the Sand springs<a name="FNanchor_40" id="FNanchor_40" href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> for a bear-trap, +with an iron plate fastened to a chain, which was +carefully covered up and concealed. Mr. Moser, who +thought he could find the place, led us astray, but we amused +ourselves with the interesting vegetation.</p> + +<p>We made but little addition to our ornithological collections, +scarcely anything having been killed but the whip-poor-will +(<i>Caprimulgus Virginianus</i>), which is very numerous +in all these forests. Day had scarcely dawned on the +17th of August, when our whole company was in motion +to go seven miles to the house of another Sachs (a near relation +of our host), whose widow lived there. For about a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">102</a></span> +mile the wood retains the same character, the firs then attain +a greater height, and are closer together. The wood had +been cleared around some houses, and <i>Phytolacea</i>, <i>Verbascum</i>, +and <i>Rhus typhinum</i>, which occupy all the uncultivated +spots in Pennsylvania, immediately sprang up. The small +habitations were built entirely of wood, and generally painted +a reddish brown. In some places we observed traces of fire: +the low scrub oaks were scorched and black, and were putting +forth shoots from the stumps and roots. At times we +had an extensive view of the mountains, uniformly clothed +with dark pine forests, everywhere high tops and ridges, and +all around black woods. The Canadian and the Virginian +pine were high and close together, especially in the valleys. +The soil in this part is not very fertile, and requires to be +well manured. All is forest and wilderness, and bears, deer, +and other wild animals abound. <span class="opage">39</span> The Tonkhanna +meanders picturesquely between thickets, and the <i>Lobelia +cardinalis</i> was in blossom on its banks. Bull-frogs appeared +here, as on the banks of the Lehigh at Bethlehem, and the +same species of butterflies as are found there. Not far from +this place we came to a second very romantic brook, the +Tobihanna, over which a short, covered bridge is thrown, +and about 300 paces further, reached the lonely habitation +of the Widow Sachs, in a desert spot without wood, where +we were to pass the night.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Sachs gave us tolerable quarters, and I immediately +sent for the most expert hunters of the neighbourhood, in +order, if possible, to procure a bear or a stag. Three or +four men came who were ready to go for a remuneration. +One of them had but a few days before, met with two bears +and their young, among the bilberry bushes, and shot two +of them. I obtained from him a fine large skin of one of +them, and several interesting stags' horns.</p> + +<p>The part of the country in which we now were was so +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">103</a></span> +lonely, wild, and grand, that we immediately took our fowling-pieces +to ramble about. The Tobihanna,<a name="FNanchor_41" id="FNanchor_41" href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> over which is +the above-mentioned bridge, thirty or forty paces in length,<a name="FNanchor_42" id="FNanchor_42" href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> +is a pretty considerable stream, and the surrounding scenery +is extremely picturesque. It is enclosed in rather high banks, +overhung with fine, dark, primeval forests of Canadian pine +trees, here called spruce fir, mixed with isolated trees of +various kinds, and with a very close underwood of colossal +<i>Rhododendron maximum</i>, thicker than a man's arm,<a name="FNanchor_43" id="FNanchor_43" href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> whose +dense masses of foliage, with their dark green, laurel-like +leaves hang down over the water, and are often mixed with +the beautiful <i>Kalmia latifolia</i>. Even now, the appearance +of this dark thicket on the bank was magnificent; how much +more beautiful must it be when in blossom! The black +forest of gigantic firs, crowded together, rises in awful gloom, +here and there relieved by the light green foliage of other +trees. These majestic pine forests have hitherto been visited +by only a few settlers, and have escaped the great conflagrations +which have deprived the skirts of these wooded mountains +of part of their lofty stems. We were charmed with +this North American wilderness, where Nature is, indeed, +less vigorous, and poorer than in the hot climates, but still +has a striking, though very different character of solemn +and sublime grandeur. Mr. Bodmer immediately chose a +place to sketch the above-mentioned beautiful brook, while +the rest of our party strolled through the forest. Old decayed +trees, often singularly hollowed, and roots of firs +covered with moss, spreading over the surface in all directions, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">104</a></span> +hindered us from penetrating far into this wilderness. +A dark, damp shade received us here in the heat of the day, +and the three-striped viper, of which there are <span class="opage">40</span> numbers +under the old, decayed trunks, frequently fled as we advanced. +Rattlesnakes are said to be less common than in +the parts which we had before visited. Birds were not numerous +in the deep recesses of these forests; only the hammering +of the woodpeckers resounded in the awful wilderness. +In places where there was much underwood, very thick stems +of <i>rhododendron</i>, often from ten to twenty feet high, formed +an intricate, impenetrable thicket. It was now perfectly +dark, and we found the most beautiful natural arbours. +The <i>Kalmia latifolia</i>, too, grew to the height of eight or ten +feet. This country was so wild and attractive that I resolved +to stop another day. To the north-east of the solitary dwelling +of the Widow Sachs, was a fine beech forest, among the +underwood of which pheasants were pretty numerous. We +procured some of them, but I could not yet succeed in obtaining +a stag or a bear.</p> + +<p>On the 28th of August we undertook an excursion to see +the bear-trap, in which one of those animals had been caught +two or three days before. The man who owned this trap +lived on the road between Tonkhanna and the Tobihanna, +both of which flow into the Lehigh. He had appointed his +house for our rendezvous, where we saw the skin of the bear, +lately taken, nailed up against the gable end to dry. The +saw-mill of our bear-catcher lay in a rude valley, to the +south-west of the road. We came to this saw-mill, in a solitary +valley, on the Tonkhanna, which rushes, roaring and +foaming over rocks covered with black moss, between old +broken pines, in a true primeval wilderness. In this retreat +for bears, prickly smilax, brambles, and other thorny plants, +tear the strongest hunting dress, and leather alone resists +these enemies. At every step we had to clamber over fallen +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">105</a></span> +trunks of trees, to the injury of our shins, which were almost +always bleeding. We found our guide, who, though +it poured of rain, took his rifle, and went before, to lead +us to the bear-trap.</p> + +<p>The trap was in a place rather bare of thick stems, between +young pines, and made of large logs, in such a manner +that a young bear might be taken alive in it. It consisted +of two round stems lying flat on the ground, between which +two others, which are supported by a prop, are made to fit, +and fall down when the prop is touched.<a name="FNanchor_44" id="FNanchor_44" href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> <i>a</i> is the base on +which the two logs, <i>b</i>, rest; <i>c</i>, the two suspended logs, which +fall as soon as the bear touches the bait, fixed in <i>e</i>, at the +lower end of the rack <i>f</i>. The pole <span class="smcap">A</span>, <span class="smcap">A</span>, which is set in the +rack <i>f</i>, rests in front on the prop <i>g</i>, and supports in <i>h</i>, by +means of a withe, the logs <i>c</i>, <i>c</i>, <i>c</i>, <i>c</i>. When the bear touches +the bait, the rack <i>f</i> moves, the pole <span class="smcap">A</span>, <span class="smcap">A</span>, becomes free, and +lets the logs <i>c</i>, <i>c</i>, <i>c</i>, <i>c</i>, fall, which catch or kill the animal. The +whole is covered with green fir boughs when the trap is set, +and all the parts must have their bark on. The bear caught +here, some days before, was about a year old, so that there +was room for him between the logs; and as he was not large, +and had entered the trap in front and not from the side, +his life was prolonged a little. He was shot in the trap, and +his head used as a bait; we took the head away with us, +and the owner of the trap substituted a piece of the animal's +lungs in its stead.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo107" id="illo107"></a> +<img src="images/illo_108.jpg" width="515" height="271" alt="Bear-trap" /> +<p class="caption">Bear-trap</p> +<a href="images/illo_108lg.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p>After a hasty sketch had been made of the bear-trap, we +set out on our return; I very much regretted leaving the +magnificent wilderness. On the way we found a fine viburnum, +with large reddish leaves, and the <i>Oxalis acetosella</i>, +which grew in abundance among the moss and decaying +trunks of trees. The loud hammering of the woodpeckers +resounded in this forest, and we shot the great spotted woodpecker +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">106</a></span> +of this country, which very much resembles our <i>Picus +major</i>; for dinner we had bear's flesh, which we thought +resembled mutton.</p> + +<p>When I returned to the house of Sachs, I found the +hunters, whom I had hired, in no little confusion. One +of them, in particular, after receiving his wages for the first +day, had remained in the public-house the whole night and +the following morning. Stretched at length on a table, he +had slept off the effects of his drunken fit, talked big, and +found here a willing audience, a number of drinkers of +whisky being collected in this place. Brandy drinking is far +more common among the lower classes in America than +with us; and here, on the Pokono, this bad habit was peculiarly +prevalent among the country people. Not far from +Tobihanna Creek there was a small wooden house, ten or +twelve feet square, with a little iron stove (see the view of +the Tobihanna Bridge), in which a school was kept. The +stalls for cattle, swine, and sheep, are, for the most part, +cages, the bars of which being pretty wide apart, the cold +winter wind blows freely through them; nay, many of them +had half fallen to pieces. The swine, which ran about in +great numbers, had a triangular yoke round their necks +to hinder them from getting through the fences. In all this +part of the country, garden vegetables are raised in beds, or +rather boxes, filled with mould, elevated on four posts. The +seeds are sown in these boxes, and the young plants not +transplanted till they have acquired a certain growth, +otherwise they would be destroyed by the insects. Maple +sugar is not made here, because the tree does not grow in +sufficient abundance. The <span class="opage">42</span> chief occupation of the settlers, +in this part, is the making of shingles, which are manufactured +from the Weymouth pine. We were assured, that +these peasants steal the greater part of the wood for their +shingles, in the forests belonging to greater landowners, +<a name="Page_107" id="Page_107"></a> +<a name="Page_108" id="Page_108"></a> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">109</a></span> +who live at a distance, and have no keepers to protect their +property. One workman can make in a day 300 or 400 +shingles, which are sold on the spot for half-a-dollar per 100. +They are sent to all the neighbouring country, in large wagons +drawn by four horses. At Bethlehem, forty-two miles from +Pokono, the best shingles were sold, at that time, for eleven +dollars per 1,000. These shingles are of two kinds; the +German, made by Germans, who first manufactured them +in this way, which are considered to be the best, and the +English; the former are equally thick at both edges, the +latter thicker at one side than the other. Many persons, +whose horses are not otherwise employed, come here and +fetch shingles.</p> + +<p>On the 29th of August we continued our journey through +forests that extended, without interruption, on all sides. +After crossing a bridge over the little brook called Two-miles-run, +we came to an open spot in the forest, where the great +village of Stoddartsville is built on the Lehigh, which at +this place is still an inconsiderable stream. The environs +of the place are still wild. Stumps of trees, cut or sawed +off two or three feet from the ground, were everywhere seen, +and this newly-cleared spot was still covered with wild plants. +As you come down the hill, you look directly into the street +of the place, to which some neat and pretty houses give a +very striking effect in this wilderness. We continued our +journey over wooded eminences, where bears and stags are +said to be still numerous. Having passed Bear Creek and +Ten-miles-run Creek, we soon reached the Pokono, or highest +summit of the Blue Mountains, and began gradually to +descend. In the forests through which we now passed, +the firs began to give way to other timber trees, and the +woods are again more burnt and ruined, frequently consisting +only of shoots from the stumps of oaks, chestnuts, maples, +and sassafras trees, with single pines everywhere rising above +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">110</a></span> +them, as the palms in Brazil do, above the lower <i>Dicotyledones</i>.</p> + +<p>On one of the next eminences, we came to another lofty +point, whence we had the most extensive view, backwards +and forwards, that we had yet enjoyed in these mountains. +Towards the north-west lies the beautiful valley of Wyoming, +through which the Susquehannah flows; and backwards, in +the opposite direction, a rude prospect of wood and mountain, +where peak rises above peak, and the eye ranges over +an uninterrupted extent of immense forests. It is said to +have been ascertained, by actual measurement, that this +spot is 1,050 feet above the level of the Atlantic. Unfortunately, +our time would not allow us to take a drawing of +this grand prospect. From this place we began to descend +into the valley of the Susquehannah, where the woods assume +a more cheerful character, the firs being soon entirely succeeded +by the oak, chestnut, and other timber trees. The +road resembles an avenue, overshadowed by lofty oaks, tulip, +chestnut, walnut, beech, hornbeam, birch, maple, elm, nyssa, +and other trees, growing very close <span class="opage">43</span> together. Here we +already see the formation of the conglomerate—the precursor +of the coal district, which we now enter. When we +had descended rather more than half way down the declivity +of the mountain, we were taken about 200 paces to the +right of the road, to be surprised by the beautiful prospect +of the valley of Wyoming, or the Susquehannah. A group +of rocks of conglomerate rises, isolated in the forest, and, +on ascending it, you have a magnificent view. The broad +and extensive valley, covered with towns and detached +houses, alternates agreeably with forests and fields; the river +flows through its whole length, and at our feet lay the pretty +town of Wilkesbarre, the streets of which we could overlook. +It is manifest, at a glance, that the whole of the valley was +formerly covered with a thick primeval forest, for strips of +wood everywhere traverse the fields. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">111</a></span></p> + +<p>Proceeding on our journey we came to a solitary public-house, +where we met with a rattlesnake. I bought it, and +it was put into brandy, as a live creature of this kind is not +the most agreeable travelling companion. This snake had +been kept three weeks in a box, and had not taken any +nourishment whatever, so that it moved its rattle but faintly +when it was irritated. As it was a very large and handsome +specimen, I paid two dollars and a half for it. The landlady, +a very corpulent personage, was in a very light morning +dress when she concluded the bargain with me, and not +being able to give me change, she immediately threw on +her Sunday clothes, to follow our carriage on foot, and settle +the account at Wilkesbarre. Her head was adorned with a +large fashionable straw hat; she had a silk gown, and a silk +parasol, which she might very well have spared, protected +her tanned face from the sun. It was remarkable that, +heavy as she was, she reached the town as soon as we did, +though we had half a league to go. Wilkesbarre, in Lucerne +county, is a place with about 1,200 inhabitants, with three +churches, a court-house, a bank, &c.<a name="FNanchor_45" id="FNanchor_45" href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> The streets are pretty +regular, and the buildings separated by gardens and intermediate +spaces. The place has its singular name from the first +settlers, who were called Wilkes and Barre. The population +consists of handicraftsmen, field labourers, storekeepers, +and merchants; and several of the inhabitants are interested +in the important coal mines, situated to the west of the +road which we had taken. This bed of coals is said to extend +fourteen miles along the slope of the valley of the Susquehannah, +and then to continue over other eminences, of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">112</a></span> +which there will be occasion to speak in the sequel. For +the purpose of conveying the coals by water, a canal has been +dug, which was not quite completed, and which is to form +a communication between the coal mines and the Susquehannah. +On the other side of the river the great Pennsylvania +canal is already finished, which connects Pennsylvania +with Maryland by means of the Susquehannah.<a name="FNanchor_46" id="FNanchor_46" href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> This last +canal, which is divided into several parts, will be continued +to Baltimore, the chief seaport, but it is not yet quite completed. +Pennsylvania is already intersected by numerous +canals, which connect the rivers, and are of the highest +importance by the facilities they afford to inland trade.</p> + +<p><span class="opage">44</span> The inn at which we put up at Wilkesbarre was kept +by a German, named Christ, who recommended to our notice +some interesting points in the environs; and we, therefore, +did not take the usual road at the bottom of the valley, but +soon turned aside from the Susquehannah, into a wild, lateral +valley, in which there are fine waterfalls. At less than a +league from Wilkesbarre, we reached, at the foot of the mountain, +a wild, thickly-wooded ravine, where we soon heard +the roaring of Solomon Creek. Near a mill, the owner of +which is General Ross,<a name="FNanchor_47" id="FNanchor_47" href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> this stream forms some highly +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">113</a></span> +picturesque cascades over smooth, perpendicular black rocks, +covered with moss, forming a basin below, in a thick forest +of pine and other timber. There are two cascades, one +above the other, of which the second is the largest; then +comes the last and highest, where the water, conducted from +the mill directly across the ravine, falls perpendicularly, +about the height of a house, over a steep rock. It was, unfortunately, +too late, when we arrived, to make a drawing +of this interesting scene. We asked for accommodation for +the night in the mill, which is a roomy house; but our countryman +(this man's mother was born in Germany) could +not, or would not, receive us. They gave us some of the +water of the stream to drink, which had a strong taste of +iron and sulphur. As it was not possible to find a lodging +in the neighbourhood, we were advised to proceed three +miles to the top of the mountain, which we, indeed, accomplished, +but had nearly had reason to repent of our +resolution.</p> + +<p>The road ascends on the left rocky bank of Solomon Creek, +in a thick forest, over rough ground, so that we constantly +had the steep precipice on the right hand. There was no +room for two carriages to pass; luckily, carriages are rare in +this remote wilderness. As we had been told that there was +abundance of wild animals, we loaded our fowling-pieces +with ball. We now turned to ascend in a wooded defile, +where a couple of solitary miserable dwellings, built of trunks +of trees, scarcely left room for a small field or a little garden +overgrown with weeds. While the road became more and +more rude, and obstructed by the vegetation, twilight set in, +and it was only with the greatest efforts that our horses could +draw the carriages among rocks and fallen trunks of trees, +and nothing but the greatest care prevented them from being +overturned. We met several peasants, with their axes and +guns, returning from their work in the woods: they were +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">114</a></span> +robust, savage-looking, powerful men, whose sudden appearance +in such a lonely spot might elsewhere have excited suspicion. +There are no robbers in these parts; at least, I +never heard of any, but it must be owned that the place is +extremely well suited to them. The beautiful cardinal flower +(<i>Lobelia cardinalis</i>) grew in such abundance in the swampy +parts of the wood, as to form a fine red carpet. The <i>Chelone +obliqua</i>, with its white flowers, was likewise very common.</p> + +<p>At length the moon rose bright and clear to relieve us from +our unpleasant situation, and cheered by her friendly beams +the gloomy path of the wanderer. When we reached the +summit the road divided into two branches, of which we +were so lucky as to choose the right one. At <span class="opage">45</span> length, +about nine in the evening, we had the pleasure of seeing a +light; and a lonely house, in an open spot, lay before us. On +our knocking, the door was slowly opened. We entered a +poor hut, where two women—one an elderly person, the +other younger—were sitting by the fireside. The master of +the house, whose name was Wright, was not at home. The +two women were very tall, and were smoking, quite at their +ease, small clay pipes. They were not a little surprised at +so late a visit, but soon stirred up the fire, and set on water. +Our frugal supper, consisting of coffee and potatoes, was +soon finished, and we lay down in our clothes on tolerable +beds, placed in a large unfurnished room, which in this +country are almost always made for two persons. This house +belongs to Hanover township; the settlement itself had not +yet any name. Only English was spoken here. Not far +from the house the Wapalpi Creek ran through the thickets +towards the ravine.</p> + +<p>The night was soon passed, and at six in the morning we +proceeded on our journey. In order to take a view of the +Falls of Solomon Creek, Mr. Bodmer left us, and returned +to the mill, with the intention of joining us again at Bethlehem, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">115</a></span> +by taking another road. John Wright, brother to +our host, lived three miles off, in a little rude valley, where +we intended to breakfast. Some men, who were going to +hay-making, with their guns and dogs, met us. The inhabitants +of these woods generally take their guns when they go +to their work, as they frequently have opportunities of killing +some large game. They have powerful dogs, resembling +our German bloodhounds, brown or black, with red marks; +or striped like the wolf, and sometimes, but seldom, their +ears are cropped. These dogs are used in chasing the bear +or the stag.</p> + +<p>In a romantic wooded valley we reached the solitary dwelling +of John Wright, where we halted. The mistress of the +house, who, with a little boy, was alone at home, gave us a +very friendly reception, and prepared us a breakfast with +coffee; all very clean and good for this retired spot. In the +course of conversation we learned that she was of German +descent, and born at Tomaqua.<a name="FNanchor_48" id="FNanchor_48" href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> She lived here in a +pretty roomy log-house, with a chimney and iron stove; yet +she said that in winter it was often very cold in the room, +the walls of which were, indeed, not quite air-tight. In many +rooms in these mountains we found two iron stoves. Leaving +these scattered dwellings of Hanover township, we +reached, in five hours, the Nescopeck Valley, eleven miles +from our last night's quarters, the road to which is bad, little +frequented, and in part stony, gently ascending and descending, +and passing through ruined forests, such as have already +been described. In some places the wood is thicker, in others +the sides of the mountains had been quite cleared, and were +covered with young shoots and some higher trees; small +streams, here called runs, flow in the defiles and valleys; the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">116</a></span> +bridges of beams over which were, for the most part, so +rotten, <span class="opage">46</span> and in such bad condition, that horses and carriages +could not pass without danger. We saw no human +beings or dwellings on this road, nor any animals except +some small birds and frogs. After this rather monotonous +journey, we were glad to descend into the Nescopeck Valley, +and reached it, at the mill of one Bug, of German descent, +where we refreshed ourselves with milk and brandy. The +Nescopeck Creek, a pretty considerable stream, which turns +several mills, flows through this beautiful wooded valley. +This district belongs to Sugarloaf township, in Lucerne +county.</p> + +<p>After we had watered our horses, and the miller had questioned +us about his native Germany, we crossed the bridge +over the stream, ascended the mountain on the other side, +and reached an inn on the summit, from which it is eighteen +miles to Wilkesbarre. Proceeding from this place, we crossed +the valley of the little Nescopeck Creek, which is covered +with lofty trees, then passed the little Black Creek, and afterwards +came to a high mountain wall, with a beautiful wood +of various forest trees, which the inhabitants, who are mostly +of German origin, call the Bocksberg. German is everywhere +spoken here.</p> + +<p>From the mill, the way leads through a thick underwood +of shrub-like oaks, with a few higher trees, and we soon +reached the high road from Berwick, in the Susquehannah +Valley, along which we proceeded to Mauch Chunk, where +two stage-coaches pass daily.</p> + +<p>We took this road, and soon came to an inn, kept by a +German named Anders, who likewise had a saw-mill. The +host had, a short time before, caught an old she-bear in a +trap, and in the three following days her three cubs, which +he sold to travellers passing that way. The point where we +now were is called the Hasel Swamp; and, proceeding +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">117</a></span> +onwards, we passed Pismire Hill, where rattlesnakes are +said to abound. We observed, too late, a very large animal +of this kind dead in the road, one of the wheels of our carriage +having crushed the head of the snake, which was otherwise +in a good state of preservation. My driver laid it in a natural +position by the road-side, and I have no doubt that it was +again knocked on the head by some other traveller. The +marshy tract through which the Beaver Creek flows, is called +Beaver Meadow, and is covered with willow bushes. It is +probable that beavers may have formerly been numerous +here, at least the place is quite suited to them; but those +harmless animals have been long since extirpated. We came +next to a considerable eminence, called Spring Mountain, +which we ascended, and then rapidly descended, always +through a thick forest, where we observed, on both sides of +the way, the Grauwacke formation. On reaching the bottom +of Spring Mountain we entered a wide valley, both the steep +sides and bottom of which are covered with thick woods, only +thinned a little round the habitations. In the middle of the +valley, directly before us, six or seven buildings, in a broad +street, formed the village of Lausanne, five or six hundred +paces below which the Quackack Brook flows through the +valley. A Jew keeps here a public-house and shop, where +we met likewise with newspapers.</p> + +<p><span class="opage">47</span> Beyond Lausanne is a high mountain, called Broad +Mountain, up which the road is carried in an oblique direction. +Trees and shrubs form everywhere a very thick but +ruined forest, in which there is scarcely any serviceable +timber. The view back over the extensive and wild valley +of Lausanne was extremely interesting. One can hardly +fancy this sublime and rude country without its aboriginal +red inhabitants. The wide and hollow valley is everywhere +covered with dense forests; and the little village of +Lausanne is scarcely to be seen amidst the dark green foliage. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">118</a></span> +On the Broad Mountain we find again the same +formation of conglomerate, which I have before mentioned; +the beds of coal are at a small distance. On the side +which we descended the wood is more beautiful, the trees +taller than on the edge of the mountain; oaks, chestnuts, +and other trees, were very vigorous and luxuriant. Several +planters have formed detached settlements here, among +whom an Irishman was pointed out to us, who had lately +been arrested on an accusation of murder, but had been since +set at liberty.</p> + +<p>The Neskihone or Neskihoning Valley, into which we now +descended, is wide, and enclosed by very high, far-extending +walls of rock, everywhere covered with thick woods, in which +some small cultivated patches are here and there seen. Along +the right, or southern wall, an iron railroad has been laid +down, which forms a communication between one of the +coal mines of the Mauch Chunk Company, on the Rumrun +Creek, and Mauch Chunk. It runs down into the valley of +the Lehigh, which it follows to the last-named place. The +appearance of the valley is very wild and picturesque; the +Neskihone, which you pass at a saw-mill, flows at the bottom +of it, and then turns to the left into the beautiful valley of +the Lehigh, into which the Neskihone empties itself. The +Lehigh comes on the left hand, out of a deep, extremely wild +mountain valley, or dark glen, the entrance to which is entirely +concealed by lofty, steep wooded mountains. Its +glassy surface shines, half hid by tall shady oaks, beeches, +and chestnuts; and the whole is one of the most interesting +scenes that I met with in Pennsylvania. The road from this +place to the Lehigh Valley is agreeably shaded by high trees, +and on the banks of the river there are several dwelling-houses +and inns. In a quarter of an hour we reached Mauch +Chunk, now celebrated as the central point of the Lehigh +coal district. +</p> + +<p><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119"></a></p> +<p class="chapter_start">CHAPTER V</p> + +<p class="center">DESCRIPTION OF MAUCH CHUNK AND ITS COAL MINES—JOURNEY +THROUGH THE LEHIGH VALLEY TO BETHLEHEM, AND LAST +RESIDENCE IN THAT TOWN, FROM AUGUST 31ST TO +SEPTEMBER 16TH</p> + +<p class="chapter_summ"> +Mauch Chunk—The Coal Mines—Lehighton—Mahoning Creek +and Valley—Gnadenhütten, a destroyed Colony of the Moravian +Brethren—Weissport—Lehigh Gap—The Devil's Pulpit—Berlin—Crytersville—Howard +Town—Schoner's Town—Last Residence +in Bethlehem.</p> + +<p>Mauch Chunk is a village of about 200 houses, in the +deep and narrow Lehigh Valley. The houses form almost +one row only, and a small street in the lateral valley of the +Mauch Chunk stream. This place has sprung up since the +discovery of the very rich coal mines in the vicinity. The +Lehigh Company employs from 800 to 1000 workmen, and +supplies the whole surrounding country with the very fine +coals obtained here. Several iron railroads, leading to the +works, have already been made, canals dug to export the +coals in numerous barges, great works erected, a large and +capital inn established in the valley of the Lehigh, and mills +of various kinds built; and travellers ought by no means to +neglect this highly interesting spot. This deep and wild +valley, which is enclosed on every side by wooded mountains +from 800 to 1000 feet high, has become, within a few years, +a scene of action and profitable industry, which will soon +render this spot one of the most remarkable in Pennsylvania. +The principal work, to which an iron railroad has been +made, lies on a considerable eminence, nine miles from +Mauch Chunk. On the 31st of August, we visited this interesting +spot.</p> + +<p>As the railroad runs up along the declivity, it has been +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">120</a></span> +necessary to cut it obliquely; it is, therefore, narrow, with only +one line; and places, at certain intervals, to allow two carriages +to pass. For the convenience of travellers who wish +to see the works, a stage-coach has been established, which +is drawn up by two horses. Our company assembled at the +inn, and ascended, by a steep path, from the town, to the iron +railroad, which runs a little above the village. The <span class="opage">49</span> railroad +stages are light carriages, with four low wheels, and +seats for eight persons; they are covered at top, and open +at the sides. The wheels are of iron, and have a groove, +which fits into the rail, and runs upon it. The driver sits +in front, and has a long tin horn, which he blows, to announce +his approach to such as may be coming in the opposite direction; +in the other hand he holds, in the descent, the machine +with which the carriage is stopped when necessary. This +contrivance consists of a pole, at the lower end of which there +is a stuffed leather cushion, which, by moving the pole, is +brought close to the wheels, and by its friction checks the +rapidity of the motion. As a train of coal-wagons was expected, +we slackened our pace. The two stages were fastened +together, and though both were quite full of passengers, a +couple of horses drew them up with great ease. We had +not proceeded far, when we heard the rolling of a train of +coal-wagons. It was interesting to see the black train advance, +and dart by us with the rapidity of an arrow. These +are built of strong beams and planks; each contains two +tons of coals, and forty-five wagons go at the same time, +which carry 90 tons; they run five times a day, thus 450 tons, +or 25,200 bushels, are brought down to Mauch Chunk daily. +Every fifteen wagons are fastened together by strong iron +bands, and in the middle of this train is a man who holds a +chain in his hand, by means of which he can check the +rapidity of the motion, or even stop it entirely. Four or +five hundred paces behind the first column comes the second, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">121</a></span> +and then, at an equal distance, the third, and after these, +seven wagons, in each of which there are four mules, with +provender, and a bridge for them to get in and out. Their +heads are turned to the front, and they eat quietly, as they +descend. These mules are to draw up the empty coal +wagons.</p> + +<p>It was interesting to see the thundering column approach +us, and then hasten by. As soon as it had passed, our horses +trotted up the mountain, which could not be attempted, except +on an iron railroad. The road runs along the rocky +wall, always through a forest, where single settlers have here +and there built their little wooden dwellings. Cattle were +feeding in the neighbourhood, whose bells we heard in the +woods. The valley at our left hand was very wild and romantic. +Both the high mountain and the valley below, in +which the Mauch Chunk flows, are clothed with a forest of +fir and other timber, and wild vines twine about the bushes +by the road-side. The number of miles is marked on white +boards nailed to the trees. When we reached the top we +came to an inn, which had a small park with Virginian deer. +The fawns of these deer were still spotted a little at the end +of August.</p> + +<p>As soon as our company had rested a little, and taken +some refreshment, as it was very hot, we got again into our +carriage, and proceeded, this time without horses, to the +coal mines, about ten minutes from our inn, to which the +railroad declines a little. You reach these interesting works +by a deep section of the upper stratum of sandstone, and +then enter the pits, which may be 300 paces long, 150 +wide, and 30 feet deep; quite open at top, having been gradually +sunk to that depth. 112 men were at work in and +about these mines, and 130 mules were employed <span class="opage">50</span> in +conveying the coals, which stand out, shining, and with a +beautiful play of colours; in some places they are of better +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">122</a></span> +quality than in others. They are detached partly with iron +crows, partly by gunpowder, broken into pieces with pickaxes, +and loaded in the wagons. From one part of the mine +to another there are little railroads, on which boxes with four +wheels run like what is called the dog (<i>hund</i>), in our German +mines, in which refuse and rubbish are removed. In this +manner high heaps of rubbish have arisen about the pits, +which extend further and further into the valley. In some +parts of the works there are impressions of antediluvian +plants, of which we found some interesting specimens. The +labour of seeking, in a stooping attitude, was particularly +disagreeable on this day, which was hotter than any that +preceded it. When we returned from the works to our inn, +the thermometer, at twelve o'clock, and in the house, was +at 96°; to which we must add that the mine is 1,460 feet +above the level of the sea. There was not a breath of air +stirring, and everybody found the heat extremely oppressive.</p> + +<p>To return to Mauch Chunk we again got into our carriage, +but had now no need of horses; the driver shoved the carriage +a few steps, leaped into his seat, and we immediately +proceeded faster than a horse could gallop. We had travelled +the greater part of the way in seventeen minutes, when +we were obliged to halt, in order to let a train of wagons, +returning, pass us, which detained us about twenty minutes; +we then proceeded with the rapidity of an arrow, and travelled +the whole distance of eight miles in thirty-two minutes. +When we had reached the bottom we hastened to see the +place where the wagons are unloaded.</p> + +<p>At the end of the iron railroad is a building on the eminence, +in which there is a large windlass, with an endless +rope, which with one part lowers a loaded coal wagon, on +an obliquely inclined iron railroad, down the mountain, +while the other part draws up an empty wagon from below. +The distance from the windlass to the place on the iron +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">123</a></span> +railway, where the wagons deposit the coals in a large shed, +is above 700 feet.<a name="FNanchor_49" id="FNanchor_49" href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> The mechanism of all these works is +well worth seeing, and the whole establishment extremely +interesting. Mr. White, one of the principal members of +the Lehigh Company, is a man of much and varied knowledge, +and particularly well acquainted with machinery.<a name="FNanchor_50" id="FNanchor_50" href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> He +has erected a saw-mill on the Lehigh, the construction of +which is very ingenious. A single workman is able to saw +4,000 square feet of deal in twelve hours. The Company +requires six such saw-mills in the Mauch Chunk, to saw +the wood that it wants, because the coal barges are sent +down the canal and the Delaware, and sold at Philadelphia +as planks.</p> + +<p>The road from Mauch Chunk through the Lehigh Valley, +which we took, on the 31st of August, in the evening, is +agreeable and diversified. A violent thunder-storm had +passed over the valley, and had poured down torrents of rain, +the traces of which were everywhere visible. We proceeded +along the right bank of the river, in a rather sandy road, +shaded by old trees. On <span class="opage">51</span> our right hand we had at first +the steep wooded mountain, where <i>Rubus odoratus</i> and other +beautiful plants grew amongst rude rocks. The mountains +then recede, and fields, meadows, and detached dwellings, +succeed. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">124</a></span></p> + +<p>We came to Lehighton, where the sign of the inn was conspicuous +afar off.<a name="FNanchor_51" id="FNanchor_51" href="#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> Lehighton is situated at no great distance +from the opening of the Mahoning Valley, from which +the Mahoning stream flows. This valley is wooded, has +many settlements, and is well known from the destruction of +Gnadenhütten, a small establishment, founded there by the +Moravian Brethren. Some Delaware Indians, instigated, +it is said, by neighbouring colonists, who were hostile to +the Brethren, attacked the settlement, which they burnt, +and killed eleven persons. Only four of the fifteen who +composed the little colony escaped.<a name="FNanchor_52" id="FNanchor_52" href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> Mr. Bodmer, who +followed us from Wilkesbarre, visited the spot. He found +among the bushes the tomb-stone which covers the remains of +the victims, and made a drawing of it. The following is +the inscription:— +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">125</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"> +TO THE MEMORY<br /> +OF<br /> +GOTTLIEB AND CHRISTINA ANDERS,<br /> +WITH THEIR CHILD JOHANNA;<br /> +MARTIN AND SUSANNAH NITSCHMANN;<br /> +ANN CATHARINE SENSEMANN;<br /> +LEONHARD GATTERMEYER;<br /> +CHRISTIAN FABRICIUS, CLERK;<br /> +GEORGE SCHWEIGERT;<br /> +JOHN FREDERIC LESLY; AND<br /> +MARTIN PRESSER;<br /> +WHO LIVED HERE AT GNADENHÜTTEN, UNTO THE LORD,<br /> +AND LOST THEIR LIVES IN A SURPRISE FROM<br /> +INDIAN WARRIORS,<br /> +NOVEMBER 24TH, 1755.<br /> +"<i>Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints.</i>"<br /> +PSALM CXVI. 15.<br /> +<span class="left30">1788, AND. W. BOVER, PHILADELPHIA.</span></p> + +<p>On the lands at Gnadenhütten, which still belong to the +Brethren, several farmers reside, among whom there is a +singular female of no ordinary education, and, as it is said, +of high rank, <span class="opage">52</span> whose real name is not known. She is +said to have come from Germany, it is supposed from the +principality of Lippe. Her sole employment is agriculture; +she performs all manual labour herself, milks her cows, to +which she has given names, and which she has tamed. She +has rented a piece of land from the Brethren, which Mr. +Von Schweinitz, as director of the council, let to her.</p> + +<p>Near the issue of the Mahoning, or Mahony Valley, a +wooden bridge has been built, in a picturesque situation, +over the Lehigh. It is surrounded on all sides by fine lofty +trees, and on the right hand the wooded eminences of the +Mahony Valley overlook it. From this place we came to +a level, open part of the valley, where a few scattered dwellings +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">126</a></span> +bear the name of Weissport.<a name="FNanchor_53" id="FNanchor_53" href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> A man named Weiss +proposed to build a town here, and had collected the names +of many subscribers, but the town consists, at present, of +only four detached houses.</p> + +<p>Night set in, and the moon showed us, in the Blue Mountains +before us, a deep cleft, called the Lehigh, or Lecha Gap, +where that river passes through the mountain chain. At +the Gap we halted at an isolated, but very good inn, kept +by a man named Craig, son of the General of that name. +He spoke both English and German, and we were very well +accommodated in his house.</p> + +<p>On the 1st of September we visited the Lehigh Gap, the +mountains on the north side of which are low, rocky, and +wooded. A projecting portion is called the Devil's Rock. +Near the buildings there are great heaps of limestone thrown +up, which is obtained from a mountain in the Mahony +Valley. The lime is of bad quality, but serves very well +for mortar. It contains a number of small bivalve shells. +About eight o'clock we left the Lehigh Gap, and took the +road to Bethlehem, where we arrived at noon, having passed +through Berlin, Cryterville, Howard Town, and Schoner's +Town.</p> + +<p>Our baggage, which we had so long expected from Boston, +arrived at length on the 4th of September, and as Mr. Bodmer +rejoined us on the 10th, I should have thought of proceeding +on our journey, did not the traveller often depend +on accidents, which render it impossible to fix anything for +certain. Mr. Bodmer, desiring to finish a drawing that he +had begun, undertook a second visit to the Delaware Gap, +and on this occasion was severely wounded by the bursting +of his fowling-piece, which compelled us again to defer our +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">127</a></span> +departure. On our hunting excursions, we now saw the +country in its autumnal dress. Night frosts had already +set in, and the mornings were foggy, till the sun had risen +pretty high, when a hot day followed. Most of the birds +of passage were gone; no swallows were to be seen, and the +wild pigeons passed by in large flocks. On a walk to Allentown,<a name="FNanchor_54" id="FNanchor_54" href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> +the capital of Lehigh County, which has 1,700 +inhabitants, three churches, and a court-house, six miles +from Bethlehem, we found, in the Lehigh Valley, several +flocks of birds ready to depart. The blue birds (<i>Sylvia +sialis</i>) were assembled, twenty together. The yellow woodpecker +and the nuthatch were hovering about the gardens +and fields, where <span class="opage">53</span> numbers were collected together. The +plants that were in blossom in the fields and hedges were +chiefly of the class <i>Syngenesia</i>.</p> + +<p>The accounts of the progress of the cholera, which we +daily received, were not favourable. In New York and +Philadelphia, and more especially at Baltimore, the disorder +was extremely dangerous; it had also spread in the country +about the great lakes, and on Hudson's River, and had +extended from Detroit to the Mississippi and Ohio. It +seemed impossible to avoid it; I therefore chose the route +down the Ohio, intending to make the Mississippi, in the +following spring, the basis of our excursions into the Western +wilds or the Indian country. We took leave of our friends at +Bethlehem, and set out in the first instance for Pittsburg. +</p> + +<p><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></a></p> +<p class="chapter_start">CHAPTER VI</p> + +<p class="center">JOURNEY FROM BETHLEHEM TO PITTSBURG, OVER THE ALLEGHANYS, +FROM SEPTEMBER 17TH TO OCTOBER 7TH</p> + +<p class="chapter_summ"> +Allentown—Reading—Lebanon—Harrisburg—Mexico—Mifflin +Town—Valley of the Juniata—Huntington—Alexandria—Yellow +Springs—The Summit—Ebensburg—Hunting parties—Wild +Scenery of the Alleghanys—Laurel Hills—Conomaugh Valley—Blairsville—New +Alexandria on the Loyalhanna—Pittsburg—Situation +of the Town—Economy, Mr. Rapp's Settlement on the +Ohio—Remarkable natural productions of that river.</p> + +<p>Violent thunder-storms, accompanied with heavy rains, +had taken place during the night before I left Bethlehem, +early in the morning of the 17th, with the stage from Easton +to Reading. Mr. Bodmer remained behind for some days, +on account of the injury done to his hand. At day-break +we reached Allentown, where we changed both carriage and +horses, and passed the Cedar Creek, which was much swollen. +The thunder-storm had not changed the temperature of the +air. All this country was covered with plantations of maize, +clover, and buckwheat, and detached farm-houses were +numerous. The clover was often sown, as among us, with +the corn. The ears of the maize were partly cut off, and +the stalks tied up in bundles. The maize becomes ripe here +in October. We halted very often at the post-houses, where +the horses are always watered. As soon as the stage arrives, +the large leather bag containing the letters is thrown down, +and the correspondence for places further on the road is +put in. We were here on a calcareous soil, and many limekilns +were burning in the neighbourhood. Flocks of birds, +of many kinds, appeared ready to depart; <i>Papilio plexippus</i> +flew about the hedges. The <i>Datura</i>, with purple blossoms, +and the <i>Phytolacea</i>, with ripe black berries, dark red stems +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">129</a></span> +and branches, grow on the road-side, and about the houses.<a name="FNanchor_55" id="FNanchor_55" href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> +The leaves of the sumach, and of some kinds of oak and +maple, had already <span class="opage">55</span> changed to a beautiful red colour. +The fallow fields were entirely covered with the yellow blossoms +of the golden rod, or St. John's wort, and beautiful +asters, mostly with small white or purple flowers. The farm-houses +in this part of the country are remarkably handsome. +The barns are built of stone, very large, and have, in the +lower part, the stables, with eight or twelve doors and windows, +and over this is the barn, properly so called. At the +end of the building there is a passage where the wagons +stand under cover; the windows, doors and roof are frequently +painted of a reddish brown colour: cattle of all kinds +surround these farms. The swine are very fat, have broad +hanging ears, and are generally marked with small round +black spots, and sometimes, but more rarely, they are reddish +brown. We saw some fine forests of oak and walnut trees, +among which is much hickory (<i>Juglans alba</i>), which, next +to the white oak, and the black walnut tree, furnishes the +best timber. In general this country resembles Germany: +it is diversified and pleasant; wooded eminences on the sides, +and bright green meadows, often kept in very good order, +occur as in our country; but large, new habitations, built +in rather a different style, the zigzag fences, and the more +lofty and luxuriant growth of the trees, give, on the whole, +another character to the scenery.</p> + +<p>In Maxatawny township we addressed the inhabitants +in the German language, who answered us at once in the +same, and we heard German names all the way to Pittsburg. +After passing Sackoma Creek, we arrived at ten +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">130</a></span> +o'clock at Kutztown, eighteen miles from Bethlehem, where +we breakfasted. The heat being very great, the dust was +extremely annoying, for the thunder-storm, which had passed +over Bethlehem, had not extended to this part of the country. +The cattle sought protection against the sun, in the shade +of single trees, or in the orchards. Large stacks of corn, +six, eight, or ten together, stood in rows by the fences. On +the right hand ran the Oli Mountains, beautiful verdant +wooded eminences, which are connected with the Lehigh +Mountains. About noon we had travelled the thirty-six +miles to Reading, where we were obliged to stop one day, +because the stage had already left.</p> + +<p>Reading is a very pretty town on the Schuylkill, with 6,000 +or 7,000 inhabitants; it has seven churches, and a new one +was just then building. There are about 400 negroes and +people of colour. Some of the streets were not paved in the +middle, but have on the sides a pavement of bricks for the +foot passengers, planted with acacias, planes, poplars, and +other trees. All these towns are rapidly increasing. The +cholera had already carried off many persons here, but the +inhabitants would not confess this. We saw a funeral procession +returning home, in which there were several women +on horseback; the veils on their large fashionable hats fluttered +in the wind, and gave this caravan of Amazons a +singular appearance. Much fruit is grown in the neighbourhood, +and the apples are good, but not the plums. Peaches +thrive very well; we saw whole wagon-loads of them brought +into Reading, around which the people crowded to buy, +while the children stole them.</p> + +<p><span class="opage">56</span> On the 18th of September it was with very great difficulty +that we got places in the stage, the travellers being +very numerous. After we had passed Kakusa Creek, we +came to Womelsdorf, founded by Germans, fourteen miles +from Reading, where we stopped to dine, and then proceeded +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">131</a></span> +over Dolpahaga Creek, to Lebanon County, which is in a +tract diversified with eminences and wooded mountains. On +this road we several times passed the Union Canal, which goes +from Baltimore to Pittsburg, is very nearly completed, and is +said to have cost 18,000,000 of dollars. After we had passed +the River Swatara, which runs into the Susquehannah, we +continued our journey in a dark but fine evening; the crickets +and grasshoppers chirped all around; but their note is by +no means so loud as that of those in the Brazils. At length +we perceived a number of lights before us, and came to +Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, the end of our +journey to-day.</p> + +<p>Harrisburg is a small town, with only 5,000 inhabitants, +situated between the Susquehannah and the Union Canal. +It has broad streets crossing each other at right angles; but +many of the buildings are of wood, for which they are now, +however, gradually substituting better ones of brick. Rows +of trees are planted in front of the houses. The inn at +which we put up was in a square, which they were just +covering with broken stones. Here, too, is the market-hall, +a long roofed building supported by pillars, in which the +productions of the country are exposed for sale, as in most +of the towns in the United States. Harrisburg, being the +capital of the state, is the residence of the Governor. The +state-house is built on a gentle eminence on the canal, near +the town, and with its two wings is a very considerable +building, with a colonnade and a cupola supported by pillars. +Another interesting point of the town is the view of the +Susquehannah, which is very broad here, and forms an island. +A long bridge, covered at top, and enclosed at the sides, is +built over each arm of the river. One of these bridges is +about 600 paces in length. In the first there are twenty-three +glass windows, and it has two pillars on shore, and +five in the river. There are colossal bridges of this kind in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">132</a></span> +the United States; and there is one further down the Susquehannah, +which is one and a quarter mile and four rods +in length, and has fifty-two pillars. The view from this +bridge up the river is peculiarly beautiful. Verdant wooded +islands adorn its surface, which is broad, but it was at this +time very shallow. There are 500 negroes and people of +colour. Germans are met with everywhere, and we were +told that an able German physician lived here.</p> + +<p>The defective arrangements of the post-houses obliged us +to stop here three days, and it was not till the 21st of September, +in the evening, that we could leave the town to continue +our journey during the night. We passed the Susquehannah, +and the Juniata, which comes from the Alleghany +Mountains, and flows into it. On the 22nd, at day-break, +we were at the little village of Mexico.</p> + +<p>Mexico is in Mifflin County, forty miles from Harrisburg. +Three miles further is the village of Mifflin Town, the capital +of the county, where they were just building a new town-hall. +The Union Canal, which connects Philadelphia and +Baltimore with Pittsburg, in general follows the <span class="opage">57</span> same +direction as the river Juniata, near which it often runs at a +greater elevation, and sometimes is even carried over it. +The river is here about as broad as the Lehigh, but was at +this time very shallow. Beyond Mifflin Town it receives +the Los Creek. From this place we observed in the valley +many robinias, which grow very high and vigorous, as well +on the mountain, which is rather dry, as by the water-side; +vines as thick as a man's arm twine round the trunks, and +frequently rise to the very summit. The nettle tree (<i>Celtis</i>) +grew in great abundance, and the maples were just assuming +their red tinge. The picturesque forest is intermingled +with Canadian pines, many of which are quite blighted and +withered. The valley now became wilder and more romantic; +on the right hand rose a high precipice, covered +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">133</a></span> +with bolders, fragments of rock, mouldering trunks, and the +finest trees of the country, forming a real wilderness. A +very narrow part of the valley, where we watered our horses +at an insulated house, bears the name of the Long Narrows; +and the steep wooded mountain, on the south bank of the +river, is called Blacklog Mountain; it is said to be the haunt +of bears and stags. The cattle belonging to the log-houses +were grazing among the rocks. After some time the valley +grew more open, and at a wider spot, near the road, which +descended towards the defile of James Creek, was a group of +lofty and slender robinias, on which a flock of tame turkeys +were sitting. These birds resemble in colour the wild ones +which are common in this country; they often go into the +forests, where they breed, and come home again with their +young ones. After passing Kishikokinas Creek, we reached, +at a broad part of the valley, the village of Louis Town, in +which there are some considerable houses. The country +people were ploughing and harrowing their fields; and I +may here observe, that, in all Pennsylvania, they never +employ oxen in these operations, but horses only, of which +they have great numbers. The plough is rather different +from that of Germany.</p> + +<p>Beyond Louis Town we saw a number of horsemen, assembled +for the fox-chase. The fox was caught in a trap, then +let loose at a certain spot, and hunted with many dogs, as +in England. In a district diversified with forests and cultivated +fields, we came to Waynesburg, a small town agreeably +situated in a valley. The forests began to assume their +autumnal tints; the maples, the dogwood (<i>Cornus Florida</i>), +and the sumach, were partly red; the walnut trees, and the +hickory, yellow, which gave great variety to the landscape. +Near some habitations we observed weeping willows of extraordinary +size. The surrounding mountains were covered +with forests, into which we penetrated to ascend the first +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">134</a></span> +ridge of the Western Alleghanys. The road, which is, for +the most part, in bad condition, rose obliquely on the side +of a rude picturesque precipice. Except a pheasant, which +flew past us, we saw but few living objects. Advancing +into the valley we again came to the Juniata, over which +the canal is here carried by an aqueduct, supported by four +pillars. In this part of the river there are several dams, such +as we had seen in the Lehigh, near Bethlehem, with this +difference that here they are triple. For this purpose, rows +<span class="opage">58</span> of stones, piled one upon another, are laid across the +river, forming, in the direction of the stream, acute angles, +where a basket is placed, in which the fish are collected.</p> + +<p>At a place where three valleys meet stands the village of +Huntingdon,<a name="FNanchor_56" id="FNanchor_56" href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> ninety miles from Harrisburg, where we found +a tolerably good inn, on an eminence above the banks of the +Juniata. From this inn we proceeded, during the night, +through high rude tracts and forests, past Alexandria, and +at midnight reached Yellow Springs, and then the highest +points of this ridge, called the summit, between 2,400 and +3,000 feet above the level of the sea, in the vicinity of Blair's +Gap. This wild mountain region bears hemlock spruce +firs of colossal magnitude, mixed with other timber. The +night was clear and cool; towards morning fogs arose from +the deep valleys, which at daybreak covered the pine forest +through which we descended. We passed the Conomaugh +Creek, and then arrived at the little town of Ebensburg, on +an open spot in the forest. We stopped here at a small +inn to wait for our travelling companions.</p> + +<p>Ebensburg, the capital of Cambria County, is an inconsiderable +place, consisting of wooden buildings, forming not +much more than one broad, unpaved street, but has a town-house +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">135</a></span> +and a pretty large church. The inhabitants, about +300 or 400 in number, are of English, Irish, and some of +German extraction. The surrounding country is very mountainous +and woody, and is said to abound in all sorts of +game, as indeed the many skins of lynxes, racoons, martens, +and minks, fastened against the houses, prove; bears, stags, +and wolves, are said not to be uncommon, as lofty and dark +forests surround the town within a couple of hundred paces. +Ebensburg derives some profit from the numerous wagons, +drawn by two, four, or six strong horses, that pass through +it on the high road to Pittsburg.</p> + +<p>Our hunting excursions in this rude country were very interesting. +We proceeded first in a northern direction into +the forest, which we found to be quite a primeval wilderness. +The mountains rise peak above peak, with deep ravines, +where pines, beeches, chestnuts, birches, maples, and walnut +trees of various kinds, form a gloomy forest, and fallen +and decayed trunks check your advance at every step; cool, +sylvan brooks rushed foaming through all the defiles, and +we had continually to cross them on natural bridges, formed +by the fallen trunks of trees. Such old trunks are covered +with a whole world of mosses, lichens, fungiwood, sorrel, +ferns, &c.; nay, even young shoots of maple, beeches, and +tulip trees, had taken root on them. We clambered over +the trunks, went round the fallen giants of the forest, and +found everywhere, on the ground, traces of the numerous +squirrels (<i>Sciurus cinereus</i>), in the remains of fruit and shells, +especially, of the chestnut.</p> + +<p>But there was also an interesting wilderness in the opposite +direction. Here a very extensive fall of timber had been +commenced—a gigantic labour, as in Brazil, where the +wood is burnt afterwards, as soon as it is sufficiently dry. +The sturdy woodcutters were of German extraction, and +spoke German. From this place a dark narrow path led +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">136</a></span> +through an old pine forest, where <span class="opage">59</span> the little creeping +<i>Michella repens</i>, here called ground berry, with its beautiful +red berries, grew among the moss, and often covered the +ground. Several small runs and muddy ditches crossed +the forest, over which I walked or rode on trunks of trees +that served as bridges; in doing which my clothes suffered +not a little. Woodpeckers abounded here, especially the +great black woodpecker (<i>P. pileatus</i>), which we had not seen +before. It is nearly as large as a crow, and its splendid +bright red tuft is conspicuous at a great distance. They +were very shy; knocked and hammered on the dead pine +trees, which stood like the ruins of a colonnade, and were +pierced and bored by their strong bills. This fine large bird +is called here, and in general, woodcock. A young man who +lived in the forest, some miles off, told me that bears, stags, +and other wild animals, were very numerous, particularly +the pheasant, or cock of the wood (<i>Tetrao umbellus</i>), one of +which we shot. There is a saw-mill here, among the lofty +pines, on an arm of Conomaugh Creek, in a wild, lonely spot. +The owner was not a little astonished at my double-barrelled +percussion gun. After we had spent two days here in exploring +the woods, our travelling companions, Dr. Saynisch +and Mr. Bodmer, at length joined us, on the 26th, but as +the latter still had need of rest, on account of his wound, +we took their places, and set out immediately for Pittsburg.</p> + +<p>Seven miles from Ebensburg is the place which is looked +upon as the boundary of the Alleghanys, properly so called; +here begins the ridge called the Laurel Hills, for these mountains +consist of several parallel chains, many of which have +distinct names. The forest now assumes a different character. +Oaks of various species succeed the pines and beeches; +the forest is not so high, rude, and thick, and from an elevated +spot on the road there is a fine view as you look back +on the long wooded chain of the Alleghanys. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">137</a></span></p> + +<p>The traveller soon sees before him a deep and wide valley +in which the Conomaugh River flows, and beyond it a long +ridge, covered with verdant woods, called the Chestnut Ridge, +in which there is a gap, through which both the river and +the canal pass. The eminences are uniformly wooded, and +the chestnut and chestnut oak appear to predominate. +We changed horses at Further Laurel Hill, and at Amagh, +and then passed the gap. In the meadows and fields, the +stumps of the trees that had been cut down were still +standing, for the whole country was formerly one unbroken +forest. The habitations were few in number, and, at the +same time, small and wretched. We were told that this +part of the country is chiefly inhabited by Irish, who are bad +managers, and addicted to drinking. A better character +is given to the settlers of German origin, and they are said +frequently to possess well cultivated farms.</p> + +<p>In the woods of this district, we everywhere remarked that +the tops of the branches, for about a foot or a foot and a +half, were hanging down and withered, which is caused by +a kind of cricket (locust, <i>Cicada septem decem</i>, Linn.). This +insect, which, as is well known, appears only once in seventeen +years, but then, like the cockchafer with us, in prodigious +numbers, had abounded <span class="opage">60</span> in Pennsylvania in 1832, and +in many places was a real scourge; it does not, however, +appear everywhere at the same time. But a few weeks before, +they were so numerous in these forests, that the noise +they made almost overpowered the human voice. On examining +the withered twigs, we found the bark, as it were, +ripped open in many places, the wood quite dry, and in the +sap, a whitish substance, which consists of the eggs of the +insect.</p> + +<p>As we drove rapidly down the hills, we saw before us the +extensive valley of the Conomaugh, for the most part covered +with woods, and gently rising on all sides, in which, a little +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">138</a></span> +higher up, the small town of Indiana is situated. We stopped +at a lonely inn by the road-side, watered our horses, and +hastened forwards. On every side we saw extensive forests, +and from the next eminence looked down into another valley, +in which the Conomaugh runs by the town of Blairsville, +a pretty little place, with many respectable houses, and a +very good inn, in a broad main street, which runs directly +across the valley. The country is hilly, or mountainous, +well cultivated, and with neat farm-houses scattered around. +From this place, it is ten miles to New Alexandria, a village +with tolerably good wooden houses, many of which are +painted. Beyond it runs the Loyalhanna, a small stream, +which was at this time very shallow, with a covered bridge +over it. At nightfall we reached New Salem, then Millersburg, +and about midnight, Pittsburgh.<a name="FNanchor_57" id="FNanchor_57" href="#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></p> + +<p>Pittsburg is an old, large, but by no means handsome +town, celebrated for its manufactories and brisk trade, and +has been described by many travellers. The town itself +has 12,000 inhabitants; but with the suburbs, its population +is estimated at 24,000 souls, including many Germans, some +of whom are respectable merchants. Coal mines in the +immediate neighbourhood (a part of which is now on fire), +afford an ample supply of fuel for the numerous steam-engines, +stoves, &c. The style of building in the town is +everything but uniform, neat brick houses being mixed with +small wooden ones. The streets are ill-paved, dirty, and +badly lighted; some of them, however, are modern and regular; +and the new edifices are handsome and elegant. There +are many iron works, nail manufactories, glasshouses, cotton +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">139</a></span> +manufactories, &c., in many of which, steam-engines are +employed, of which, as we were told, there are above 100 at +work, which are likewise made here.</p> + +<p>This town lies on the tongue of land between the rivers +Monongahela and Alleghany, which, by their union, form +the Ohio; this river is not very considerable here; yet, at +certain seasons, when the water is high, it is navigable by +steam-boats, of which I counted sixteen on the banks of the +Monongahela. Over the Alleghany there is a covered bridge, +500 paces in length, which has, on each side, an additional +covered footpath; and a covered aqueduct, of the same +length, is likewise carried across the river. A similar long +and colossal bridge is built over the Monongahela.</p> + +<p>The situation of Pittsburg itself is not very pleasing, but +there are interesting points in the environs. As I was furnished +with very good letters of recommendation, several of +the inhabitants of Pittsburg endeavoured to make my stay +there agreeable. Messrs. Volz and Von Bonnhorst <span class="opage">61</span> (the +latter of whom had been an officer in the Prussian army) +were extremely kind to me. Mr. Lambdin, possessor of a +museum which was yet in its infancy, likewise gave useful +recommendations and instructions.<a name="FNanchor_58" id="FNanchor_58" href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> Mr. Volz had the +goodness to accompany me to Economy, the remarkable and +interesting colony of Mr. Rapp. For this purpose we left +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">140</a></span> +Pittsburg on the 29th, passed the great Alleghany bridge, +and the suburb, and drove by the large new House of Correction, +towards the Ohio.<a name="FNanchor_59" id="FNanchor_59" href="#Footnote_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> On the eminence to the +right of the town is the convent of Flanders nuns, who have +established a school, in which they receive children of all +religious denominations. We proceeded on the right bank +of the Ohio, eighteen miles, to Economy.</p> + +<p>Economy has been described, in its leading features, by +Duke Bernard of Saxe Weimar;<a name="FNanchor_60" id="FNanchor_60" href="#Footnote_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> but it has become much +more flourishing since that time. It is well known that old +Mr. Rapp, with a company of between 600 and 700 Swabian +emigrants, came to America, and had, at that time, but very +limited resources. He founded, with his people, successively +three settlements; first, Old Harmony, near the Ohio; +then, New Harmony, on the Wabash, in the State of Indiana; +and then, Economy, near Pittsburg. This last settlement +has now about 150 houses, which at first were slightly built +of wood, but are now succeeded by better ones of brick; +they are two stories high, and neatly painted. The church +is spacious and plain, built of brick, with a pretty steeple, +and a good bell.</p> + +<p>The rapidity with which these settlements sprung up, +amidst thick forests, proves the judgment and prudence of +their founder. The order introduced at Economy is +admirable; nobody is seen in the streets during the day; +all the inhabitants are usefully employed; young men and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">141</a></span> +women, and also the children, are distributed among the +several manufactories, where they work and receive no +wages, but all their wants are amply provided for, free of +cost. They are cleanly and neatly dressed in their Swabian +costume, and nothing but German is spoken amongst them. +The possessions and the revenues of the whole establishment +are the joint property of the community, every inhabitant +having placed his property in the common fund. Mr. Rapp +and his adopted son are the directors, and the only complaint +is, that no account is given of the management, and that the +government of the institution is rather too dictatorial. Be +this as it may, it cannot be denied that the arrangement and +direction of this artificial society are admirable, and do honour +to the founder. Mr. Rapp has established several important +manufactories with steam-engines; even silks are manufactured +from silk produced on the spot. The mulberry +plantations and the management of the silk-worms are under +the especial care of Mr. Rapp's grand-daughter. The manufactories +alone are said now to yield an annual profit of +20,000 dollars. Several large buildings have been erected +for a cotton and a woollen cloth manufactory, a mill, an inn, +where the accommodations are very good and reasonable, &c. +Everything they want is raised or made by themselves. They +have extensive corn fields and vineyards, and breed great +numbers of <span class="opage">62</span> cattle. Mr. Rapp has erected a large building, +with a great saloon in the upper story, where the inhabitants +meet on festive occasions, and where they have musical +entertainments. In the lower story of this building, a cabinet +of natural history has been commenced, in three rooms, +which already contains some very interesting specimens.</p> + +<p>After we had viewed all these objects, and had been led +by Mr. Rapp, jun., through the manufactories, we went to +the dwelling-house of the director of the establishment, and +met with a very friendly reception from his family, who +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">142</a></span> +were dressed entirely in the manner of the country people +of Würtemberg. They told us they would never deviate +from their old national manners, and would always remain +Germans, which we were very glad to hear. Soon afterwards, +the founder of the establishment, Mr. Rapp, came +in. He was a vigorous old man, of venerable appearance, +with white hair and a long beard. We supped with him, +drank very good wine produced here, and, in conclusion, +were entertained by six or seven girls and a young man, who +is the schoolmaster, and is said to be well informed, with +singing and playing on the piano. We here became acquainted +with Mr. Ehrmann of Mannheim, an agreeable, +well-educated man, whose wife is likewise a very interesting +person, and who was engaged in establishing a manufactory +near Economy.</p> + +<p>On the following day we viewed the park, in which there +were seventeen Virginian deer. Most of them had already +got their winter coat; some were still a little red: they cast +their horns in March. As it was Sunday, the people assembled, +at nine in the morning, in the church, which has +neither pulpit nor organ. The men sat on the right hand +of the preacher, the women on the left; the older persons +in front, the young people a little way back. Mr. Rapp's +family had the first place. When the congregation were +assembled, old Mr. Rapp entered with a firm step, seated +himself at a table which was on a raised platform, and gave +out a hymn, which was sung in rather quick time. After +a prayer delivered standing, he preached on a text from the +bible, in a bold, figurative style, well suited to country +people, and with very animated gesticulation. After the +sermon some verses were sung, and Mr. Rapp delivered a +prayer, which the congregation repeated after him, sitting. +The word Amen was always repeated by the whole congregation. +In the afternoon we took a very cordial farewell +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">143</a></span> +of the worthy family of Mr. Rapp, and set out on our return.</p> + +<p>The country about Pittsburg has some zoological rarities, +specimens of which my travelling companions had collected +during my absence. Among them are, in particular, many +interesting fresh water shells of the Ohio. Several American +naturalists have written on these Bivalve testacea; and +there is, probably, no other country so rich in beautiful and +manifold productions of this kind. On their excursions in +the neighbouring islands in the Ohio, they met with trees +of colossal size, and especially a maple, that measured twenty +French feet in circumference at the height of twelve feet +from the ground, where it divided into four thick parallel +stems, from which <span class="opage">63</span> the branches issued. Among the +remarkable and interesting natural productions of these +rivers, we must mention the soft shell turtles of the Americans +(<i>Trionyx</i>, <i>Aspidonectes</i>, Wagl.), of which there are +two or three species. They grow to a great size, and are +often seen in the markets. Another very remarkable animal, +which is very numerous here, is the great Alleghany salamander +(<i>Menopoma</i>, Harlan), which is here called alligator, +and of which I obtained many specimens alive, so that Mr. +Bodmer was able to make an accurate drawing from the +life. Then there is the <i>Triton lateralis</i>, Say., or <i>Menobranchus +lateralis</i>, Harlan, which differs from the preceding by +the tufts at the gills, which remain even in old age. America +is well known to abound in these singular enigmatical animal +forms, which are nearly akin to the European <i>Proteus</i>, +or <i>Hypochthon</i>. +</p> + +<p><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144"></a></p> +<p class="chapter_start">CHAPTER VII</p> + +<p class="center">JOURNEY FROM PITTSBURG TO NEW HARMONY, ON THE WABASH, FROM +8TH TO 19TH OCTOBER, 1832</p> + +<p class="chapter_summ"> +Cannonsburg—Wheeling—Embarkation in the Nile Steam-boat—Marietta, +on the Muskingum River—Indian Antiquities—Flat-boats—Gallipolis—Portsmouth, +at the mouth of the Scioto River—Cincinnati—Big +Miami River, which forms the boundary between Ohio +and Indiana—Louisville, on the Falls of the Ohio—Horse-races—Embarkation +in the Waterwitch Steam-boat—The Cholera on +Board—Mount Vernon—Landing—Journey by Land to New +Harmony.</p> + +<p>The Ohio, called by the French <i>La Belle Rivière</i>, was at +this time too shallow at Pittsburg to be navigated by steamboats, +and we were therefore obliged to go by land to +Wheeling,<a name="FNanchor_61" id="FNanchor_61" href="#Footnote_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> a distance of fifty-seven miles; by the river, it +is ninety-five miles. After taking leave of Dr. Saynisch, +who returned to Bethlehem, we crossed the Ohio, near +the town, in a well contrived ferry, the wheels of which +were moved by four horses. Our stage was drawn rapidly, +by four good horses, along the path of the mountains, +where the road passed through lofty forests, great part of +which was, however, ruined and cleared. The foliage was +adorned with the most beautiful varied tints of autumn, +a circumstance which distinguishes North America, at this +season, from all other countries. In the Brazils, it is the +spring, or the transition from the rainy to the dry season, +that adorns the forest with the most beautiful diversity of +tints, which, however, are chiefly produced by the flowers, +which frequently appear before the leaves. North America, +on the other hand, has but few such flowering trees; most +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">145</a></span> +of them have catkins (<i>amenta</i>), and it is the foliage, which +assumes in the autumn so great a variety of colours.</p> + +<p>On the next eminence, the road leaves the river, and +turns to the south-west. Strata of coal appear in some +places, and workmen were busy in removing the earth above +them. We frequently met with European emigrants, most +of them in their peasant's dress, with faces burnt by the +sun, and carrying their children. The country consists of +high hills and forests, and we frequently saw the robinia, +pseud-acacia, which is partly planted for the sake of its +timber, potatoes, <span class="opage">65</span> clover, and corn, which was now in the +ear. A great deal of fruit is cultivated here, and the farmers +were just reaping the maize. The farm-houses are all +slightly built of wood, with the chimney on the outside, to +avoid the danger of fire. As the sun shone with intense +heat, the birds were all life, twittering on the high trees, +where the loquacious blackbirds flew about in companies. +The woods, presenting a beautiful mixture of yellow, vermilion, +purple and green, gave us much pleasure, and we +reached Chattier or Shirtee Creek, which, after numerous +windings, falls into the Ohio, near Wheeling. We proceeded +along its valley, where colossal planes and elms, as well +as robinia and willows, afforded a welcome shade. We had +passed several covered bridges before we reached Cannonsburg, +eighteen miles from Pittsburg, where we changed +horses, and, as usual in all such places in the United States, +were gazed at by the curious and the idle. There is a +college here for young divinity students. We now traversed +the valley of the Chattier Creek, where the plane trees were +very lofty and spreading. They were covered with their +round fruit, from which the Americans have given the tree +the name of button-wood.</p> + +<p>At noon we reached Washington,<a name="FNanchor_62" id="FNanchor_62" href="#Footnote_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> a village, beyond which +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">146</a></span> +the country presented an alternation of forests and fields, +where stumps of trees showed that the whole country east +of the Mississippi was a primeval forest. We found an ample +variety in the splendid woods, where the lime (<i>Tilia grandifolia</i>), +with its colossal leaves, was not uncommon, and the +willow-leaved oak (<i>Quercus phellos</i>), was likewise in great +abundance, the foliage of which resembles our white willow, +but the bark and fruit are exactly like those of the oak. +After passing a village called Alexandria, or more properly +Alexander we reached the boundary of the state of Pennsylvania, +and entered Virginia, which last state has a narrow +strip of land on the eastern bank of the Ohio. The land +here is said to be fruitful, and very well cultivated, though +we did not immediately perceive this in the narrow valley +of the Wheeling Creek, through which we drove. We saw +numbers of young oxen, all brought for sale from the state of +Ohio, where the breeding of cattle is very extensive. Many +of these oxen had uncommonly large horns, others none at +all. It was a beautiful moonlight evening when we passed +the Mean Creek, which joins that above-mentioned, and +both together forming Wheeling Creek. At this place, not +far from the road-side, there is a pillar erected in honour +of Mr. Henry Clay, who had been very instrumental in the +opening of this road. The night prevented our taking a +view of it. From an eminence we saw before us numerous +lamps in Wheeling, and the Ohio sparkling in the light of +the moon, and then took up our quarters at an inn at that +place. Wheeling is a rapidly improving town, containing +5,200 inhabitants, where at this time they were building +whole streets, and is situated on a ledge of the mountain, +on the bank of the Ohio. On the summit there is not much +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">147</a></span> +more than one broad, unpaved street, with footpaths of +bricks: shops of all kinds were already opened. The Ohio +at this place is about as broad as the Moselle near its mouth. +The banks are moderately high wooded mountains, the uncultivated +places in which are often overgrown with <i>Datura</i>. +Two <span class="opage">66</span> steam-boats were expected on the 9th of October, +and at noon we embarked on board the Nile, a small vessel, +because steamers of a large size cannot come so high up +the river. Our large or lower cabin had sixteen beds, the +upper cabin being appropriated to the women. The river +was, at this time, very low, and its banks, from forty to fifty +feet high, consisted of yellowish red clay and strata of sand.</p> + +<p>The traces of the great inundation of the preceding spring +were everywhere visible in uprooted trees, thrown one over +the other. The water at that time overflowed the lower +stories of the houses of Wheeling; whereas it was now so +low, that our boat was obliged to stop for the night. Early +on the following morning, however, the 10th of October, we +passed Elizabeth Town. On the banks of the river lay +pirogues, composed of the trunk of a tree hollowed out, like +those in Brazil, and small habitations were scattered in the +lofty and picturesque forests. A little field of maize generally +surrounded these dwellings, and the recently felled +trees indicated that it was a new settlement. The eminences +on the banks of the Ohio are, in general, rounded, steep, +wooded hills, separated by valleys or ravines. In many +places stacks of wood were piled up for the steam-boats, +and some was already in boats. We arrived at New Town, +on the right bank, at the mouth of the Sunfish Creek, +a village with only eight houses, which was not yet marked +on Tanner's map.<a name="FNanchor_63" id="FNanchor_63" href="#Footnote_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> Near Fishing Creek, which falls into +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">148</a></span> +the Ohio, we saw the white-headed eagle soaring in the +air, while the kingfishers flew about the banks, and the note +of the black crow sounded in the tall forests. Near the +village of Sistersville, on the right bank, in the state of Ohio, +the sand-banks in the river were covered with the yellow +blossoms of some plant, which, however, I was not able +clearly to distinguish; but it was an autumnal flower, and +the wind reminded us of the approach of the cold season, +blowing quantities of leaves from the forest, in some places +entirely covering the surface of the water with them. Towards +noon, the sun shone bright, and the gay tints of the +forest appeared more lovely than ever; colossal planes, +maples, tulip trees, beeches, elms, ashes, limes, walnuts, +and other trees, grow to a great height, and beneath their +shade we saw many rustic bridges, or planks, thrown picturesquely +across the little brooks. The trunks of the trees, +covered with the <i>Hedera quinquefolia</i>, which made them +look like scarlet columns, and the varied tints of the foliage, +charm the beholder. All along the Ohio, Mississippi, and +Lower Missouri, the papaw tree (<i>Asimina triloba Dunal</i>) +grows as underwood. Its fruit, resembling a small cucumber, +was now ripe, and great quantities were brought on +board our steamer. This tree has a beautiful light green, +large, smooth leaf, and violet brown flower, which grows +isolated, but it does not attain a greater height than between +twenty and thirty feet. The fruit has a pleasant taste, but +the smell is disagreeable. It contains a whitish, juicy pulp, +and twelve thick black kernels. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">149</a></span></p> + +<p>A heavy fall of rain was very welcome to us, the water in +the river being so low that our boat frequently grounded. +At a narrow part of the river we came to the village of +Newark, and then to the mouth of the Muskingum River, +at the town of Marietta, which was founded in 1788.<a name="FNanchor_64" id="FNanchor_64" href="#Footnote_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> This +<span class="opage">67</span> place is small, but it has neat brick buildings, some +of which looked like churches. We have read much about +the ancient Indian remains and ramparts, between the +Ohio and the Muskingum. Smith Barton, Attwater, Schultz, +and especially Warden,<a name="FNanchor_65" id="FNanchor_65" href="#Footnote_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> have written on this highly interesting +subject, and given ground plans of the Indian ramparts, +which are met with at many places in the state of +Ohio, at Cincinnati, Wheeling, Chillicothe, as well as in all +the States west of the Alleghanys, and respecting which +Warden has collected everything that is known; but most +of these interesting remains have been entirely annihilated +by the love of devastation, or the negligence of the new +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">150</a></span> +settlers. Thus Marietta is built just on the fore part of the +Indian works, and many of them are no longer to be seen. +It is much to be lamented that the government of the United +States suffers all this to be done without any attempt to +prevent it. It looks on unmoved, while the plough continues +from year to year the destruction of these remains +of ages long since past, the only historical monuments of this +country. Schultz gave, in 1820, a ground plan of the ramparts +near Marietta, as Smith Barton and Warden did more +recently; and Mr. Thomas Say made a sketch of them in +1815, which he communicated to me. A great part of them +has been since ploughed over.</p> + +<p>From Marietta we came to the Island of Muskingum, +and then to Vienna Island; opposite to which, on the left +bank, lies the village of Vienna. Swallows, which had long +since left Pennsylvania, were still flying about here. We +everywhere heard accounts of the great flood in the Ohio, +when the steam-boats were on a level with the second story +of the houses in Marietta.</p> + +<p>We saw tall forest trees, among the thick branches of +which the river had deposited beams and other pieces of +wood.<a name="FNanchor_66" id="FNanchor_66" href="#Footnote_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> Below Parkersburg, a village on the southern side, +the little Kenhava River issues from the high bank opposite +Belpie, a settlement of a few houses.<a name="FNanchor_67" id="FNanchor_67" href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> A steam-boat, which +had been entirely crushed by the ice, proved how violent +the effects of the breaking up of the ice in the Ohio sometimes +are. Our captain lay to for the night, on the right +bank, which was necessary, on account of the unfavourable +weather; the rain being so heavy, that it drenched the upper +row of beds in the large cabin. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">151</a></span></p> + +<p>On the 11th October the weather was fairer, but very cool. +The appearance of the bank was the same as before—an +unbroken, thick forest, with here and there some little settlements. +We reached, at an early hour, the Little Hocking +River, which comes from the state of Ohio. Ducks, particularly +teal, flew past us, and we observed, also, many other +birds of passage on their flight. Near Shade Creek, the +banks of the river consisted of stratified, rocky walls, which +appeared to be Grauwacke slate;<a name="FNanchor_68" id="FNanchor_68" href="#Footnote_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> we observed, in the forest, +trees of remarkable forms and colours; the trunks, covered +with the scarlet foliage of the five-leaved ivy, were particularly +beautiful. We frequently met, in the river, with flat +boats, which are built all along the banks <span class="opage">68</span> of the Ohio, +from Pittsburg, and are sent with the produce of the country +to New Orleans. These boats are large four-cornered chests, +composed of beams and planks, are often heavily laden, +draw much water, and, having neither masts nor sails, proceed +very slowly. They are propelled with large oars, and +can only go down the river; they are many months on the +voyage to New Orleans, and the rowers are commonly new +European emigrants, hired for low wages, and often merely +for a free passage. Many of these boats are wrecked, and +they are, therefore, frequently insured; at New Orleans +they are sold for lumber.</p> + +<p>The woods in the valley of the Ohio are more lofty and +luxuriant than on the other side of the Alleghany Mountains; +vines twine round the trees, and present a faint image of +the woods of warmer countries. The kingfisher was common; +the swallows had not yet taken their flight, and in +some places the sandpiper was seen upon the bank. In the +vicinity of the houses were cattle, horses, swine, large sheep, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">152</a></span> +and numerous flocks of European geese and ducks; here, +too, the papaw tree was sometimes planted in rows. The +river increased in breadth, but not in depth, of which we had +the proof before us, for a flat boat had run aground, and +the people stood in the water, trying to get it afloat. In +this part of the country there are, in the state of Ohio, many +Swiss colonists, who are much commended for their industry. +The soil is extremely fruitful, and needs no manure. +The dwellings of these people are small log-houses, exactly +like the huts in Switzerland. Towards noon, before we +reached Point Pleasant, we saw, in many places on the +Ohio, considerable coal-pits, the sulphureous smell of which +was perceptible in the steamer; many boats lay ready to +take in cargoes; negro children were sitting in groups on +the bank, near their extensive plantations of maize. These +people are free in the state of Ohio. After we had passed +Point Pleasant, a village on the left bank, where fine forests +cover the low bank of the great Kenhava River, which here +falls into the Ohio, we reached, in about twenty minutes, +Gallipolis, on the right bank, an old French colony, the +inhabitants of which still speak the French language.<a name="FNanchor_69" id="FNanchor_69" href="#Footnote_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> Immediately +below that town, there is a fine forest of beech +trees; on the water-side, thickets of plane, and between them +the papaw tree took the place which, in Pennsylvania, is +occupied by the <i>Rhododendron maximum</i>; willows grew in +front of the planes.</p> + +<p>The sun disappeared behind the hills on the bank; the +evening sky was clear and serene, and the bright mirror +of the Ohio extended unruffled near Racoon Creek, where +we saw large flocks of ducks. We intended to continue +our voyage during the night; but, about nine o'clock, we +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">153</a></span> +struck violently on a sand-bank, near the Indian Guyandot +River, where there is a small village of the same name, and, +as a thick fog arose, we lay to, six miles below Guyandot.<a name="FNanchor_70" id="FNanchor_70" href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a></p> + +<p>On the 12th of October, in the morning, a dense fog +covered the river, and the thermometer was, at half-past six +o'clock, at 10° Reaumur, above zero. We passed the mouth +of Symes Creek, and then Burlington, a small scattered village +in Lawrence County, where our boat struck upon some +stones, and was thrown a little on one side. On the left +bank was Cadetsburg, <span class="opage">69</span> with Big Sandy Creek, then +Hanging Rock, a small village, where most of the iron utensils +for the whole of Ohio are shipped. The situation of +the place is picturesque, surrounded with forests and rocks. +On the left, or Kentucky bank, we passed Greenupsburg, a +row of seventeen or eighteen small houses, on the high bank. +The inhabitants, in order to attract the notice of the vessels +that pass by to their public-houses, stores, or shops, have +set up posts, with boards painted white, on which their trade, +&c., is described in very large letters. The beech woods on +this part of the river were remarkably fine, their foliage green +and yellow. On our right hand was the little Scioto River; +we then came to the village of Portsmouth, at the mouth of +the Scioto River, on the Ohio bank, where the celebrated +Ohio Canal begins, which connects that river with lake Erie. +At this place we took on board a number of European emigrants, +among whom were many Germans, with their baggage, +beds, and other effects, and many children. The +negroes brought provisions for sale; one of them had a number +of fowls, all of which escaped, and caused no little amusement. +From this place, fine forests covered the bank, in +which were tall poplars (<i>Populus Angulata</i>, or <i>Canadensis</i>), +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">154</a></span> +which I had not before observed. Here, too, I noticed some +interesting forms of mountains, which in general are very +rare in this country. Most of the summits are round, some +broad, but very few pointed. Towards evening we came +to the village of Rockville,<a name="FNanchor_71" id="FNanchor_71" href="#Footnote_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> on the right bank, which was +not marked on our map, and lay to, at nightfall, when we +learned that our vessel had caught fire, but happily it was +already extinguished. On the bank near the steam-boat, +a large fire was burning, the reflection of which, on the dark +forest, had a fine effect, and so had the steamers that hastened +past us, which were brightly lighted up inside, and emitted +sparks of fire as they rushed along in the dark night.</p> + +<p>On the 13th, at daybreak, the landscape was obscured by +rain. We had passed, during the night, Adamsville, Manchester, +Aberdeen, Ripley, Vanceburg, Maysville, and Augusta, +and were now off the village of Neville, where the +Helen Mar steam-boat lay near us, to take in wood. We +then came to Moscow, then to Point Pleasant, and on the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">155</a></span> +right bank to New Richmond.<a name="FNanchor_72" id="FNanchor_72" href="#Footnote_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> Near the little Miami +River, six miles from Cincinnati, the Ohio was so shallow, +that we saw the shells at the bottom, and our boat struck +several times. The Miami River was nearly dry. At +Columbia, in the state of Ohio, the valley becomes rather +wider, but the hills soon close in again upon the river, +and we come to the beginning of the great town of Cincinnati.</p> + +<p>Cincinnati, the most important and flourishing town of +the West, with more than 36,000 inhabitants, was at this +time visited by the cholera, which, as we were assured by a +physician who came to our vessel, carried off, on an average, +forty persons daily. I therefore resolved not to stop now, +but to visit this town on my return; our baggage was transferred +to the Portsmouth steamer, which was just about to +depart; and at noon we reached the mouth of Big Miami +River.<a name="FNanchor_73" id="FNanchor_73" href="#Footnote_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a></p> + +<p>On the 14th of October, we had pleasant sunshiny weather. +The river had become considerably broader, when we came +to Six-miles Island, a beautiful island six miles from Louisville. +<span class="opage">70</span> We had passed several places during the night, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">156</a></span> +and likewise the celebrated Big-bone Lick,<a name="FNanchor_74" id="FNanchor_74" href="#Footnote_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> where colossal +bones of the mammoth have been dug up at the foot of a +hill of black earth. I would gladly have stopped at this +spot, but some of our passengers, who were well acquainted +with the country, assured me that there was now nothing +to be seen there, nor was anything more found. All that +had been obtained had been sold to England and the +American museums.</p> + +<p>Fossil bones<a name="FNanchor_75" id="FNanchor_75" href="#Footnote_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> of animals are still found in the United +States, but the possessors having learnt the value of such +things, ask so high a price for them that it is difficult to +obtain them; they are, besides, frequently presented, out +of patriotism, to the American museums.</p> + +<p>We soon reached Louisville, a considerable town, with +12,000 inhabitants, which in 1800 had only 600.<a name="FNanchor_76" id="FNanchor_76" href="#Footnote_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> It is in +the state of Kentucky, and, when seen from the river, does +not make nearly so good an appearance as Cincinnati. Negroes +conveyed our baggage to the inn, where we found, as +usual, a great number of gentlemen, for the most part travelling +merchants. The merchants are, in America, the class +of people among whom the most idleness is found, and +they are extremely numerous. The least numerous classes +are the men of learning, and the military; the latter, in particular, +so very few, that they are not at all remarked. The +young men who, in North America, besiege the doors of +the inns, are, doubtless, most of them, traders. Foreigners +are often treated with contempt by these persons, who are +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">157</a></span> +usually equally conceited and unpolished, and make observations, +as soon as they discover a foreigner, either by his +incorrect pronunciation of English, or by his dress. This +American conceit is to be attributed partly to their excessive +patriotism, and partly to their ignorance, and want of acquaintance +with other countries.</p> + +<p>When the dinner-hour was come, such a crowd of gentlemen +had assembled before the house, that, at the ringing +of the second (dinner) bell, the dining-room was in a manner +carried by storm. All rushed impetuously into the +room, every one making good use of his elbows, and in ten +minutes all these people had dined and hastened out again. +Mr. Wenzel, a German merchant, to whom I had letters, +had the kindness to show me the town and neighbourhood. +Louisville has the appearance of being likely soon +to become an important town, and many new houses were, +in fact, building. The streets are long, broad, and straight, +crossing each other at right angles, and the situation on +the Ohio is very favourable for trade. Handsome, showy +shops are common here, as in all the towns of the United +States, and elegance of dress characterizes everywhere, even +in the smallest places, the inhabitants of this country, the +great object of whose efforts is the acquisition of wealth. +As it was Sunday, the various sects of the population were +flocking to their respective places of worship; afterwards, +many of them were driving out in their gigs. There were +already above thirty hackney carriages, partly belonging +to negroes, of whom only the far <span class="opage">71</span> smaller portion are +free in the state of Kentucky. The state of oppression in +which the negro slaves live in North America, makes them +corrupt and knavish, which travellers often have occasion to +learn by their own experience. At Louisville, the cholera +had already appeared. Five persons, most of them negroes, +were carried off the day before our arrival, and a general +panic had seized the inhabitants. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">158</a></span></p> + +<p>Mr. Wenzel took us to a spot which was intended for +horse-races, an institution quite new in the Western States. +A society had purchased a beautiful level spot of ground, +surrounded with woods, and about four miles in circumference. +This place was surrounded with palisades, with several +stands in the centre, and stables in the neighbourhood +for the horses. The horses of Kentucky are considered +to be the best in the country; the stallions which were to +run, and some of which had come from a distance, seemed +to be mostly of a very good breed, not large, but well built. +The first races were to continue the whole of the next week. +This institution will, doubtless, have a good effect in improving +the breed of horses, and afford the inhabitants of +the town and neighbourhood both advantage and amusement.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon we left Louisville to embark at Portland, +below the town, on account of the Falls of the Ohio, that +now cannot be navigated past the town, and therefore a +canal has been made, where, by the aid of five sluices, the +boats are raised twenty-two feet. Those who land at Louisville +embark again at Portland, where there is generally a +great number of steam-boats, among which we chose the +Water-witch, bound to New Orleans.<a name="FNanchor_77" id="FNanchor_77" href="#Footnote_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> There were a great +many passengers eager to embark, who drove in carriages +into the river to reach the steam-boat, to which the baggage +was conveyed in the same manner. The loading of the +vessel not being completed, we did not set out till the 16th +of October. At seven o'clock in the morning of that day, +Reaumur's thermometer was at 5° above zero, while a thick +fog covered the river. We put off at half-past ten, and had +a fine view of the magnificent Ohio, with the large town +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">159</a></span> +of Louisville in Kentucky, and New Albany in Indiana,<a name="FNanchor_78" id="FNanchor_78" href="#Footnote_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> +opposite, with numerous steam-boats on both banks. It +was soon discovered that our engine was out of order, and +we were forced to lie to, on the Indiana side, to repair it. +As this required much time, we took the opportunity of +exploring the first forest in this State. The bank was fifty +feet high, and steep; the upper part of the declivity was +covered with <i>Datura</i>, the seeds of which were now ripe, but +very few of the light purple flowers were to be seen. The +beautiful blue flowering <i>Eupatorium cœlestinum</i> and the +<i>Lobelia syphilitica</i> bore their flowers amongst the thorn-apples. +On the summit of the bank there was a noble +forest of tall, thick beech, maple, oak, walnut trees, &c., +in which there were some plantations of maize, with their +block-houses. The underwood was everywhere the papaw +tree, and on the skirts of the forest the yellow flowering +<i>Cassia Marylandica</i>, with ripe seed. Old trunks lay rotting +on the ground, which was partly covered with the falling +leaves.</p> + +<p>At nightfall our engine was repaired, and we proceeded +on our voyage, and on the morning <span class="opage">72</span> of the 17th reached +the village of Brandenburg, on the Kentucky bank, which +is here rocky, and marked with horizontal white stripes, +or strata. The mountains were rounded and covered with +wood. In Indiana the forest was cleared in some places +for plantations, which afforded a view into the picturesque +interior; for on these cleared spots the tall forest trees stood, +as in the primeval forests in Brazil, like columns crowded +together. This dense forest was interrupted for a short +space by the towns of Leavenworth and Rome, in Indiana, +and Stevensport in Kentucky; the two last with some indifferent +buildings. From this part the country had no +great variety, the forests being seldom interrupted. The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">160</a></span> +islands were bordered with willow bushes, with tall trees +in the middle. On the bank where the rock was exposed, +on account of the low water in the river, we observed singular +forms produced by the action of the stream. They +consisted of round or elliptical stratified masses, which gradually +decreased in breadth, so that the whole looked like +a truncated pyramid rising in terraces. Before night we +reached Cloverburg, in Kentucky, and lay to till the stars +or the moon should appear.<a name="FNanchor_79" id="FNanchor_79" href="#Footnote_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> Numerous card parties sat +down in the great cabin, where the heat was intolerable. +Our beds swarmed with cockroaches, which ran over our +faces and hands, or fell from the ceiling. These disagreeable +animals are as common here as in Brazil; they gnaw +everything, and, being quite soft, are crushed by the slightest +motion.</p> + +<p>On the 18th, at half-past six o'clock in the morning, the +thermometer was +16° Reaumur, with rain, and wind, +and a clouded sky. We reached at an early hour the little +place of Rockport,<a name="FNanchor_80" id="FNanchor_80" href="#Footnote_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> in Indiana, and at half-past eight, +Owenburg, or Yellow Banks, in Kentucky, where we landed +many passengers. We saw the Turkey buzzard hovering +over the woods—a bird which we had not observed since +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">161</a></span> +we left Cincinnati, and which is not found to the west of +the Alleghanys. The Ohio, though the water was extremely +low, was still very broad and beautiful, its wooded banks +rather low. French Island, and some others, covered with +bushes and lime trees, lay quite dry, surrounded with a +large sand-bank. It was discovered that we had the cholera +on board. A man from Kentucky had declared himself +ill early in the morning, and was dead before eleven o'clock, +though the Captain employed all the remedies in his power. +He was quite well in the evening, had played at cards all +night, and did not complain till towards morning. A coffin +was made of some planks; the vessel lay to on the bank, +which was steep, and the bell was rung while the body was +conveyed on shore and buried. Many of our passengers +landed to see the funeral; others were extremely alarmed, +and, meantime, took a walk.</p> + +<p>After the funeral was over, and a white board, with the +name of the deceased, had been set up on the grave, the +bell called the passengers on board; in half an hour we +reached Evansville on the Indiana bank; soon afterwards +Pigeon Creek; above this, on the other bank, the Green +River, and subsequently the village of Henderson.<a name="FNanchor_81" id="FNanchor_81" href="#Footnote_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> Here +we took in fresh provisions, and, among the rest, 1000 fowls +were offered for sale, of which we took a good supply at a +dollar per dozen. <span class="opage">73</span> The sun was setting with great splendour +as we left this place; the broad, unruffled bosom of +the Ohio shone like a silver mirror, in which the beautiful +wooded banks were reflected, and the magnificent purple +and orange hues of the sky tinged the river with their glow.</p> + +<p>Towards midnight we reached Mount Vernon,<a name="FNanchor_82" id="FNanchor_82" href="#Footnote_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> where +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">162</a></span> +we landed, intending to proceed, the next morning, to New +Harmony, to visit the naturalists at that place. After +passing the night at an indifferent inn, I set out for New +Harmony, on the 19th of October, in the morning. I had +been indisposed, as well as my huntsman, since I left Louisville, +and was not in a mood properly to appreciate the +fine, lofty forests of Indiana, the road through which was +very bad and rough; the last part of the forest was remarkably +grand and wild: vines and other climbing plants hung +down from the old trees. The <i>Amorpha fruticosa</i> frequently +formed the underwood. At some of the isolated dwellings +of the farmers, racoon skins were hung up to dry, and the +beautiful large feathers of the wild turkey were scattered +on the ground. After having passed, in the most oppressive +heat, the Big Creek, which flows between the wooded hills, +we soon reached the fertile valley of the Wabash, near to +which New Harmony is built. +</p> + +<p><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163"></a></p> +<p class="chapter_start">CHAPTER VIII</p> + +<p class="center">DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY ABOUT NEW HARMONY IN INDIANA, +AND WINTER RESIDENCE THERE FROM OCTOBER 19TH, +1832, TO MARCH 16TH, 1833</p> + +<p class="chapter_summ"> +New Harmony on the Wabash—The Environs—Forests—Animals—Geological +Formation—Climate—Aborigines—Remains of the +former Population—The present Indians—The White Usurpers—Cultivation +of the Country—Productions—Breed of Cattle—Buffaloes—The +Naturalists at Harmony—Excursions—Fox River—Black +River—Long Pond—The present sanitary State of the +Country.</p> + +<p>New Harmony was founded by Mr. Rapp, and his +Swabian followers, in a wooded plain on the left or east +bank of the Wabash, about fifteen or twenty miles distant +from any other place. As Duke Bernhard of Saxe Weimar +has already spoken on this subject, I need not give any further +account of the history of this settlement; I will only +add that Mr. Owen, a Scotchman, bought the whole of +Mr. Rapp, but afterwards disposed of it to Mr. William +Maclure, President of the Academy of Natural Sciences of +Philadelphia.<a name="FNanchor_83" id="FNanchor_83" href="#Footnote_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> At the time of our visit, Harmony had +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">164</a></span> +fallen into decay, and the people whom Mr. Maclure had +settled there, were in part dispersed. Two sons of Mr. +Owen were, however, still here, and also Mr. Thomas Say, +and Mr. Lesueur; the first, well known as having accompanied +Major Long in his two journeys into the interior, +and the second, by his voyage round the world with Captain +Baudin, and the celebrated Piron. Though Mr. Maclure +did not appear to take any active part in the management +of Harmony, because the climate did not agree with him, +and he therefore resided in Mexico, he took care to furnish +Mr. Say with a fine library of books on Natural History, +which was constantly enriched with the most valuable new +works published in Europe. He likewise had here a printing +press, a copper-plate press, and an engraver. Mr. Maclure +had purchased in France all the plates of Audebert and +Vieillot's splendid ornithological works, which are preserved +in the library.<a name="FNanchor_84" id="FNanchor_84" href="#Footnote_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> Mr. Say has undertaken the superintendence +of Mr. Maclure's property on the Wabash, but +lives in a very retired manner, devoted to the study of natural +history, and to literary pursuits.</p> + +<p><span class="opage">75</span> Harmony is now a large village, with about 600 inhabitants; +the buildings, which are partly of brick, are +detached from each other; the streets are at right angles, +broad, and unpaved. The church built by Mr. Rapp has +been transformed into an amateur theatre. The situation of +Harmony is by no means unpleasant. The Wabash, a fine +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">165</a></span> +river, as broad as the Moselle, winds between banks which +are now cultivated, but were lately covered with thick +forests. A hilly tract, covered with woods, bounds the valley +of the Wabash, which is frequently overflowed by the +river, and thereby gains in fertility. The place itself lies +rather higher than the valley, surrounded by orchards, and +is not exposed to inundations. The Wabash divides at +Harmony into two arms, the eastern of which is called Cutoff +River,<a name="FNanchor_85" id="FNanchor_85" href="#Footnote_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> and further down into several branches, forming +many wooded islands, the largest of which are inhabited.</p> + +<p>New Harmony,<a name="FNanchor_86" id="FNanchor_86" href="#Footnote_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> is surrounded on all sides by fields, +which are from 600 to 800 paces in diameter; all around +are lofty forests, where settlers have everywhere cultivated +detached patches. These people are generally called backwoodsmen, +who live like half savages, without any education +or religious instruction. The forests which they inhabit +are very extensive, and the soil extremely fertile: vegetation +is much more luxuriant than to the east of the Alleghanys; +and, therefore, a short description of the natural productions +of the country will not be out of place here.</p> + +<p>Some remarkable peculiarities strike the observer when +he looks at the forests on the Wabash; one of these is the +want of evergreens, if we except the <i>Viscum flavescens</i>, <i>Pursh</i>, +<i>Bignonia cruciata</i>, <i>Equisetum hyemale</i>, and <i>Miegia macrosperma</i>. +The leaves of that bignonia, for the most part, +remain green in the winter, as well as those of the miegia, and +the stalks of the <i>Equisetum hyemale</i>, at least, in mild winters, +which often grow to the height of eight or ten feet +in the dry forests. The planes often attain an enormous +size, and are then generally hollow, and divided into several +colossal branches. We measured several of these trees, +and found one that was forty one feet five inches in circumference. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">166</a></span> +The hollow inside was twelve feet in diameter, +so that in our winter excursions we used to light a fire in it, +where we sheltered from the wind. Tall tulip trees shoot +up straight as masts, blossom, and bear seeds at their summits, +unseen by human eye. Maples of great height and +circumference, many species of oak, especially the mossy +overcap oak (<i>Q. macrocarpa</i>), with its large acorns, which, +at this time, lay on the ground, stand crowded together. +A great many species of trees are mixed together; among +them the <i>Gymnocladus Canadensis</i>, or <i>Guilandina Bonduc</i>, +with its broad pods, the divers kinds of walnut trees, the +<i>Gleditschia tricanthos</i>, with its formidable thorns; and many +climbing plants twine round the trunks, and among them, +the most beautiful of all, the <i>Bignonia radicans</i>.</p> + +<p>In the forests of Indiana the ground is covered with a +thick undergrowth, fifteen, twenty, or thirty feet high, consisting +chiefly of the papaw tree, the spinewood (<i>Laurus +Benzoin</i>), and the red bud; the flowers of the two latter +precede the leaf. Under these lower trees, shrubs cover +<span class="opage">76</span> the ground. No pine, rhododendron, kalmia, azalea, +magnolia, nor even the chestnut tree, are found in these +forests; but they seem to be especially the native country +of the beautiful catalpa tree, of which it was not known in +what part of America it properly grew wild, and which here +attains a considerable height and size.</p> + +<p>These lofty forests re-echo with the hammering of the +numerous woodpeckers; and, during the winter, the scarlet +cardinal (<i>Fring. cardinalis</i>) shines in the distance; and the +titmouse (<i>Parus. bicolor</i>, and <i>Atricapillus</i>), and the nuthatch +(<i>Sitta Carolinensis</i>), everywhere seek for insects and nuts.</p> + +<p>The inhabitants of these forests would never be in want +of an ample supply of wood for fuel and for timber, if they +had been at all careful. The black walnut and cherry tree +wood are the best for cabinet work; and for fuel, the hickory, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">167</a></span> +which affords more heat than beech wood. The +price of wood, at Harmony, was one dollar for a cord; +but the price is already rising, because the forest in the +neighbourhood of the village is gradually cleared, and the +carriage is more expensive.</p> + +<p>There are several kinds of officinal plants in the vicinity +of Harmony; ginseng (<i>Panax</i>) grows close by the village, +and its roots are still in request, but not so much as formerly. +Another plant of the woods of Indiana, which is much esteemed, +is the spurious Colombo root; likewise the peppermint, +which grows in every part of the United States. The +wax tree (<i>Myrica cerifera</i>), of the berries of which the green, +fragrant tapers are made, does not grow in Indiana, but is +found on the whole east coast, from New Jersey to Florida. +A kind of bark, which is now much used, is that of the +slippery elm (<i>Ulmus rubra</i>): if chewed, or softened for a +moment in water, it dissolves into a viscous slime, and is +found very useful in dressing wounds, as it is cooling, and +allays the inflammation. It is said to have been applied with +success in cholera, and is now sold, in powder, in all the +apothecaries' shops. A teaspoonful of this bark, in boiling +water, makes a very useful beverage, which is sweetened +with sugar, and has the same effect as linseed. Michaux +has given a print of this elm, and it would be desirable to +cultivate it in our gardens.</p> + +<p>The country on the banks of the Wabash is as interesting +to the zoologist as to the botanist; formerly there were great +numbers of the bison or buffalo of the Anglo-Americans, +the elk,<a name="FNanchor_87" id="FNanchor_87" href="#Footnote_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> bear, and beaver; but they are now entirely extirpated. +The Virginian deer is still pretty numerous, but +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">168</a></span> +is daily becoming more scarce: when Mr. Rapp first settled +here, seventy of these deer were shot, in a day, in one of +the Wabash islands. The wolf is still common, and seems +to differ but little from the European, but is a different +species from the wolf of the prairies of the Missouri; <span class="opage">77</span> +it is said that there is a black wolf in the prairies of Illinois, +which may, perhaps, be a distinct species. Of foxes, I saw +only the grey, though the red fox is said to be found here. +In the works that treat of the natural history of North America, +there are many errors. The racoon is common in the +forests of Harmony, and is never seen in the daytime; it +is hunted in the night with dogs, which drive it into a tree. +It does not sleep through the winter, for I often obtained it +in that season. The opossum is also common, and lives +much in the same manner as the racoon. The polecat, the +otter, and the mink are common; the pine marten is said +to be sometimes seen; the ermine is not rare in the prairies +of Illinois. The marmot, or ground hog, grows to a considerable +size, and is found in the islands of the Wabash; the +musk-rat abounds in all the rivers. The rabbit, as it is +called (<i>Lepus Americanus</i>), is nowhere so common as in +Europe, yet is found in all parts of the country. Of squirrels +there are many species.</p> + +<p>The most interesting of the birds of this part is the wild +turkey, which was formerly extremely numerous, and is still +pretty common. A large cock was sold at Harmony for a +quarter of a dollar. A young man in the neighbourhood, +who supplied the place with this delicate game, had often +ten or fifteen hanging about his horse at the same time. +The pheasant or heathcock is found in these forests, but in +no great numbers. The prairie hen is common in the prairies +of Illinois, and comes in large flocks to the neighbourhood +of Harmony, as soon as the cold weather and snow +set in. Partridges abound, and so do parrots (<i>Psitt. Carolinensis</i>) +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">169</a></span> +which remain here during the winter. No other +kind of parrot seems to bear so great a degree of cold as this. +We often saw them flying about in the forests, feeding on +the fruit of the plane, when Reaumur's thermometer was at +11° below zero. In the mild climate of the Ohio and Wabash +they remain all the year through. They are amusing +birds in a cage, and become very tame.</p> + +<p>There are but few species of amphibia in the country +about Harmony. Soft shell turtles and several kinds of +<i>emys</i> are numerous, such as the snapping turtle (<i>E. serpentina</i>), +likewise <i>E. geographica</i>, <i>picta</i>, <i>pulchella</i>, &c.</p> + +<p>There are several lizards, but no great number of species. +The rattle-snake is seldom seen, this country not being sufficiently +dry and stony; the copper-head, on the contrary, is +said not to be rare, but I cannot speak with certainty. +The hognose-snake is very common. There are many +kinds of adder in the Wabash that are not venomous.</p> + +<p>The proteus (<i>Menobranchus lateralis</i>, Harl.) of the Ohio, +and of the great Canadian lakes, is found in the Wabash. +The rude inhabitants have many superstitious notions and +fables respecting several kinds of animals, especially serpents. +Of the glass-snake (<i>Ophisaurus ventralis</i>), which +easily breaks to pieces, they say, that when the pieces are +placed together, they immediately unite: they affirm that +the horn-snake, which has a horn or sting at the end of its +tail, takes it in its mouth, and then runs along like a hoop; +and that if it passes a tree it wounds it with its sting, which +always makes the tree die. Mr. Thomas Say was once informed +that a <span class="opage">78</span> planter had brought one of these snakes, +and would prove the truth of this assertion. He sent for +the man, and found that he had the tail of one of these snakes +carefully wrapped up. Mr. Say asked him whether he must +die if he pricked himself with this horn? The man answered +"undoubtedly." Mr. Say immediately pricked himself +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">170</a></span> +with the horn and drew blood, but was not affected by it; +and the impostor, who affirmed that he had witnessed the +effects of the sting, excused himself by saying that he had +been deceived by a neighbour who gave him the snake. The +inhabitants of the country generally believe that venomous +serpents sting both with the tongue and with the tail, that +they fascinate other animals, an old, long since refuted fable, +which, however, is occasionally revived in American journals, +with other stories of a similar kind.</p> + +<p>There are many kinds of fish in the Wabash, on the +whole the same as in the Ohio and the Mississippi: the +cat-fish is said sometimes to weigh above 100 lbs. Several +species of sturgeon and pikes are found here; the horn-fish, +the buffalo (<i>Catastomus carpioles</i>), a large fish resembling +the carp, &c. The remarkable paddle-fish is likewise met +with, but not frequently, nor in all the rivers. Mr. Lesueur +has given it the name of <i>ptalyrostra</i>, and has sent several +specimens of it to Paris. This naturalist, during his long +residence at Harmony, has very carefully studied this branch +of zoology. He possesses a large collection of drawings and +descriptions of this class, and specimens, for the most part +stuffed. He has presented many of them to the National +Museum at Paris; and it was his intention soon to visit +Europe, and publish his observations on this subject, which +will form an important supplement to the great work of +Cuvier and Valenciennes.</p> + +<p>The bivalve shells (<i>Unio</i>, <i>Alasmodon</i>, and <i>Anodonta</i>), +of which there are a great many different species, some of +them very large and beautiful, are an interesting portion of +the natural productions of the Ohio, the Wabash, and the +tributary streams, especially Fox River. Several American +naturalists have written on this subject. Mr. Say, who was +the first, states the number of species of these bivalves at +forty-four. He would have given descriptions and drawings +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">171</a></span> +of all the species existing in this country, as well on +land as in the rivers, in his natural history of the North +American testacea, had not death called him from this world, +too soon for his friends and for science. He died on the +10th of October, 1834, soon after I had left him in good +health on my second visit to Harmony. This part of the +country has two species of crustacea (<i>Astacus Bartoni</i>, Bosc.), +and (<i>Astacus affinis</i>, Say), which are here called craw-fish. +These are the only large species of crustacea, but there are +many smaller ones. Mr. Say, by many years' study, made +himself fully acquainted with the insects. It is remarkable +that the bee, which was brought to America by the Europeans, +is now common in all the forests; the Indians are +said to call this insect the white-man's fly. Many beautiful +butterflies and moths adorn the woods of Indiana.</p> + +<p>The eminences about Harmony are of secondary formation, +with a basis of limestone, and upon that, strata of sandstone, +clay-slate and indurated clay. The land in the neighbourhood +of <span class="opage">79</span> Harmony is extremely fertile. The fields +are not manured for many successive years, and produce +the finest crops; such land, however, in good situations, is +no longer cheap. The climate is salubrious, and the inhabitants +attain a great age. The winters are generally mild; +the changes of temperature are often very great and rapid. +The cholera has not yet visited this country. We arrived +at the season called the Indian summer, when, with a temperature +of +16° to 17° Reaumur, the atmosphere was +gloomy and misty. Most persons experience, at this season, +irregularities in the digestive organs, and head-ache. Pöppig +gives a very accurate account of the North American +autumn, and Mrs. Trollope felt the peculiar effect of this +warm autumnal weather on strangers; it is, however, very +remarkable that this state of the atmosphere in the Ohio +Valley quickly put an end to the cholera, on which Dr. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">172</a></span> +Daniel Drake wrote an essay.<a name="FNanchor_88" id="FNanchor_88" href="#Footnote_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> The weather in the wintertime +is generally bright and clear; sometimes there are fogs, +and hoar frost, which encrusts the trees with the most beautiful +crystals: parhelia and aurora borealis are frequently +seen. On the 14th of December we had a tremendous +thunder-storm at daybreak; Reaumur's thermometer was +at +2°; the rain, thunder, and lightning were equally violent; +the latter covered the heavens with a sheet of fire, and +was extremely dazzling; the thunder resembled a discharge +of artillery. We were told that, in the preceding year, 1831, +the weather had been exceedingly unhealthy, and the inhabitants +even affirmed that wounds would not heal.</p> + +<p>Like the whole of the interior of North America, the +country on the Wabash has still numerous traces of a very +early extinct original population, of which even the present +Indians have no traditions, and whose remains have been +spoken of by many writers. Warden, in his account of the +United States, and more particularly in the great work, +entitled "Antiquités Mexicaines," has mentioned such remains +in all the states, and collected much information on +this subject. Here, too, in the neighbourhood of Harmony, +there are ancient tumuli, which, externally, are exactly similar +to those which are everywhere found in our German +forests. Lesueur had examined many of these tumuli, and +sent part of the articles found in them to France. Some of +the most considerable tumuli were found on the spot, near +the back of the village, where Rapp made his churchyard, +and which is now planted with acacias. The bones of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">173</a></span> +Swabian peasants are here mingled with those of the aboriginal +Indians. Lesueur dug through some of those tumuli, +which are now much levelled, and covered with greensward, +and found a right-angled oblong parallelogram, level at the +bottom, formed of large flat stones, set edgewise, and likewise +covered over with similar stones. Some decayed bones +were found in it, of which I received a considerable number +from Mr. Lesueur, and sent them to Mr. Blumenbach, at +Göttingen.<a name="FNanchor_89" id="FNanchor_89" href="#Footnote_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> This mode of interment is not that of the +present Indians, who themselves affirm that these tumuli +were made by the whites. Most of the skulls which were +found were without the bones of the face, and all were very +much decayed. The race of men to which they belonged +were not smaller than those now existing, and, consequently, +afford no evidence of a dwarfish race, which has been +fabulously <span class="opage">80</span> ascribed to America. Potsherds were found +in many of the tumuli; they were made of a grey clay, and +in general marked with stripes, or rings; it would appear +that they had been moulded in a cloth, or basket, as they +were marked with similar impressions, or figures. Mr. Lesueur +has seen unbroken vessels of this kind, which were +large, very flat, and had figured handles. Broken shells are +frequently found intermixed with the dark grey clay of these +vessels. In one of the tumuli was found, together with the +human bones, the jawbones of an animal of the stag +kind; in others, battle-axes, arrow-heads, and tobacco-pipe +heads of clay, different in form from those now used in Indiana.</p> + +<p>One of these pipes was in the shape of a squatting frog, +the mouth serving for the tobacco; some of them are represented +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">174</a></span> +in the accompanying woodcuts.<a name="FNanchor_90" id="FNanchor_90" href="#Footnote_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> Some of the most +interesting articles found in and near these graves, are the +narrow, oblong, square pieces of flint, which those nations +made use of instead of knives. They are from two to two +inches and a half long, and scarcely half an inch broad; +very thin and very sharp on all the four sides. Several of +these knives were discovered near New Harmony, and Mr. +Lesueur found one during my stay there. There is a very +remarkable coincidence of these knives with the perfectly +similar instruments of obsidian or volcanic glass, which are +found, even now, in Mexico, some of which Mr. T. Say +brought with him, from his journey to that country, and +wrote a paper respecting them.<a name="FNanchor_91" id="FNanchor_91" href="#Footnote_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> In the <span class="opage">81</span> forty-eighth +plate, I have represented the two kinds of stone knives together, +as they seem to testify the affinity of the aborigines +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">177</a></span> +of the interior of North America with those of Mexico, which +is supported by other reasons.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo175" id="illo175"></a> +<img src="images/illo_176a.jpg" width="486" height="185" alt="Indian pipes" /> +<p class="caption">Indian pipes</p> +</div> + +<p>About fifteen miles from Harmony, lower down the Wabash, +is a part of the bank known by the name of the Bone +Bank, where the river has partly cut through a hill, or laid it +bare, in which there are numbers of human bones seen imbedded +in the bank. Mr. Lesueur sent a perfect skull from +this spot to Blumenbach. An old tree having fallen down +on this place, he saw under the roots an entire human skeleton; +this, therefore, was undoubtedly a burying-place. +While the observer deeply regrets that he is wholly without +information respecting these remarkable remains of antiquity, +he feels that the present white population of North America +may justly be reproached for neglecting or destroying them. +Nobody in Harmony was able to give any account of the +names of the Indian tribes who inhabited the country at +the time when this village was founded. One of the first +settlers of the country about Mount Vernon, who had grown +up in Kentucky among the Indians, but had removed, in +1806, to the forests on the Lower Wabash—where at that +time there were no white settlers—had been well acquainted +with the Indians about Harmony, and frequently visited +them in their huts. He was the only man who was able +to give me any information about them. He called them +Muskoghe Indians; this name, however, seems to be incorrect. +They lived in this part of the country till 1810; but +in the year preceding the battle of Tippekanoe they all removed, +and did not return. They were not numerous, and +lived chiefly about the mouth of the Wabash, and on the +Big Creek.<a name="FNanchor_92" id="FNanchor_92" href="#Footnote_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> They were a good-looking, robust race; wore +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">178</a></span> +a kind of apron, and had bows and arrows, in the use of which +they were very expert. They had among them thirty or +forty indifferent guns; they smoked Sumach leaves in wooden +pipes,<a name="FNanchor_93" id="FNanchor_93" href="#Footnote_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> the tube of which was made of cane. Their huts, +at the mouth of the Wabash, were composed of large bundles +of reeds, lined inside with deer-skins. Many of these Indians +fastened their pipes to the tomahawk. Their heads +were shorn, with the exception of a tuft at the back, like +the Indians of the Mississippi and Lower Missouri. They +coloured their faces with red paint. To the whites they +were friendly, visited the first settlers in their dwellings, +and reposed around their hearths, especially in bad weather. +At that time there were elks and beavers, yet in no great +numbers; but bears and wolves in abundance. My informant +had killed many bears, and great numbers of wild turkeys.</p> + +<p><span class="opage">82</span> The early history of Indiana mentions, as the inhabitants +of this State, when the French first settled here, +the Kickapoos, Musquitons, Potanons, and some other +nations, remnants of which are still to be found at the +sources of the Wabash, as well as the Piankishaws, Miamis, +and Viandots. In the year 1804, a treaty was concluded +with them at Vincennes for the purchase of the lands +between the Wabash and the Ohio, after which they emigrated.<a name="FNanchor_94" id="FNanchor_94" href="#Footnote_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> +Some well-informed inhabitants of Harmony, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">179</a></span> +who, at the time of the Indiana emigration, when the +United States had repeatedly bought land of those people, +saw the several dislodged tribes pass through this country, +assured me that the character of their physiognomy was +often essentially different; and I myself found this confirmed +both in North and South America; though the +fundamental features of the American race are everywhere +the same. All these Indians are now totally extirpated or +expelled from Indiana, and the country enjoys the advantage +of being peopled by the backwoodsmen.</p> + +<p>The fertile and salubrious country of Harmony has attracted +a great number of settlers, who have begun to thin +the great forests of Indiana. These settlers are usually +called backwoodsmen, because they live in the remote forests. +They are a robust, rough race of men, of English or +Irish origin. They dwell very isolated, scattered in the +forests, and but seldom come to the towns, only when business +calls them. There is a school at Harmony where the +children learn to read and write; two dollars are paid quarterly, +and the children receive instruction in the morning +and afternoon; but in the country the young people grow +up without any education, and are, probably, no better than +the Indians themselves. In the Western States, the sixteenth +section of the Congress land (<i>i. e.</i>, land belonging to the +Government) is always assigned for the benefit of the schools, +but is not always employed according to the first intention. +At this time there was in the state of Indiana only one +college; it was at Blooming Town.<a name="FNanchor_95" id="FNanchor_95" href="#Footnote_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> There was no clergyman +at Harmony, and, with the exception of the meetings +of some religious sects, the inhabitants were destitute of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">180</a></span> +both religious and school instruction. Business, or festive +occasions, bring the backwoodsmen into the town, where +they indulge their love of whisky, which generally retards +their return homeward. They have a good race of horses, +and are bold horsemen; even the women are frequently +seen on the saddle, and whole families travel in this way—man, +woman, and child ofttimes mounted on the same beast. +There is nothing characteristic in their costume, like the +original dresses which are met with in the country in Germany; +but they wear a medley, and bad imitation of all +the fashions of English towns; caps, felt and straw hats, +frocks, great-coats, plaids, &c. The women, too, endeavour +to imitate the fashions of the towns, wear large hats with +loose veils, and gaudy plaid mantles, which, altogether, have +often a most ludicrous effect in these remote forests. The +winter dress of the men is often not ill chosen, though perfectly +novel to a stranger. At that season they wear great-coats +made of the common woollen horsecloths, white or +green, with gay stripes on the collar, cuffs, and pockets; <span class="opage">83</span> +nay, some are striped all over like zebras: such a coat, of +the commonest kind, cannot be had here for less than eight +or ten dollars. Noisy parties of these people frequently +assemble at the public-houses of Harmony, gather round the +fire, and let the whisky circulate briskly, while their horses +are frequently left the whole day, standing in the street, amid +rain and snow. On Sunday, which is kept by many of the +inhabitants, though there is no divine service, they are more +decently clad, wash their faces, and make some attempt at +putting their hair in order, which hangs dishevelled about +their faces. The young men often went to the chase, others +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">181</a></span> +played in the streets, generally at ball, but a great number +remained at their work, and the peasants and farmers, with +their huge wagons, followed their usual occupations. On +certain days, especially when a magistrate, a president, or +a governor was to be chosen, all were gathered together, +for they all take great interest in the government of the +country, and would not, on any account, renounce the +privilege which, in their estimation, makes them important +statesmen. On such election days, whole troops of them +ride into the town; the streets are crowded with their horses, +which are tied up, and the whisky-shops resound with their +tumultuous discussions. Every man gives his vote; disputes +arise; and, as in the Polish diets, their excited passions frequently +lead to blows. They are all great politicians, and +some of them are well acquainted with the newspapers. In +the winter, as soon as snow fell, sledge parties commenced +at Harmony. Six or eight persons were on separate +seats, two and two together, upon one sledge; others amused +themselves with skating, for which, however, they had not +much opportunity in the winter of 1832-3. There were +frequent balls at the inns; on New Year's Eve they literally +danced the whole night through.</p> + +<p>Agriculture is still in its infancy about New Harmony, +and the people depend on the extraordinary fertility of the +soil. In the immediate vicinity of the town land is not +cheap, having already risen to fifteen dollars per acre; +whereas, at the distance of two miles, there was still a considerable +quantity of Congress land, which might be had at +one dollar per acre. There was a tax of fifty cents, or half a +dollar,<a name="FNanchor_96" id="FNanchor_96" href="#Footnote_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> on every quarter of a square mile of land. What is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">182</a></span> +called Congress land, is frequently taken possession of, for +a time, by new comers, who have no right to it. They fell +the wood, erect their huts, and nobody hinders them in their +proceedings till the lawful owner ejects them, who has purchased +the land of the Government. A square mile of <span class="opage">84</span> +Congress land was still to be had for 100 dollars; but these +lands are subject to the periodical inundations of the Wabash, +when the farmers are obliged to fly with all their effects +to more elevated stations. They have then to look for their +cattle in the great forests, and drive them away; but they +cannot always find all the animals, many of which perish. +The fertility of the soil is increased by these inundations. +Congress land which was not exposed to inundation, could be +bought for one dollar twenty-five cents per acre. This high +water is said often to present an interesting scene. Hogs +and other animals, even the opossum, have been found on +low trees, where they had sought protection.</p> + +<p>The chief vegetable production of this part of the country +is maize, which grows to the height of twelve or thirteen +feet; the ears are very large and heavy; I found some +weighing fourteen to fifteen ounces, and nearly three inches +in diameter, in which I counted above 1,000 grains. They +ripen in September, October, November, and December, +and are often left standing through the winter, till wanted +for use. There are fifteen varieties of this important plant; +one kind, called sweet corn, is particularly good when roasted +in an unripe state. It is calculated that the best soil will +yield 100 bushels of corn per acre. Very good cakes and +bread are prepared of maize flour, and there are many other +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">183</a></span> +ways of dressing it. When boiled with milk it is called mush. +All living creatures in this country subsist, almost exclusively, +on this invaluable production. When the whites arrived +in America numerous Indian tribes subsisted on it; quadrupeds, +birds, nay, even fish, are fond of it. At the places +where the flat boats, laden with maize, land, the fish collect +and assemble in great numbers, and fall an easy prey to the +fishermen. At this time the corn was sold at six and a half +cents per bushel at Harmony; whereas, on the frontiers of +Canada, two dollars were paid for it. Living is, consequently, +very cheap on the banks of the Wabash. The maize is +brought to market in large wagons, drawn by four oxen, +and a considerable quantity is thence sent by water carriage. +Other kinds of grain—wheat, rye, barley, and oats—which +ripen in June, are likewise cultivated. Barley is grown for +the brewers; and oats, in considerable quantities, for the +horses. Potatoes, too, are extensively cultivated, but they +are by no means so good and mealy as in Germany. There +is a great variety of culinary vegetables. There are abundance +of apples, but not many pears, which do not thrive; +peaches are good, and very productive; quantities fall to the +ground, where they are consumed by the hogs; plums and +cherries are rarely grown; the latter are not so good as in +Europe, but very fruitful. The vine was formerly cultivated, +but it is now quite neglected. According to Warden, cotton +is grown at Vincennes, Princetown, and Harmony, but this +does not seem to be the case at present. This plant does not +thrive beyond the 31st degree of latitude. The inhabitants +grow hemp and flax for their own consumption, and some +tobacco; bad cigars are made at Harmony, and, in general, +good tobacco is rarely to be met with in the United States. +Maple sugar is manufactured in great abundance in Indiana. +Warden says that, in 1810, 50,000 lbs. <span class="opage">85</span> were made in +this State, and, at present, it was worth seven or eight cents +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">184</a></span> +a pound. Many of the inhabitants obtain, in the spring, +about 100 lbs. of this sugar. In this part of the country the +corn is not thrashed, but generally trodden out by horses; +a very imperfect process, which appears to have originated +in the times of the ancient Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans.</p> + +<p>Next to agriculture the breeding of cattle is an important +object among the backwoodsmen; but is likewise ill understood. +The breed of swine furnishes the principal supply +for food and exportation, great quantities of pork being sent +to New Orleans. Mr. Owen had established a whisky distillery, +and fattened the swine on the refuse. About 1,500 +barrels of whisky, worth ten dollars a barrel, were made +every year in Mr. Owen's distillery. Great numbers of +swine are in the woods of Indiana, far from all human dwellings, +where they grow very fat by the abundance of oak and +beech mast. They are of a reddish brown colour, with round +black spots; there are some quite wild, which anybody is +at liberty to shoot. These animals are never housed, even +in the vicinity of Harmony. We observed them, in our +excursions, in the depth of winter, when the young ones often +perish with cold; and we also saw them eaten by the mothers. +Dead swine were lying about in all directions, partly devoured +by others. The negligence and want of feeling with +which the animals are treated, are very great; and, accordingly, +the breed of cattle can never flourish. The cattle, +which are very fine, are kept in the open air day and night, +amidst ice and snow, with which their backs are covered; the +same may be said of the horses; nay, in cold moonlight +nights, we saw these animals standing in the street, near +their master's dwelling, as if they hoped to be let in. The +animals are generally fed in the morning with maize, and a +woman usually appears at an early hour, in her plaid, to +milk the cows.</p> + +<p>The cattle of this country are large and handsome, very +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">185</a></span> +hardy, and do not differ in figure or colour from those of +Germany; no food is given them in winter but the dry leaves +of maize. No clover or other forage is cultivated, so that +the cattle and horses are confined to straw, the bark of trees, +and the green reed, miegia, which forms a thick underwood +in the forests on the Wabash. Everywhere one sees the +bark and twigs gnawed, and even the fruit trees are often +damaged in this manner. Horses and cattle frequently starve +to death in the winter. I was told that the animals gnaw, +in preference, the nettle-tree (<i>Celtis occidentalis</i>), the hack-berry +(<i>Celtis crassifolia</i>), and the sugar maple. It is remarkable +that the swine, which otherwise refuse no species +of fruit, will not touch that of the papaw tree (<i>Asimina</i>). +All the beef in this country is of a bad quality, because, as +I have said, no forage is cultivated. In Pennsylvania it is +quite the reverse; there a great deal of clover is grown, and +the beef is, consequently, good. In Indiana pork is said to +be much better and easier of digestion than to the east of the +Alleghanys. We saw but few sheep, and no goats, at Harmony. +There were plenty of geese and domestic fowls, but +only a few tame ducks.</p> + +<p>The mode of tilling the ground for the different kinds of +grain, has been described by <span class="opage">86</span> many travellers; I will +therefore merely observe that the plough is different in its +construction from that used in Germany, and that the oxen +are attached to it by a very peculiar yoke, which consists +of a long, thick, crooked piece of wood, which is laid horizontally +over the necks of the two oxen, with two bows +underneath, through which the heads of the animals are +put.<a name="FNanchor_97" id="FNanchor_97" href="#Footnote_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a></p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo175b" id="illo175b"></a> +<img src="images/illo_176b.jpg" width="476" height="348" alt="Neck-yoke and plow" /> +<p class="caption">Neck-yoke and plow</p> +</div> + +<p>My stay at New Harmony, which was at first intended to +be only for a few days, was prolonged by serious indisposition, +nearly resembling cholera, to a four months' winter residence. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">186</a></span> +At any other place in this country I should have +extremely regretted such a loss of time, but here I derived +much instruction and entertainment from my intercourse +with two highly-informed men, Mr. Thomas Say and Mr. +Lesueur, who, during my two months' illness, gave me constant +proofs of kindness, and endeavoured to make our time +pass agreeably and usefully. I received also much kindness +from other estimable families, Messrs. Owen (who were +educated by Fellenberg, in Switzerland), Mr. Maclure and +his sister, and Mr. Twigg. My walks and hunting excursions +with the two naturalists were very instructive. Mr. +Say's house was in a garden, where he cultivated many +interesting plants of the interior of Western America. I +there saw a large <i>Maclura aurantiaca</i> (Nuttall), the bow or +yellow wood, or Osage orange, from the river Arkansas, of +the wood of which many Indian tribes make their bows. +It is a prickly tree, with very tough wood. There was one +at St. Louis, in the garden of Mr. Pierre Chouteau, which +did not, however, flourish.<a name="FNanchor_98" id="FNanchor_98" href="#Footnote_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> Dr. Pitcher had the kindness +to give me some of the seeds of this tree, <span class="opage">87</span> which, however, +have not succeeded. In Mr. Say's garden I likewise saw +<i>Euphorbia marginata</i>, from Arkansas, several beautiful <i>phlox</i>; +and the <i>Lonicera sempervirens</i> was laden with its ripe fruit. +The <i>Euphorbia marginata</i> flourishes exceedingly well at +Bonn, where it was raised from seeds which I brought.</p> + +<p>Mr. Say's zoological collection was confined to insects +and shells. He was less anxious to possess a complete collection +than to have a good library, which, thanks to Mr. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">187</a></span> +Maclure, he really possessed, and new insects and shells +were sent to him from all parts of the United States, which +he immediately described. He had a very extensive correspondence, +even with Europe, and received many conchylia, +which he used and compared for his work on American conchology. +This work was entirely got up here in Harmony, +for Mrs. Say drew and coloured the figures very faithfully +after nature, which were engraved by an artist, engaged by +Mr. Maclure; the text also was printed there. Mr. Say's +entomological collection was continually damaged by the +rapacious insects, which are much more dangerous and +destructive here than in Europe. The most fatal to the +zoological collections, in this country, besides the common +European moth (<i>Phalæna sarcitella</i>), are the <i>Dermestes lardarius</i>, +<i>Anthrinus muscorum</i>, <i>Dermestes vulpinus</i>, <i>Necrobia +violetia</i>, <i>Acarus destructor</i>, and several others, among which +there are some brought from Europe.</p> + +<p>Mr. Lesueur's labours were chiefly in the higher orders +of the animal kingdom; he had explored the country in +many directions, was acquainted with everything remarkable, +collected and prepared all interesting objects, and had +already sent considerable collections to France. He was +a skilful draughtsman, and his portfolios of drawings, made +during his voyage round the world, and in his residence +in America, afforded us much gratification during the winter. +He had paid great attention to the fishes of the Wabash, +Ohio, and Mississippi, for which his frequent visits to New +Orleans had given him the best opportunity. His friend +Barrabino, who died prematurely in that city, and took +much interest in the sciences, had been of great assistance to +him. It would be a pity if the interesting labours of Mr. +Lesueur, in natural history, were not communicated to the +learned world during his lifetime.</p> + +<p>I shall always retain a most pleasing recollection of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">188</a></span> +excursions which we made in the neighbourhood of Harmony, +with Mr. Say, and to greater distances, with Mr. Lesueur. +One of the most agreeable was when we sailed down +the Wabash, and landed on its wooded islands. Immediately +on the west of the river, is Fox Island, a large thickly wooded +tract, between the Wabash and Fox River.<a name="FNanchor_99" id="FNanchor_99" href="#Footnote_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> We generally +left Harmony by water, in bright, sunny weather. The Wabash +divides into several arms, forming beautiful romantic +islands, covered with tall forests, partly surrounded by quantities +of drift wood. The water of the river is clear and +dark green, and the bottom, which is plainly seen, is covered +with large bivalve shells (<i>Unio</i>), as well as with several kinds +of snails. High trees uniformly clothe the shore, and colossal, +wide-spreading planes rise above the dense forests. In +some places there are sand-banks, where shells are <span class="opage">88</span> found +in abundance, and where the track of the racoon and the +mink, which come here in the night to seek their food, are +imprinted in all directions on the wet ground. Under the +old roots of trees on the bank, which is from ten to twenty +feet high, we saw the burrows of the minks, into which it +had taken a quantity of shells. The common people here +think that this is done by the musk-rat, which is certainly +a mistake. The musk-rat lives on vegetables, and it is only +the small beasts of prey that live on shell-fish. There were +various species of ducks, which rose in flocks before us, and +flew rapidly to the undisturbed parts of the banks. Besides +the common wild duck, which was the most numerous, there +were the beautiful wood duck, the blue-winged teal, and +the pintail duck, or sea-pheasant. After proceeding about +three quarters of an hour, we usually landed on Fox Island, +on the right bank, fastened our boat to the trunk of a large +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">189</a></span> +fallen tree, and then went up the steep bank into a thick, +lofty forest, where the high reeds were intersected with small, +narrow paths, made by the horses and cattle of the neighbouring +farmers. From our several landing places, we had +to proceed only about 100 steps across the island to the Fox +River, which runs here, for a pretty considerable distance, +parallel to the Wabash, and joins it below Fox Island.<a name="FNanchor_100" id="FNanchor_100" href="#Footnote_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> +The stream is highly picturesque, with romantic banks, +large uprooted trees, colossal planes, magnificent oaks, hickory, +shellbark hickory, &c. Here grows the lofty <i>gymnocladus</i>, +with its large, broad pods, and the beautiful catalpa. +<i>Bignonia radicans</i> and <i>cruciata</i> wind round the trunks, as +well as thick, clustering vines (<i>Hedera quinquefolia</i>) and the +poison vine. Vast quantities of fallen trees lay in the water, +and, when it was low, often formed a kind of bridge. The +trunks of the plane are very remarkable; they are often so +thick that five or six men cannot span them. When of this +size they are generally hollow. These trees are suffered to +grow so old, because they yield but indifferent timber. +Twenty or thirty feet from the ground, the trunk usually +divides into several thick branches, which rise to a very +great height; they have a bark of dazzling whiteness, which +forms a singular contrast with the brown forests, when leafless +and bare in winter. This tree never attains such a +thickness and height in Europe, and hence the white colour +of the branches is wanting. The quiet, lonely Fox River +is covered, during the whole day, with numerous ducks. +Whenever we approached cautiously through the reeds, and +over the dry leaves, scattered on the ground, we could immediately +fire at them. The kingfisher (<i>Alcedo alcyon</i>), is constantly +seen here, and many species of birds, particularly +the blue-crested roller (<i>Garrulus cristatus</i>), came to the water +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">190</a></span> +to drink. Unluckily we had no European hounds, which +would have been of great service to us, and thus, from want +of them, we often lost the ducks we had shot. The turkey +buzzards were seen hovering in the air, and, after wet weather, +were often observed sitting in the sunshine, with outspread +wings, on the highest trees. If we shot a bird, and did not +immediately pick it up, it was sure to be devoured by these +ravenous creatures. If the buzzards were driven away, the +cunning crows supplied their place. The whole air was soon +filled with these buzzards, hovering round and round, <span class="opage">89</span> +while numbers of others sat together on the high trees. If +we shot at them when flying, they immediately vomited; +this I likewise observed in Brazil. We found here some +heads of the paddle-fish, which lives in the stream. If we +left the banks of the rivers, and advanced far into the forests, +we had often to clamber over fallen trunks of trees, covered +with moss, and to penetrate through matted reeds, where +we heard the voice of the grey squirrel, and the hammering +of the numerous woodpeckers. Among the entangled climbing +plants, we often saw, throughout the whole winter, the +beautiful cardinal, or red-bird; finches of various kinds; +and on the decayed trees, on the ground, some kinds of +<i>Troglodytes</i>. Towards the end of autumn, and early in +warm days in February, nay, even in December and January, +we often saw in Fox River, on stones, and old submersed +trunks of trees, large tortoises basking in the sun, which we +sometimes shot at with our fowling-pieces, but we seldom +got them. They are very shy, and plunge into the water +as soon as any one approaches.</p> + +<p>Towards noon the scattered sportsmen usually re-assembled, +with their booty, round a cheerful fire, under ancient +plane trees, on the bank of Fox River. Our frugal repast, +which we had brought with us, was seasoned by the exercise +in the open air, in the fine forests of Indiana and Illinois. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">191</a></span> +Tortoises, shell-fish, birds, &c., were deposited in our boat. +Mr. Lesueur frequently accompanied us in these excursions. +Once, on the 7th of March, he found, on Fox Island, a +couple of marmots above ground, one of which ran into its +burrow, while the other sought refuge on a low tree, where, +however, it was shot. We then dug for the other, in hopes +of finding it, but the burrow went so far and deep into the +ground, that we were forced to give it up. This circumstance +may serve as a proof that the animals which sleep +throughout the winter make their appearance about this time.</p> + +<p>In our excursions we often visited some others of the numerous +islands in the Wabash, being particularly attracted +thither by the loud cries of the wild turkey; their voice is +exactly similar to that of the European turkey. We could +hear them scratching among the dry leaves on the ground, +in search of food. If we surprised them, they were generally +too far off for our fowling-pieces, loaded with small shot, +for they ran away with extraordinary rapidity. Turkey +Island seemed to be a favourite place of resort. At the +upper end of the island drifted wood was frequently piled +up to such a height, that it was difficult to clamber over it, +and among this wood there were generally many otters. +Here we often found wild turkeys, and even the Virginian +deer; and it is really a fine sight to see a flock of these wild +turkeys fly across the river, or a swarm of wild geese, with +loud screams, swim down the stream. The grey eagle was +often seen sitting on the lofty plane trees, on the bank; and +the white-headed eagle hovered in the air, at a great height.</p> + +<p>On another hunting excursion, up the Wabash, we proceeded +as far as Black River,<a name="FNanchor_101" id="FNanchor_101" href="#Footnote_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> a stream which falls into the +Wabash, three miles from Harmony. On the 5th of January, +at eight <span class="opage">90</span> o'clock in the morning, the mercury in +Reaumur's thermometer was twelve and a half degrees above +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">192</a></span> +freezing point, and the fish leaped above the surface of the +water as in summer. Near some small log-houses the people +were employed in felling the high trees, and our boatmen +observed that those new settlers had taken possession of this +Congress land without any right to do so. Such irregularities +are very frequent here; thus, for instance, they cut down +large trees on Mr. Maclure's property for making their flat +boats, and yet nobody calls them to account. These are +the backwoodsmen of Illinois and Indiana. On the high +banks of the river we observed in the forest a mink-trap. +It nearly resembles, in miniature, the great bear-trap; is +covered on all sides with brushwood, so that the animal can +enter only at a certain place. The Black River, which, in +some parts, is wide and expanded, was now rather narrow +and shallow, the water of a pure green colour. The bottom +consists chiefly of sand or clay; it is contracted at the mouth, +where a quantity of sand has accumulated, and where poplars +and lofty planes grow; colossal vines wound round their +trunks, of which we cut off one that was very thick, as a +specimen. While our boatmen were engaged in this work, +and in looking for shell-fish, we advanced several miles up +the stream, where we met with frequent obstacles in the forest. +The large dry leaves of the planes made such a rustling, +that we could seldom get near the ducks, numbers of which +were swimming on the stream. I collected on the bank the +beautiful orange-coloured seeds of the <i>Celastrus scandens</i>, +and several others. We generally returned home with ducks +and other birds, but we were unsuccessful in our chase of +the wild turkeys, of which we sometimes saw whole flocks +fly across the Wabash. Many an hour we passed in these +forests, watching for ducks and birds of prey; where, while +we stood concealed in a hollow plane, the small birds sometimes +flew almost into the face of the sportsman, or settled +on his gun. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">193</a></span></p> + +<p>In order to explore the forests of Harmony, in the southern +direction, Mr. Say took me to a neighbouring estate of Mr. +Maclure, on Rush Creek, through a romantic, lofty forest, +where very fine tulip trees, with thick and high trunks, as +straight as a ship's mast, and very rough bark, were growing. +This tall, splendid tree bears its fine large flowers only at the +very summit. The wood is of a greenish pale yellow colour, +and is used by cabinet makers. The red-headed woodpecker +was almost the only bird that was seen here. The whole +track consists of steep hills, separated by small valleys, +on which we particularly observed the ancient tumuli of the +aboriginal inhabitants of these forests. Passing through a +valley we came to Rush Creek, which we crossed by a very +ruinous bridge of branches of trees, to the opposite bank, +where <i>Hydrangea arborescens</i> grew. Several species of maple +grow here, which have certainly not been properly distinguished +and classed. Their trunks, covered with rough +bark, are often not to be spanned by three men, and they +grow perfectly straight. Near the junction of the Rush +Creek and the Wabash, we came to the small log-house of +a tenant of Mr. Maclure, where the woman was engaged +in domestic employments, while the children were picking +bones, probably <span class="opage">91</span> of wild turkeys, with which they ate +maize bread. In front of the house lay large blocks of +catalpa wood, which, when fresh cut, is of a brownish +yellow colour, and emits a peculiar smell. We were told +of a stream in the neighbourhood, the water of which was +said to have killed many persons. We visited this dangerous +water, which is very cold, but does not appear to have +any peculiar ingredients. One of our party, who had often +drunk of it, without injury, affirmed that those men had not +been killed by the water, but by whisky; probably, however, +death was caused by drinking this excessively cold +water when they were overheated. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">194</a></span></p> + +<p>In a dense forest, some miles to the north-west of Harmony, +was a narrow pond, or, rather, long, broad ditch, +called Long Pond, which, at certain seasons of the year, is +connected with Fox River, to which we sometimes made excursions. +Beyond the Wabash, in this direction, the forest +has a sandy soil, which, however, is soon succeeded by a +rich clay. A man well acquainted with the country was +our conductor; we were obliged to force our way through +the closely-matted reeds, where there was no path, and our +clothes were completely torn by them. On all sides we heard +the bells of the oxen and horses, and our guide easily found +his own beasts, which knew his voice. He had wished me +to take a compass, which was not done, and we, in fact, +twice lost our way, in consequence; for it is not easy to discover +one's latitude in such thick, bewildering reed forests. +Woodpeckers and squirrels were the usual fruits of our excursions +in this wilderness. After passing a couple of isolated +habitations, we came to a hollow in the forest, about a mile +long, and full of water. This was the Long Pond, in which +many varieties of water plants were growing.</p> + +<p>Our guide had taken a hatchet and a basket, in order to +dig up the roots of a yellow-flowering <i>Nymphæa</i>,<a name="FNanchor_102" id="FNanchor_102" href="#Footnote_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> which +was growing in luxuriance, and which he intended to employ +as a poultice to a swelled face. The surface of the +water was covered with an elegant plant, <i>Azolla Caroliniana</i> +(Wild), which formed mossy verdant spots, and is here found +on all standing water. The cardinal and the blue-crested +roller frequented this place; and near a field of maize, in +the forest, I saw large flocks of parrots, of which we often +shot many with great ease. They were not shy, and soon +re-assembled after our shot had dispersed them. Their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">195</a></span> +manner and note much resembled those of the long-tailed +paroquet of Brazil.<a name="FNanchor_103" id="FNanchor_103" href="#Footnote_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> With a shrill cry they flew rapidly +from tree to tree, when their beautiful bright green colour +was seen to great advantage. Mr. Bodmer has given a very +faithful representation of one of these flocks.<a name="FNanchor_104" id="FNanchor_104" href="#Footnote_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> They eat +the fruit of the planes; and if we did not disturb them, they +sat in a row, close together, to warm themselves in the faint +beams of the January sun. We sometimes found a great +number of turkey buzzards collected about the carcass of a +dead animal; some sitting crowded on the high trees, others +hovering in the air; but it was not easy to get at them. We +occasionally met with horses, which, in these <span class="opage">92</span> wildernesses, +familiarly approach those who happen to pass, in +the hope of receiving salt from them. On our return home +we were often gratified with the view of a splendid fiery +evening sky on the Wabash; the lofty crowns of the forest +trees appeared to burn, while the snow-white stems of the +tall planes assumed a roseate tint, and reflected their beauty +in the smooth surface of the water.</p> + +<p>The winter which we passed at Harmony was, on the +whole, mild. Woodpeckers, pigeons, thrushes, the great +lark, the cardinal, the blue-bird, and many others, were seen +in the orchards during the whole winter. The coveys of +partridges lay in the fields of maize, or the thorn hedges, +sheltered and protected from the cold. There were often +very warm days in the middle of winter. On such a day, +the 31st of January, I found, at noon, the thermometer +being +5° R., at the foot of a thick plane tree, a great +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">196</a></span> +number of the red and black spotted lady-bird, which were +half frozen. Tortoises were seen, on warm days, during +the whole winter. In the middle of February, a great number +of the white maple, called also the soft or swamp maple, +were in blossom in the forests; and, towards the end of that +month, the song of many birds resounded through the woods +and orchards. Flights of cranes passed over. The <i>Arabis +bulbosa</i> (Mühlenb.) blossomed, as well as the hazel, yet +there were still some cold days. The Americans have a +proverb—"When winter comes in like a lion, it goes out +like a lamb," and <i>vice versa</i>. This winter, however, the cold +had not set in early. At the beginning of March we had frost. +On the 2nd of March, at eight in the morning, Reaumur's +thermometer was at –16°; and at twelve o'clock at noon, –9°. +Small pieces of water were frozen over; the ducks, +especially the pintail ducks, which were now constantly +disturbed in the Wabash, by the navigation and by the sportsman, +sought for small pieces of open water; and when they +were driven from these, repaired to the woods or the maize +fields. The blackbird and the robin sought their scanty +food on the banks of the brooks. Many species of animals +were, however, in motion at the beginning of March. Numbers +of tortoises appeared; the note of the owl was heard +in the forests, even in the daytime; the wood-snipe fluttered +about, and the young leaves of the <i>sambucus</i>, and the flowers +of the <i>corylus</i>, gave an enlivening appearance to the forest. +The voice of the turtle-dove was heard as early as the 8th +of February; insects buzzed about; flocks of migratory +pigeons flew towards the north and east; and on the 9th, +the first steam-boat went up the Wabash.</p> + +<p>We had satisfactory accounts of the sanitary state of the +southern and western parts of the United States. At Cincinnati +the violence of the cholera had abated at the commencement +of the Indian summer; on the Ohio it had generally +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">197</a></span> +ceased; and St. Louis, by the latest reports, was +perfectly healthy. Mr. Bodmer, who had made an excursion +to New Orleans, in December and January, found the +cholera still there, but it had greatly abated; and I therefore +resolved to make preparations for proceeding on our journey, +as soon as our collections were packed up and sent off. +</p> + +<p><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198"></a></p> +<p class="chapter_start">CHAPTER IX</p> + +<p class="center">JOURNEY FROM NEW HARMONY TO ST. LOUIS ON THE MISSISSIPPI, +AND OUR STAY THERE, FROM MARCH 16TH TO APRIL 9TH, 1833</p> + +<p class="chapter_summ"> +Mount Vernon—Mouth of the Wabash—Shawneetown—Battery +Rock—Cave-in-Rock—Cumberland River—Tenessee River—Mouth +of the Ohio—Cape Girardeau—Grand Tower—St. Genevieve—Merrimack +River—Vide Poche—Kahokia—St. Louis—Sac +and Fox Indians—Meeting of the Black Hawk with his Countrymen +at Jefferson Barracks—The American Fur Company—Preparations +for the Journey up the Missouri.</p> + +<p>After taking leave of our friends at Harmony, who, during +a residence of four months, had given us unvarying +proofs of kindness and hospitality, we set out on horseback +early in the morning of the 16th of March, leaving our baggage +to be conveyed by the Ohio. The day was fine, and, +rejoicing in the warm spring sun, we reached the hills that +bounded the valley of the Wabash. We were immediately +surrounded by lofty forests, and cast a farewell look on the +cheerful country which had so long sheltered us. Perched +on the top of the maple, oak, and tulip tree, the robin poured +forth his morning song. The turtle-dove was cooing with +her sweet low moan, and the shrill voice and hammering +of the woodpeckers resounded on every side. In Europe +the soft note of the turtle is not heard till spring is more advanced, +and the trees are clothed with verdure. Many +trees were covered with buds; those of the dog-wood were +particularly forward, the beautiful white flowers of which +appear before the leaves; this is the case with many of the +trees of this country. We passed Rush Creek, on the eminences +near which grow many sugar-maple trees, the juice +of which was tapped, and had in some of them already +ceased to flow. At the lower part of all the trunks, we +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">199</a></span> +found small tubes of elder inserted, from which the insipid +sweetish juice ran into the troughs placed below them. It +is said to flow in great abundance, when hot spring days +are succeeded by cold frosty nights. We soon reached what +is called a sugar camp in the forest; it is a hut, in the floor +of which four kettles are fixed for boiling the juice. This <span class="opage">94</span> +hut contains likewise large troughs, in which the juice from +the smaller, placed at the trees, is collected. Such a hut, +with the maples growing around it, is called a sugar camp, +and the quantity of sugar produced depends on the number +of maples in the vicinity. Many camps furnish in one +spring 300, 500, or even 1000 lbs. of sugar, which is crystallized +in loaves. It is brown, but very sweet, and has no +disagreeable flavour. We refreshed ourselves with the juice +in the small troughs, which our horses drank greedily.</p> + +<p>The people in the isolated dwellings in the forest were +partly engaged in burning the timber. Many of the small +wooden houses of these peasants were without windows; +glass windows are quite a luxury, and the only light enjoyed +in the daytime is admitted by the open door. We saw in +all these dwellings, very wide, large beds. We crossed the +Big Creek, a considerable stream, with rising banks, by a +wooden bridge; here we saw many piles of oak bark, which +is sold to the tanneries. At noon, the weather being excessively +hot, we reached Mount Vernon, on the Ohio.</p> + +<p>In this little scattered place, with about 600 inhabitants, +among whom there are five medical men, about one third +of the buildings are of brick; the town-hall stands in an +open square. The Ohio, which we immediately visited, +had now a much more striking appearance than at our first +visit in the autumn. It is considerably broader than the +Rhine, and it is said that it often rises thirty feet higher—up +to the very thresholds of the buildings standing on the +bank. The view both up and down the river was beautiful. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">200</a></span> +The immediate environs of Mount Vernon consist of damp +marshy forests; hence the water is very bad, and the inhabitants +prefer even that of the Ohio. The temperature at +noon was now very warm; 14° Reaumur.</p> + +<p>We were obliged to wait a couple of days in this little +town for a steam-boat, to go down the river. The rushing +noise of the steamers often called us to the river, but they +were mostly going up, and disappeared at Diamond Island. +At last, on the 18th of March, about ten in the morning, +two steam-boats appeared, of which the largest, the Napoleon, +did not stop; while the smaller one, the Conveyance, +took us in.<a name="FNanchor_105" id="FNanchor_105" href="#Footnote_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> We proceeded rapidly, reached before noon +Wabash Island, near the mouth of that river, and after +dinner landed at Shawneetown.</p> + +<p>Shawneetown or Shawaneetown is a hamlet lying along +the banks of the river, and containing from 600 to 700 inhabitants. +The best buildings are some inns, shops, and +the post-office. The tribe of the Shawnee Indians formerly +dwelt in this country, and were succeeded by some Delawares, +who have been long since expelled or extirpated. +Arrow-heads of flint, as well as the bones, &c., of these +people, are frequently found in the neighbourhood. The +Shawnees were said to have previously dwelt on the Savaney +River, on the coast of Florida, and afterwards lived for +about sixty-five years in the state of Ohio. They consisted, +according to Dr. Morse, of four tribes:—1. The Piqua; +2. The Maguachake; 3. The Kiskopokoke, to which the +celebrated prophet, Elsquataway, and his distinguished +brother, Tecumseh, belonged. They were very warlike. +In <span class="opage">95</span> 1806 they settled near Greenville, in the State of +Ohio, and their subsequent history is well known. They +afterwards went to the country about Tippecanoe. 4. The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">201</a></span> +Chillicothes, who live in the vicinity of the town of that +name; these, and further accounts of these people, are to +be found in Dr. Morse, and other writers.<a name="FNanchor_106" id="FNanchor_106" href="#Footnote_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a></p> + +<p>Twelve miles inland from Shawneetown are the celebrated +salt works on Saline River,<a name="FNanchor_107" id="FNanchor_107" href="#Footnote_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a> near Equality; much salt is +annually manufactured there, and sent to Shawneetown, +on the Ohio, where it is embarked. Here, as at Mount +Vernon, the environs of the place consist of damp forests, +with many marshes, from which noxious exhalations arise. +The weather was chilly, windy, and rainy, especially towards +evening, so that a fire was very welcome. Coals are found +about seven miles from the town, and seem to be of a good +kind. There were many negroes in Shawneetown; whereas, +in Harmony and Mount Vernon, there were only two or +three families of that race.</p> + +<p>On the morning of the 19th, the weather being warm, +and the sky clouded, we embarked in the Paragon steamboat.<a name="FNanchor_108" id="FNanchor_108" href="#Footnote_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> +The fine broad river shone brightly; on the banks +the summits of the forest formed an even line parallel to +the shore, as even as if they had been cut, the snow-white +stems of the planes glistening among the sombre mass. The +kingfisher, the wild duck, and red-breasted goose, were numerous +in the wild, romantic willow islands. The banks +of the Ohio now began to be higher; the rocks are of limestone, +which forms, in many parts of the forests, romantic +masses of rock, partly yellow, partly of a grey colour. The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">202</a></span> +river was at this time nearly of the same colour as the Rhine, +when clear. After passing the mouth of the Saline River, +we reached, on the right, or Illinois bank, the long flat bank +of rocks known by the name of Battery Rock.<a name="FNanchor_109" id="FNanchor_109" href="#Footnote_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a> This wall +of rock, at the lower part of the bank, is marked with horizontal +strata, or stripes, from sixty to eighty feet high, covered +with whitish or bluish green and bright green lichens +and mosses, rent by several ravines, and crowned with woods, +and a small house or cottage on the very summit. From +this place we saw, on the rocky banks, some red cedars +here and there, from twenty to thirty feet in height. I observe, +for the botanist, that this tree is not found except +where the bank consists of rocks. After passing Cave-in-Rock +Island, a long, wooded island, we glided past Cave-in-Rock,<a name="FNanchor_110" id="FNanchor_110" href="#Footnote_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> +a cavern which traverses from side to side a steep +rock in Illinois, and has been drawn by Lesueur. The rocky +wall, in which this well-known opening is situated, is marked +with regular, narrow, yellowish grey or reddish strata of +limestone, and is crowned with cedars and other trees. It +is twenty-five miles below Shawneetown. Calcareous petrifactions, +or rather impressions, are very numerous. Above +the larger mouth of the cavern, towards the Ohio, is a smaller +chamber, which is said to have formerly been the retreat +of banditti and coiners. The rock is hard limestone, with +sea shells and animal remains scattered in it, but no fossil +bones have ever been found there.</p> + +<p>Towards noon we reached Golconda Island, twenty and +a half miles from Cave-in-Rock, <span class="opage">96</span> and then Golconda in +Illinois, a small town, with a few white buildings, in which +they were erecting a court-house, and which is the seat +of the tribunals of Pope County. Near Sister Islands we +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">203</a></span> +met the Brunswick steamer, which had in tow two large flat +boats, full of horses, which were being conveyed from +Mount Vernon to New Orleans. The owners of the horses +have to pay above 500 dollars for the voyage. Opposite +Cumberland Island is the mouth of the Cumberland River, +which comes from Kentucky, and falls into the Ohio, at an +acute angle. This river is not so large as the Wabash. A +small village, called Smithland, is built at the mouth, which +reminded me of a little Brazilian villa, the houses, mostly +one story high, lying in a row by the water-side.<a name="FNanchor_111" id="FNanchor_111" href="#Footnote_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a></p> + +<p>At this place the Paragon took in wood and provisions. +Not far from Smithland is the mouth of the Tenessee River, +which is said to be more considerable than the Cumberland, +and to have a course of 1,200 miles. The little village, +Paduca, on the left bank of the Ohio, appeared to have +much traffic, and a number of new shops had been built. +The Western Pilot of the year 1829 does not mention this +place—a proof of its recent origin. From hence we came +to the spot where Fort Massac formerly stood, stones of +which are still found.<a name="FNanchor_112" id="FNanchor_112" href="#Footnote_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a> We lay to some hundred paces +below to take in wood, of which our vessel consumed twelve +cords daily. The grass on the banks was already of a bright +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">204</a></span> +green colour, and a race of large long-legged sheep were +grazing on it. We lay to for the night.</p> + +<p>Early in the morning of the 20th of March we approached +the mouth of the Ohio, where it falls into the Mississippi, +959 miles from Pittsburg, and 129¾ miles from St. Louis. +The tongue of land on the right, which separates the two +rivers, was, like the whole of the country, covered with +rich woods, which were partly cleared, and a few houses +erected, with an inn and store, and the dwelling of a planter, +where we took in wood. In this store we saw, among heaps +of skins, that of a black bear, lately killed, of which one +of the three cubs, a very comical little beast, had been kept +alive. This young bear had on his breast a semicircle of +white hair. The settlement, at which we now were, has no +other name than Mouth of the Ohio.<a name="FNanchor_113" id="FNanchor_113" href="#Footnote_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a> We now entered +the Mississippi, and ascended it, keeping to the left or +eastern bank. This river is not broader here than the Ohio, +and the water of both was of the same colour; the bank +was steep, covered with broken stems of trees, and crowned +on the summit with high slender poplars. The lower banks +were clothed with lofty trees, and at their feet strips of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">205</a></span> +poplar and willows bending over the water. On the right +hand, in particular, were romantic forest scenes; a wilderness +of fallen trees, which the floods and storms had thrown +and piled upon each other, like an <i>abatis</i>. Parasite plants +wound round the trees, and matted them together; while, +further on, rose the picturesque terraces of the wood-covered +bank. There being many snags (trunks lying in the water) +in the river, we could only proceed by daylight. The islands, +covered with high poplars, were generally bordered with +thickets of willow, which had now no appearance whatever +of green, but looked of a bright yellowish red, from +the colour of their branches. Gleams of sunshine <span class="opage">97</span> sometimes +cast over these willow thickets a fine red glow, and +gave them a very original appearance. Large quantities +of drifted wood were frequently seen on the points of the +islands towards the current. The water being very low, +we were obliged to take soundings, and yet our vessel proceeded +five or eight hours against the stream. The O'Connell +steam-boat had run aground in this place, and its people +were employed in landing the cargo, consisting chiefly of +lead.<a name="FNanchor_114" id="FNanchor_114" href="#Footnote_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> In many places on the bank, slender poplars form +thick groves, whose tall stems spread into branches at the +summit. They are all of an equal height, and are one of the +characteristic features in the landscape scenery of the Mississippi +and Missouri. At twelve at noon, Reaumur's thermometer +was at +14½°, with a high wind, which blew the +sand of the sand banks into the air. We lay to, to take +in fuel, which cost three dollars for two cords. Here was a +high, steep, sandy bank, and a small, very wretched planter's +log-house, exposed on all parts to the wind, the sides of +which consisted only of boards set upright. A couple of +bad beds took up almost the whole of the interior. The +woman, with her pipe in her mouth, was occupied at the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">206</a></span> +miserable fire-place; the man was just returned, with a boy, +from the forest; the two other children looked unhealthy, +weak and pale; one of these girls was employed in planting +onions in a small patch of newly-prepared ground. A +couple of oxen, five or six young hogs, and some Muscovy +ducks, were feeding about the cottage. Immediately behind, +and close to it, commenced the magnificent, dense, +and lofty forest, which we resolved at once to explore, and +there very sensibly felt the heat of the spring, because the +wind could not penetrate. The underwood of the forest +consisted of the spicewood (<i>Laurus benzoin</i>), which grows +to the height of ten and fifteen feet; its bark is highly aromatic, +and it was covered with small yellow blossoms, which +appear before the leaves, and resemble those of our cornelian +cherry. The abundance of these flowers gives to +the underwood a lively tint, which strikes the eye at a distance. +Large, lofty trees, overgrown with climbing plants, +formed the forest on the Mississippi, and the ground was +covered with a delicate yellow flowering plant (<i>Corydalis +flava, N.</i>) In the front of the cottage, which was close +to the bank, stood a tree, about which a beautiful <i>Bignonia +radicans</i> entwined; and the turkey buzzards hovered high +in the air above the forest.</p> + +<p>As we proceeded on our voyage, the wind was so high, +and it raised the waves and the sand so excessively, that +we sought the protection of the opposite bank. We passed +many islands, several of which give a great insight into the +formation of the banks of the Mississippi. One of them, +especially, showed, at a certain place, a bank which had +sunk down, where we perceived layers of large trunks of +trees, heaped one upon another, the tops of which were +visible. On such foundations the river throws its sand, +willows and poplars grow up, by the leaves of which good +earth is formed, and, in the end, lofty forests of hard wood +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">207</a></span> +arise. Though the Paragon drew only five feet of water, +we were often aground; the wind laid the vessel a little on +the side, the crew shoved with poles, sounded, stopped the +engine, then made the vessel go backwards <span class="opage">98</span> and then +sidewards, and so got afloat again. Little villages were +seldom seen on this part of the banks of the Mississippi; +however, we came to the village of Commerce,<a name="FNanchor_115" id="FNanchor_115" href="#Footnote_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a> on a rocky +hill, and it is here that rows of hills of a very interesting +appearance commence on the left or Missouri bank. Fragments +of rock lie about, and the cedar (<i>Juniperus Virginiana</i>) +immediately appears again. The forest seems to decrease +in height in these calcareous rocks, especially the +planes, which are more colossal in Indiana; and on the +eminences in the forests, isolated groups of rocks are often +seen, frequently of singular forms, like pulpits. Night setting +in, we retired to our cabin to avoid the cold evening +air, and lay to under cover of the bank. At this spot there +was a single planter's dwelling upon the steep bank, which +was fifty or sixty feet high. A large fire was kindled at the +top, which brilliantly illuminated the high trunks of the +forest, and warmed our crew by its intense heat. In the +cleanly cottage of the peasant, which was well closed on +all sides, we conversed with his wife, who told us that their +house had been burnt down a short time before, and +rebuilt; she said also that wild animals abound in this part +of the country; stags especially are numerous, but bears +are rarely met with.</p> + +<p>On the 21st of March we reached Cape Girardeau, an +ancient French settlement, now a large scattered village, +which, as we were told, had of late much improved. Beds +of limestone appeared on the bank, and heaps of it were +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">208</a></span> +piled up; it contains many shells. After passing Devil's +Island, we found in the river a sunk steam-boat, which was +now quite broken up; many of these vessels passed us. +The spicewood was everywhere in flower in the forests on +the bank, and it is said that its appearance indicates a fine +soil. The pretty narrow-leaved willow, on the contrary, +was still covered with its last year's dry leaves. We passed +by the villages of Bainbridge and Harrisburg, and then +came to that part of the river which is called Hanging-Dog-Bend, +where the Mississippi is wide and beautiful. +Various strata and ravines are observed in the wooded +calcareous mountains; such a stratified rock, cleft perpendicularly, +has the name of Devil's Tea-table; other rocks +resembled round towers standing close to each other, all +crowned with wood, where the turkey buzzard resorted.<a name="FNanchor_116" id="FNanchor_116" href="#Footnote_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a> +The opposite or Illinois bank has very seldom any such +rocks, and it is more cultivated close to the river. Flocks +of ducks, probably <i>Anas rufitorques</i>, were swimming on +the water. The calcareous rocks, grey, bright yellow, bright +blue, or yellowish red, were frequently very singularly formed, +especially a little further up, the interesting Grand Tower, +an isolated, cylindrical rock, from sixty to eighty feet in +height, which we reached when it was splendidly illumined +by the setting sun.<a name="FNanchor_117" id="FNanchor_117" href="#Footnote_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> To the right, on the Illinois bank, +opposite the Tower Rock, at the point or corner of the mountain +projecting towards the Mississippi, three or four very +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">209</a></span> +strangely formed rocks are standing, full of clefts and ravines, +the foremost of which is called the Devil's Bake-oven, and +is covered at the summit with pines. The Grand Tower<a name="FNanchor_118" id="FNanchor_118" href="#Footnote_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> +stands <span class="opage">99</span> quite isolated on the left bank; and its summit +is crowned with red cedars. Behind it there is another +large rock, split into several perpendicular divisions, like +towers, and the whole group forms, as it were, a most +original portico. Some habitations were picturesquely situated +against these rocks. A little above that narrow rocky +portico of the river, the Obrazo Creek, in the State of Missouri, +appears, where we took in fuel. The ravine of the +stream was covered with fine tall timber, to which the kingfisher +resorted. A couple of cottages were inhabited by +negroes, and in front of them lay a piece of fertile land, +where rows of cotton trees were planted. The high old +elms were now in flower by the side of the stream, and the +large red cedars, around the dwellings, were still partly +laden with their black berries. The <i>Mnium ciliare</i> (Grev.; +Bryum) was abundant in this neighbourhood. Above Hat +Island, we lay to for the night on the Missouri bank.</p> + +<p>The morning of the 22nd of March was serene; the sight +of the rising sun from the poop of the vessel was truly magnificent; +as the flaming disk of the king of day rose above +the woody banks of the Mississippi, the waves formed by +the rapid course of the vessel glowed with the most resplendent +colours; the wild geese and ducks, frightened by our +Paragon, hastened away with rustling wings; the kingfisher +was frequent on the shrubs. Near St. Mary River we ran +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">210</a></span> +aground, but were not long delayed by this accident. The +cords of wood for the steam-boat were lying ready piled up +on the bank, stating the price and the quantity. The village +of Chester, in Illinois, where we took in wood, was +quite a new settlement, consisting at present of but a few +houses. Among the limestone and wood on the bank, we +shot a beautiful lizard (<i>Agama undulata</i>, Daud.), which is +said to attain a considerable size, especially on the river +St. Peter. The buds of the red oak were very forward. +At noon the weather was excessively warm, and on the +river the thermometer was +11½° Reaumur. We saw the +mouth of the Kaskaskia River, on the Illinois bank, six +miles up which Kaskaskia is situated, one of the oldest +French settlements on the Mississippi.<a name="FNanchor_119" id="FNanchor_119" href="#Footnote_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a> The tribe of Kaskaskian +Indians dwelt in these parts, and some remains of +them still live near the settlement. We were told that there +was at present only one man among them of the pure race. +A wooded chain of hills runs along the Kaskaskia, in which +large columns of smoke were rising, doubtless occasioned +by the woods being on fire. Numbers of tortoises were +basking at noon on the trunks of trees and stones in the +river. They have hard shells, and most of them are not +large; though we often shot at them, we did not succeed +in getting a single one. Wild geese were walking upon the +sand-banks; we fired at them; the first shot did not in the +smallest degree discompose them; at the second, when the +ball whizzed close by them, they flew away, but only to a +short distance. At St. Geneviève Island, the river divides, +and we steered to the west of the island. It is covered +with lofty trees; the banks are abruptly broken; large trunks +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">211</a></span> +<span class="opage">100</span> of trees were lying in the water. Before us we saw +St. Geneviève,<a name="FNanchor_120" id="FNanchor_120" href="#Footnote_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> where columns of smoke ascended in the +distance; on the island was a small settlement, with a hut, +worse than that of an Indian, and near, the canoe, turned +bottom upwards. The inhabitants were sunburnt, badly +clothed, of a savage aspect, like the Indians. A tall forest +surrounded this characteristic scene. The Mississippi is +here very broad, and is certainly a very noble stream. The +prospect up the river is highly picturesque. Gentle eminences +bound the horizon, and on account of a bend which +the river makes to the right, it appears to come through a +narrow opening. St. Geneviève, an old French settlement, +now a large village, with 600 or 800 inhabitants, is about +twenty minutes' walk from the landing-place, and appears +to be in a state of decline; it was founded at the same time +as Kaskaskia. The streets are at right angles, unpaved, +and bordered with hedges. The houses, which are of one +story, are separate from each other, and have, in general, a +verandah in front. The church is built of red brick. French +and English are spoken, and there are several German inhabitants. +Caravans go every spring from hence to the +interior of the western prairies, to Sante Fé and the Rocky +Mountains; they consist of many armed men, with their +horses and wagons. The well-known lead mines are further +up the country.<a name="FNanchor_121" id="FNanchor_121" href="#Footnote_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a> Limestone everywhere stands out: +the water is very bad, and not fit for drinking.</p> + +<p>On the morning of the 23rd of March, the sun shining +very brightly, strange forms of rock, alternating with high +forests, appeared on the banks of the river; on the left, or +western bank especially, the walls of rock were cleft by rude +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">212</a></span> +valleys, from which a small stream generally issued. Single +pines are scattered in the woods; on the right bank, on the +skirts of the forest, is a row of poplars, of perfectly equal +height, but the planes are not so high as those we have +before seen. We passed the place where Fort Chârtres +formerly stood.<a name="FNanchor_122" id="FNanchor_122" href="#Footnote_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a> The limestone rocks in these parts assume +the most highly original shapes and formations, about +which much might be said if our limits would permit. They +have often natural caverns and excavations, like the niches +cut for the images of saints, which we see in Europe.<a name="FNanchor_123" id="FNanchor_123" href="#Footnote_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a> +Others have regular <span class="opage">101</span> projecting ledges and lofty cones; +sometimes they are so rounded as to represent a row of +perpendicular towers, &c. On many of the rocks shot +towers have been erected, the whole country, as is well +known, abounding in lead.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo213" id="illo213"></a> +<img src="images/illo_214.jpg" width="515" height="228" alt="Formations of limestone rocks" /> +<p class="caption">Formations of limestone rocks</p> +</div> + +<p>We passed by the settlement of Selma, and the village +of Herculaneum;<a name="FNanchor_124" id="FNanchor_124" href="#Footnote_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a> the latter consisting of about thirty +houses, the immediate vicinity of which is remarkable for +a perforated limestone rock. The distance from hence to +Geneviève is twenty-one miles, and to St. Louis, thirty. +After passing round the point of Little Rock, which is about +forty feet high—beyond which the small Platteen Creek +falls into the river—we soon reached the mouth of the +Merrimack River, where we saw large flocks of ducks and +sea-gulls.<a name="FNanchor_125" id="FNanchor_125" href="#Footnote_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a> About Robert's Island the country becomes +flat and uninteresting. Towards evening we reached Jefferson +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">215</a></span> +barracks, on the left bank, where the 6th regiment +of regular infantry was in garrison, and the flag of the +United States was hoisted. These barracks were interesting +at this time, because the celebrated Indian chief, Black +Hawk, was imprisoned in them. Before night, we passed +the French settlement of Vide-Poche, or Carondelet, founded +about 100 years ago, a large scattered village, the inhabitants +of which are reported to be not very industrious. The +neighbouring hills are covered with low oak bushes. We +passed the night nearly opposite Kahokia, and on the morning +of the 24th of March, to our great joy, beheld the town +of St. Louis.<a name="FNanchor_126" id="FNanchor_126" href="#Footnote_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a> Its first appearance is not prepossessing, as +it has no high steeples. The mass of houses, however, +unfolds itself as you approach; the environs are low and +monotonous. We landed about nine o'clock in the morning, +in a cold high wind. The people whom we first saw were +mostly negroes, or labourers.</p> + +<p>St. Louis is a rapidly increasing town, with 6,000 or 8,000 +inhabitants, on the western bank of the Mississippi, about +1,200 miles from New Orleans, and 1,134 miles from Pittsburg. +It is built on a rather bare, gently rising, and not +very elevated part of the banks; forms two streets parallel +to the river, besides many houses lying on the summit in +the prairie, where building seemed to be proceeding rapidly. +On this upper part there are churches and other considerable +buildings, of which the town has many of different +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">216</a></span> +kinds; and the highly favourable situation, in the centre +of the trade of the Mississippi, Ohio, and Missouri, will +soon make it one of the most important places in the west. +St. Louis was originally founded by the French; at first there +was only a fort, and it was not till 1764 that the building +of the town commenced, which in 1816 contained about 2,000 +inhabitants. Persons were still living—for instance, M. +Chouteau—who had the wood felled on the spot where the +buildings of the town now stand.<a name="FNanchor_127" id="FNanchor_127" href="#Footnote_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a> The principal streets +are full of handsome shops; numerous steam-boats come +and go, daily, to and from New Orleans, Pittsburg, Cincinnati, +Louisville, Prairie du Chien, &c.; and a very brisk +trade employs the motley population of many nations. Most +of the merchants have their warehouses, which are mostly +built of solid stone, on the bank of the Mississippi. The +greater part of the workmen in the port, and all the servants +in St. Louis, are negroes, and their descendants, who, +as in the State <span class="opage">102</span> of Missouri, are all slaves. They are +very numerous here; and though modern travellers represent +in very favourable colours the situation of this oppressed +race, the negro slaves are no better off here than in +other countries. Everywhere they are a demoralized race, +little to be depended upon; and the manner in which they +are treated is generally not so good as has been represented. +We were witnesses of deplorable punishments of +these people. One of our neighbours at St. Louis, for +instance, flogged one of his slaves in the public streets, +with untiring arm. Sometimes he stopped a moment to +rest, and then began anew.</p> + +<p>St. Louis was the more interesting to us, at this moment, +because we had, here, the first opportunity of becoming +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">217</a></span> +acquainted with the North American Indians in all their +originality; for the office for all the Indian affairs of the +west is at St. Louis, under the direction of General Clarke, +celebrated for his journey with Captain Lewis to the Rocky +Mountains and Columbia River, who has the title of +superintendent of Indian affairs.<a name="FNanchor_128" id="FNanchor_128" href="#Footnote_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a> He manages all these +matters; and all strangers who wish to visit the interior of +the western territory are obliged to have a passport from +him, and all Indian agents and sub-agents are under him. +It happened that, during our stay at St. Louis, a deputation +came down the Mississippi from two Indian tribes, the +Saukies (Sacs) and the Foxes or Outagamis, to intercede +for the Black Hawk, who was a prisoner in Jefferson barracks.<a name="FNanchor_129" id="FNanchor_129" href="#Footnote_129" class="fnanchor">[129]</a> +A Saukie chief, named Kiokuck, was at the head +of this numerous deputation, and he was the very same +person who had delivered the unfortunate Black Hawk into +the hands of the Americans.<a name="FNanchor_130" id="FNanchor_130" href="#Footnote_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a> General Clarke, to whom +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">218</a></span> +I was introduced by the kindness of Duke Bernhard of Saxe +Weimar, had very obligingly informed me of the meetings +or councils which he held with the Indians, and we had the +pleasure of being able thoroughly to observe and study these +remarkable people. Quarters were assigned them in a large +magazine near the harbour, to which we immediately repaired. +We saw already on the beach a collection of the +populace, and amidst the crowd of curious spectators, distinguished +the strange dark brown figures, enveloped in red, +white, or green blankets. We did not come up to them till +they were in the house, and the first sight of them, which +did not a little surprise me, convinced me at once of their +great affinity to the Brazilians, so that I cannot hesitate to +consider them as belonging to the same race.<a name="FNanchor_131" id="FNanchor_131" href="#Footnote_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a> They are +stout, well formed men, many of them above the middle +size, broad shouldered, muscular and brawny. The features +of the men are expressive, and strongly marked; the +cheek bones prominent, the lower jaw broad and angular; +the dark brown eyes animated and fiery, and especially in +youth, the inner corner rather drawn down, but not so much +so as in the Brazilians. The outer corner of the eye is not +elevated either in the North or South Americans, at least I +have seen it <span class="opage">103</span> in very few instances. The forehead appears +to me not to recede so much in the North Americans +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">219</a></span> +as has been generally assumed, which is also the case with +the Brazilians. Meyen<a name="FNanchor_132" id="FNanchor_132" href="#Footnote_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a> confirms this with respect to the +people west of the Cordilleras. The teeth are strong, firm, +and white, and generally perfectly sound, even at an advanced +age. The nose is large and prominent, often much +arched, but not always, a trait which occurs much more +rarely among the Brazilians.<a name="FNanchor_133" id="FNanchor_133" href="#Footnote_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</a> The lips are usually rather +thick; the hair straight, smooth, and black, as in all the +Americans. The colour of the skin a darker or lighter brown, +often deeper than in the Brazilians, but, on the whole, perfectly +the same. Some of these Indians resemble the Chinese, +which Bossu, too, affirms of the now extirpated race of the +Natchez. The features of others strongly reminded me of +the Botocudos.<a name="FNanchor_134" id="FNanchor_134" href="#Footnote_134" class="fnanchor">[134]</a></p> + +<p>It may be observed here, with Von Humboldt and +Meyen,<a name="FNanchor_135" id="FNanchor_135" href="#Footnote_135" class="fnanchor">[135]</a> that, notwithstanding a certain general affinity +and resemblance of the race, there are, however, very great +diversities among the people of American descent. Thus, for +instance, the large aquiline nose of several northern nations +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">220</a></span> +may be mentioned, which must have been very remarkable +among the ancient tribes of Mexico, as is proved by the old +monuments of that, historically, most interesting country. +Though this similarity appears to indicate an affinity of +the Mexicans with more northern nations, a similar conformation +was found here and there in South America also; +as Duperrey<a name="FNanchor_136" id="FNanchor_136" href="#Footnote_136" class="fnanchor">[136]</a> represents the Peruvians, and as Dr. Meyen +also states. I am, however, of opinion that the notion of +the last-named learned travellers is untenable, <i>viz.</i>, that on +account of the different<a name="FNanchor_137" id="FNanchor_137" href="#Footnote_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</a> form of their skulls, the Puris and +the Botocudos, who live so near to each other, are distinct +races. I have compared numbers of Mandan skulls with +each other, which were all genuine, and found great diversity +in them, especially with respect to the receding of the forehead +and the flattening of the head. In the same manner +the brown colour of the American is of different shades. +Mr. Von Humboldt found the Mexicans darker than many +South Americans;<a name="FNanchor_138" id="FNanchor_138" href="#Footnote_138" class="fnanchor">[138]</a> and many of the North American nations +which I have seen, were likewise of a darker complexion +than many Brazilians. My observations with respect +to this point coincide so perfectly with the views of that +distinguished traveller, that I might copy the passages in his +works which treat of the Americans, and confirm them by +many additional proofs. Among the Botocudos I met with +individuals who were nearly white; Volney was certainly +deceived by Michichinakua (the little tortoise), who wanted +to raise himself to the dignity of a white man, for the North +Americans are not of a lighter colour on <span class="opage">104</span> those parts +of their bodies which are clothed, than on those which are +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">221</a></span> +exposed to the air and sun. Pike, and some other travellers, +pretend to have found the Mongol physiognomy among the +North American Indians, especially the Pawnees and the +Sioux;<a name="FNanchor_139" id="FNanchor_139" href="#Footnote_139" class="fnanchor">[139]</a> but I can affirm that I met with no such physiognomy, +though I saw a few instances of it in Brazil. Mr. +Von Humboldt very justly observes, on this head, that not +merely the bodily conformation, but likewise the mode of +living, of the two races, are entirely different. The great +contrast between the American and Mongol races is immediately +apparent, when we consider that the former have +no breed of cattle, and do not subsist on milk, without +which the latter cannot live.<a name="FNanchor_140" id="FNanchor_140" href="#Footnote_140" class="fnanchor">[140]</a> The Tartar features, which +are very handsome, did not occur to me in North America. +Warden, in his work on American antiquities,<a name="FNanchor_141" id="FNanchor_141" href="#Footnote_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</a> gives a +drawing of a vessel found near the river Cany, which is +adorned with three human heads. These heads have not +the Tartar physiognomy, as the author believes, but precisely +that of the North American Indians.</p> + +<p>From this digression on the general conformation of the +North Americans, we return to our narrative.</p> + +<p>The Saukies and Foxes had shaved their hair off the +whole head except a small tuft behind, the greater part of +which was cut short, like a brush, and which terminated in +a thin braid, to which was fastened the chief ornament of +the head, the deer's tail, which is a tuft of hair from the +tail of the Virginian stag, white, with some black hair, the +white part being dyed red with vermilion.<a name="FNanchor_142" id="FNanchor_142" href="#Footnote_142" class="fnanchor">[142]</a> It is fastened +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">222</a></span> +in an ingenious manner, with some strings and pegs of wood, +to the tuft of hair at the back of the head; and in the middle +of it, concealed between the hair, is a small piece of carved +wood, to which a small bone box is affixed, into which a +large eagle's feather is fastened, projecting horizontally behind; +this feather is often dyed with vermilion, and is the +characteristic distinction of a brave warrior. He who has +become renowned for horse-stealing, which, according to +their notions, is a heroic exploit, fastens to the tip of this +feather the rattle of a rattlesnake. The whole deer's tail, +when it is not worn, is rolled up in the form of a thick ball, +fastened with leather straps, and kept in this manner, that +the hair may remain smooth, and in the proper position. +Mr. Bodmer took an admirable likeness of Watapinat (eagle's +nest), a handsome Fox Indian, wearing this head-dress.<a name="FNanchor_143" id="FNanchor_143" href="#Footnote_143" class="fnanchor">[143]</a> +The North Americans pluck out their eyebrows, beard, &c., +like the Brazilians, and, at present, employ in this operation +a spiral wire, between the windings of which they take hold +of the hair. These nations adorn their ears in a very original +manner; three large holes, one above the other, are +made at the outer rim, in which short strings of blue and +white wampum shells<a name="FNanchor_144" id="FNanchor_144" href="#Footnote_144" class="fnanchor">[144]</a> are hung, like tassels. Some of the +men had even cut through <span class="opage">105</span> the whole outer rim, which +remained attached only above and below, and was adorned +with strings of wampum and metal rings; similar strings, +and pieces of blue and white shells, are worn in many rows +around the neck.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">223</a></span></p> + +<p>The women are small and thickset; most of them have +large round heads, and broad, flat, round faces. They let +their hair grow naturally, part it on the forehead, and tie +it together, at the back of the head, in a short, thick bunch, +which is bound round with red and green ribbon. A few +old men had not shaved their heads; but in winter it is said +that these Indians let their hair grow, to protect them against +the cold. Both sexes had their faces more or less painted red: +the Saukies mostly red, in different designs; the Foxes, red +and yellow, or red, white, and black. The manner of painting +depends on the taste of the individual; nearly all of them +had red circles round the eyes and ears, and red stripes down +the cheeks, the rest of the face being left of the natural colour. +They use, for this purpose, vermilion, which they obtain +from the merchants. The Fox Indians had often the whole +head painted red; a yellow or white stripe on the forehead, +and the mouth and chin with the figure of a yellow hand, or +else quite black. A tall, handsome Saukie Indian, called +Massica (the tortoise), had a bold, fierce countenance, and +an aquiline nose; his cordiality was very striking; his brown +eyes sparkled, and his white teeth looked quite dazzling, +contrasted with the dark brown face, which had a good deal +of red paint on it. On his forehead he wore a band of +otter skin, which was fastened behind the head, and then +fell down in two long stripes to the ground. He had attached +a black and white eagle's feather to his deer's tail, and was +covered with a large red blanket. Mr. Bodmer has given +a very good likeness of this handsome man in Plate 36, but +without his head-dress, in order to show the manner in +which the tuft of hair was cut. Many of these people wore +coloured calico shirts, and all used the Indian leather leggins, +which come down to the shoes, and are ornamented +at the ankles with leather fringes. They are fastened, with +leather straps, above the girdle. They also wear a piece +of woollen cloth, generally striped blue and white, round the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">224</a></span> +waist, which is fastened under the girdle. The girdle and +knee bands were often very elegantly adorned with glass +beads, and in the former is a sheath, similarly ornamented, +for a large, broad, and very sharp knife, which they obtain, +by barter, from the merchants, and employ for various purposes, +especially for cutting up game, and scalping their +enemies. The shoes, generally called mocassins, are made +of soft, tanned buckskin, and the upper edge turned down +below the ankle. These people wear them very plain, without +any ornament. Many of them had fastened swan skins, +with the down, or that of polecats, much marked with white, +below their knees, the long hairy tail of which hung down +to the ground, or to the ankle. Most of them had no other +covering, on the upper part of the body, under their blankets; +and <span class="opage">106</span> many wore brass necklaces and bracelets. The +men, who were between thirty and forty in number, never +appeared without their arms; they carried tomahawks,<a name="FNanchor_145" id="FNanchor_145" href="#Footnote_145" class="fnanchor">[145]</a> +or else the common Indian club,<a name="FNanchor_146" id="FNanchor_146" href="#Footnote_146" class="fnanchor">[146]</a> which has, at the upper +end, a steel plate, sharp on both edges, and pointed.<a name="FNanchor_147" id="FNanchor_147" href="#Footnote_147" class="fnanchor">[147]</a> We +did not see any bows and arrows among these Indians, because +they had not come out on a warlike expedition, but on +a festal visit; many of them had a kind of lance, made of +a long sword blade, fastened to a pole, which was covered +with red cloth, and ornamented with many black raven's +or eagle's feathers, hanging down either in a long row, or +in long bunches.<a name="FNanchor_148" id="FNanchor_148" href="#Footnote_148" class="fnanchor">[148]</a> These weapons they had always in their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">225</a></span> +hand, and never laid them aside. The women, like those +of Brazil, carried their bundles on their backs, with a leather +strap passing over the forehead; they had their children +with them, some of whom were in very convenient cradles. +They all had very neat bast mats, ornamented with black +figures, on which they slept, and some had, likewise, bear +skins. Their travelling sacks, or bags, in which they had +all their effects, were of the same material.</p> + +<p>The chief or leader of the Indians assembled here, was +the Saukie chief, Kiokuck, a slender man, of the middle size, +with agreeable features, not very different from those of an +European, though of a darker colour. He wore a coloured +calico shirt, and, on his breast, a large medal, which he +had received from the President of the United States; and +likewise wore a figured handkerchief round his head, and +was wrapped in a green blanket. He carried in his hand +a calumet, ornamented with feathers. His face was not +painted, his ears not disfigured, and it was affirmed that +he was not of pure Indian origin. He wore brass rings +round his neck and wrists.</p> + +<p>The dwelling-place of these Indians is on the western +banks of the Mississippi, about Rock River and Rock Island, +where the agent appointed for them by the government resides. +In 1805 they sold, to the United States, their territory +on the east of the Mississippi; still claiming a large +tract of land, which extends from the upper Jowa River, along +the west bank of the Mississippi, down to the river Des +Moines, and further back to the Missouri.<a name="FNanchor_149" id="FNanchor_149" href="#Footnote_149" class="fnanchor">[149]</a> The Fox +Indians call themselves Musquacki, or Mus-quack-ki-uck. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">226</a></span> +They live sociably in villages, in permanent arched huts, +and it is said that they can muster 1,600 warriors (according +to Dr. Morse, however, only 800),<a name="FNanchor_150" id="FNanchor_150" href="#Footnote_150" class="fnanchor">[150]</a> and that they number +about 5,000 souls. They plant maize, beans, gourds, &c. +The men hunt, and work in their lead mines, which are +very productive, so that, it is said, they have yielded 500,000 +lbs. in one season.<a name="FNanchor_151" id="FNanchor_151" href="#Footnote_151" class="fnanchor">[151]</a> Their language has not a barbarous +sound; it has some nasals and gutturals; the words are very +frequently pronounced indistinctly, so that <span class="opage">107</span> it is often +difficult to write them down; though, on the whole, less so +than is the case with many other nations.</p> + +<p>The French and English find much more difficulty than +the Germans, in pronouncing all the Indian languages of +North America, with which I have become acquainted. It +was highly interesting to us, to observe so many of these +Indians together. They were by no means grave and still; +on the contrary, they were very cheerful, and often laughed +heartily. If one went up to them familiarly, and spoke to +them, many of them had a very agreeable, friendly expression; +others were cold, and appeared, to us, hostile. Several repeated, +with pleasure, the words of their language, and were +very willing to have their portraits drawn, for which they +always required a present. At last they were so annoyed by +the importunity of the motley crowd, that we could have no +more intercourse with them. They sold many of their effects, +for which they received money, which they soon disposed +of, but always examined whether it was genuine or false. +There were some grave, dignified men among them, who +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">227</a></span> +carefully observed what was passing around them. Of these, +I especially noticed Watapinat and Massica.</p> + +<p>General Clarke invited us to a small assembly, which +he was to hold in his house with the Indians. We accordingly +repaired thither. This meeting took place in the apartments, +which are ornamented with a highly interesting +collection of arms and utensils, which the General had procured +on his extensive travels with Captain Lewis.<a name="FNanchor_152" id="FNanchor_152" href="#Footnote_152" class="fnanchor">[152]</a> The +rooms contain, likewise, portraits of the most distinguished +Indian chiefs of different nations. General Clarke, with +his secretary, was seated opposite to the Indians, who sat +in rows along the walls of the apartment. We strangers +sat at the General's side, and near him stood the interpreter, a +French Canadian. The Indians, about thirty in number, had +done their best to ornament and paint themselves; they all +looked very serious and solemn, and their chief sat at their +right hand. The general first told them, through the interpreter, +for what reason he had assembled them here, on which +Kiokuck rose, with the calumet in his left hand, gesticulating +with his right hand, in harmony with his thoughts; +he spoke very loud, in broken sentences, interrupted by +short pauses. His speech was immediately translated and +written down. This conference lasted above half an hour. +General Clarke had introduced us to the Indians, telling +them that we had come far over the ocean to see them; +they all testified their satisfaction in a rather drawling "Hah!" +or "Ahah." Before and after the sitting all the Indians +passed us in a line, each giving us his right hand, and looking +steadfastly in our faces. They then withdrew, headed by +their chiefs. The General had told them that they should +persevere in their amicable sentiments as hitherto; and they +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">228</a></span> +had expressed the wish that their brethren might soon be +set at liberty, because their wives and children at home +were suffering hunger and distress. Upon this the General +advised them, when Black Hawk and his associates +should be set at liberty, to keep a watchful eye over them. +On this condition he would intercede for the prisoners. We +were invited by the General to accompany him, on the <span class="opage">108</span> +following day, on board the Warrior<a name="FNanchor_153" id="FNanchor_153" href="#Footnote_153" class="fnanchor">[153]</a> steam-boat, when +he intended to convey the Indians to the barracks, to grant +them an interview with Black Hawk.</p> + +<p>On the 26th of March we found the Indians already on +board the Warrior, which was hired for this excursion; others +of these original figures, wrapped in their red blankets, were +walking on the beach. We had provided cigars and other +trifles, by which we soon gained their confidence. Massica, +the tall young Saukie Indian, was the most interesting among +them. As soon as General Clarke came, the anchor was +weighed, and the Warrior proceeded down the Mississippi. +The Indians assembled on the fore part of the ship, to sing: +the bleak wind was much felt by many of them, as they +wore no covering under their blankets, yet they always remained +on deck. Below, in the after hold of the vessel, they +had a fire, at which they boiled and roasted the provisions +that were given them. They examined, with much attention, +the steam-engine, the hissing and roaring of which +interested them extremely. They formed groups of different +kinds; many were busy in improving the painting of +their faces, at their small looking-glasses; others were smoking +their pipes in philosophical ease; and others lay asleep +on the floor, wrapped in their blankets. They very readily +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">229</a></span> +acquiesced, whenever we asked them to sing; their chorus-singing +was remarkable; it rises and falls, now loud now +low, often quavering, yet, on the whole, not inharmonious; +and though it has some resemblance with that of the Botocudos, +in Brazil, it was by no means so rude and savage. +Sometimes they shouted aloud, and generally ended their +song with their war-whoop—a shrill cry, in which they +cause the voice to quaver, by holding the hand before the +mouth.</p> + +<p>About ten o'clock the Warrior approached Jefferson barracks, +where the inhabitants had assembled on the shore +to see the Indian deputation land. The Indians sung a +wild chorus, rattling their weapons, and, as soon as they had +landed, marched in procession, led by their chiefs, to the +heights, where the barracks formed a quadrangle, open to +the river, enclosing a large space. General Clarke introduced +us to General Atkinson, the commandant of the place;<a name="FNanchor_154" id="FNanchor_154" href="#Footnote_154" class="fnanchor">[154]</a> +and, after resting a short time in his house, we proceeded +to a spacious empty hall in one of the adjoining buildings, +where the Indians were already seated in rows. The Generals +sat opposite to them, surrounded by the spectators, +among whom were several ladies. When all were assembled, +Kiokuck, with the aid of the interpreter, delivered an address +to General Atkinson, who replied, on which the prisoners +were introduced. First of all, Black Hawk appeared, +a little old man, perhaps seventy years of age, with grey hair, +and a light yellow complexion; a slightly curved nose, and +Chinese features, to which the shaven head, with the usual +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">230</a></span> +tuft behind, not a little contributed.<a name="FNanchor_155" id="FNanchor_155" href="#Footnote_155" class="fnanchor">[155]</a> None of the prisoners +were painted. These poor men entered with downcast +looks; and though no Indian betrayed any lively demonstrations +of emotion, such feelings were very manifest in +many of them. The prisoners gave their hands to their +countrymen all round, and then sat down with them. Two +of the Indians, known as particularly <span class="opage">109</span> dangerous men, +one of them the celebrated Winnebago prophet, who has a +repulsive countenance, had chains with large iron balls at +their feet.<a name="FNanchor_156" id="FNanchor_156" href="#Footnote_156" class="fnanchor">[156]</a> The other prisoners were not chained, and we +were told that they were taken out every day to walk, by the +guard. The speeches now recommenced: Kiokuck spoke +often, and interceded for the prisoners; and General Atkinson +repeated to them pretty nearly what General Clarke +had already said, on which the Indians again uttered their +"Hah," or "Ahah." When the speeches were ended, the +company withdrew, and left the prisoners alone with their +countrymen, to give free vent to their feelings. The sight +of old Black Hawk, and the whole scene of the prisoners +and their friends, was affecting, and many of the spectators +appeared to participate in their feelings.</p> + +<p>We then examined the barracks, in which four companies +of the 6th regiment were quartered. The hospital is a detached +building; the surrounding country is open prairie; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">231</a></span> +in the vicinity of the buildings, however, it is covered with +a wood of slender oaks, without underwood, and from the +eminence is a very agreeable prospect over the river. General +Atkinson invited us to dinner, and introduced us to his +family. At three o'clock we again embarked on the Warrior +with all the Indians, and reached St. Louis late in the evening.</p> + +<p>As it was my intention to travel through the interior of +the western part of North America, and, if possible, the +Rocky Mountains, St. Louis was unquestionably the most +proper basis for such an enterprise. The question was, +whether it was more advisable to go by the caravans by +land to Santa Fé, or to proceed by water up the Missouri? +Captain Stewart (of Grand Tully), an English traveller, +with whom I had become acquainted at St. Louis, was on +the point of setting out by land by the caravan, and it would +have been agreeable to me to travel in his company;<a name="FNanchor_157" id="FNanchor_157" href="#Footnote_157" class="fnanchor">[157]</a> but +after I had consulted many persons well acquainted with +the country, the plan of following the course of the Missouri +seemed to be the most suitable for my purposes; for, first, +I should not be able to observe any Indians on the land +journey; for if you happen to meet with them, you must +fight them, and, therefore, cannot become well acquainted +with them; and, secondly, it is extremely difficult, nay impossible, +to make considerable collections of natural history +on such a journey. These reasons were decisive: I hoped, +therefore, to obtain from the gentlemen of the American +Fur Company, a passage up the Missouri in their steam-boat, +the Yellow Stone, which was daily expected to return from +New Orleans; and as soon as it had taken in a cargo, was +to set out on its voyage up the Missouri.<a name="FNanchor_158" id="FNanchor_158" href="#Footnote_158" class="fnanchor">[158]</a> It is necessary +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">232</a></span> +to prefix a few words respecting this American Fur Company. +The first regular company of this kind in the United +States was the Michilimakinack Fur Company, established +in 1790. Its capital belonged chiefly to some persons in +Canada; but as foreigners were not allowed to trade with +the Indians in the United States, some citizens of the latter +gave it the sanction of their names.<a name="FNanchor_159" id="FNanchor_159" href="#Footnote_159" class="fnanchor">[159]</a> The last war with +England dissolved the company, and during that time no +trade was carried on with the Indians. About 1816, Mr. +Astor, of New York, a countryman of ours, formed a fur +company, under the name of <span class="opage">110</span> the American Fur Company.<a name="FNanchor_160" id="FNanchor_160" href="#Footnote_160" class="fnanchor">[160]</a> +His plan was well conceived, very extensive, and +designed to carry on trade with all the Indian tribes. Mr. +Astor's enterprises towards the Columbia River did not +succeed, but in all other parts the fur trade prospered, and +is carried on, up to the present time, with great success.<a name="FNanchor_161" id="FNanchor_161" href="#Footnote_161" class="fnanchor">[161]</a> +About the same time two other companies were formed at +St. Louis—the Missouri Fur Company, and the French +Company, which proposed to carry on the trade on that +river. The first continued its operations for about five or +six years, when it terminated, having met with many difficulties.<a name="FNanchor_162" id="FNanchor_162" href="#Footnote_162" class="fnanchor">[162]</a> +In 1822 the Columbia Fur Company was established, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">233</a></span> +and violent opposition and rivalry arose between the +three companies, which continued till 1826.<a name="FNanchor_163" id="FNanchor_163" href="#Footnote_163" class="fnanchor">[163]</a> During this +time the fur trade had afforded but little profit to any of the +persons engaged in it. In the spring of that year, a person of +the name of Crooks was sent from New York by the American +Fur Company to buy up the two other companies, in +which he succeeded.<a name="FNanchor_164" id="FNanchor_164" href="#Footnote_164" class="fnanchor">[164]</a> Some of the members of these companies +were received into the American Company, and thus +the whole of the very extensive fur trade was concentrated +in the hands of that company, and remains so up to this +moment. Some individuals and small associations have +since made frequent attempts to carry on the trade in the +Indian territory and the Rocky Mountains,<a name="FNanchor_165" id="FNanchor_165" href="#Footnote_165" class="fnanchor">[165]</a> but have always +been obliged to give way to the powerful and wealthy +company, which has now spread its commercial stations +over a great part of the interior of North America, and continues +to extend them more and more.<a name="FNanchor_166" id="FNanchor_166" href="#Footnote_166" class="fnanchor">[166]</a></p> + +<p>In British North America, two great fur companies were +founded at an earlier period—the North-west, and the Hudson's +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">234</a></span> +Bay Company, which for a long time were at open +war with each other, but afterwards joined, and still exist +under the name of the Hudson's Bay Company.<a name="FNanchor_167" id="FNanchor_167" href="#Footnote_167" class="fnanchor">[167]</a> To the +north of the Missouri on the borders of British North America, +they are rivals of the American Company, and both parties +endeavour to draw over the Indians to their side. But as +no white settlers have yet penetrated to those remote and +desolate regions, the American Company rules <i>there</i> alone, +by its commercial stations and its numerous servants, the +goods with which they carry on the trade having become +necessary even to the most dangerous Indian tribes; for this +reason foreign travellers cannot expect to succeed in their +enterprises without the consent and assistance of this +company.<a name="FNanchor_168" id="FNanchor_168" href="#Footnote_168" class="fnanchor">[168]</a></p> + +<p>At St. Louis I had become acquainted with several very +interesting persons; Major Ofallon, having been formerly +agent of the Indian nations on the Missouri, was well +acquainted with the country, and assisted me with his +advice, as well as Major Dougherty,<a name="FNanchor_169" id="FNanchor_169" href="#Footnote_169" class="fnanchor">[169]</a> now agent for the +nations of the Pawnees, Otos, and the Joways: they both +advised me, as the only practicable means of visiting those +countries with safety, to join the American Fur Company, +and to obtain from the <span class="opage">111</span> directors a passage on board +their steam-boat. Fully appreciating the value of this +counsel, I endeavoured to become acquainted with Mr. +Pierre Chouteau, who directed the affairs of the company +at St. Louis, and with Mr. Mc Kenzie, who usually lived on +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">235</a></span> +the Upper Missouri, and was now on the point of proceeding +on board the steamer to Fort Union, at the mouth of the +Yellow Stone River. Both gentlemen received me with +great politeness, and readily acceded to my request.<a name="FNanchor_170" id="FNanchor_170" href="#Footnote_170" class="fnanchor">[170]</a></p> + +<p>Our necessaries for this journey,<a name="FNanchor_171" id="FNanchor_171" href="#Footnote_171" class="fnanchor">[171]</a> and many small articles +for bartering with the Indians, were procured and +placed on board the Yellow Stone steamer. General Clarke +favoured me with his advice, as well as several other gentlemen, +particularly Major Pilcher,<a name="FNanchor_172" id="FNanchor_172" href="#Footnote_172" class="fnanchor">[172]</a> who had penetrated far +into the Indian territory to the Rocky Mountains, while he +was a member of the Missouri Fur Company; likewise +Messrs. Sanford and Bean, the former of whom was agent +for the Crows, Mandans, Assiniboines, Manitaries and +Blackfeet, and the latter for the Puncas and Sioux.<a name="FNanchor_173" id="FNanchor_173" href="#Footnote_173" class="fnanchor">[173]</a> All +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">236</a></span> +these persons, who were well acquainted with the Indian +territory, were to accompany us up the Missouri to their +several stations. Major Ofallon, whom we visited at his +pleasant country seat, near St. Louis, had the kindness to +furnish me with the map of the course of the Missouri, by +Lewis and Clarke, on a large scale.<a name="FNanchor_174" id="FNanchor_174" href="#Footnote_174" class="fnanchor">[174]</a> We found at his +house an interesting collection of Indian articles, and a great +number of Indian scenes by Catlin, a painter from New +York, who had travelled in 1831 to Fort Union.</p> + +<p>Before we left St. Louis, another deputation of Saukie +Indians arrived from the Lower Missouri, who held councils +with General Clarke. They came down the Missouri in +long double canoes. Among them were several very strong, +robust men, who, when they were in liquor, were dreadfully +savage and wild. One of their most distinguished warriors, +who was remarkable for a curved nose, exactly such as we +see in the Mexican sculptures, suffered severely from consumption; +his family seemed much concerned about him; +the women sat around him and lamented. The time passed +rapidly in observing these interesting people, till the 10th +of April, which was the day fixed for our departure. +</p> + +<p><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237"></a></p> +<p class="chapter_start">CHAPTER X</p> + +<p class="center">JOURNEY FROM ST. LOUIS TO THE CANTONMENT OF LEAVENWORTH, +OR TO THE BORDERS OF THE SETTLEMENT, FROM THE 10TH +TO THE 22ND OF APRIL</p> + +<p class="chapter_summ"> +Departure from St. Louis—The Engagés, or Voyageurs—St. Charles—Gasconade +River—Osage River—Jefferson City—Boonville +and Franklin—Arrow Rock—Chariton—Grand River—Battle +of the Missouri Indians—Fire Prairie—Dangerous place and situation +of the vessel—Fort Osage—The Osages—Liberty—Quicksands—Konzas +River—Boundary of the United States—The +Konzas Indians—Pilcher's Expeditions—Little Platte River—Dwelling +of the Joways—Diamond Island—Cantonment of +Leavenworth.</p> + +<p>On the 10th of April, at eleven o'clock, all our company +having collected, the Yellow Stone left St. Louis; Mr. Pierre +Chouteau, and several ladies of his family, accompanied us +to St. Charles.<a name="FNanchor_175" id="FNanchor_175" href="#Footnote_175" class="fnanchor">[175]</a> Some guns were fired, as a signal, on our +departure, on which numbers of the inhabitants assembled +on the shore, among them the Saukies and some half-civilized +Kikapoo Indians. Mr. Bodmer made some interesting +sketches of the former, of which the plate gives a specimen.<a name="FNanchor_176" id="FNanchor_176" href="#Footnote_176" class="fnanchor">[176]</a> +There were about 100 persons on board the Yellow Stone, +most of whom were those called <i>engagés</i>, or <i>voyageurs</i>, who +are the lowest class of servants of the Fur Company. Most +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">238</a></span> +of them are French Canadians, or descendants of the French +settlers on the Mississippi and Missouri.</p> + +<p>The appearance of the river above St. Louis did not differ +from that already described. The red-bud (<i>Cercis Canadensis</i>) +appeared as underwood in the forests, covered with +dark red blossoms before the appearance of the leaves, +which form red stripes along the shore, and make a pleasing +contrast with the young, bright green leaves of the willows. +At noon, Reaumur's thermometer on board was at +17½°. +We had soon passed the 16½ miles to the mouth of the Missouri,<a name="FNanchor_177" id="FNanchor_177" href="#Footnote_177" class="fnanchor">[177]</a> +but before we entered it, we lay to, on the Illinois +side, to take in wood. The Yellow Stone entered <span class="opage">113</span> the +Missouri, which, at its mouth, is about the same breadth +as the Mississippi at this place. In the afternoon we reached, +on the S. W. side, Belle Fontaine, a rather decayed building +belonging to the military station established, in 1803, against +the Indians, but which was subsequently abandoned. The +current of the river runs here at the rate of five miles an hour; +on the left bank there is a chain of calcareous hills with the +same singular forms of towers, &c. as on the Mississippi. +The bushes of wild plums were covered with snow-white +blossoms, and those of the <i>Cercis Canadensis</i>, with their red +flowers; and I could not help remarking that, in this country, +most of the trees and bushes have their flowers before their +leaves. On the beach the inhabitants had fixed fishing rods, +which they examined, from time to time, and we saw them +take up a large cat-fish. Towards evening the lofty plane +trees, with their white branches, were beautifully tinged with +the setting sun. We passed several islands, which showed +us the usual formation of these accumulations of sand, which +arise rapidly, and are often as rapidly destroyed. Against +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">239</a></span> +the stream they generally have a naked, sandy point, with +layers of thick, heavy timber; young willows grow first, then +poplars, and, lastly, hard timber. In many places in the +forests, and between the willows, we observed the high rushes +(<i>Equisetum hyemale</i>) which are said to be injurious to the +horses, unless salt is given them with it.</p> + +<p>Next morning we reached St. Charles, on the N. E. shore, +one of the oldest French settlements on the Missouri, consisting +of about 300 houses, where the massive church, with +its low tower, has a very good appearance. The environs +of this scattered village are rather bare, but there were many +European fruit trees in blossom. Most of the houses are +built of wood, but a modern part of the place is of brick. On +an eminence rising behind it, stands an old stone tower, +which formerly served as a defence against the Indians. +We lay to, opposite St. Charles, where Messrs. Mc Kenzie +and Dougherty joined us, and M. Chouteau and his family +took leave, and returned to St. Louis. After stopping a few +hours, we continued our voyage till a storm of wind filled +the air with sand, from the sand banks, and compelled us to +stop after twelve o'clock, above the whirlpool, called Remoux +á Baguette;<a name="FNanchor_178" id="FNanchor_178" href="#Footnote_178" class="fnanchor">[178]</a> towards dark, however, we reached Isle au +Bon Homme, in the vicinity of which we passed the night. +On the 12th of April, the original forms of the calcareous rocks +again appeared, with the red cedar, as usual, growing upon +them. The hills were covered with forests, where many +trees were putting forth leaves, especially the very delicate +green foliage of the sugar maple. A cavern at this place +is called the Tavern Rock (Taverne de Montardis), and on +both sides of the river were numerous snags, which often +prove dangerous to vessels. Near some habitations the European +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">240</a></span> +peach trees were in blossom; among the strange forms +of the rocks, I saw one flattened at the top like a table, on +a thin stem, and quite isolated. The country is here pretty +well peopled, and game is rather rare in the forests, at least +we were told that stags, bears, and wild turkeys were not +often found there. The people settle on the eminences, +rather than below on the bank of the river, where the air is +<span class="opage">114</span> said to be less salubrious. The inundations of the +river form marshes on the low grounds, which, being protected +from the sun by the surrounding trees, produce fevers. +Flint, in his History and Geography of the Mississippi Valley,<a name="FNanchor_179" id="FNanchor_179" href="#Footnote_179" class="fnanchor">[179]</a> +gives a very good account of the climate and diseases of +this country. We passed Isle and Rivière au Bœuf, as well +as the village of Pinkney;<a name="FNanchor_180" id="FNanchor_180" href="#Footnote_180" class="fnanchor">[180]</a> observed very picturesque rocky +scenes, climbing plants, which twined round overthrown +broken trunks of trees, and gloomy ravines, which were now +full of the bright green young leaves that were everywhere +sprouting forth. The Yellow Stone had several times struck +against submerged trunks of trees, but it was purposely +built very strong, for such dangerous voyages. This was +its third voyage up the Missouri. The Fur Company possess +another steamer called the Assiniboin which had left St. Louis +to go up the Missouri before us.<a name="FNanchor_181" id="FNanchor_181" href="#Footnote_181" class="fnanchor">[181]</a> At night-fall we lay to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">241</a></span> +on the right bank, where a cheerful fire of large logs was +soon made, round which our <i>engagés</i> assembled and chatted +incessantly in French. We spent part of the night with +Messrs. Mc Kenzie, Dougherty, and Sanford, under the canopy +of the starry heavens, while a couple of clarionets, on +board the vessel, played Scotch airs and the famous "Yankee-doodle."</p> + +<p>On the morning of the 13th of April, the weather was +serene and cool, the thermometer, at eight in the morning, ++5° Reaum., and at noon, +9°. We had lain to, for +the night, near Otter Island,<a name="FNanchor_182" id="FNanchor_182" href="#Footnote_182" class="fnanchor">[182]</a> and soon saw before us the +country about Gasconade River. There were extensive sand +banks on the left hand, picturesque hills, many pleasing +gradations of tint in the forests; an island, on the surface of +which we distinctly saw the layer of black mould, six feet +thick, with sand beneath it; further from the left bank a chain +of hills, valleys, and eminences, covered with high trees, +which were just beginning to put forth leaves, all illumined +by the beams of the brightest morning sun. Near the Gasconade, +where we took in wood, many interesting plants were +in blossom. The Gasconade, which is an inconsiderable +river, and rises not far from the source of the Merrimack, in +the State of Missouri, expands behind a high, bold eminence, +the summit of which is covered with rocks and red +cedars. The hills near it are frequently covered with the +white and the yellow pine, which supply St. Louis with +boards and timber for building. Its mouth, which is reckoned +to be 100 miles from that of the Missouri, is picturesquely +situated in a lofty forest. Near it, our hunters fired +unsuccessfully at a flock of wild turkeys. We soon passed +the village of Portland; then the mouth of Little-Au-Vase +Creek, where we observed, in the woods, the young leaves +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">242</a></span> +of the buck-eye trees (<i>Pavia</i>) which grew in great abundance.<a name="FNanchor_183" id="FNanchor_183" href="#Footnote_183" class="fnanchor">[183]</a> +A little further on, the Osage River appears between +wooded banks: it is a small stream, in which, according +to Warden, many soft-shelled tortoises are found: we +came then to Côte-Sans-Dessein, an old French settlement +of six or eight houses, celebrated for the brave defence made +by a few men against a numerous body of Indians. It must +have been formerly much more considerable, since Brackenridge +calls it a beautiful place.<a name="FNanchor_184" id="FNanchor_184" href="#Footnote_184" class="fnanchor">[184]</a> The river has destroyed it, +and it is now quite insignificant. Opposite to it, on the left +bank, further up the country, there <span class="opage">115</span> are many originally +French families, and half-breeds, descendants of the Osage +Indians, who formerly dwelt in these parts. While Mr. +Bennett, the master of our vessel, landed to visit his family, +who lived here, we botanized on the opposite bank, where +oaks of many kinds were in blossom, and where the Monocotyledonous +plant is found, which is called here Adam and +Eve. Its roots consist of two bulbs joined together, of +which it is said that, when thrown into the water, one swims +and the other sinks. It is held to be a good cure for wounds. +The flower was just beginning to appear.</p> + +<p>From Côte-Sans-Dessein, you soon come to Jefferson City, +on the south bank of the Missouri, the capital, as it is +called of the State of Missouri, where the governor resides.<a name="FNanchor_185" id="FNanchor_185" href="#Footnote_185" class="fnanchor">[185]</a> +It is at present only a village, with a couple of short streets, +and some detached buildings on the bank of the river. The +governor's house is in front, on the top of the bank, and is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">243</a></span> +a plain brick building of moderate size. The gentle eminences, +on which the place was built about ten years ago, +are now traversed by fences, and the stumps of the felled +trees are everywhere seen.</p> + +<p>The morning of the 14th of April was clear but cool; at +8 o'clock +8°, a thick mist rising from the river. On a +wooded eminence, on the left hand, at some distance from +the bank, is a high, isolated rock, which stands like a tower +in the forest. Major Dougherty, once passing this place +with some Joway Indians, was told by them, that there was +a tradition among their ancestors, that this rock was formed +of the dung of a race of bisons, which lived in heaven, but +they themselves no longer believed this fable. The Manito +rocks, two isolated blocks, about fifty feet high, which have +been mentioned by many travellers, appear below, on the +bank of the river. They are mentioned in the account of +Major Long's Expedition, which contains much information +respecting the Missouri, as far as Council Bluff, to which +I refer. We learn from that work, that almost all these +calcareous rocks of the Missouri contain organic remains, +encrinites, &c. On the rocks, which are divided by ravines +into broad rounded shapes, like towers, the Virginia +red cedar grows, and falcons build their nests. We see here +on the rocky walls red spots, strokes and figures, remaining +from the times when the Indians dwelt here: two towering +overhanging rocks, in which there are several caves, put me +in mind of the ruins of the castle of Heidelburg. Just before +dinner we reached Rockport, a village founded two +years ago, on the Manito River, six miles up which river +Columbia is situated.<a name="FNanchor_186" id="FNanchor_186" href="#Footnote_186" class="fnanchor">[186]</a> Near this place there are again +many red figures on the rocky walls, among others that of a +man with uplifted arms; not thirty years have elapsed since +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">244</a></span> +this whole country was in the possession of the Indians. +After passing Manito and Bonne Femme Creek, we stopped +at the village of Boonville on the left bank, opposite which +is Old Franklin.<a name="FNanchor_187" id="FNanchor_187" href="#Footnote_187" class="fnanchor">[187]</a> As this place was threatened by the +river, and is besides in an unhealthy situation, the people +founded New Franklin, rather further inland, now a thriving +village, near which salt springs have been discovered. We +afterwards passed the mouth of La Mine River, which is +about equal to the Lahn, and lay to for the night at Arrow +Rock (Pierre à flêche), a chain in which <span class="opage">116</span> flint is found, +of which the Indians formerly made the heads of their arrows. +In a ravine, before Arrow Rock Hill, there is a new village, +which was called New Philadelphia, though the inhabitants +did not approve of this name.<a name="FNanchor_188" id="FNanchor_188" href="#Footnote_188" class="fnanchor">[188]</a></p> + +<p>On the following morning (April 15th), proceeding on +our voyage, we passed little Arrow Rock, and found a very +fertile and rather populous country. Near the mouth of +Chariton River, there are several islands, covered with willows, +poplar, and hard timber. The river here makes a +considerable bend; the numerous sand banks did not permit +us to proceed in a direct line, but compelled us to take +the narrow channel, at the outer edge of the bend, and to +take soundings continually, being in great danger of striking +against the snags. Some parts of the banks were rent in +a remarkable manner by the rapid stream, when the water +was high. In many places, large masses, fifteen or eighteen +feet in height, had sunk down, with poplars thirty or forty +feet high, as well as entire fields of maize, and piles of timber, +which form together a wild scene of devastation, to which +the broken poplars not a little contributed.</p> + +<p>The drift wood on the sand bank, consisting of the trunks +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">245</a></span> +of large timber trees, forms a scene characteristic of the +North American rivers; at least I saw nothing like it in +Brazil, where most of the rivers rise in the primeval mountains, +or flow through more solid ground. On the banks +which we now passed, the drifted trunks of trees were in many +places already covered with sand; a border of willows and +poplars was before the forest, and it is among these willow +bushes that the Indians usually lie in ambush, when they +intend to attack those who tow their vessels up the river by +long ropes. At five o'clock in the afternoon we reached the +mouth of Grand River, which was then very shallow, almost +as broad as the Wabash. The Yellow Stone nearly run +aground at the mouth of this river, and stirred up the sand +so as to discolour the water. The Joway Indians dwelt on +the Grand River till 1827, when they removed to Little +Platte River.<a name="FNanchor_189" id="FNanchor_189" href="#Footnote_189" class="fnanchor">[189]</a> They continue, however, like the Saukies +and Foxes, to hunt in the prairies at its source, where buffaloes, +elks, and stags, are said to be still pretty numerous. +The first of these Indians called the Grand River, Nischna-Honja; +and the Missouri, Nischna-Dja:—Ni, in their language, +means water, and Nischna, the river.<a name="FNanchor_190" id="FNanchor_190" href="#Footnote_190" class="fnanchor">[190]</a></p> + +<p>We lay to, for the night, beyond Waconda Creek.<a name="FNanchor_191" id="FNanchor_191" href="#Footnote_191" class="fnanchor">[191]</a> Our +hunters dispersed into the neighbouring woods and plantations, +but they only shot some parrots. On the 16th, +in the morning, we had, on the left bank, undulating hills, +thinly covered with trees, and on the bank were strata of +limestone. Here is the mouth of the stream, the Bonnet +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">246</a></span> +de Bœuf, which, doubtless, has its name from the caps, with +ox horns, which the Indians, who formerly dwelt here, wore +in their dances. Some highly dangerous submerged snags +left only a very narrow channel open for our vessel. At +ten <span class="opage">117</span> o'clock we came to some excessively dangerous +parts, where our vessel frequently struck, and we were +obliged to stop the engine, and to push by poles. The vessel +stuck fast in the sand, and it was necessary to fasten it +to the trees on the bank till it could be got afloat again. +At this point the great forests begin to be interrupted by +open places, or prairies, and we were at the part called Fox +Prairie, where the Saukie and Fox Indians, and, perhaps, +some other nations,<a name="FNanchor_192" id="FNanchor_192" href="#Footnote_192" class="fnanchor">[192]</a> formerly attacked, and nearly extirpated +the tribe of the Missouris. The remainder of the +people saved themselves among the Otos, on the southwest +banks, where their descendants still live, mingled with +the natives. The Missouris came down the river in many +canoes, and their enemies had concealed themselves in the +willow thickets. After the Missouris, who suspected no +evil, had been killed or wounded with arrows, the victors +leaped into the water, and finished their bloody work with +clubs and knives: very few of the Missouris escaped.<a name="FNanchor_193" id="FNanchor_193" href="#Footnote_193" class="fnanchor">[193]</a></p> + +<p>To-day we saw, for the first time, from the deck of our +vessel, the prairies of the Lower Missouri covered with luxuriant +young grass, but the air was misty, and bounded our +prospect. In the afternoon we took in fuel at Webb's warehouse; +the river was here again covered with wood, which +so greatly impeded our progress, that we were obliged to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">247</a></span> +lay to for the night, seven miles above Webb's warehouse. +In the morning of the 17th we saw only an uninterrupted +forest; in the course of the day we again encountered much +danger from the quantity of snags, which, in some places, +scarcely left a channel of ten feet in breadth; but our pilot +steered, with great dexterity, between all these dangers, +where many a smaller vessel had been wrecked. During +this hazardous navigation, we were all on deck, anxiously +expecting the result, but everything went off well. We afterwards +sounded, sought another channel, but proceeded very +slowly, so that we only passed Fire Prairie,<a name="FNanchor_194" id="FNanchor_194" href="#Footnote_194" class="fnanchor">[194]</a> and lay to +for the night, five miles below Fort Osage.</p> + +<p>Our engine was broken, so that we could not proceed +till the next morning (18th April). On that morning I had +the misfortune to break my last Reaumur's thermometer, +so that, henceforth, all the observations of the temperature +are according to Fahrenheit's scale. Some of my people, +attracted by the cries of the wild turkeys, were tempted to +land, but returned without having met with any success. I +happened to have taken no piece with me, which I much regretted, +for a wild turkey-cock came out of a bush about ten +paces from me, and stood still, looking at me, while his +splendid feathers shone in the sun. Vegetation was rather +backward. A large flock of sandhill cranes, taking their course +to the north-east, filled the air with their cries; their note is +very similar to that of the European crane. After the people +had returned on board, at the repeated summons of the bell, +we proceeded on our voyage, but were soon obliged to take +soundings, and to saw off some dangerous snags; we then +landed twenty men on a sand bank, to tow the <span class="opage">118</span> steamer, +but their efforts broke the rope, and they all tumbled one +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">248</a></span> +upon another, to the great amusement of those on board. +By way of precaution, our vessel was fastened to a large tree, +which proved our safety, for the rudder was soon afterwards +deranged, and rendered unserviceable. It was repaired +about two o'clock, but we soon run aground on a sand bank, +where we were obliged to remain all night, in a rather unsafe +situation, for the current, on the bank, was very strong, +and we could not fasten the vessel to anything, so that we +might easily have been carried down the stream; the river, +however, continued to subside. On the morning of the 19th +a flat boat was procured, to lighten our vessel, by landing +a part of the cargo, which was piled up in the wood, on the +bank, and covered with cloths. Mr. Bodmer made a faithful +sketch of this scene.<a name="FNanchor_195" id="FNanchor_195" href="#Footnote_195" class="fnanchor">[195]</a></p> + +<p>At four o'clock in the afternoon, the crew had got the +steamer off the sand bank into deeper water, on the right, +a little below the mouth of Fishing Creek.<a name="FNanchor_196" id="FNanchor_196" href="#Footnote_196" class="fnanchor">[196]</a> Here our anchors, +boats, &c., were taken on board, and three men left +to take care of the landed goods, which consisted of the +presents for the Indians in Major Dougherty's agency. The +flat boat was sent back to its owner, on Fishing Creek, under +the care of thirty men, who had to wade in the water to +keep it afloat. After taking in fuel, for which the wood of +the red mulberry and the ash is preferred, we proceeded +slowly, and reached, at dusk, the hill, on the right bank, +where Fort Osage, built, in 1808, by Governor Lewis, formerly +stood. The ridge on which it was situated is free +from wood, and cultivated, and the last posts and beams +were taken away by the people in the neighbourhood. This +part of the country was the chief abode of the Osages. Only +ten years ago they were still at Côte-Sans-Dessein. They +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">249</a></span> +are peaceably disposed towards the Americans; and the +Fur Company have trading posts in their territory. The +whole tract, from the Osage River, through which we have +passed, was formerly theirs, but they sold a part of it to +the United States, and they are now entirely forced back +into the prairies, on the river Arkansas.<a name="FNanchor_197" id="FNanchor_197" href="#Footnote_197" class="fnanchor">[197]</a></p> + +<p>We lay to, for the night, a short distance below Fort Osage. +On the 20th, in the morning, Blue Water River was hid +from us, by a long island, on the steep banks of which large +snags, covered with sand and earth, projecting very far, +formed a threatening point.<a name="FNanchor_198" id="FNanchor_198" href="#Footnote_198" class="fnanchor">[198]</a> We had scarcely passed it, +when we run aground on a sand bank. The engine was +immediately backed; but the current carried the vessel so +close to the above point, that it tore away our side gallery +with a great crash. The carpenter soon repaired it, and +our progress was now more favourable. At noon we had +68½° Fahrenheit. At this time a thunder-storm arose, accompanied +with hail and rain. The rain continued to fall in +torrents till we reached the landing-place of the village of +Liberty, which is at some distance from the river.<a name="FNanchor_199" id="FNanchor_199" href="#Footnote_199" class="fnanchor">[199]</a> Some +buildings and detached houses were situated on the bank, in +front of the wooded mountains, where the vigorous vegetation, +refreshed by the rain, was very brilliant. The tall, +slender, forest trees, grow among picturesque rocks; the +beautiful flowers of the red bud tree, bright green moss, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">250</a></span> +a thick carpet of verdure, chiefly consisting <span class="opage">119</span> of the leaves +of the May-apple (<i>Podophyllum</i>), everywhere covered the +mountains. The papaw trees were just opening their buds. +This is about the northern limit for the growth of this +tree. Some keel-boats were lying here, belonging to the +Fur Company of Messrs. Ashley and Soublette, which was +just established as a rival to the American Fur Company.<a name="FNanchor_200" id="FNanchor_200" href="#Footnote_200" class="fnanchor">[200]</a> +In the pay of these gentlemen, there were, in the boats, +about ten Germans, who had engaged in this service, for +which they were not well qualified, and were, besides, wholly +inexperienced in the mode of trading with the Indians. We +next reached the mouth of the Blue Water River, the clear +blue waters of which formed a great contrast to those of +the Missouri.<a name="FNanchor_201" id="FNanchor_201" href="#Footnote_201" class="fnanchor">[201]</a> We were here joined by a couple of canoes, +with some Canadian <i>engagés</i> from the Upper Missouri, who +brought to Mr. Mc Kenzie news from Fort Union, at the +mouth of the Yellow Stone River. Their half Indian costume, +which is usually worn, was new to us. One of them, +named Defond, a tall, slender, brown man, was a half-breed +Indian, and one of the best and most experienced pilots of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">251</a></span> +the Missouri. Mr. Mc Kenzie had sent for him to steer our +vessel up the river, and he fully justified his reputation. +He was likewise a sportsman, and brought us several turkeys +which had been lately shot. Before evening we became +acquainted with the quicksands of the Missouri. These +are sand banks which are so soft that one immediately sinks +in them. We saw an ox, which went deeper at every motion, +while nobody could afford it any assistance.</p> + +<p>On the next morning (21st April), we reached the mouth +of the river Konza, or Konzas, called by the French, Rivière +des Cans, which is not quite so broad as the Wabash, and +was now very shallow. Its clear green water was distinguished +by a well-defined, undulating line, from the muddy +stream of the Missouri. The steam-boat has navigated the +Konzas about seven miles upward, to a trading-post of the +American Fur Company, which is now under the direction +of a brother of Mr. P. Chouteau.<a name="FNanchor_202" id="FNanchor_202" href="#Footnote_202" class="fnanchor">[202]</a> It is said that this +country formerly abounded in beavers, but their numbers +are much diminished. At the point of land between the +Konzas and the Missouri, is the boundary which separates +the United States from the territory of the free Indians. +It runs directly from south to north, comes from the territory +of the Osages, passes the Osage River, and goes northward +from the Missouri, parallel to the Little Platte River, to +Weeping Water River, which falls into the Missouri, whence +it runs eastward to the Des-Moines and the Mississippi. +About 500 or 600 paces from the mouth of the Konzas, +the banks of the river consist of high yellow clay walls, in +the forest; and near it live the remnants of several Indian +tribes, which were driven or dislodged from the States to +the east of the Mississippi, to whom land was assigned in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">252</a></span> +these parts. Among them were the Delawares, Shawnees, +Miamis, &c., &c.</p> + +<p>Proceeding 90 or 100 miles up the river, you come to the +villages of the Konzas (Cans, of the French), the best accounts +of whom are given by Mr. Say in the narrative of +Mr. Long's travels.<a name="FNanchor_203" id="FNanchor_203" href="#Footnote_203" class="fnanchor">[203]</a> These people formerly lived nearer +to the Missouri, but have gradually retired from it. Their +language is entirely the same as that of the Osages, and +the language of these two people <span class="opage">120</span> is only a dialect, +originally not different from that of the Omahas and Puncas, +being distinguished only by the pronunciation, and not by +its roots. At present the Konzas inhabit the tract on both +sides of the river of the same name, and its tributaries, and +they make excursions into the prairies of the Arkansas.</p> + +<p>We were now in the free Indian territory, and felt much +more interested in looking at the forests, because we might +expect to meet with some of their savage inhabitants. We +examined the country with a telescope, and had the satisfaction +of seeing the first Indian, on a sand bank, wrapped +in his blanket; but our attention was soon called to the obstacles +on the river: we avoided one dangerous place, where +the Missouri was so full of trunks of trees that we were +forced to put back; but at noon, when the thermometer was +at 75°, we got among drift wood, which broke some of the +paddles of our wheels, so that it was necessary to stop the +engine. Forty-two of our men, most of whom had been +out with their fowling-pieces, came on board. Among +them was Dr. Fellowes, a young physician, going to the +cantonment at Leavenworth.</p> + +<p>The underwood of the forest consisted chiefly of <i>Laurus +benzoin</i> and <i>Cercis Canadensis</i>; the ground was covered +with <i>Equisetum hyemale</i>, from one and a half to two feet +high. Limestone everywhere stood out; large blocks of it +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">253</a></span> +were on the bank. The Little Platte River here falls into +the Missouri. On the northern bank, seven miles up that +river, are the villages of the Joway Indians, who speak the +same language as the Ottowas.<a name="FNanchor_204" id="FNanchor_204" href="#Footnote_204" class="fnanchor">[204]</a> They inhabit and hunt +the country about the Little Platte, Nadaway, Nishnebottoneh +Rivers, together with a band of the Saukies, who have +settled in this neighbourhood. A couple of Shawnee Indians +stood on the high bank, and made us friendly signs. We +halted, for the night, near Diamond Island; our people cut +down some trees, and kindled a large fire, which illumined +the tall forests.</p> + +<p>The next morning, 22nd of April, was warm and cheerful, +the thermometer being at 64½° Fahrenheit, at half-past +seven o'clock. About six, we passed several islands, separated +by narrow channels, where our pilot steered so close +to the left bank that the hens which we had on board flew +to the land.<a name="FNanchor_205" id="FNanchor_205" href="#Footnote_205" class="fnanchor">[205]</a> We soon came to a place where most of the +trees were cut down, and we were not a little surprised at +the sight of a sentinel. It was the landing-place of the cantonment +Leavenworth, a military post, where four companies +of the sixth regiment of infantry of the line, about 120 +men, under Major Ryley, were stationed to protect the Indian +boundary.<a name="FNanchor_206" id="FNanchor_206" href="#Footnote_206" class="fnanchor">[206]</a> There were also 100 rangers, who are +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">254</a></span> +mounted and armed militia, who are well acquainted with +Indian warfare.</p> + +<p>We were stopped at this place, and our vessel searched +for brandy, the importation of which, into the Indian territory, +is prohibited;<a name="FNanchor_207" id="FNanchor_207" href="#Footnote_207" class="fnanchor">[207]</a> they would scarcely permit us to take +a small portion to preserve our specimens of natural history. +Major Dougherty rejoined us here, and brought with him +several Kickapoo Indians who had come from St. Louis to +receive land in these parts.<a name="FNanchor_208" id="FNanchor_208" href="#Footnote_208" class="fnanchor">[208]</a> The <span class="opage">121</span> Kikapoos, and +Delawares, and some other Indians, are settled at no great +distance from this place; the officers of the garrison were +on board the whole day, and our hunters rambled about +the surrounding country. We saw, in the neighbourhood, +the beautiful yellow-headed <i>Icterus xanthocephalus</i>. The +black oak and other trees were in blossom, and many interesting +plants. Near the bank, where the vessel lay, the beds +of limestone were full of shells, of which we kept some +specimens. Between these limestone strata there were, +alternately, thin layers of dark bluish clay slate, which was +not yet very hard. +</p> + +<p><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255"></a></p> +<p class="chapter_start">CHAPTER XI</p> + +<p class="center">JOURNEY FROM THE CANTONMENT OF LEAVENWORTH TO THE PUNCA +INDIANS, FROM APRIL 22ND TO MAY 12TH</p> + +<p class="chapter_summ"> +Dangerous place, Wassoba-Wakandaga—Independence River—Blacksnake +Hills, with Roubedoux Trading House—The Joways +and Saukies—Nadaway River—Wolf River—Grand Nemahaw +River—Country of the Half-breeds—Nishnebottoneh River—Little +Nemahaw River—Violent Storm—Weeping-water Creek—La +Platte River—Belle Vue, Dougherty's Agency—The Omaha +Indians—Their Dance—Council Bluffs—Boyer's Creek—Little +Sioux River—Blackbird Hills—Floyd's Grave—Big Sioux +River—Joway River—Vermilion Creek—Jacques River—The +Punca Indians—Meeting with the Assiniboin Steamer.</p> + +<p>The Yellow Stone left the cantonment at five in the afternoon +of the 22nd of April, and we soon reached the narrow +part of the river called, by the Osages and Konzas, Wassoba-Wakandaga +(Bear-Medicine).<a name="FNanchor_209" id="FNanchor_209" href="#Footnote_209" class="fnanchor">[209]</a> There were so many trunks +of trees in the river that it seemed very problematical whether +we should be able to pass between them. Our people cut +off some of the most dangerous branches below water, and +got our vessel gradually through; soon after which we lay +to for the night.</p> + +<p>The next morning, 23rd of April brought us a storm, with +thunder, but without lightning. Early in the morning a +large branch of a tree, lying in the water, forced its way into +the cabin, carried away part of the door case, and then broke +off, and was left on the floor. After this accident, when +one might have been crushed in bed, we came to Cow Island, +where, in 1818, some troops, on their way to Council Bluff, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">256</a></span> +were overtaken by the frost, and obliged to pass the winter.<a name="FNanchor_210" id="FNanchor_210" href="#Footnote_210" class="fnanchor">[210]</a> +At half-past seven o'clock, the temperature was 67°. The +heat of the preceding day had greatly advanced vegetation; +the forests were beautifully verdant, and there were many +flowers. The Indians now make sugar from the maple. +The Kikapoo Indians, whom we had seen at St. Louis, were +to have lands assigned them in these parts, and their territory +is said to extend to Independence River. There were +no fixed Indian villages at that time, but the <span class="opage">123</span> Joways, +Saukies, and Foxes hunt in these parts. We proceeded past +Cow Island, which is six miles in length, and covered with +poplars, and shave grass. The sand was marked by the +footsteps of the stags which come here to drink, by which +they tread down deep paths to the water's edge, and lick +holes in the saline clay of the bank. Here began green hills +without wood, which are the transition to the entirely naked +prairie, as they at first alternate with woods, which grow +in the ravines, and on the banks of the river. At twelve +o'clock the thermometer was at 77°. Our navigation was +attended with many difficulties to Independence River, the +mouth of which is on the right bank; here we reached, on +the same side of the river, naked grassy eminences, where +a village of the Konzas formerly stood, and which is still +usually marked in the maps. The Spaniards had a post +of a few soldiers here.<a name="FNanchor_211" id="FNanchor_211" href="#Footnote_211" class="fnanchor">[211]</a> The soil is said to be very fertile +and favourable to settlers. The forests were now in their +greatest beauty, and began to afford some shade. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">257</a></span></p> + +<p>On the 24th we saw the chain of the Blacksnake Hills, +but we met with so many obstacles in the river that we did +not reach them till towards the evening. They are moderate +eminences, with many singular forms, with an alternation +of wooded and open green spots. Near to the steep bank +a trading house has been built, which was occupied by a +man named Roubedoux, an agent of the Fur Company.<a name="FNanchor_212" id="FNanchor_212" href="#Footnote_212" class="fnanchor">[212]</a> +This white house, surrounded by the bright green prairies, +had a very neat appearance, and Mr. Bodmer sketched this +pretty landscape, which had a beautiful effect of light and +shade. It is only this part of the chain that is called Blacksnake +Hills, for the chain itself is no other than that which +we had long observed on the banks, of which there are two, +one on each side, running parallel to each other, and forming +the valley of the Missouri, more or less approaching to +or receding from it. The river flows through the alluvial +soil which it has thrown up, and which is changed, every +year, crossing from one chain to the other, and, where it +reaches the chain, produces high banks by the shock.</p> + +<p>When the steam-boat lay to, between 500 or 600 paces +from the trading house, some of the <i>engagés</i> of the company +came on board, and reported that the Joway Indians, whose +village was about five or six miles distant, had made an +incursion into the neighbouring territory of the Omahas, +and killed six of these Indians, and brought in a woman +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">258</a></span> +and child as prisoners, whom they offered for sale. Major +Dougherty, to whose agency the Joways belong, immediately +landed to rescue the prisoners, accompanied by Major Bean +and Mr. Bodmer, but they returned, at eleven o'clock at +night, without having accomplished their object, because +the Joways, fearing his reproaches, had completely intoxicated +both themselves and their prisoners.<a name="FNanchor_213" id="FNanchor_213" href="#Footnote_213" class="fnanchor">[213]</a> Mr. Bodmer +brought some beautiful plants from the prairie, among which +were <span class="opage">124</span> the fine orange-coloured flowers of the <i>Batschia +canescens</i>, which we here saw for the first time.</p> + +<p>On the forenoon of the following day, the 25th, we passed +the mouth of the Nadaway River,<a name="FNanchor_214" id="FNanchor_214" href="#Footnote_214" class="fnanchor">[214]</a> and met with many +difficulties, so that we were even obliged to back for some +distance, and landed our wood-cutters in Nadaway Island. +A Captain Martin wintered on this island for two seasons, +1818 and 1819, with three companies of riflemen.<a name="FNanchor_215" id="FNanchor_215" href="#Footnote_215" class="fnanchor">[215]</a> At +that time there was so much game that they entirely subsisted +on it. We were told that in one year they killed 1,600, +in the other 1,800 head of game (<i>Cervus Virginianus</i>), besides +elks and bears; and wounded, perhaps, as many more +of those animals, which they were unable to take. The +woods were very picturesque. The numerous horse-chestnuts +were in full leaf; the white ash was in flower, as well as +many species of pear and plum, which looked as if covered +with snow, and formed a beautiful contrast with the red +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">259</a></span> +masses of the flower of the <i>Cercis</i>. The canal between +Nadaway Island and the cantonment is called Nadaway +Slew, at the end of which we saw the remains of some Indian +huts. In a dark glen in the forest, we observed a long +Indian hut, which occupied almost its whole breadth, and +must have served for a great number of persons. The bald +eagle had built its nest on many of the high trees on the +bank. In some places we saw smoke rising in the forest; +in others, the trees and the ground were burnt quite black. +Such fires are sometimes caused by the Indians, in order +to escape the pursuit of their enemies, and sometimes, also, +by the agents of the fur traders. We were told that the +forest was green, this year, a fortnight earlier than usual. +We saw everywhere pairs of the beautiful <i>Anas sponsa</i>, +which came out of the holes in the bank, where they doubtless +had their nests. Before dusk we reached the mouth +of Wolf River, where an eagle had built her nest. The Oto +Indians, mixed with some Missouris, live in these parts, on +the west bank of the Missouri.<a name="FNanchor_216" id="FNanchor_216" href="#Footnote_216" class="fnanchor">[216]</a> They are allies of the +Joways, and hunt as far as the river La Platte.</p> + +<p>On the following morning, April 26th, we saw great numbers +of water fowl, and many wild geese with their woolly +young; the parents never abandoned them, even when our +people shot at them. The care and anxiety which these +birds shewed for their young interested us much. We came +to the mouth of the Grand Nemahaw river in a beautiful +romantic country, from which, to the Little Nemahaw, the +territory of the people called Half-breeds extends. Among +the Omaha, Oto, Joway, and Yankton (Sioux) Indians, +there lived from 150 to 200 of their descendants by white +men, to whom they assigned this tract of land as their property. +They had taken this resolution two years before, but +had not yet carried it into execution. The land was given +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">260</a></span> +by the Otos to whom it belonged, and the other tribes bore +part of the expenses. Towards noon, when the thermometer +was at 27°, we again, several times touched the bottom, +near Tarkio <span class="opage">125</span> River, but without receiving any injury. +Picturesque forests alternate with the verdant alluvial banks +of the river, and Indian hunting huts were everywhere seen, +but no inhabitants. One may travel thousands of miles +along this river without seeing a human being. From the +mouth of the Nishnebottoneh to Council Bluffs, there is a +narrow green prairie before the chain of hills; the mouth +itself is between lofty trees on the east bank. In the wood +below, Major Dougherty once killed twenty elks, all belonging +to one troop. They had divided, and part broke into +the ice in the river, where they fell a prey to the Otos who +pursued them. Beavers formerly abounded in this river, +but they are now extirpated. When the evening sun, gradually +sinking behind the tall forest, illumined the whole +country, we had a lovely view of the chain of hills, variously +tinged with brilliant hues of violet, pink, and purple, while +the broad mirror of the river and adjacent forest shone as +if on fire. Silence reigned in these solitudes, the wind was +hushed, and only the dashing and foaming of our steamboat +interrupted the awful repose. We were disagreeably +roused from our reverie by our vessel striking against the +snags in the river. We passed the night near Morgan's +Island, not far from which there was formerly a trading +house for the Oto Indians, but it no longer existed.<a name="FNanchor_217" id="FNanchor_217" href="#Footnote_217" class="fnanchor">[217]</a> The +note of the whip-poor-will, which we had not before met +with, was heard in all the adjacent forests.</p> + +<p>The next morning, proceeding on our voyage, we plainly +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">261</a></span> +observed in the steep banks of the river, the alternate strata +of clay and sand, with a thick layer of fertile black mould +at the top, and, about eight feet below the surface, a black +stratum of bituminous coal, or coal slate, which we were, +however, unable to examine closely. On the bank we saw +what are called pumice stones, which are pieces of the rock +of the Upper Missouri, changed by fire, and brought down +by the river; the Indians use this pumice stone to smooth +their tanned and hardened skins. At the mouth of the Little +Nemahaw River, the Missouri was very shallow. Our vessel +having received several violent shocks by striking, and a +storm, accompanied by heavy rain, arising, we ran aground, +about noon, on a sand bank, and were obliged to put out +a boat to take soundings, but the wind, which blew with +increasing violence from the open prairie on the south-west, +drove us further into the sand bank. Every moment it +became more furious; our vessel lay almost on her side, +which the people endeavoured to counteract by fastening +her with strong cables to the trees lying in the water. After +dinner several of our hunters went on shore, but the boat +had scarcely returned, when the storm suddenly increased +to such a degree that the vessel appeared to be in imminent +peril. One of our chimneys was thrown down, and the foredeck +was considered in danger; the large coops, which contained +a number of fowls, were blown overboard, and nearly +all of them drowned. As they got upon the sand banks +they were afterwards taken up, with other things which we +had been obliged to throw overboard; our cables had, happily, +held fast, and, as the wind abated a little, Captain Bennett +hoped to lay the vessel close to the bank, which was +twenty feet high, where it would be safe <span class="opage">126</span> but the storm +again arose, and we got deeper and deeper into the sands. +Some of our hunters and Mr. Bodmer appeared on the bank, +and wanted to be taken on board, but the boat could not +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">262</a></span> +be sent, and they were obliged to seek shelter from the storm +in the neighbouring forests. Mr. Mc Kenzie, and other +persons acquainted with the Missouri, assured us they had +never encountered so violent a storm in these parts. After +four o'clock, however, the wind abated, and the boat was +dispatched to pick up the articles we had lost.</p> + +<p>On the following day we were obliged to lighten the ship +before we could proceed, by landing the wood which we +had taken in the previous day, and many other articles. +Our vessel, however, soon ran aground again, and as we +could not proceed, we made the vessel go backwards to the +right bank, where we passed the night. In the preceding +year the Yellow Stone had been detained five days at this +place. Towards evening a flock of above 100 pelicans, flying +northwards, passed over us. Their flight was in the +form of a wedge, and sometimes of a semicircle. On the +29th, we found sufficient water, and proceeded; a still larger +flock of pelicans induced our <i>engagés</i> to make use of their +rifles, and they winged one of the birds, which strutted +about on the shore, but we could not venture to take it. +At half-past seven, <span class="smcap">a.m.</span>, we were at a place called the Narrows +of Nishnebottoneh; here, about thirty miles from its +mouth, this river comes so near to the Missouri, that between +both there is an interval of only 200 paces. The appearance +of the chain of hills beyond the Nishnebottoneh is very +remarkable.<a name="FNanchor_218" id="FNanchor_218" href="#Footnote_218" class="fnanchor">[218]</a> The calcareous rock is in very strange forms, +sometimes like entrenchments and bastions, partly clothed +with verdure, partly with dry yellow grass, and spotted with +yellowish red clay. The soil is extremely fertile, and well +adapted for agriculture; formerly there were hundreds of +elks and stags in these parts, but they are now rarely +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">263</a></span> +met with. By a general agreement the Otos, Joway, Fox, +and Saukie Indians hunt this country in common. Having +been on shore for some time, I was returning to the +vessel when the pilot called out that there was a rattlesnake +very near me, the rattle of which he heard; I looked, and +immediately found the animal, and having stunned it with +some slight blows, I put it into a vessel in which there were +already a live heterodon and a black snake, where it soon +recovered. The three agreed very well together, but were +afterwards put into a cask of brandy to go to Europe. This +rattlesnake was of the species <i>Crotalus tergeminus</i>, first described +by Say, which is very common on the Missouri. +The water being too shallow, it was necessary partly to unload +the vessel on a sand bank, and to stop for the night. +On the morning of the 30th, many attempts were made to +move from this spot; we sounded, put out thirty men, but +were at last obliged to return to the place where we had +passed the night. Messengers were then sent up the river +to endeavour to procure a keelboat; meanwhile all our hunters +went ashore. I found in the vicinity traces of the Indians, +and large traces of wolves in the sand. A storm +drove us back to the vessel, and soon drenched us with a +torrent of rain. Our hunters killed a wild goose, a wood +duck, and an owl, and brought a <span class="opage">127</span> black snake with +them; one of them had broken off a piece of poison vine, +by which his hands and face were much swollen; but the +people here do not much mind such accidents, though the +swelling frequently lasts many days.</p> + +<p>The 1st of May set in with rain and a clouded sky; the +forests were dripping wet; during the night we had observed +some fireflies. Numerous flocks of two kinds of swallows +passed us, flying to the north. About noon a white cat-fish +was caught by one of the lines which we had thrown +out; a second broke the strong line as we were drawing it +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">264</a></span> +up. The first we had caught weighed sixty pounds, and +we soon took another weighing sixty-five pounds, and a third +weighing 100 lbs, in the jaws of which was the hook of +the line that had been broken. In the stomach of this and +the other cat-fish were found large pieces of pork, the bones +of fowls, &c., feet of geese, all refuse from the vessels; and +likewise the entire gills of another large fish. A great number +of leeches were attached to the gills of these fish. It is only +on the Upper Missouri that this fish attains so large a size.</p> + +<p>On the following morning the Missouri had risen a little. +In the neighbouring thickets some birds were singing, or +rather twittering, and there was nothing like the loud concert +which, at this season of the year, animates the European +forests. The Yellow Stone did not set out till near eleven +o'clock. In the afternoon we came to some almost perpendicular +hills on the bank, the base of which consisted of +violet, the middle of bluish grey, the upper part of yellow +red clay. In some places a whole colony of swallows had +built against them. About the place where Weeping-water +Creek opens, among beautiful thickets, before the +green hills of the prairies, we met with great obstructions, +and were several times obliged to put the vessel back. We +reached Five Barrel Islands, in a broad part of the river, +just when the evening sun gave a peculiar charm to the verdant +landscape.<a name="FNanchor_219" id="FNanchor_219" href="#Footnote_219" class="fnanchor">[219]</a> The forest was picturesque but not very +lofty; the bird cherry was in flower, but the blossoms of the +red bud had lost their bright colour. Vines twined round the +trunks of the trees, and the numerous blossoms of the phlox +formed blue spots amongst the rocks. Towards night we +met a canoe, with two persons on board, one of whom was +M. Fontenelle, clerk to the Fur Company, who resided near +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">265</a></span> +at hand at Belle Vue. He was a man who had much experience +in the trade with the Indians, and had often visited +the Rocky Mountains. As he was shortly to undertake an +expedition to the mountains, with a body of armed men, he +turned back with us.<a name="FNanchor_220" id="FNanchor_220" href="#Footnote_220" class="fnanchor">[220]</a></p> + +<p>Early on the morning of the 3rd of May, we came to the +hill called by the Otos and Omahas—Ischta Maso, or Ischta +Manso (the iron eye). It is rather higher than the neighbouring +hills, and a small stream of the same name runs +from its side into the Missouri.<a name="FNanchor_221" id="FNanchor_221" href="#Footnote_221" class="fnanchor">[221]</a> We were now near the +month of La Platte River. Four or five miles before you +come to the conflux, you distinguish the water of the two +rivers by their colour, that of the La Platte being clear and +green, and keeping unmixed on the western bank. A mile +further up, the water was covered with foam, in <span class="opage">128</span> consequence +of the heavy rains. In half an hour we came to +the first mouth of the river, which is divided from the second +by a low island, with gently rounded verdant hills in the +back ground. The second mouth is the largest. There +were large piles of drift wood on the sand bank, next the +island. The river, which was much swollen, brought down +wood and foam, and its waters, though, at present, not quite +clear, yet still of a bluish tint, were plainly distinguished as +they ran in a semicircular bend, from the yellowish, dirty +water of the Missouri. After passing the sand bank at its +mouth, we reached, in twenty minutes, Papilion Creek, and +saw before us the green-wooded chain of hills with the buildings +of Belle Vue, the agency of Major Dougherty. There +were many sand banks in the river, on which there were +numbers of wild geese, and some quite white birds, with +black quill feathers—perhaps cranes or pelicans. At two +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">266</a></span> +in the afternoon we reached M. Fontenelle's dwelling, consisting +of some buildings, with fine plantations of maize, +and verdant wooded hills behind it. A part of the plantations +belongs to the government. The prairie extends beyond +the hills. The land is extremely fertile; even when +negligently cultivated, it yields 100 bushels of maize per acre, +but is said to produce much more when proper care is bestowed +on it. The cattle thrive very well, and the cows give +much milk, but some salt must now and then be given them. +M. Fontenelle expected to possess, in a few years, 5,000 swine, +if the Indians did not steal too many of them. The government +of the United States bought of the Indians a great +tract of land to the east of the Missouri, extending to Big +Sioux River, but have hitherto left them in possession of +this land.<a name="FNanchor_222" id="FNanchor_222" href="#Footnote_222" class="fnanchor">[222]</a></p> + +<p>Belle Vue, Mr. Dougherty's post, is agreeably situated. +The direction of the river is north-west. Below, on the bank, +there are some huts, and on the top the buildings of the +agents, where a sub-agent, Major Beauchamp, a blacksmith, +and some servants of the company, all lived with their families, +who attend to the plantations and affairs of the company. +These men were mostly married to women of the +tribes of the Otos and Omahas; all, on our landing, immediately +came on board. Their dress was of red or blue +cloth, with a white border, and cut in the Indian fashion. +Their faces were broad and coarse, their heads large and +round, their breasts pendent, their teeth beautiful and white, +their hands and feet small and delicate. Their children +had dark brown hair, and agreeable features. Belle Vue +was formerly a trading post of the Missouri Fur Company, +on the dissolution of which it was bought by M. Fontenelle, +who parted with it to the government, and was appointed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">267</a></span> +to the agency of the Otos, Omahas, Pawnees, and Joways.<a name="FNanchor_223" id="FNanchor_223" href="#Footnote_223" class="fnanchor">[223]</a> +M. Fontenelle settled, as I have said, 600 or 800 paces further +down the river. Here the Yellow Stone lay to, and +we inspected the buildings of the agency, from which there +is a very fine view of the river, especially from the summit +of the hill, where the cemetery is situated. The rock here +is limestone, with a great number of shells, of which, however, +I could see only bivalves; but our time was too short +to decide on this point.</p> + +<p><span class="opage">129</span> It was near this place that a marauding party +of twelve Joways lately crossed the river, and pursued a +defenceless company of Omahas, who had just left Belle +Vue; and, having overtaken them three miles off, killed +and plundered all of them, except some who were desperately +wounded, and whom they believed to be dead. The +victors returned by another way. A woman and a child +recovered. Major Dougherty took leave of us at Belle Vue, +intending to go to the Omahas, and appease the vengeance +of that tribe. About five in the afternoon we also left, and +were proceeding along the west bank, when we met two +Mackinaw<a name="FNanchor_224" id="FNanchor_224" href="#Footnote_224" class="fnanchor">[224]</a> boats, which had been obtained for our vessel +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">268</a></span> +by a boat which we had sent before. On the same bank +we suddenly saw three Omaha Indians, who crept slowly +along. They were clothed in buffalo robes, and had bows, +with quivers made of skin, on their backs. About the nose +and eyes they were painted white.<a name="FNanchor_225" id="FNanchor_225" href="#Footnote_225" class="fnanchor">[225]</a></p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo269" id="illo269"></a> +<img src="images/illo_270a.jpg" width="234" height="328" alt="Omaha Indians" /> +<p class="caption">Omaha Indians</p> +</div> + +<p><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175"></a>Among these Indians there was a woman who had been +severely wounded; namely, the well-known Mitain, who is +spoken of in Major Long's "Travels to the Rocky Mountains," +as an interesting instance of maternal affection, but +without mentioning her name. She and her child had received +many severe wounds, but were so fortunate as not +to be scalped.<a name="FNanchor_226" id="FNanchor_226" href="#Footnote_226" class="fnanchor">[226]</a> The nearest village of the Omahas is twenty-five +miles from Belle Vue.<a name="FNanchor_227" id="FNanchor_227" href="#Footnote_227" class="fnanchor">[227]</a> This country is the proper +territory of this tribe, which lives on both sides of the Missouri, +from Boyer River to Big Sioux River, and hunts further +up to Jacques River, as well as between Running Water +River (l'eau qui court) and the La Platte.</p> + +<p>On the morning of the 4th of May, at half-past seven +o'clock, the thermometer was at 69¾°. We had all round +us beautiful low prairie hills, before which was alluvial land, +thrown up by the <span class="opage">130</span> river, covered with fine grass. The +river had risen an inch during the night. The noise and +smoke of our steamer frightened all living creatures; geese +and ducks flew off in all directions. There was formerly a +village of the Joway Indians at this place, the inhabitants +of which, on the death of their chief, returned to their countrymen +further down. On the left bank there were whole +tracts covered with dead poplars, which had been killed by +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">271</a></span> +the fires caused by the Indians in the forest and prairie. We +soon saw the white buildings of Mr. Cabanné's trading post, +which we saluted with some guns, and then landed.</p> + +<p>We were very glad to see, at the landing-place, a number +of Omaha and Oto Indians, and some few Joways, who, +in different groups, looked at us with much curiosity; all +these people were wrapped in buffalo skins, with the hairy +side outwards; some of them wore blankets, which they +sometimes paint with coloured stripes. In their features +they did not materially differ from those Indians we had +already seen, but they were not so well formed as the Saukies. +Many of them were much marked with the small pox. +Several had only one eye; their faces were marked with red +stripes: some had painted their foreheads and chins red; +others, only stripes down the cheeks. Few only had aquiline +noses, and their eyes were seldom drawn down at the corners; +generally speaking, their eyes are small, though there +are exceptions. They wore their hair loosely hanging down +their backs; none had shaved their heads; and, on the whole, +they looked very dirty and miserable. The countenances +of the women were ugly, but not quite so broad and flat as +those of the Foxes and Saukies; their noses, in general, rather +longer. Their dress did not differ much from that of those +Indians, and they wore the same strings of wampum in +their ears. The men carried in their hands their tobacco +pipes, made of red or black stone (a hardened clay), adorned +with rings of lead or tin, which they generally obtain from +the Sioux, at a high price.</p> + +<p>This trading post consists of a row of buildings of various +sizes, stores, and the houses of the <i>engagés</i>, married to Indian +women, among which was that of Mr. Cabanné, which +is two stories high. He is a proprietor of the American Fur +Company, and director of this station.<a name="FNanchor_228" id="FNanchor_228" href="#Footnote_228" class="fnanchor">[228]</a> He received us +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">272</a></span> +very kindly, and conducted us over his premises. From +the balcony of his house was a fine view over the river, but +the prospect is still more interesting from the hills which +rise at the back of the settlement. Between the buildings +runs a small stream, with high banks, which rises from a +pleasant valley, in which there are plantations of maize for +the support of the inhabitants. Mr. Cabanné had planted +fifteen acres of land with this invaluable grain, which yield, +annually, 2,000 bushels of that corn, the land here being +extremely fertile. The banks of the stream are covered +with fine high trees, and many of the plants were in flower, +especially the beautiful blue lychnis, the white oak, &c. +A high wind prevailed throughout the day, but, within doors, +the weather was warm, 78° at four o'clock. Our vessel +remained here the whole day, and we were besieged all the +time by Indians, who caused a very disagreeable heat in +our cabins. Among <span class="opage">131</span> them was a Joway, called Nih-Yu-Máh-Ni +(<i>la pluie qui marche</i>), who sold us several articles +of his dress. Mr. Bodmer made a sketch of the boy +of an Omaha, whom the father first daubed with red paint. +He took vermilion in the palm of the hand, spat upon it, +and then rubbed it in the boy's face. The head of this boy +was shaved quite smooth, excepting a tuft of hair in front, +and another at the back.<a name="FNanchor_229" id="FNanchor_229" href="#Footnote_229" class="fnanchor">[229]</a> A number of men and women +stood round, looking on with eager curiosity. I showed the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">273</a></span> +Indians a rattlesnake in brandy, and they gave me to understand +that a child had lately been bitten by one of these +animals, and died in consequence. The little child, lately +wounded by the Joways, was brought to us; the wounds, +though they had not been dressed and covered, were almost +healed.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo269b" id="illo269b"></a> +<img src="images/illo_270b.jpg" width="164" height="199" alt="An Omaha boy" /> +<p class="caption">An Omaha boy</p> +</div> + +<p>We spent a very pleasant evening with Mr. Cabanné; +sitting in the balcony of his house, we enjoyed the delightful +temperature and the fine scene around us. The splendid +sky was illumined by the full moon; silence reigned around, +interrupted only by the noise of the frogs, and the incessant +cry of the whip-poor-will, in the neighbouring woods, till +the Indians assembled round the house, and, at the request +of Mr. Cabanné, performed a dance. About twenty Omahas +joined in it; the principal dancer, a tall man, wore on his +head an immense feather cap, like those of the Camacans +in Brazil, but larger and of less elaborate workmanship, +composed of long tail and wing feathers of owls and birds +of prey;<a name="FNanchor_230" id="FNanchor_230" href="#Footnote_230" class="fnanchor">[230]</a> in his hand he held his bow and arrows. The +upper part of his body was covered only with a whitish skin, +which fell over the right shoulder and breast, and was adorned +with bunches of feathers; his arms, face, and the uncovered +parts of his body, were painted with white stripes and spots. +His trousers were marked with dark cross stripes, and +trimmed at the ankles with a great quantity of fringe. He +also wore an apron. He had a savage and martial appearance, +to which his athletic figure greatly contributed. Another +man, <span class="opage">132</span> who was younger, of a very muscular +frame—the upper part of whose body was naked, but +painted white—had in his hand a war club, striped with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">274</a></span> +white, ornamented at the handle with the skin of a polecat.<a name="FNanchor_231" id="FNanchor_231" href="#Footnote_231" class="fnanchor">[231]</a> +He wore on his head a feather cap, like that already described. +These two men, and several youths and boys, +formed a line, opposite to which other Indians sat down in +a row; in the middle of which row the drum was beat in +quick time. Several men beat time with war clubs hung +with bells; and the whole company (most of whom were +painted white) sung, "Hi! hi! hi!" or "Hey! hey! hey!" +&c., sometimes shouting aloud. The manner of the dance +was thus: bending their bodies forward, they leaped up with +both feet at once, not rising high from the ground, and +stamped loudly, while the drum beat in quick time, and +their arms were rattled and occasionally lifted up into the +air. Thus they leaped opposite to each other, with great +exertion, for about an hour; they perspired violently, till +the usual presents, a quantity of tobacco stalks, were thrown +on the ground before them. This dance was very interesting +to me, especially in connection with the beautiful evening +scene on the Missouri. The bright light of the moon +illumined the extensive and silent wilderness; before us, the +grotesque band of Indians, uttering their wild cry, together +with the loud call of the night raven, vividly recalled to my +mind scenes which I had witnessed in Brazil. We did not +return to our vessel till late at night, after taking leave of +our kind host, and of Major Pilcher; the former was on the +point of returning to St. Louis, leaving the superintendence +of the trading post to Major Pilcher.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo269c" id="illo269c"></a> +<img src="images/illo_270c.jpg" width="467" height="203" alt="Omaha war club" /> +<p class="caption">Omaha war club</p> +</div> + +<p>The Omahas, or, as some erroneously call them, Mahas, +were formerly a numerous tribe, but have been much reduced +by frequent wars with their neighbours; the smallpox, +too, has committed dreadful ravages, and there are +now but few vigorous young men among them. Their language +differs from that of the Otos, Missouris, and Joways; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">275</a></span> +there is, however, an affinity between them. The best and +most complete accounts of the Omahas are given by Mr. +Say in his Narrative of Major Long's "Expedition to the +Rocky Mountains," to which I would refer my readers.<a name="FNanchor_232" id="FNanchor_232" href="#Footnote_232" class="fnanchor">[232]</a></p> + +<p>On the 5th of May, the Yellow Stone left Cabanné's +trading house; the weather was warm <span class="opage">133</span> and serene; we +passed the mouth of Boyer's Creek on the east bank, where +the Missouri makes a bend, and saw the ruins of the former +cantonment, or fort, at Council Bluffs.<a name="FNanchor_233" id="FNanchor_233" href="#Footnote_233" class="fnanchor">[233]</a> This military post +was established, in the year 1819, for 1,000 men, but, in +fact, there were now only 500 men of the regiment in garrison +at Jefferson barracks. In the year 1827, these troops +were withdrawn and stationed at Leavenworth; the fort, +or, rather, the barracks, formed a quadrangle, with a bastion +or blockhouse, in two of the angles. At present there +were only the stone chimneys, and, in the centre, a brick +storehouse under roof. Everything of value had been carried +away by the Indians. We were told that numerous +rattlesnakes are found among the ruins. The situation of +Council Bluffs is said to have been much more favourable +for observing the Indians than that at Leavenworth; and +it was even conjectured that this post will be again occupied. +The military station was at first placed a little further inland, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">276</a></span> +but the scurvy carried off 300 of the garrison in one +winter. Mr. Sandford, who had rejoined us, once found +here the large grinders of a mastodon, which are now in +the possession of General Clarke, at St. Louis.</p> + +<p>At twelve at noon, we ran aground, but happily sustained +no damage, at a dangerous place, where the left bank was +blocked up with many snags, and which is called the Devil's +Race-ground. The country was low and uniform till we +again reached the hills, which were rather bare of wood, +but of grotesque form, and covered with a fine verdant carpet. +Near the mouth of the Soldier River, an <i>engagé</i> met us, +who brought letters from the Assiniboin steamer. We went +on pretty well till the evening, when we got upon a sand +bank, and then made the vessel fast for the night; after +which our people exerted themselves to get off the bank, in +the midst of a storm of thunder and lightning.</p> + +<p>The steamer was got afloat by daybreak on the 6th. On +both sides there was alluvial soil, thickly covered with willows +and poplars, mixed, in some places, with other trees. +Here we saw, on a sand bank, two large wolves, which +seemed to look at us with surprise. The Omaha Indians +hunt on both banks of this part of the river; they are said +to be the most indolent, dull, unintellectual, and cowardly +of the Missouri Indians. At two in the afternoon we landed +on the prairie, which was covered with tall trees, and forty +or fifty of our men immediately began to hew down wood +for fuel; there was abundance of grass, but not a single +flower, which was caused by the prairie having been set on +fire; black burnt wood was scattered about, and the ground +itself was discoloured in places by the effects of the fire.</p> + +<p>From this place the country becomes more and more level, +and bare of wood, and the eye roves over the boundless +prairie. Behind a willow-tree I saw some remains of Indian +huts, in front of one of which a pole was set up, with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">277</a></span> +a piece of red cloth attached to the top. The forest, which +had been inundated, was likewise destitute of flowers; numerous +traces of stags were everywhere seen. During the +night a man deserted, whom Mr. Mc Kenzie had some time +before put under arrest for having uttered vehement threats. +The 7th day of May, the anniversary of our <span class="opage">134</span> departure +from Germany, was very fine. We soon reached the chain +of hills on the left bank, at a place where the yellow limestone +rock was nearly perpendicular, and in which innumerable +swallows had built their nests; these are called Wood's +Hills, and do not extend very far. On one of them we saw +a small, conical mound, which is the grave of the celebrated +Omaha chief, Washinga-Sahba (the blackbird). In James's +Narrative of Major Long's Expedition, is a circumstantial +account of this remarkable and powerful chief, who was a +friend to the white man: he contrived, by means of arsenic, +to make himself feared and dreaded, and passed for a magician, +because he put his enemies and rivals out of the way +when it suited him. An epidemical smallpox carried him +off, with a great part of his nation, in the year 1800, and +he was buried, sitting upright upon a live mule, at the top +of a green hill on Wakonda Creek. When dying, he gave +orders that they should bury him on that hill, with his face +turned to the country of the white men.<a name="FNanchor_234" id="FNanchor_234" href="#Footnote_234" class="fnanchor">[234]</a> The Omahas +have been since so reduced by their enemies, the Sioux, +Saukies, and Foxes, that they are now quite powerless and +insignificant, not being able to muster above 300 or 400 +warriors. Washinga-Sahba was so feared by his own people, +that nobody ventured to wake him when he slept: it +is said that they used then to tickle his nose with a blade +of grass. The present chief of the Omahas is Ongpa-Tanga +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">278</a></span> +(the great elk), of whom Godman, in his Natural History, has +given a good portrait. He lives on the Horn River, which falls +into the La Platte, about twenty miles above its mouth.<a name="FNanchor_235" id="FNanchor_235" href="#Footnote_235" class="fnanchor">[235]</a></p> + +<p>On the following day (the 8th of May) we came to Floyd's +Grave, where the sergeant of that name was buried by Lewis +and Clarke. The bank on either side is low. The left is +covered with poplars; on the right, behind the wood, rises +a hill like the roof of a building, at the top of which Floyd +is buried. A short stick marks the place where he is laid, +and has often been renewed by travellers when the fires in +the prairie have destroyed it. A little further up is Floyd's +River, and on Floyd's Hills there were a few fir trees, +over which the kite hovered in the air.<a name="FNanchor_236" id="FNanchor_236" href="#Footnote_236" class="fnanchor">[236]</a> About half a +league beyond Floyd's River is the mouth of the Big Sioux +River, interesting from the circumstance of its being the +boundary of the territory of the Dacota, or Sioux nation. +Its breadth, at the mouth, is about sixty paces, and it is +said to be navigable by Mackinaw boats for 100 miles. +About 120 miles up this river, a tribe of the Sioux reside, +which is known by the name of Wahch-Pekuté; this, +and another tribe of this people on the Mississippi, and +near Lake Pepin, are the only ones of their nation who plant +maize; all the other hordes of the Sioux are hunters. The +territory of these people formerly extended further to the +south, till the before-mentioned treaty for the purchase of +land was concluded with the Indians.<a name="FNanchor_237" id="FNanchor_237" href="#Footnote_237" class="fnanchor">[237]</a> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">279</a></span></p> + +<p>At noon, with a temperature of 75°, there was such a +violent wind, that the fine sand from the banks penetrated +into the innermost parts of our vessel; the broad river was +so agitated by the wind, that the pilot could not distinguish +the sand banks, and we were obliged to lie to. In a small +meadow in the woods we saw the giant footsteps of the elks, +and likewise of the common <span class="opage">135</span> stag, which we would +willingly have followed had not a rising tempest compelled +us to return on board. Vivid lightning flashed in the horizon, +the rain soon poured down in torrents, and at night a storm +arose which, at midnight, raged with such fury, that we +might have felt some alarm, had not our vessel been so well +protected by the bank. The storm frequently forced open +the doors of the upper cabin, and the rain beat into the room. +Towards daybreak the tempest returned with increased violence; +the flashes of lightning and the claps of thunder +were incessant during the twilight, and everybody thought +that the vessel must be struck.</p> + +<p>The 9th of May set in with rain, a cloudy sky, and high +wind; the thermometer, before so high, fell, at half-past +seven o'clock, to 56°. When the storm had passed over, our +vessel quitted the place where it had taken shelter. We +passed along wild, desolate banks, then a green prairie, by +a chain of steep hills, partly bare, partly covered with forests, +or with isolated fir trees and picturesque ravines, with dark +shadows, into which the close thicket scarcely allowed the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">280</a></span> +eye to penetrate. We here saw, for the first time, a plant +which now became more and more common; namely, the +buffalo-berry-bush (<i>Sheperdia argentea</i>, Nutt.), with pale, +bluish-green, narrow leaves. At the mouth of the Joway +River, which runs into the Missouri, on the south bank, at +a very acute angle, clay-slate appeared to stand out on the +bluffs, divided into narrow, horizontal strata, the lower of +which were blackish-blue, and those above of yellowish-red +colour.<a name="FNanchor_238" id="FNanchor_238" href="#Footnote_238" class="fnanchor">[238]</a> Our hunters and wood-cutters landed, on +which occasion we lost a hound, which had strayed too far +into the forest. Five or six hundred paces further up, we +saw, among the thickets of willow and poplar, an old Indian +wigwam,<a name="FNanchor_239" id="FNanchor_239" href="#Footnote_239" class="fnanchor">[239]</a> near which the red willow, mixed with the common +willow, was in blossom. The thermometer, which +had been at 56° in the morning, rose at ten o'clock, when +the sun broke through the clouds. We frequently observed +the wild geese, which endeavoured to take their young, of +which they never had more than four or six, to some place +on shore, where they would be safe from us. When we +came very near, the mother fluttered anxiously to a little +distance, and called them to her.</p> + +<p>We continued our voyage, but soon lay to at the prairie, +on the right bank, because Mr. Mc Kenzie wished to form +a plantation at this place. The whole plain was covered +with high, dry grass. On the bank of the river there was +a fine border of tall timber trees, in which the turtle-dove +cooed, and flocks of blackbirds were flying about. The +hills of the prairie were covered with the finest verdure, and +the singular forms of the hills afforded us an interesting +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">281</a></span> +subject of observation on the otherwise uniform appearance +of the country. We halted for the night near the high +trees that bordered the prairie, where there were numbers +of ducks and plovers. As soon as it was dark, the young +men set fire to the dry grass of the prairie, to give us the +pleasure of seeing how the fire spread, but the attempt did +not fully succeed, because there was <span class="opage">136</span> no wind. Mr. +Mc Kenzie left some men here, with agricultural implements, +to make a plantation; among them was one François Roi, +of Rheims, whose name gave occasion to many innocent +jokes, and we deliberated what name should be given to +the kingdom he was going to found.</p> + +<p>On the following day, the 10th, we had been exactly +four weeks since we left St. Louis. At the spot where we +now were, it is said that large herds of buffaloes are seen +in the winter, but we had not yet met with one of these +animals. The character of the country was much changed; +it is, for the most part, naked, and without woods. The +trees which are found here are no longer lofty and vigorous, +as on the Lower Missouri; yet the wild vines are still seen +climbing on the bushes, though this, too, entirely ceases further +up the river. Near the mouth of Vermilion Creek, the +green hills of the prairie approach very near the water; and +here we saw, on the back of one of the hills, a grave surrounded +with poles, which was that of some Sioux Indians, +who had been killed by lightning in a violent thunder-storm. +At the mouth of the stream we saw wild ducks and geese, +of which a pair of the latter, with six young ones, anxiously +endeavoured to escape us. The female remained faithfully +with her young ones, while the male flew away.</p> + +<p>The morning of the following day (the 11th of May) +brought us to the mouth of Jacques River, which was concealed +from our view by a sand bank. The steep banks, +which in Lewis and Clarke's map are called Calumet Bluffs, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">282</a></span> +have deep ravines, and are of an ash-grey colour at the base, +and yellow above. We reached the island called by those +travellers Sego Island, where we found very little water, and +then came to Lewis and Clarke's White Bear Bluffs, of +which Mr. Bodmer made a drawing.<a name="FNanchor_240" id="FNanchor_240" href="#Footnote_240" class="fnanchor">[240]</a> At noon the thermometer +was at 63°. After dinner we saw, at a distance, +the Assiniboin steamer, with which we came up in half an +hour. It had not been able to proceed any further for want +of a sufficient depth of water. After we had saluted the +master of the vessel, Mr. Pratte, son of the General of that +name at St. Louis, and a member of the American Fur Company, +we went on board his vessel.<a name="FNanchor_241" id="FNanchor_241" href="#Footnote_241" class="fnanchor">[241]</a> In this steamer there +were two cabins, much lighter and more pleasant than those +in the Yellow Stone; the stern cabin had ten berths, and +the fore cabin twenty-four, and between decks was the large +apartment distinct for the <i>engagés</i>. The crew had lately +killed a she-bear—the young ones were alive on board. +While we were visiting the Assiniboin, we suddenly perceived, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">283</a></span> +on the left or southern bank, a number of Indians, between +fifteen and twenty of whom rolled down the hills. As our +people did not seem very desirous of having anything to do +with them, and contented themselves with looking at them +through a telescope, we took advantage of the fine weather +to make an excursion into the prairie.</p> + +<p>The chain of hills, bounding the valley of the Missouri +on the north, crossed the verdant prairie, in a straight line, +at a distance of about 1,000 paces from the river. The appearance +of this chain was singular, with perpendicular, +yellow, calcareous walls, which indicated that the <span class="opage">137</span> river +must, formerly, have flowed in that direction; and the cylindrical +hollow marked the ancient bed of the river. In the +prairie itself there were many pools of water, and we found +several interesting plants, among which were some with long +roots like carrots, especially the yellow flowering <i>Batschia +longiflora</i> (Pursh.), and the <i>Oxitropis Lamberti B.</i> The +great yellow-breasted lark (<i>Sturnella</i>, Vieill.), was everywhere +seen in pairs, and its short, coy call, and its pleasing, +whistling note, were heard from every side. Besides these, +we saw the prairie hen, and the great long-billed curlews +(<i>Numenius longirostris</i>), of which we shall speak hereafter. +Skeletons of buffaloes were scattered in the plain, especially +many skulls, but very few of which were entire.</p> + +<p>When I returned to the vessel, I found there three Punca +Indians, the chief of the tribe Shudegacheh,<a name="FNanchor_242" id="FNanchor_242" href="#Footnote_242" class="fnanchor">[242]</a> his brother +Passitopa,<a name="FNanchor_243" id="FNanchor_243" href="#Footnote_243" class="fnanchor">[243]</a> and Ha-cha-ga. They were all robust, good-looking +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">284</a></span> +men, tall, and well-proportioned, with strongly-marked +features, high cheek-bones, aquiline noses, and animated +dark hazel eyes. Their hair hung down as far as +the shoulders, and part of it lower; that of the chief was +shorter, and fastened together in a plait. The upper part +of the body of these Indians was naked, only they wore +round the neck an ornamented band, and had a large slit +in their ears: from those of the chief an ornament of shell +work was suspended. His beard below the chin consisted +of scanty hairs, which had been suffered to grow very long.<a name="FNanchor_244" id="FNanchor_244" href="#Footnote_244" class="fnanchor">[244]</a> +They wore a narrow bracelet of white metal round the wrist, +very plain, leather pantaloons, and large buffalo robes; the +chief, however, was wrapped in a white blanket.</p> + +<p>The Puncas, as they are now universally called, or as some +travellers formerly called them, Poncaras, or Poncars, the +Pons of the French, were originally a branch of the Omahas, +and speak nearly the same language. They have, however, +been long separated from them, and dwell on both sides of +Running-water River, and on Punca Creek, which Lewis +and Clarke call Poncara. They formerly lived, like the +Omahas, in clay huts, at the mouth of the river, but their +powerful enemies, the Sioux and the Pawnees, destroyed +their villages, and they have since adopted the mode of life +of the former, living more generally in tents made of skins, +and changing their place from time to time. Their external +appearance and dress do not much differ from those of the +Omahas. They are said to have been brave warriors, but +have been greatly reduced by war and the smallpox. According +to Dr. Morse's report, they numbered, in 1822, 1,750 +in all; at present the total amount of their warriors is estimated +at about 300.<a name="FNanchor_245" id="FNanchor_245" href="#Footnote_245" class="fnanchor">[245]</a> The band of them, which <span class="opage">138</span> we met +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">285</a></span> +with here, has set up eight or nine leather tents, at the mouth +of Basil Creek,<a name="FNanchor_246" id="FNanchor_246" href="#Footnote_246" class="fnanchor">[246]</a> on a fine forest.<a name="FNanchor_247" id="FNanchor_247" href="#Footnote_247" class="fnanchor">[247]</a> They plant maize, +which they sell to the Sioux, but they had neglected to cultivate +this grain for about three years, and obtained it from +the Omahas; they, however, intended to grow it again +themselves.</p> + +<p>As Major Bean was agent of the Puncas, they came to +speak to him. The chief had formerly received, through +the agent, a large silver medal of President Madison, which +he wore suspended round his neck. On the face of all these +medals, which are given as a distinction to the Indian chiefs, +there is the bust of the President, and, on the reverse, two +clasped hands, with a suitable inscription.<a name="FNanchor_248" id="FNanchor_248" href="#Footnote_248" class="fnanchor">[248]</a> Shudegacheh +had a remarkably intelligent countenance, and fine manly +deportment. He sat down by us, and smoked, with his +comrades, the only pipe that they had with them; but, according +to Indian custom, several pipes soon circulated in +the company. The evening was very cool, and, as some of +the Indians had no leggins, we took them into our +cabin, where their portraits were drawn, after they had +been regaled with pork, bread, and tea, which Mr. Mc Kenzie +gave them. One of the Indians made me a present of his +wooden war-club, which was painted reddish-brown;<a name="FNanchor_249" id="FNanchor_249" href="#Footnote_249" class="fnanchor">[249]</a> another, +with a pair of shoes, made of elk leather, which were +dyed black with the juice of white walnut. These people +were not armed, as they had come merely on a visit, and +had left their best effects behind. Among them was a French +Canadian, named Primeau, who has long lived among them. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">286</a></span> +He acted as interpreter, and communicated to me some words +of the Punca language.<a name="FNanchor_250" id="FNanchor_250" href="#Footnote_250" class="fnanchor">[250]</a></p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo269d" id="illo269d"></a> +<img src="images/illo_270d.jpg" width="485" height="79" alt="Punca war club" /> +<p class="caption">Punca war club</p> +</div> + +<p>The morning of the 12th of May was cold, there having +been a hoar frost during the night. The Indians sat upon +the bank, wrapped in their buffalo skins, as represented in +the subjoined woodcut.<a name="FNanchor_251" id="FNanchor_251" href="#Footnote_251" class="fnanchor">[251]</a></p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo287" id="illo287"></a> +<img src="images/illo_288a2.jpg" width="503" height="295" alt="Punca Indians in buffalo robes" /> +<p class="caption">Punca Indians in buffalo robes</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="opage">139</span> While the Yellow Stone remained stationary, the Assiniboin +attempted to pass the shallow place on the river, +during which time the hunters went into the prairie. The +Indians had a conference with their agent, in which the chief +expressed a wish that their great father (the President) would +send them several articles, particularly agricultural implements. +The attitude and gestures of the speaker were graceful; +his right arm and shoulder were bare, while he gesticulated +with his hand; and his fine, manly countenance was +very expressive. As he had not put on his leggins, we observed, +on his muscular calves, two tattooed stripes crossing +each other, X; otherwise, he was neither tattooed nor painted. +Some of these Indians had been inoculated with the smallpox +by a surgeon, whom Major Bean had taken to them +the year before, and who had inoculated 2,600 Indians of +different tribes. Many of them had manifested distrust on +this occasion; and, when he offered to perform the operation, +said, "Now we are well; if we should become sick it will +be time enough to submit to the operation." Shudegacheh +had on the upper part of his arm a large, round scar, which +he is said to have burnt into his flesh with his tobacco-pipe, +on the death of a relation. Major Bean presented to the +Indians, in the name of the Government, tobacco, powder, +and ball, and the chief received a fine blanket. Mr. +Mc Kenzie observed to him, that "the Puncas furnished too +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">287</a></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">288</a></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">289</a></span> +few skins, and did not plant maize enough; it was not possible +to purchase anything of them;" to which he replied, +that "there was no unity among his people; that they lived +too scattered, and, therefore, he could not superintend them, +and keep them to work." At noon, the thermometer being +at 67°, our hunters returned, without having seen anything +of consequence, except a couple of large curlews. The boats, +which had been sent out to take soundings, likewise came +back, and great exertions were made to lighten the steamer, +by transferring part of the cargo to the Maria keel-boat. +At length, at two o'clock, we were able to weigh anchor, +and run awhile down the river, which was done with such +rapidity that the Indians became giddy, and sat down on +the floor. In this manner we turned round a sand bank, +and proceeded upwards, along the south coast of the river, +and in twenty minutes were opposite the huts of the Punca +Indians. They lay in the shade of a forest, like white cones, +and, in front of them, a sand bank extended into the river, +which was separated from the land by a narrow channel. +The whole troop was assembled on the edge of the bank, +and it was amusing to see how the motley group crowded +together, wrapped in brown buffalo skins, white and red +blankets—some naked, of a deep brown colour. The little +children, with their protuberant bellies,<a name="FNanchor_252" id="FNanchor_252" href="#Footnote_252" class="fnanchor">[252]</a> and their legs, of a +dark brown colour, carrying bows and arrows in their hands, +were running along the beach, or cowering like little monkeys, +while the men walked about, very gravely, with their weapons +in their hands. We landed our Indian visitors on the sand +bank; the boat brought back some skins, and we afterwards +saw Primeau, with the Indians, wade through <span class="opage">140</span> the channel. +A little further up we witnessed a great prairie fire, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">290</a></span> +on the left bank. The flames rose from the forest to the +height of 100 feet—fiery smoke filled the air: it was a splendid +sight! A whirlwind had formed a remarkable towering +column of smoke, which rose, in a most singular manner, +in graceful undulations, to the zenith. Afterwards we came +to steep hills, behind which is Manoel's Creek, so called +from Manoel Lisa, a Spaniard, who formerly carried on +the fur trade in these parts.<a name="FNanchor_253" id="FNanchor_253" href="#Footnote_253" class="fnanchor">[253]</a> Towards evening we were +near the Assiniboin steamer, which lay before us, and halted +in the vicinity of Basil Creek, where the Puncas formerly +dwelt, numbers of whose graves are seen upon the hills. The +trunks of trees in the river had much injured our paddles. +</p> + +<p><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291"></a></p> +<p class="chapter_start">CHAPTER XII</p> + +<p class="center">VOYAGE FROM L'EAU QUI COURT TO FORT PIERRE, ON THE TETON +RIVER (THE LITTLE MISSOURI), AND STAY THERE, FROM +MAY 13TH TO JUNE 4TH</p> + +<p class="chapter_summ"> +Running-water River (l'eau qui court)—Punca Creek—Remarkable +Mountains—Cedar Island—Delay caused by the insufficient Depth +of the Water—First Sight of Buffaloes and Antelopes—Burning +Mountain—Black Strata of bituminous Coal—Bijoux Hills—Prairie +Dogs—Shannon, or Dry River—White River—Ruins of +Cedar Fort—Fort Look-out (Sioux Agency)—Visit to it—The +Dacotas of the Branch of the Yanktons—Wahktageli—Big Bend, +or Grand Détour—Medicine Hills—Teton River—Fort Pierre—Stay +there—The Tetons, a branch of the Dacotas or Sioux.</p> + +<p>On the morning of the 13th of May, the Yellow Stone +passed the mouth of the Running-water River (l'eau qui +court),<a name="FNanchor_254" id="FNanchor_254" href="#Footnote_254" class="fnanchor">[254]</a> when the thermometer was at 55°. The Assiniboin +was before us. We reached the mouth of Punca Creek, +which runs along the chain of hills obliquely to the Missouri. +At the time when the Puncas separated from the Omahas, +they built a kind of fort of earth, some miles up this river, +which, however, they no longer occupy. There are said to +be hot springs in the neighbourhood, such as are known +to exist in several places on the banks of the Missouri.<a name="FNanchor_255" id="FNanchor_255" href="#Footnote_255" class="fnanchor">[255]</a> +Springs of any kind are, however, very rare in these dry +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">292</a></span> +prairies. In this neighbourhood are many villages of the +prairie dogs (<i>Arctomys ludoviciana</i>, Ord.), in the abandoned +burrows of which, rattlesnakes abound. It has been affirmed +that these two species of animals live peaceably together in +these burrows; but observers of nature have proved that +the snakes take possession of abandoned burrows only, which +is in the usual course of things. Deep <span class="opage">142</span> gullies traverse +the summits of the banks, above which the turkey buzzards +were hovering. On a sudden, three Punca Indians appeared +and hailed us; they were wrapped in their buffalo skins, and +carried their bows and arrows on their shoulders. One of +them had a very singular appearance, having bound up +the hair of his head, so that it stood quite upright. Though +they made signs to us to take them on board, we did not stop, +but renounced the pleasure of more closely observing these +interesting people. The trees on the edge of the prairie, +by which we passed, were old, thick, and low, with their +summits depressed and cramped. They were the resort of +the Carolina pigeon, which is found all along the banks of +the river. The red cedars, in particular, were stunted and +crippled, often thicker than a man's body in the trunk, and +very frequently wholly withered. The swallows' nests—numbers +of which were built against the steep banks—were +not yet inhabited. We were unable, on account of the +shallowness, to reach a fine grove of poplars on the right +bank, and proceeded along the hills of the left bank, which +were seventy or eighty feet in height, where the red cedar +abounded, and we stopped to fell a number of these trees. +A wild lateral ravine here opened to the Missouri, up the +steep sides of which our wood-cutters climbed, and cut down +the cedars, which were loaded with their black berries. The +wood of this tree emits a very aromatic scent, and it is much +used by the steam-boats for fuel, because it supplies a great +deal of steam, and the berries, as we were told, are eaten by +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">293</a></span> +the Indians for certain medicinal purposes. At the bottom +of the narrow ravine, there was a thicket of elm, cedar, bird-cherry, +clematis, celtis, celastrus, vine, and other shrubs; +and the neighbouring lofty verdant hills of the prairie produced +many beautiful plants, among which was <i>Stanleya +pinnatifida</i>, with its splendid long bunches of yellow flowers. +Returning to our vessel, when the bell gave the signal for +departure, we found one of the three Punca Indians whom +we had seen in the morning. He had taken advantage +of our slow progress to overtake us. His hair +hung down to his shoulders, and was tied together +in a queue. His countenance was good-natured and +friendly; he wore a buffalo robe, had a bow and arrows +on his back, and, in his hand, a large hussar sabre, +which he had received as a present. Major Bean gave +him some tobacco, powder, lead, and ball; and after +he had satisfied his craving appetite he returned, well satisfied, +to his comrades. In the afternoon the country was +by no means attractive, rather flat, and not so verdant; our +vessel sustained many violent shocks. The chain of hills, +in the distance, appeared in more and more singular forms, +partly resembling ramparts and batteries, and then again +perfectly flat, like table-land. An isolated, round, conical +eminence, which is called the Tower, stands on them.<a name="FNanchor_256" id="FNanchor_256" href="#Footnote_256" class="fnanchor">[256]</a> On +the bank were, again, singularly stunted woods and thickets, +probably kept down by the cold winds of the prairie. The +soil and the whole character of the country was changed; +on the Lower Missouri it was a black mould, and very fertile. +Cedars flourished here, growing to the height of forty +or fifty feet, yet they were often withered, or, at least, many +had dry branches on their summits. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">294</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="opage">143</span> On the following morning, the 14th, we had a very +difficult navigation, and were even obliged to put back, so +that the Assiniboin overtook and passed us, and we followed +it up the river on the north bank, and afterwards landed +forty men to lighten the vessel; ran happily over a sand +bank, and again passed the Assiniboin. In the preceding +year, the whole prairie was seen from the steamer to be covered +with herds of buffaloes, but now there were no living +creatures, except a few wild geese and ducks, which had +likewise become scarce, since the termination of the great +forest below the La Platte River. The monotony of this +rude landscape was, however, soon interrupted by the appearance +of a canoe, in which were four white men rowing down +the river. A boat was speedily manned, into which Mr. +Mc Kenzie and Mr. Sandford went, well armed, in order to +speak to them, because they were supposed to be <i>engagés</i> +of the Company who were deserting. We were informed +by them, that the Arikkaras, a dangerous Indian tribe, had +lately murdered three beaver hunters, one of whom was a +man named Glass, well known in the country, of whom I +shall have occasion to speak in the sequel.<a name="FNanchor_257" id="FNanchor_257" href="#Footnote_257" class="fnanchor">[257]</a></p> + +<p>Upon an island, to which we came, was a real wilderness; +the beavers had formed a kind of abattis, by felling poplars; +another island was remarkable because there is a hot spring +opposite to it, on the main land, the water of which has no +mineral taste. On the left bank, about five or six miles +below Cedar Island, we observed the remains of Indian huts. +Mr. Mc Kenzie had met here, in the preceding year, a camp +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">295</a></span> +of the Punca Indians. On the steep banks were coloured +stripes, or regular strata; some black, doubtless bituminous +coal, others reddish brown, and, in several places, burnt +black. Some parts had burnt very lately, and, in many +places, had fallen in. Unhappily we were not able more +closely to examine these remarkable strata. We fastened +the vessel for the night to the western coast; and the lightning +was very brilliant.</p> + +<p>On the following day, the 15th of May, we saw in the +thickets, behind which the prairie extended, many traces of +an Indian camp; heads of elks, stags, and other animals, +were scattered about; the marks of horses' feet were +everywhere visible; and a practicable trodden path led +through the thickets. At noon, when the thermometer was +at 77°, the Assiniboin again passed us, and, with the keel-boat +Maria, vanished from our sight. At four in the afternoon, +we reached the place where we had stopped the preceding +night, with the help of the keel-boat, which had +returned, and at length succeeded in getting forward; but +again had a storm of thunder and lightning. The whole +country, beyond the banks, consisted of hills, rising one +above the other; some covered with verdure, some of a yellowish +colour, mostly without life and variety. While the +lightning flashed from the dense black clouds, we again overtook +the Assiniboin, which had landed its wood-cutters to +fell some cedars on the steep mountain. We, too, landed +300 paces further up, to cut down cedars for fuel. At this +place there was the narrow deep ravine of a small stream, +now dry, in which we caught a pale yellow bat, and saw +some snakes, and the scattered bones of buffaloes. We +climbed from the bottom of the ravine up the singular <span class="opage">144</span> +eminences of the prairie, and collected some interesting plants, +particularly the wild turnip. Two species of cactus were +not yet in blossom; they are, probably, not sufficiently known +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">296</a></span> +to botanists. One of them has been taken for the <i>Cactus +opuntia</i>; and Captain Back,<a name="FNanchor_258" id="FNanchor_258" href="#Footnote_258" class="fnanchor">[258]</a> too, says, that it is found on +an island in the Lake of the Woods; but this is certainly +not the above-named plant. On the highest elevation above +the river, we enjoyed a remarkably fine prospect, while the +sky was darkened by black thunder clouds. Around us was +the amphitheatre of singularly-formed mountain-tops; at +our feet lay the fine broad river, intersected by innumerable +sand banks, which plainly showed us the difficulties of our +navigation. On the banks, at so great a distance from the +dwellings of civilized men, were two large vessels emitting +volumes of steam. We were lost in the contemplation of +this vast wilderness, when the bell summoned us on board. +Our people had found a channel with five feet water, but +it was so dark and foggy, that we were obliged to lie to +early.</p> + +<p>On the following morning, the 16th of May, having passed +a village of the prairie dogs, we reached, at nine o'clock, +the Cedar Island, which is said to be 1,075 miles from the +mouth of the Missouri.<a name="FNanchor_259" id="FNanchor_259" href="#Footnote_259" class="fnanchor">[259]</a> On the steep banks of this long +narrow island, which lies near the south-west bank, there +were thickets of poplars, willows, and buffalo berry; the rest +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">297</a></span> +of the island is covered with a dark forest of red cedars, of +which we immediately felled a good number. Their beautiful +violet-coloured wood is traversed towards the edge by +white veins, and is found very fit for ship-building. We +crossed, with great pleasure, this wilderness of lofty cedars, the +rough bark of which peels off of itself, and hangs down in +long slips; many of them were withered, others broken and +thrown down, or lying on the ground, covered with moss and +lichens. The notes of numerous birds were heard in the +gloom of this cedar forest, into which no ray of the sun could +penetrate. Here, too, we found everywhere traces of the elks +and stags, and saw where they had rubbed off the bark with +their antlers. This may be considered as the limit to which +the wild turkey extends on the Missouri. It is true that this +bird is, now and then, found higher up, even on the Yellow +Stone River; but these are exceptions, for beyond this place +the woods are too open and exposed. The Indians, on the +Upper Missouri, very readily barter for the tails of these fine +birds, to use them as fans and ornaments, and Mr. Mc Kenzie, +accordingly, took a good supply with him.</p> + +<p>On account of the high wind we were obliged to stop +longer than we intended at Cedar Island, and took advantage +of the delay to send out our hunters with their fowling-pieces. +They brought back some birds, and a quadruped +which was new to me. The wood-cutters had found, in a hollow +tree, a nest of the large wood-rat, with four young ones. +This fine animal has a tuft of hair at the end of its tail, and +sometimes the whole tail is covered with hair. In colour and +shape it resembles our Norway rat, and has not yet been +mentioned as found on the Missouri, unless a couple of +passages in Lewis and Clarke's Travels, which say, "very +large rats were found here," refer to it.</p> + +<p><span class="opage">145</span> On the morning of the 17th we saw the first +antelopes, or cabris, half a dozen of which fled over the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">298</a></span> +hills, but at so great a distance that we could not well +distinguish them; we, however, subsequently had the +pleasure of seeing one of these animals stop so long on the +summit of the bank that we could very plainly observe it +nearer at hand. It gazed for a long time at the steamer, +appeared to be alarmed, trotted away, then stopped again, +and disappeared behind the hills. The antelope becomes +more and more common in this part of the country, +and we saw several to-day, but the wishes of our hunters were +disappointed. The Indians use the skin of these animals +for clothing, but they are not very eager in the chase of the +antelope, except where the buffalo is scarce. As, on sounding +the channel, only four feet of water were found, the +steamer was moored to the bank, and we took our fowling-pieces. +With difficulty we penetrated through the thickets +of poplar and willow on the bank, where the large tracks of +the elks and of the Virginian deer were everywhere deeply +imprinted in the soft soil. We then reached the prairie, +which is perfectly level, and extends for 300 or 400 paces +to the hills. It was covered with high grass, and clusters +of many different plants. Our people traversed the prairies +in all directions, looking for the pomme blanche, which was +very common. Near the thickets we saw the pretty Carolina +pigeon, seeking its food on the ground, but, when we +approached, all the birds immediately flew out of the prairie, +and sought refuge in the recesses of the thickets. We had +a fine, starlight, cool evening.</p> + +<p>On the 18th we saw the first buffaloes that we had met +with on this voyage. Several of our hunters were immediately +landed to pursue them. They ascended into a ravine, +and disappeared behind the hills. We also landed, at +noon, when the thermometer was at 68°. Beyond the thickets +on the bank, there were some old isolated trees in the prairie, +in which, as well as in the tall plants, bushes, and grass, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">299</a></span> +there were numerous birds. During the day, the mosquitoes +(<i>Tipula</i>) were so troublesome in the wood, that we could +scarcely load our pieces; it is said that, in the height of summer, +this nuisance is still more intolerable. The buffalo +hunters returned to the vessel at the same time with us; +they had, indeed, missed their object, but had killed a large +buck antelope, as well as a great many prairie dogs, the heads +of which were all mutilated by the rifle balls. As these little +animals retreat to their burrows, on the approach of any +strange object, and only put out their heads, the Americans, +with their long rifles, generally hit them in this part: they +are a favourite food among them. Our men brought back +the skin and the head, as well as the flesh of the antelope +which they had killed: they likewise brought me a fine grey +eagle and a serpent (<i>Col. eximus</i>). The river being so shallow, +we were not able to proceed on the following day, and +continued our excursions on shore. I often passed my time +in the lofty and shady forest which extended beyond the +willow thickets on the banks, at the border of the open prairie. +Sitting on an old trunk, in the cool shade, I could observe +at leisure the surrounding scene. I saw the turkey buzzards, +that hovered above the hills, contending against the high +wind, while a couple of falcons frequently made a stoop at +them, doubtless to defend <span class="opage">146</span> their nest. A couple of +ravens likewise flew about them. The red-eyed finch, the +beautiful <i>Sylvia æstiva</i>, the <i>Sylvia striata</i>, and the wren, flew +around me, the latter singing very prettily. If I passed beyond +the prairie hills, I found the ground, on the long-extended +ridge, covered with the blue flowers of the <i>Oxitropis +Lamberti</i> (Pursh.), which grew in tufts about a foot high. +There, too, I saw dens of the foxes and wolves. I saw a fine +bird which we had not before met with, namely, the prairie +hen (<i>Tetrao phasianellus</i>), a pair of which rose before me, +and of which I first shot the cock. These birds are found +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">300</a></span> +in considerable numbers from this place up to the Rocky +Mountains. In the daytime we suffered great heat in these +excursions, while there was also a high wind, and the ground +was hard and dry; the soles of our shoes became so polished +on this ground and the hard dry grass, that it was difficult +and fatiguing to walk on the slopes. We were forced to remain +here many days, because the water was very shallow, +and, during this time, we had several violent thunder-storms. +It is a peculiarity of this part of the country that, in spring, +rain, storms, and tempests prevail, while the summer and +autumn are, in general, very dry. All the small streams +in the extensive prairies then dry up, and there is a general +want of water, except in the vicinity of the large rivers.</p> + +<p>On the 21st of May it was so cool that we were obliged +to have fires in the cabins; the river had risen a little, and +we endeavoured to proceed. Captain Pratte, of the Assiniboin, +came on board with a man named May, a beaver hunter, +who had left Fort Union, on the Yellow Stone, in March. +He confirmed the account of the murder of the three men +by the Arikkaras, and added the still more alarming intelligence, +that thirteen of the Company's <i>engagés</i> had been +killed by the Blackfoot Indians. He said that the herds of +buffaloes had left the Missouri, and had been followed by +the Sioux Indians, so that we must expect to see only a few +of them on the river. The keel-boat of the Assiniboin had +taken part of our cargo on board on the 22nd, and, as there +was rather more depth of water, the Yellow Stone had been +got afloat, after a delay of five days in this shallow place. +We happened to be on the hills when the bell summoned +us on board, and hastened as quickly as possible to the bank, +but came too late, and were compelled to follow the vessel +for a couple of hours, clambering over fragments of stone, +pieces of rock, to creep through thickets full of thorns and +burrs, or to wade through morasses; and not till eleven +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">301</a></span> +o'clock did we get on board. The hills on both sides of +the river were of singular forms; some of them were +crowned with rocks resembling ancient towers and ruins. +The eminences had some dark spots, caused by black shining +strata of coal. Many of these strata had been on fire, +and one of them was extinguished only last year, after having +burnt more than three years. Such a thick stratum of bituminous +coal ran in a well-defined stripe on both sides of the +river, at an equal elevation, along all the hills, as far as the +eye could reach; and it is not difficult to follow this stratum +for many hundred miles; it is only interrupted, at intervals, +by ravines. Some lofty hills, hereabouts, are called Bijoux +Hills, after a person of that name, who resided here many +years.<a name="FNanchor_260" id="FNanchor_260" href="#Footnote_260" class="fnanchor">[260]</a> <span class="opage">147</span> The next morning we found the Assiniboin +at the foot of these hills. Our steamer could not be moved +till noon, and then did not proceed far, but lay to near a +sand bank. On the morning of the 24th, Major Bean left +us, accompanied by Mr. Bodmer, to go by land to Sioux +Agency, or Fort Lookout, where he intended to wait for us. +He had procured saddle-horses from that place. As we +expected the keel-boat, to lighten the ship, we had time to +go ashore and make an excursion inland. At eleven o'clock +the bell summoned us to return. The vessel was made to +drop about 2,000 paces down the river, and then, with much +exertion, to proceed along the north-east bank, where we +found the Maria keel-boat, which had likewise run aground, +but had been got afloat by its crew, who laboured up to their +waists in water, while the people were lightening our steamer. +Mr. Mc Kenzie and myself went on shore to explore the +neighbouring eminences, where we found many rare plants. +The geology and mineralogy of these hills are likewise interesting. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">302</a></span> +The surface consists of clay of various colours, +partly resembling lithomarge; plates and fragments of foliated +gypsum were scattered around, and seemed to stand +out in the clay. When we reached the bare sterile heights +which belong to the black burnt stratifications, I found the +soil quite different from what it had appeared to me when +I looked at it from below. The whole consists of a clay, +which has undergone the effects of fire, and is partly burnt +black on the surface. We saw no living creatures on these +bare heights, except the finch (<i>Fringilla grammaca</i>), first +described by Say. Several caves or dens of wolves, foxes, +and marmots, were observed in the declivities of the hills. +Between four and five o'clock, the keel-boat having been +sent on before, the Yellow Stone proceeded along the northeast +bank. Near the Shannon, or Dry River, the sun sank +behind the poplar wood on the bank, and we lay to for the +night. From the Shannon, the mouth of which is on the +west side, the territory of the Sioux nations is reckoned to +extend up the Missouri. On the east bank, as I have observed, +it begins much sooner.</p> + +<p>At five o'clock, on the following morning, the 25th of May, +we had already reached the White River,<a name="FNanchor_261" id="FNanchor_261" href="#Footnote_261" class="fnanchor">[261]</a> and at noon came +to a place where the Cedar Fort, a trading post of the Missouri +Fur Company, had formerly stood. When the Company +was dissolved, this and other settlements were abandoned, +and demolished by the Indians.<a name="FNanchor_262" id="FNanchor_262" href="#Footnote_262" class="fnanchor">[262]</a> Directly opposite, +on the east bank, a stratum of earth burnt till 1823, in consequence +of which a large portion of a hill fell, and now +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">303</a></span> +stands isolated before the bank; it is seventy or eighty feet +high, and 150 feet long. In the course of the day we came +to a place where an Arikkara village had formerly stood, +on the ridge of the hills, which was destroyed by the Sioux, +and the inhabitants expelled. Opposite to this was Fort +Lookout, where the French Fur Trading Company had a +post. A little further up the river we saw, on the hills, some +burying-places of the Sioux Indians; most of them were +formed of a high platform, on four stakes, on which the +corpse, sewn up in skins, lies at full length; others consisted +of stakes and brushwood, like a kind of hedge, in the middle +of which the deceased is buried in the ground. We were +told that the son of a chief was buried in one of the latter, +in a <span class="opage">148</span> standing posture. On a point of land, at the left +hand, round which the Missouri turns to the west, we saw +the buildings of Sioux Agency; the Yellow Stone saluted +the post with several guns, and was welcomed to the fort +by the hoisting of a flag, while the whole population, about +fifty in number, chiefly consisting of Sioux Indians, were +assembled on the beach. We greeted our friends Major +Bean and Mr. Bodmer, and proceeded a mile further, to an +extensive forest, where we took in wood, and stopped for +the night. In order to get acquainted with the Sioux, in +whom I took so much interest, I returned, in a heavy rain, +through the bushes and high grass, to the agency, where +Major Bean received me very kindly, though his dwelling, +according to the fashion of the place, was rudely constructed, +and he was incommoded by too many visitors.</p> + +<p>Sioux Agency, or, as it is now usually called, Fort Lookout, +is a square, of about sixty paces, surrounded by pickets, +twenty or thirty feet high, made of squared trunks of trees, +placed close to each other, within which the dwellings are +built close to the palisades. These dwellings consisted of +only three block-houses, with several apartments. Close to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">304</a></span> +the fort, in a northern direction, the Fur Company of Mr. +Soublette had a dwelling-house, with a store; and, in the +opposite direction, was a similar post of the American Fur +Company.<a name="FNanchor_263" id="FNanchor_263" href="#Footnote_263" class="fnanchor">[263]</a> The fort is agreeably situated on a green spot, +near the river, partly covered with bushes, and partly open, +bounded by hills, beyond which the prairie extends, first, +with a few old trees, and some wooded spots, but soon assuming +its peculiar bare character. About ten leather tents or +huts of the Sioux, of the branch of the Yanktons or Yanktoans, +were set up near the fort.<a name="FNanchor_264" id="FNanchor_264" href="#Footnote_264" class="fnanchor">[264]</a></p> + +<p>The Dacotas, as they call themselves, or the Sioux of the +French, called by the Ojibuas or Chippeways, Nandoesi +(which has been corrupted into Nadowassis), are still one +of the most numerous Indian tribes in North America. Pike +stated their number at 21,575 souls, and they are still reckoned +at 20,000; nay, some even affirm, that they are still +able to furnish 15,000 warriors, which seems rather too high +an estimate. Major Long, who gives much information +respecting this people, calculates their number at 28,100, +of which 7,055 are warriors, the nation possessing 2,330 tents, +which agrees pretty nearly with the statements we received +on the Missouri. If we add the Assiniboins, who are of +the same origin, and who are estimated at 28,000, we shall +have for all the Dacotas, 56,100 souls, of whom 14,055 are +warriors, and the number of their tents 5,330. Major Long +is of opinion that they cannot be calculated at less than +25,000 souls, and 6,000 warriors; 20,000 is, therefore, not too +high an estimate. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">305</a></span></p> + +<p>The territory which they inhabit extends from Big Sioux +River, between the Missouri and the Mississippi, down the +latter to Rock River, and northwards to Elk River; then +westwards, in a line which includes the sources of St. Peter's +River, and reaches the Missouri below the Mandan villages, +stretches down it, crosses it near Heart River, and includes +the whole country on the western bank, to the Black Hills +about Teton River, as far as Shannon River. The Sioux +are divided into several branches, which all speak the same +language, with some deviations. <span class="opage">149</span> Three principal +branches live on the Missouri, viz., the Yanktons, or Yanktoans, +the Tetons, or Titoans, and the Yanktonans, or Yanktoanons. +The Mende-Wakan-Toann, or the people of the +Spirit Lake, and some others, live on the Mississippi. All +these branches together are, as Major Long says, divided +by the traders into two great classes—the Gens du Lac +and the Gens du Large; <i>i.e.</i>, those who live near the Spirit +Lake, and are now chiefly found on the banks of the Mississippi, +and those who roam about in the prairies. The Yanktoanons +are said to constitute one-fifth of all the Dacotas, +and the Tetons the half of the whole nation.<a name="FNanchor_265" id="FNanchor_265" href="#Footnote_265" class="fnanchor">[265]</a></p> + +<p>The Dacotas roam as far as the territory of the Puncas, +over the Black Hills, to the Arkansa, and westwards to the +Rocky Mountains, into the territory of the Crows, on the +Yellow Stone River, &c. Pike makes them, as well as the +Pawnees, descend from the Tartars; but many objections +may be made to this notion, as the affinity of the North +Americans and the people of Asia is not proved, and the +resemblance between them appears to be very limited. In +general, these Indians have more strongly-marked countenances +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">306</a></span> +and higher cheek-bones than many other tribes on +the Missouri, nor are their features so regular or pleasing, +yet there is no considerable difference in their physiognomy. +Bradbury says they are much inferior in stature to the Osages, +Mandans, and Puncas, and by no means so robust; but +this assertion must be very much restricted, because there +are many tall men among the Dacotas. The Yanktons +live in Sioux Agency, or the furthest down the Missouri, +among which tribe we now were. All these Dacotas of the +Missouri, as well as most of those of the Mississippi, are +only hunters, and, in their excursions, always live in portable +leather tents. Only two branches of them are exceptions +to this rule, especially the Wahch-Pe-Kutch, on the Mississippi, +who cultivate maize and other plants, and therefore +live in fixed villages. All these Indians have great numbers +of horses and dogs, the latter of which often serve them as +food. The Dacotas, on the Missouri, were formerly dangerous +enemies to the Whites. Bradbury calls them blood-thirsty +savages; whereas now, with the exception of the Yanktonans, +they bear a very good character, and constantly keep +peace with the Whites. Pike seems to have too high an idea +of their valour; at least, this is the opinion now entertained +on the Missouri. Such of these Indians as reside near the +Whites, are frequently connected with them by marriages, +and depend on them for support. They then become negligent +hunters, indolent, and, consequently, poor. This was +partly the case at Sioux Agency, where they rarely possessed +more than two horses. One of the most considerable men +among them, wholly devoted to the Whites, was Wahktageli, +called the Big Soldier, a tall, good-looking man, about sixty +years of age, with a high aquiline nose, and large animated +eyes. Besides him, there were several elderly, and some +slender young men of this nation, here. They had, in general, +a rather narrow, oval countenance, narrow, long eyes, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">307</a></span> +and aquiline, or straight, well-formed noses; their colour +was a dark brown. They wore their hair hanging down +long over the shoulders, and often plaited <i>en queue</i>; the +older men, however, let it hang loosely, cut off a little below +the <span class="opage">150</span> neck, and turned back from the forehead. +Younger people generally wore it parted, a large lock hanging +down on the nose; young men had the upper part of +the body only wrapped in their large white or painted buffalo +hides. They had long strings of blue and white wampum +shells in their ears; some of them wore one, two, or three +feathers, which were partly stripped till towards the point.<a name="FNanchor_266" id="FNanchor_266" href="#Footnote_266" class="fnanchor">[266]</a></p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo287b" id="illo287b"></a> +<img src="images/illo_288b.jpg" width="284" height="286" alt="Method of wearing hair" /> +<p class="caption">Method of wearing hair</p> +</div> + +<p>Mr. Bodmer having expressed a wish, immediately on +the arrival of the Big Soldier, to paint his portrait at full +length, he appeared in his complete state dress. His face was +painted red with vermilion, and with short, black, parallel, +transverse stripes on the cheeks. On his head he wore long +feathers of birds of prey, which were tokens of his warlike +exploits, particularly of the enemies he had slain. They +were fastened in a horizontal position with strips of red cloth. +In his ears he wore long strings of blue glass beads, and, on +his breast, suspended from his neck, the great silver medal +of the United States. His leather leggins, painted with dark +crosses and stripes, were very neatly ornamented with a +broad embroidered stripe of yellow, red, and sky-blue figures, +consisting of dyed porcupine quills, and his shoes were +adorned in the same manner. His buffalo robe was tanned +white, and he had his tomahawk or battle-axe in his hand.<a name="FNanchor_267" id="FNanchor_267" href="#Footnote_267" class="fnanchor">[267]</a> +He appeared to stand very willingly as a <span class="opage">151</span> model for +Mr. Bodmer, and remained the whole day in the position +required, which, in general, the Indians find it difficult to do. +The remainder of these people were now entirely without +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">308</a></span> +ornaments, naked, and the upper parts of their bodies +not at all painted, but only wrapped in their buffalo robes. +On their backs they carried their quivers, which were made +of leather, in which their arrows are kept; they carry their +bows in their hands.<a name="FNanchor_268" id="FNanchor_268" href="#Footnote_268" class="fnanchor">[268]</a></p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo287c" id="illo287c"></a> +<img src="images/illo_288c.jpg" width="455" height="230" alt="Bows, arrows, and quiver" /> +<p class="caption">Bows, arrows, and quiver</p> +</div> + +<p>The features of the women resembled, on the whole, those +we have already described, yet their faces, for the most part, +were not so broad and flat as those of the Saukies, or Musquake +women, and some were even pretty. The tents of +the Sioux are high pointed cones, made of strong poles, covered +with buffalo skins, closely sewed together. These skins +are scraped on both sides, so that they become as transparent +as parchment, and give free admission to the light. At the +top, where the poles meet, or cross each other, there is an +opening, to let out the smoke, which they endeavour to close +by a piece of the skin covering of the tent, fixed to a separate +pole standing upright, and fastened to the upper part of the +covering on the side from which the wind blows. The door +is a slit, in the front of the tent, which is generally closed +by another piece of buffalo hide, stretched upon a frame.<a name="FNanchor_269" id="FNanchor_269" href="#Footnote_269" class="fnanchor">[269]</a> +A small fire is kept up in the centre of the tent. Poles are +stuck in the ground, near the tent, and utensils of various +kinds are suspended from them. There are, likewise, stages, +on which to hang the newly-tanned hides; others, with gaily-painted +parchment pouches and bags,<a name="FNanchor_270" id="FNanchor_270" href="#Footnote_270" class="fnanchor">[270]</a> on some of which +they hang their bows, arrows, quivers, leather shields, spears, +and war clubs.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo319" id="illo319"></a> +<img src="images/illo_320a.jpg" width="468" height="315" alt="Tents of the Sioux" /> +<p class="caption">Tents of the Sioux</p> +</div> + +<p>We paid a visit to Wahktageli in his tent, and had some +difficulty in creeping into the narrow, low entrance, after +pulling aside the skin that covered it. The inside of this +tent was <span class="opage">152</span> light, and it was about ten paces in diameter. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">309</a></span> +Buffalo skins were spread on the ground, upon which we +sat down. Between us and the side of the tent were a variety +of articles, such as pouches, boxes, saddles, arms, &c. A +relation of the chief was employed in making arrows, which +were finished very neatly, and with great care. Wahktageli +immediately, with much gravity, handed the tobacco-pipe +round, and seemed to inhale the precious smoke with great +delight. His wife was present; their children were married. +The conversation was carried on by Cephier, the interpreter +kept by the Agency, who accompanied us on this visit. It +is the custom with all the North American Indians, on paying +a visit, to enter in perfect silence, to shake hands with +the host, and unceremoniously sit down beside him. Refreshments +are then presented, which the Big Soldier could +not do, as he himself stood in need of food. After this +the pipe circulates. The owner of a neighbouring tent had +killed a large elk, the skin of which the women were then +busily employed in dressing. They had stretched it out, by +means of leather straps, on the ground near the tent, and the +women were scraping off the particles of flesh and fat with +a very well-contrived instrument. It is made of bone, sharpened +at one end, and furnished with little teeth like a saw, +and, at the other end, a strap, which is fastened round the +wrist. The skin is scraped with the sharp side of this instrument +till it is perfectly clean.<a name="FNanchor_271" id="FNanchor_271" href="#Footnote_271" class="fnanchor">[271]</a> Several Indians have iron +teeth fixed to this bone. Besides this operation, we took +particular notice of the harness of the dogs and horses, hanging +up near the tent, both these animals being indispensable +to the Indians to transport their baggage on their journeys. +Even the great tent, with many long, heavy poles, is carried +by horses, as well as the semi-globular, transparent wicker +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">310</a></span> +panniers, under which the little children are protected against +sun and rain, by spreading blankets and skins over them. +Smaller articles are conveyed by the dogs, as we shall relate +in the sequel. Many of the Sioux are rich, and have twenty +or more horses, which they obtained originally from the +Spaniards on the Mississippi, and the frontier of New Mexico +on the Oregon, but which are now found in great numbers +among the several Indian nations. One of their most +important employments is to steal horses, and the theft of +one of these animals, from another nation, is considered +as an exploit, and as much, nay more honoured than the +killing of an enemy. The dogs, whose flesh is eaten by +the Sioux, are equally valuable to the Indians. In shape +they differ very little from the wolf, and are equally large +and strong. Some are of the real wolf colour; others black, +white, or spotted with black and white, and differing only +by the tail being rather more turned up. Their voice is not +a proper barking, but a howl, like that of the wolf, and they +partly descend from wolves, which approach the Indian +huts, even in the daytime, and mix with the dogs.</p> + +<p>Among the peculiar customs of the Sioux is their treatment +of the dead. Those who die <span class="opage">153</span> at home are sewed +up, as I have before stated, in blankets and skins, in their +complete dress, painted, and laid with their arms and other +effects on a high stage, supported by four poles, till they +are decomposed, when they are sometimes buried. Those +who have been killed in battle are immediately interred on +the spot. Sometimes, too, in times of peace, they bury their +dead in the ground, and protect them against the wolves +by a fence of wood and thorns. There were many such +graves in the vicinity of the Sioux Agency, among which was +that of the celebrated chief, Tschpunka, who was buried +with his full dress and arms, and his face painted red. Very +often, however, they lay their dead in trees; and we saw, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">311</a></span> +in the neighbourhood of this place, an oak, in which there +were three bodies wrapped in skins. At the foot of the tree +there was a small arbour, or shed, made of branches of poplar, +which the relations had built for the purpose of coming +to lament and weep over the dead, which they frequently +do for several days successively. As a sign of mourning, +they cut off their hair with the first knife that comes to hand, +daub themselves with white clay, and give away all their +best clothes and valuable effects, as well as those of the deceased, +to the persons who happen to be present. The +corpse of a young woman had been enveloped in skins about +a week before, and placed between the branches of the oak, +with six pieces of wood under it; and a little higher in the +tree there was a child. Guided by the obliging interpreter, +we viewed everything remarkable in the Sioux agency, which, +indeed, is confined to the Indians and their mode of life. +Major Bean had the kindness to accommodate us for the +night.</p> + +<p>We passed the 26th of May here, when Mr. Bodmer finished +his very capital likeness of Wahktageli. The elk, +killed by the Indians, furnished us with fresh meat, and we +considered ourselves very well off. In the afternoon, Messrs. +Mc Kenzie and Sandford came from the Yellow Stone to +visit us, and we returned on board in the evening.</p> + +<p>The following morning (27th) was cool, windy, and cloudy, +and, at half-past seven, the thermometer at only 54°. It +was so cold that we had fires in our cabins the whole day. +Major Bean had the courtesy to present me with the complete +dress of the Big Soldier, an interesting <i>souvenir</i> of the +friendly reception we had met with in his house. The Assiniboin +passed us rapidly in the afternoon, and we followed. +A well-known Sioux chief, called Tukan Haton, and, by the +Americans, the Little Soldier, was on board with his family, +intending to accompany us to Fort Pièrre, on the Teton +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">312</a></span> +River. These Indians were in mourning for some of their +relations lately deceased; their dress was, therefore, as bad +as possible, and their faces daubed with white clay. The +Big Soldier also paid us a visit previous to our departure. +He had no feathers on his head, but only a piece of red +cloth. After receiving some food he took leave, and we saw +the grotesque, tall figure stand for a long time motionless +on the beach. As the vessel proceeded very quickly, our +Indians laid down their heads as a sign that they were giddy, +but they were soon relieved, as the water became shallow. +We lay to not far above the stream which <span class="opage">154</span> Lewis and +Clarke call the Three Rivers.<a name="FNanchor_272" id="FNanchor_272" href="#Footnote_272" class="fnanchor">[272]</a> Here we again had leisure +to make an excursion in the wood, where the ground was +covered with pea vine (<i>Apios tuberosa</i>),<a name="FNanchor_273" id="FNanchor_273" href="#Footnote_273" class="fnanchor">[273]</a> and a plant resembling +convallaria. The Carolina pigeon was frequent +here, and was sought after by our people for their dinner, +to which the river contributed some cat-fish, of the usual +olive-brown kind. Our Indians kindled their fire in the +neighbouring wood, and lay around it, but soon returned to +the vessel.</p> + +<p>Early on the 28th, part of the goods had been put into the +keel-boat, to lighten the steamer, which was accomplished +by eight o'clock. From this place to the Big Bend of the +Missouri is fifteen miles, before reaching which we came to an +island, which has been formed since Lewis and Clarke were +there. The same stratum of coal, which I have before mentioned, +ran along the hills, and was visible at a great distance. +We soon overtook the Assiniboin, and reached the +Big Bend which the Missouri takes round a flat point of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">313</a></span> +land; following the course of the river, it is twenty-five miles +round, while the isthmus is only one mile and a half across.<a name="FNanchor_274" id="FNanchor_274" href="#Footnote_274" class="fnanchor">[274]</a> +The large peninsula, round which the Missouri turns, is +flat, and bordered with poplars and willows; the opposite +bank is higher, steep, and bare. A couple of antelopes were, +in this place, frightened by the noise of our steamer; these +animals are said to be very numerous here in the winter +time. The Little Soldier sat by the fireside, smoking his +pipe, in doing which, like all the Indians, he inhaled the +smoke, a custom which is, doubtless, the cause of many +pectoral diseases. The tobacco, which the Indians of this +part of the country smoke, is called kini-kenick, and consists +of the inner green bark of the red willow, dried, and +powdered, and mixed with the tobacco of the American +traders. According to Say, they also smoke the leaves of +the arrow-wood (<i>Viburnum</i>), when they have none of the +bark.</p> + +<p>On the 29th, we were nearly at the end of the Big Bend, +and stopped, at seven o'clock in the morning, to cut down +cedars. Here we ascended the lofty, steep hills, which were +partly bare, and burnt black, and from which we had a +view of the whole bend of the river. To the south, we saw +the tops of the Medicine Hills, which are about eight miles +from the Medicine Creek, on the west bank.<a name="FNanchor_275" id="FNanchor_275" href="#Footnote_275" class="fnanchor">[275]</a> Towards +noon there appeared, on the western bank, steep, rocky walls, +and, behind them, singularly-formed hills, some resembling +pyramids, others, round towers, &c. At this place we suddenly +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">314</a></span> +espied a canoe, with four men in it, which touched at +a sand bank; a boat was put out, and brought back two of +the strangers, who proved to be Mr. Lamont, a member +of the Fur Company, and Major Mitchell, one of their officers, +and Director of Fort Mc Kenzie, which is situated near +the falls of the Missouri.<a name="FNanchor_276" id="FNanchor_276" href="#Footnote_276" class="fnanchor">[276]</a> They came last from Fort Pièrre, +and were on their way to St. Louis, but we persuaded them +to return with us. Having taken in <span class="opage">155</span> wood on the morning +of the 30th, we came to a leather tent on the bank, in +which three of the Company's <i>engagés</i> and some Indians +lived, to take care of 100 horses, belonging to Fort Pièrre. +They had lately killed three antelopes, and gave us some of +the fresh meat. At seven o'clock we had, on the right hand, +Simoneau's Island, which, in Lewis and Clarke's map, is +called Elk Island; it was covered with lofty, green poplars.<a name="FNanchor_277" id="FNanchor_277" href="#Footnote_277" class="fnanchor">[277]</a> +Soon after twelve o'clock we came to a plantation, made +by the inhabitants of Fort Pièrre, where we found about +ten men, who had got ready a great quantity of fine stack +wood for our vessel. At this place, which is only three miles +from the fort, we observed hills, of a singular form, often +cleft perpendicularly, and, in the river, several islands, all +of which have now different names from those given to them +by Lewis and Clarke. Before six, in the evening, we reached +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">315</a></span> +the mouth of the Teton River, or the Little Missouri, which +the Sioux call the Bad River. It rises in the Black Hills, +and has a long course, with many windings; but is said, however, +to be straight for 150 miles from the mouth. In this +part of the Missouri are vast sand banks, on which we saw +a numerous flock of pelicans. These birds, however, only +stop here on their passage, and do not build their nests. The +river is very wide at the mouth of the Teton, and has extensive +low prairies, with a border of poplars and willows. The +French Fur Company had formerly a fort just above the +mouth of the Teton, which was abandoned when the Companies +joined, and another built further up, which was called +Fort Teton; this, too, was abandoned;<a name="FNanchor_278" id="FNanchor_278" href="#Footnote_278" class="fnanchor">[278]</a> and Fort Pièrre +(so called after Mr. Pièrre Chouteau) was erected higher +up, on the west bank, opposite an island.<a name="FNanchor_279" id="FNanchor_279" href="#Footnote_279" class="fnanchor">[279]</a></p> + +<p>The steamer had proceeded a little further, when we came +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">316</a></span> +in sight of the Fort, to the great joy of all on board: the +colours were hoisted, both on the steamer and on the fort, +which produced a very good effect between the trees on the +bank; a small village, consisting of thirteen Sioux tents, lay +on the left hand. Our steamer first began to salute with +its cannon, which was returned from the shore by a running +fire of musketry, and this was answered from our deck by +a similar very brisk fire. Before we reached the landing-place, +we perceived an isolated, decayed old house, the only +remains of Fort Tecumseh,<a name="FNanchor_280" id="FNanchor_280" href="#Footnote_280" class="fnanchor">[280]</a> and, ten minutes afterwards, +landed at Fort Pièrre, on the fifty-first day of our voyage +from St. Louis. A great crowd came to welcome us; we +were received by the whole population, consisting of some +hundred persons, with the white inhabitants at their head, +the chief of whom was Mr. Laidlow, a proprietor of the +Fur Company, who has the management at this place.<a name="FNanchor_281" id="FNanchor_281" href="#Footnote_281" class="fnanchor">[281]</a> +There were many Indians among them, who had done their +part to welcome us by firing their muskets, which they carried +in their hands. There seemed to be no end of shaking +hands; a thousand questions were asked, and the latest news, +on both sides, was eagerly sought for. Mr. Fontenelle, who +was to undertake a journey to the Rocky Mountains, was +already here, having performed the journey, on horseback, in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">317</a></span> +eleven days. As soon as we set foot on land, we proceeded, +accompanied by numbers of persons, to the Fort, to which +there is a straight road of about a quarter of a mile. We +put up at Mr. Laidlow's house, where we rested beside a +good fire.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo319b" id="illo319b"></a> +<img src="images/illo_320b.jpg" width="445" height="317" alt="Plan of Fort Pierre" /> +<p class="caption">Plan of Fort Pierre</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="opage">156</span> Fort Pièrre is one of the most considerable settlements +of the Fur Company on the Missouri, and forms a large +quadrangle, surrounded by high pickets,<a name="FNanchor_282" id="FNanchor_282" href="#Footnote_282" class="fnanchor">[282]</a> round which the +buildings stand in the manner already described. At the +north-east and south-west corners there are block-houses, +with embrasures, <i>f</i>, <i>f</i>, the fire of which commands the curtain; +the upper story is adapted for small arms, and the lower +for some cannon; each side of the quadrangle is 108 paces +in length; the front and back, <i>g</i>, <i>g</i>, each 114 paces; the inner +space eighty-seven paces in diameter. From the roof of the +block-houses, which is surrounded with a gallery, there is +a fine prospect over the prairie; and there is a flag-staff on +the roof, on which the colours are hoisted. The timber +for this fort was felled from forty to sixty miles up the river, +and floated down, because none fit for the purpose was to +be had in the neighbourhood. Mr. Laidlow's dwelling-house, +<i>d</i>, <i>d</i>, consisted of one story only, but was very conveniently +arranged, with large rooms, fire-places, and glass +windows. Next this house was a smaller building, <i>e</i>, for the +office and the residence of a clerk. The other clerks, the +interpreters for the different Indian nations, the <i>engagés</i> and +their families, altogether above 100 persons, lived in the +other buildings, <i>a</i>, <i>a</i>, <i>a</i>, <i>a</i>. Opposite, in <i>c</i>, <i>c</i>, were the stores, +at that time of the value of 80,000 dollars; and in other +rooms, the furs obtained from the Indians by barter. The +fort has two large doors, <i>g</i>, <i>g</i>, opposite each other, which +are shut in the evening; in <i>b</i> there was an enclosed piece of +garden ground. The situation of the settlement is agreeable; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">318</a></span> +the verdant prairie is very extensive, animated by herds of +cattle and horses; of the latter, Fort Pièrre possessed 150, +and of the former, thirty-six, which afforded a sufficient supply +of milk and fresh butter. Indians, on foot and on horseback, +were scattered all over the plain, and their singular +stages for the dead were in great numbers near the Fort; +immediately behind which, the leather tents of the Sioux +Indians, of the branches of the Tetons and the Yanktons, +stood, like a little village; among them the most distinguished +was the tent of the old interpreter, Dorion, a half Sioux, who +is mentioned by many travellers, and resides here with his +Indian family.<a name="FNanchor_283" id="FNanchor_283" href="#Footnote_283" class="fnanchor">[283]</a> This tent was large, and painted red; at +the top of the poles composing <span class="opage">157</span> it some scalps fluttered +in the wind. A great number of Indian dogs surrounded +this village, which did not differ from those we have already +described. Many of them were perfectly similar to the wolf +in form, size, and colour; they did not bark, but showed +their teeth when any one approached them.</p> + +<p>Near the fort we roused, in the thickets, a Virginian deer, +and saw wolves, in the middle of the day, prowling about +in the prairies; but we could not get near them, and fired +at them in vain with our rifles. Round an isolated tree in +the prairie I observed a circle of holes in the ground, in +which thick poles had stood. A number of buffalo skulls +were piled up there; and we were told that this was a medicine, +or charm, contrived by the Indians in order to entice +the herds of buffaloes. Everywhere in the plain we saw +circles of clods of earth, with a small circular ditch, where +the tents of many Indians had stood. This time we visited +the Indian tents uninvited; in that which we first entered there +were several tall, good-looking men assembled; the owner +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">321</a></span> +of the tent was a man of middle-size; his complexion very +light, and his features agreeable. His wives were dressed +very neatly, and were remarkably clean, especially the one +who appeared to be the principal; she wore a very elegant +leather dress, with stripes and borders of azure and white +beads, and polished metal buttons, and trimmed as usual +at the bottom with fringes, round the ends of which lead is +twisted, so that they tinkle at every motion. Her summer +robe, which was dressed smooth on both sides, was painted +red and black, on a yellowish white ground.<a name="FNanchor_284" id="FNanchor_284" href="#Footnote_284" class="fnanchor">[284]</a> She estimated +all these articles of dress very highly. Among the +effects piled up inside the tent, there were several interesting +things, such as cradles for the infants, viz., ornamented +boards, to which they are fastened with broad leathern straps, +one passing over the head, and the other over the middle +of the body. The workmanship of these leathern straps +was remarkably neat and curious; for instance, they were +entirely covered with a ground of milk-white porcupine quills, +on which figures of men, of a vermilion colour, and black +figures of dogs, and other similar patterns, were most tastefully +embroidered, and all of the most lively and well-chosen +colours. After we had conversed with the men, the pipe +circulated. The pipes of <span class="opage">158</span> the Dacotas are very beautiful,<a name="FNanchor_285" id="FNanchor_285" href="#Footnote_285" class="fnanchor">[285]</a> +in truth the most beautiful of all the North American +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">322</a></span> +Indians, which they make, in various forms, of the red indurated +clay, or stone.<a name="FNanchor_286" id="FNanchor_286" href="#Footnote_286" class="fnanchor">[286]</a></p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo323" id="illo323"></a> +<img src="images/illo_324a.jpg" width="556" height="271" alt="Dakota pipes" /> +<p class="caption">Dakota pipes</p> +</div> + +<p>The pipe has a long, flat, broad wooden tube, which is +ornamented with tufts of horse-hair, dyed red, yellow, or +green, and wound round with strings of porcupine quills of +divers colours. We looked at the women as they were at +work. For the shoes which they made they had softened +the leather in a tub of water, and stretched it in the breadth +and length with their teeth. In the middle of the hut was +a fire, over which the kettle was suspended by a wooden +hook; they now all use iron kettles, which they obtain from +the traders. Before most of the tents poles were placed, +leaning against each other, to which gaily-painted parchment +pouches were hung, and likewise the medicine-bags, +as they are called, in which the medicine, or charms, are +preserved, and which they open and consult only on solemn +or important occasions, such as campaigns and the like. +Here, too, were suspended the bow and quiver of arrows, +spears, and a round shield of thick leather, with a thin cover, +also of the same material. In another tent the women were +dressing the skins, either with a pumice-stone, or with the +before-described toothed instrument, which was here entirely +of iron. They then pulled the skin over a line, in all directions, +backwards and forwards, to make it pliable.</p> + +<p>The Sioux at Fort Pièrre were in general slender, sometimes +muscular-men, of middling stature, though some of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">325</a></span> +them were tall. They had oval faces, with prominent cheek-bones, +slightly-curved and well-formed noses; the inner angle +of the eye often drawn down. Their faces were painted red, +some with white rings round the eyes, and others with a +black point on the forehead, or a white circle with a black +point on each cheek. Some had strings of wampum in +their ears, but the greater part of them strings of white +or blue glass beads, and round their necks an elegant, and +frequently broad necklace, embroidered with white beads. +The neck and breast of several were marked with dark blue +tattooed stripes, or only with some small figures. These +Indians let their hair grow as long as possible, and plait it +behind in a long tail, which is ornamented with round pieces +of brass, and often hangs down to a great length, as among +the Chinese. Many of the Dacotas have three such tails, +one behind, and one at each side, for the Indians on the +Upper Missouri take much pride in long hair, whereas those +in the country lower <span class="opage">159</span> down the river, cut it short. Some +wore feathers in their hair, which are tokens of their exploits, +and are determined with great precision, according to the +merit of the wearer. The annexed figure of a Dacota shows +the manner in which the hair is divided into plaits.<a name="FNanchor_287" id="FNanchor_287" href="#Footnote_287" class="fnanchor">[287]</a></p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo323d" id="illo323d"></a> +<img src="images/illo_324d.jpg" width="272" height="334" alt="A Dakota, with plaited hair" /> +<p class="caption">A Dakota, with plaited hair</p> +</div> + +<p>The women wore their hair hanging down, naturally parted +on the middle of the head, and the parting painted red. +Their robes were coloured red and black. Their shoes are +neatly ornamented with various figures made of dyed porcupine +quills. I purchased several Dacota shoes; and, among +them, a pair, on the upper part of which the figure of a +bear's footstep was very neatly embroidered in bright colours.<a name="FNanchor_288" id="FNanchor_288" href="#Footnote_288" class="fnanchor">[288]</a> +The old women are generally very ugly and dirty, +as they are obliged to do very hard work.</p> + +<p>The Sioux, who live on Teton River, near Fort Pièrre, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">326</a></span> +are mostly of the branch of the Tetons; though there are +some Yanktons here. The former are divided into five +branches, and the latter into three.<a name="FNanchor_289" id="FNanchor_289" href="#Footnote_289" class="fnanchor">[289]</a> Like all the North +American Indians, they highly prize personal bravery, and, +therefore, constantly wear the marks of distinction which +they have received for their exploits; among these are, especially, +tufts of human hair attached to their arms and legs, +and feathers on their heads. He who, in the sight of the +adversaries, touches a slain or a living enemy, places a feather +horizontally in his hair for this exploit. They look upon +this as a very distinguished act, for many are often killed in +the attempt, before the object is attained. He who kills +an enemy by a blow with his fist, sticks a feather upright +in his hair. If the enemy is killed with a musket, a small +piece of wood is put in the hair, which is intended to represent +a ramrod. If a warrior is distinguished by many deeds, +he has a right to wear the great feather-cap, with ox-horns, +<span class="opage">160</span> which will be described in the sequel. This cap, composed +of eagle's feathers, which are fastened to a long strip +of red cloth, hanging down the back, is highly valued by +all the tribes on the Missouri, and they never part with it +except for a good horse. In a battle with the Pawnees, a +Sioux chief was killed, who wore such a cap; the conqueror +wore it as a trophy, and the Sioux recognized him by it in +the next battle; they made great efforts to kill him, and +succeeded in wounding him; but his horse was too fleet for +them, and he always escaped. Whoever first discovers the +enemy, and gives notice to his comrades of their approach, +is allowed to wear a small feather, which is stripped, except +towards the top.<a name="FNanchor_290" id="FNanchor_290" href="#Footnote_290" class="fnanchor">[290]</a> The scalps taken in battle are drawn +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">327</a></span> +over small hoops, and hung on the top of the tent-poles. +He who takes a prisoner wears a particular bracelet. These +Indians frequently possess from thirty to forty horses, and +are then reckoned to be rich. The tents are generally composed +of fourteen skins, each worth two dollars. We were +told, that wealthy people sometimes have eight or nine wives, +because they are able to support them. The Sioux do not +understand the treatment of diseases, but generally cure +wounds very well. Before their death, they usually determine +whether they will be buried, or be placed on a stage, +or in a tree.</p> + +<p>There was, among the Dacotas at this place, a young +Punca Indian, whose name was Ho-Ta-Ma, a handsome, +friendly man, who often amused himself with different games; +frequently he was seen with his comrades playing at what +was called the hoop game, at which sticks, covered with +leather, are thrown through a hoop in motion. In the daytime +the Indians were often seen galloping their horses, mostly +riding on their bare backs: sometimes they ran races, as +Mr. Bodmer has represented.<a name="FNanchor_291" id="FNanchor_291" href="#Footnote_291" class="fnanchor">[291]</a> In the evening they drive +their horses into the fort, as they are more safe from a hostile +attack, and horse-stealing is universally practised by the +Indians. The Indian families residing here are mostly related +to the white inhabitants of the fort, and, therefore, +constantly abide near them. The men lead a very indolent +life; for, besides the chase and war, their only occupations +are eating, smoking, sleeping, and making their weapons.</p> + +<p>During our stay here, on board the vessel, we were continually +besieged by Indians, who did not move from the +spot. Our time was, therefore, divided between these visitors +and our excursions into the prairie. On the 2nd of +June, 7,000 buffalo skins and other furs were put on board +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">328</a></span> +the Yellow Stone, with which it was to return to St. Louis. +We took this opportunity of sending letters to Europe: the +Assiniboin was assigned us for the continuation of the voyage. +The weather, at this time, was very unfavourable; +it rained at a temperature of 57°, and we were obliged to +have a fire in our cabin throughout the day. The Assiniboin +had already taken our baggage on board, but still lay +on the east bank, for an attempt to bring it over to our +side had failed, because the water was too low. In the afternoon, +when we visited Mr. Laidlow in the fort, six Sioux, +from the prairie, arrived on horseback, whose horde, of 200 +tents, was at the distance of a <span class="opage">161</span> day's journey. They +brought word that, two days' march from the fort, there +were numerous herds of buffaloes. Among these new comers +there were some elderly men; the plaits of their hair +were wound about with strips of skin, and their faces were +painted red; their bodies were fleshy, which was a proof +that they had suffered less from hunger than those in the +fort. They paid a visit first to the Assiniboin, and then to Mr. +Laidlow, who gave them food and tobacco. Mr. Lamont, +who had taken leave of us to-day, to go by the steam-boat +to St. Louis, embarked with some of the Company's clerks: +he was saluted with several cannon shot, and before evening +the Yellow Stone rapidly descended the river. While +Messrs. Mc Kenzie, Sandford, and Mitchell took up their +abode in the fort, we went on board the Assiniboin, from +which I made, on the 4th of June, an interesting excursion +into the prairie, in order to make myself acquainted with +the eastern bank.</p> + +<p>I left the vessel at half-past seven o'clock, the thermometer +being at 59°, and immediately ascended the steep eminences, +of which the lower were covered partly with bright green, +partly with dry, yellow grass, and the higher ones bare, with +the surface frequently blackened by fire. A path, trodden +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">329</a></span> +by the elks to the river, led me to the highest summit, from +which I had a pleasing prospect of the opposite bank and +the fort. It lay, clearly delineated, in the extensive verdant +plain, bounded by a singular chain of hills; and I again +distinguished, half way up the mountains, the black stripe +of the extensive stratum of coal. At noon it was warm +and I returned much heated, the thermometer being at 72°. +We received a visit from six or seven newly arrived Tetons, +whom the interpreter, Dorion, introduced to us. They were +particularly interested by the steam-boat, and, after they +had very minutely examined it, they were served with dinner +and pipes. The dinner chiefly consisted of bacon, which +the Indians do not like; <span class="opage">162</span> they, however, swallowed it, +in order that they might not appear uncourteous. Among +them was a Teton, named Wah-Menitu (the spirit, or god, +in the water), and who had such a voracious appetite, that +he devoured everything which the others had left; his face +was painted red; he had a remarkably projecting upper +lip, and an aquiline nose much bent. In his hair, which +hung in disorder about his head, with a plait coming over +one of his eyes or nose, the feather of a bird of prey was +placed horizontally; but observe that he had a right to +wear three. Mr. Bodmer, who desired to draw this man's +portrait, gave him some vermilion, on which he spat, and +rubbed his face with it, drawing parallel lines, in the red +colour, with a wooden stick.<a name="FNanchor_292" id="FNanchor_292" href="#Footnote_292" class="fnanchor">[292]</a> Wah-Menitu stayed on +board for the night; sung, talked, laughed, and joked without +ceasing; and seemed quite to enjoy himself. +</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo323c" id="illo323c"></a> +<img src="images/illo_324c.jpg" width="238" height="309" alt="A Teton" /> +<p class="caption">A Teton</p> +</div> + +<p><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330"></a></p> +<p class="chapter_start">CHAPTER XIII</p> + +<p class="center">VOYAGE FROM FORT PIERRE, ON THE TETON RIVER, TO FORT CLARKE, +NEAR THE VILLAGES OF THE MANDANS, FROM +JUNE 5TH TO JUNE 19TH</p> + +<p class="chapter_summ"> +Singular conformation of the Country—Traces of Fire—Chayenne +Island and River—Former abode of the Arikkaras—The Woodcutters +alarmed by the Indians—Cabris or Antelopes—Wolves and +other Animals—Little Chayenne River—Abundance of Game—Traces +of the Beaver, and of the breaking-up of the Ice—Moreau's +River—Grand or Wetarko River—Rampart River—The two +abandoned Villages of the Arikkaris—La Butte au Grès—La Butte +de Chayenne—Murder of Whites by the Arikkaras—Cannon-ball +River, with its Sand-stone Balls—Heart River—La Butte Carrée—Interview +with the Yanktonans—Fort Clarke, near the Mandan +Villages—The Mandans—The Crows.</p> + +<p>Our departure was delayed till ten o'clock on the 5th of +June, when three guns were fired, and we left the fort. The +Assiniboin was perfectly equipped for the voyage up the +river, and had sixty men on board. Mr. Mc Kenzie had +remained behind in the fort, but overtook us at noon with +Mr. Laidlow, who was desirous to accompany us a little way. +We had stopped at an island called, by the Canadians, Isle +au Village de Terre, because, on the other side of the channel +which divides it from the continent, there was formerly a +village of the Sioux. This island was covered with an almost +impenetrable thicket of narrow-leaved willows, which +was so dense and entangled, that one of our large dogs +caught an elk calf alive; we heard its moaning, but were not +able to find it. The next morning the thermometer was +at 66½°. We were obliged to unload some goods, and to +lighten our vessel, and our hunters brought us many interesting +objects, particularly several birds, among which was +the grey butcher-bird (<i>Lanius excubitoroides</i>), of which Richardson +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">331</a></span> +gives a representation, and which we had not met +with before. Though antelopes and a white wolf had approached +very closely to them, our hunters had not been +able to kill any large animals. The addition to our Flora +was very considerable. The hills all consisted of clammy, +greasy, sterile clay, which was burnt on the surface, and +covered with pieces of stone; and in many places we observed +on them round masses, which looked as if they had +been <span class="opage">164</span> melted and formed by fire. We stayed here till +noon on the 7th of June, when we again proceeded with an +agreeable temperature of 77½°. We ran aground several +times, and at last took in our goods, which we had deposited +on the left bank. This delay gave us time to make an excursion. +In company with Mr. Bodmer, I ascended the +slippery, very steep eminences along the river, the singular +shapes of which often appeared to form perfect craters. The +earth and stones everywhere indicated that they had undergone +change by fire. The earth was hard, friable, with many +crevices—the stones brown, blackish, and often looking +like scoriæ. This clay, when wet, is exceedingly clammy +and tough. The conical summits, most of which were perfectly +round and pyramidal, were most singularly formed. +At the top there were always very regular, parallel, horizontal +rings; the lower parts of the pyramid had perpendicular +furrows, or clefts, as the <a href="#illo323b">annexed woodcut</a> shows.<a name="FNanchor_293" id="FNanchor_293" href="#Footnote_293" class="fnanchor">[293]</a> These +conical hills have been evidently elevated by fire, so that +many crater-like hollows are seen between and near them. +In the furrows and clefts of these singular hills, many low +plants grow, and form regular net-like green stripes on the +bare black clay. These lines, intersecting each other, divide +the surface into regular beds. The lower part of these +eminences is generally covered with plants, particularly +grasses, while the upper is bare, or merely crossed with the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">332</a></span> +transverse stripes of verdure, and often they are entirely +bare. The climbing up these high, slippery ascents in the +heat of the day was rather fatiguing. When we came into +the clefts between the pyramids, we found the ground, in +general, slimy, and so adhesive that we were almost compelled +to leave our shoes behind. In such places, some old +red cedars, groups of the bird cherry, ashes, roses, &c., were +nourished by the moisture. Near the hills, and in the plain, +a cactus, with roundish, flat joints, grew in abundance. It +was not yet in blossom, and I cannot say whether it is the +plant taken, by Nuttall, for <i>Cactus opuntia</i>; probably it is +<i>Cactus ferox</i>. We found many traces of antelopes and of +herds of buffaloes. The latter had everywhere trodden +broad paths on their way to the river to drink. No beast +of the chase presented itself as an object for our rifles, and, +as the sun was going down, we set out on our return. On +the way we <span class="opage">165</span> found the horns of an elk, with twelve +antlers, and it was late before we reached the Assiniboin. +On the 8th of June, in the morning, we received a farewell +visit from Mr. Laidlow, and then saw Mr. Fontenelle's party, +consisting of sixty men and 185 horses, pass along over the +hills. They rode in our sight through the stream called, +by the Anglo-Americans, Breechcloth Creek, and, by the +Sioux, Tscheh-ke-na-ka-oah-ta-pah.<a name="FNanchor_294" id="FNanchor_294" href="#Footnote_294" class="fnanchor">[294]</a> This stream, as well +as most of the small rivers of the prairie, not excepting even +the Little Sioux River, have, in general, a brackish taste when +the water is low. Frequently taking soundings, we proceeded +but slowly in the shallow Missouri, and, early in the afternoon, +reached the place where the timber for building Fort +Pièrre had been felled. From this place it is fifteen miles +to the mouth of the Chayenne River. Finding some cords +of wood ready piled up, we took them on board. At sunset, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">333</a></span> +a high wind arose, so that we could not reach the mouth of +the Chayenne till about seven o'clock on the following morning, +after passing Chayenne Island. The country about +the mouth of this river is open, the chain of hills low, and +the banks covered with forests. At its mouth, and for some +way up on both sides of the Missouri, the Arikkaras formerly +dwelt, till they were driven further up by the Sioux, and, at +length, wholly retired from the banks of the Missouri.<a name="FNanchor_295" id="FNanchor_295" href="#Footnote_295" class="fnanchor">[295]</a> If +we follow the course of the Chayenne for a couple of hundred +miles up to the Black Hills, we come to the dwellings +of the Chayenne Indians, who are hostile to most of the +tribes of the Missouri. They are said to be tall, slender +men, with long, narrow faces, and differing in their language +from all the other tribes in the country. They formerly lived +at the mouth of Chayenne River. They affirm that they +came to the Missouri from the north-east.<a name="FNanchor_296" id="FNanchor_296" href="#Footnote_296" class="fnanchor">[296]</a> Dr. Morse +states their number at 3,250 souls.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo323b" id="illo323b"></a> +<img src="images/illo_324b.jpg" width="226" height="181" alt="Hill of baked clay" /> +<p class="caption">Hill of baked clay</p> +</div> + +<p>We made but slow progress to-day; and at two o'clock, +after our boats had taken soundings in all directions, we remained +fast aground, and had burnt all our fuel, so that +we had to send wood-cutters into the forests on the left bank. +In about half an hour the boats suddenly returned, bringing +word that hostile Indians had been seen in the forest, +and the wood-cutters had, therefore, refused to begin their +work. To give them courage, and to protect them during +their work, all hands on board, that could be spared, armed +themselves with rifles and muskets, and, to the number of +twenty-six persons, immediately went on shore. They formed +a line of outposts behind the trees, under whose protection +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">334</a></span> +the wood-cutters pursued their work. But they were not +disturbed, for the Indians had retired, or it had been a false +alarm. We lay to for the night on the west bank; a strong +wind had risen, with a pretty high temperature, which continued +till the following morning, the 10th of June. Early on +that day we reached an island, which appears to be that called, +by Lewis and Clarke, Caution Island, where a couple of +white wolves gazed at us without appearing to be at all afraid. +In the afternoon, we came to the mouth of Little Chayenne +River, on the east bank.<a name="FNanchor_297" id="FNanchor_297" href="#Footnote_297" class="fnanchor">[297]</a> Elks are very numerous in these +parts; on the following morning we saw a herd of, at least, +thirty of these large animals, as well as a great many wolves, +often three or four together, most of them white. The wood, +on the high bank, bore marks of <span class="opage">166</span> the breaking up of +the ice, the bark of the trees being peeled off eight or ten +feet above ground. At noon, Mr. Bodmer had shot a very +large male antelope, which we despatched some of the people +to bring on board; other hunters, who had gone out early +to the east bank, made signs that they had killed some game; +and the boat which we sent to them returned in the evening +with four large elks. In the thick forest, on the left bank, +were many traces of beavers, which are more numerous hereabouts +than in most of the other parts on the Missouri, because +the trappers (beaver catchers) did not venture to place +their traps in the territory of the hostile Arikkara Indians.</p> + +<p>Opposite to the mouth of Otter Creek,<a name="FNanchor_298" id="FNanchor_298" href="#Footnote_298" class="fnanchor">[298]</a> in the woods and +thickets of the west bank, behind which rose the green hills +of the prairie, there were many elks, which were frightened +by the noise of the steamer. In this forest we found an uninhabited +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">335</a></span> +loghouse, 180 steps from which runs a pretty river, +called Moreau's River, from a man of that name who passed +the night here with a Chayenne Indian woman, who had +been taken by the Arikkaras and escaped.<a name="FNanchor_299" id="FNanchor_299" href="#Footnote_299" class="fnanchor">[299]</a> She stabbed +him while he slept, and fled on his horse to her own nation. +This river is called the southern boundary of the territory +of the Arikkaras, though they often make excursions far +beyond it. We stopped at the above-mentioned loghouse +to cut wood, but it was found more convenient to pull down +part of the old building and take it away. On the morning +of the 12th, our cannon, muskets and rifles were loaded +with ball, because we were approaching the villages of the +hostile Arikkaras. We came to Grand River, called in Lewis +and Clarke's map Wetarko River. As we here touched the +bottom, we crossed to the east bank, and in half an hour +reached Rampart River,<a name="FNanchor_300" id="FNanchor_300" href="#Footnote_300" class="fnanchor">[300]</a> which issues from a narrow chain +of hills, called Les Ramparts; and soon afterwards an island +covered with willows, which, on the large special map of +Lewis and Clarke, has an Arikkara village, of which there +are now no traces.<a name="FNanchor_301" id="FNanchor_301" href="#Footnote_301" class="fnanchor">[301]</a> From the hills we had a fine prospect +over the bend of the river, on which the villages of the Arikkaras +are situated, and which we reached after a short run +of only two miles.</p> + +<p>The two villages of this tribe are on the west bank, very +near each other, but separated by a small stream. They +consist of a great number of clay huts, round at the top, with +a square entrance in front, and the whole surrounded with +a fence of stakes, which were much decayed, and in many +places thrown down. It is not quite a year since these villages +had been wholly abandoned, because their inhabitants, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">336</a></span> +who were extremely hostile to the Whites, killed so many +Americans, that they themselves foresaw that they would +be severely chastised by the United States, and therefore +preferred to emigrate. To this cause was added, a dry, +unproductive season, when the crops entirely failed; as well +as the absence of the herds of buffaloes, which hastened their +removal. It is said that these Indians now roam about on +the road from St. Louis to Santa Fé, and the late attacks +on the caravans are ascribed to them.<a name="FNanchor_302" id="FNanchor_302" href="#Footnote_302" class="fnanchor">[302]</a> Mr. Bodmer made +an accurate drawing of these deserted villages. The principal +chief of the Arikkaras, when they retired from <span class="opage">167</span> the +Missouri, was called Starapat<a name="FNanchor_303" id="FNanchor_303" href="#Footnote_303" class="fnanchor">[303]</a> (the little hawk, with bloody +claws), and generally La Main pleine de Sang, who will be +mentioned in the sequel.</p> + +<p>The Arikkaras, or, as they are called by the Mandans, +Rikkaras or Rees, Les Ris of the Canadians, are a branch +of the Pawnees, from whom they long since separated. Their +language, which is very easy for a German to pronounce, +is said to be a proof of this affinity. Their number is supposed +to be still 4000 souls, among whom 500 or 600 are +able to bear arms. The wife of La Chapelle, the interpreter +for that nation, was an Arikkara; she had a round full countenance, +and rather delicate small features, with a very light +yellowish complexion. It is affirmed that the women of this +nation are the handsomest on the Missouri. Manoel Lisa, +a well-known fur trader, had formerly built a trading house +in this country, of which nothing now remains; though the +place is still called Manoel Lisa's Fort.<a name="FNanchor_304" id="FNanchor_304" href="#Footnote_304" class="fnanchor">[304]</a> The prairie was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">337</a></span> +to-day more verdant and pleasant than yesterday. A mountain, +with some remarkable summits, called La Butte au +Grès, gave it some diversity. Here we suddenly saw, on +the bank, a man, who fired his musket three times, and at +first took him for an Indian; but another soon appeared, in +a small leathern boat, and we learnt that both were <i>engagés</i> +or travellers of the Company, who were dispatched from the +Upper Missouri, with letters for Mr. Mc Kenzie. We took +them in, and the little leathern boat was left lying on the +beach. In the distance, on the left, there was a chain of +mountains, with numerous summits, near which Cannon-ball +River flows; and, nearer to the Missouri, a chain of +flat hills, level at the top, with many clefts, called La Butte +de Chayenne.<a name="FNanchor_305" id="FNanchor_305" href="#Footnote_305" class="fnanchor">[305]</a> In this neighbourhood we saw a high tree +in a poplar wood, entirely covered with turkey buzzards, as +in Brazil; towards evening we passed Beaver Creek (Rivière +au Castor), the Warananno<a name="FNanchor_306" id="FNanchor_306" href="#Footnote_306" class="fnanchor">[306]</a> of Lewis and Clarke.<a name="FNanchor_307" id="FNanchor_307" href="#Footnote_307" class="fnanchor">[307]</a></p> + +<p>On the 14th, in the morning, the sky was clouded, and +the wind very bleak. On the west bank of the river a ravine +was shown us, where, seven or eight years before, the Arikkaras +had shot seven white men, who were towing a loaded +Mackinaw boat up the river.</p> + +<p>After we had passed an island, which is not marked in +Lewis and Clarke's map, we observed two isolated table +mountains in the prairie, on the west bank, which are not +far from Cannon-ball River; and we then came to an aperture +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">338</a></span> +in the chain of hills, from which this river, which +was very high, issues.<a name="FNanchor_308" id="FNanchor_308" href="#Footnote_308" class="fnanchor">[308]</a> On the north side of the mouth, +there was a steep, yellow clay wall; and on the southern, +a flat, covered with poplars and willows. This +river has its name from the singular regular sand-stone balls +which are found in its banks, and in those of the Missouri +in its vicinity. They are of various sizes, from that of a +musket ball to that of a large bomb, and lie irregularly on +the bank, or in the strata, from which they often project +to half their thickness <span class="opage">168</span> when the river has washed away +the earth; they then fall down, and are found in great numbers +on the bank. Such sand-stone balls are met with in +many places on the Upper Missouri; and former travellers +have spoken of them. Many of them are rather elliptical, +others are more flattened, and others flat on one side, and +rather convex on the other. Of the perfectly spherical balls, +I observed some two feet in diameter. On the steep bank +of the Missouri we saw many such balls projecting from the +narrow strata of the yellow sand-stone. A mile above the +mouth of the Cannon-ball River, I saw no more of them. +The Missouri had risen considerably; and, during the night, +our people were obliged to keep off, with long poles, the +trunks of trees that came floating down the river, without +being able to prevent our receiving shocks which made the +whole vessel tremble.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo347" id="illo347"></a> +<img src="images/illo_348a.jpg" width="515" height="245" alt="Antlers of deer" /> +<p class="caption">Antlers of deer</p> +</div> + +<p>On the 15th, the river had risen nine inches, and brought +down much wood and foam, which was expected, for it is +reckoned that, in the month of June, the Missouri is twice +much swollen from the melting of the snow in the Rocky +Mountains. The weather was serene and warm. As early +as half-past five o'clock we saw, on the eastern bank, a chain +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">339</a></span> +of table hills, quite flat at the top, which extends to a pretty +considerable distance. The river turns, to the westward, +towards this interesting chain, which is called the Mountains +of the Old Mandan Village, because, at the place where it +is traversed by the river, such a village is said to have formerly +stood. At nine o'clock we stopped on the western +bank to repair the damage the vessel had sustained, which +gave our hunters time to make an excursion a few miles into +the prairie. Towards eleven o'clock the bell gave the signal +for departure. The current of the river was now very +strong, so that we could proceed but slowly. We came to +the site of the old Mandan village, which was situated, at +the foot of the hills, in a fine meadow near the river; some +poles, that were still standing, were the only remains of it; +there was no village here at the time of Lewis and Clarke's +journey. Dry, yellow grass now covered the place which +had once been the scene of busy Indian life: only a colony +of swallows, that had built their nests in the neighbouring +hills, gave some animation to the scene. We were now in +the territory of the Indian tribe of the Mandans.<a name="FNanchor_309" id="FNanchor_309" href="#Footnote_309" class="fnanchor">[309]</a> A little +further up, we saw four of our hunters sitting on the level +ground, which was covered with poplars; one of them, Ortubize, +the Sioux interpreter, had killed a Virginian deer, +and wounded a large elk, which had escaped; soon after, +Messrs. Bodmer and Harvey<a name="FNanchor_310" id="FNanchor_310" href="#Footnote_310" class="fnanchor">[310]</a> arrived quite fatigued and +heated; they had gone a great way, and very nearly missed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">340</a></span> +the steamer. Mr. Harvey had killed a black-tailed or mule +deer.<a name="FNanchor_311" id="FNanchor_311" href="#Footnote_311" class="fnanchor">[311]</a> They had met with four of these animals, and +brought the <span class="opage">169</span> head and skin, with some of the flesh of +the one killed. At the next place, where we reached the +hills, an isolated summit rose above the rest, which is called +Bald Eagle Head; these hills were beautifully illumined with +the setting sun; we saw the white wolves trotting about on +them, and some swans were swimming in the river. On +the eastern bank we saw the ruins of an old trading house, +and many traces of beavers. Near the mouth of Apple Creek +we took in wood, and saw, on the left hand, the continuation +of a chain of hills, of very singular forms.<a name="FNanchor_312" id="FNanchor_312" href="#Footnote_312" class="fnanchor">[312]</a> The night +swallows flew over the river at an early hour, and a large +beaver appeared among the willows, which we shot at without +success. The 16th of June set in with a high northeast +wind, accompanied with rain. We soon reached the +mouth of Heart River,<a name="FNanchor_313" id="FNanchor_313" href="#Footnote_313" class="fnanchor">[313]</a> but the wind drove our vessel towards +the bank, and we were obliged to lay to at six o'clock; +and it was not till the evening that the wind so far abated +as to allow us to continue our voyage. The next morning, +early, we came in sight of the Butte Carrée.<a name="FNanchor_314" id="FNanchor_314" href="#Footnote_314" class="fnanchor">[314]</a> In the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">341</a></span> +willow thickets, on the bank, a very fine buffalo bull stood +within half musket-shot; our people fired, but to no purpose. +Soon after, we saw, in the prairie, two more very +large animals of this species; and, in the course of the day, +perceived a great number of them. The river brought down +several dead buffalo cows. A little before the mouth of +Lewis and Clarke's Hunting Creek,<a name="FNanchor_315" id="FNanchor_315" href="#Footnote_315" class="fnanchor">[315]</a> the Missouri is half +a mile broad, but soon becomes narrower. At eight o'clock +we reached the place where a Mandan village had formerly +stood.<a name="FNanchor_316" id="FNanchor_316" href="#Footnote_316" class="fnanchor">[316]</a> The Sioux, from St. Peter's River, surprised it +about forty years ago, killed most of the inhabitants, and +destroyed the huts. The prairie hills formed, in this part, +long, flat, naked ridges, perfectly resembling the walls of +a fortress. The oaks and ashes, at the edge of the thickets, +were but just <span class="opage">170</span> beginning to unfold their buds. It is +probable, however, that they had suffered by a fire in the +prairie. After we had passed, alternately, prairies, with +their hills, steep clay banks, and stripes of forest, we prosecuted +our voyage till dusk, and lay to near a large willow +thicket, on the eastern bank, when some musket shots were +suddenly heard, the flashes of which were evidently seen. +Mr. Mc Kenzie immediately supposed that it was an Indian +war party, which people, in general, avoid, as they do not +much trust them. We consulted what was to be done. +Many shots followed, which made a very loud report, it +being the custom of the Indians to use a great deal of powder; +and we soon perceived, among the dark thickets, the +figures of the Indians in their white buffalo robes. As +nobody knew the intentions of these people, we looked forward +to the meeting with some anxiety. The Indians broke +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">342</a></span> +silence first, calling out that they were come with peaceable +intentions, and wished to be taken on board. Ortubize, +the interpreter, telling us that they were Sioux, of the branch +of the Yanktonans, we conferred some time with them, while +a kind of bridge of planks was thrown across to the shore. +Twenty-three, for the most part tall men, came on board, +and were made to sit down, in a row, on one side of the +large cabin. They came from a camp of the Yanktonans, +consisting of 300 tents, which was in the neighbourhood; +they generally lived on the banks of the Chayenne, which +falls into the Red River, near the Devil's Lake, and the +sources of St. Peter's River.<a name="FNanchor_317" id="FNanchor_317" href="#Footnote_317" class="fnanchor">[317]</a> They had been hunting in +the neighbourhood, and shot some buffaloes. The Yanktonans +are represented as the most perfidious and dangerous +of all the Sioux, and are stated frequently to have killed +white men, especially Englishmen, in these parts. They +generally come to the Missouri in the winter, but at this +season it was a mere chance that we met with them. They +were mostly robust, slender, well-shaped men, with long +dishevelled hair, in which some wore feathers as indications +of their exploits. The upper parts of their bodies were generally +naked, merely covered with the buffalo's skin, or +blanket; but their whole dress was plain and indifferent, +as they only came out for a hunting excursion. The chief +of these people was Tatanka-Kta (the dead buffalo), a man +of middling stature, with a very dark brown, expressive +countenance, and his hair bound together over the forehead +in a thick knot; he was dressed in a uniform of red cloth, +with blue facings and collar, and ornamented with silver +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">343</a></span> +trimmings, such as the traders are used to give, or to sell +to such chiefs as they desire to distinguish. In his hand he +had the wing of an eagle for a fan.</p> + +<p>After we had smoked with these Yanktonans all round, +the chief opened, before Mr. Mc Kenzie, a bag, with old +pemmican (dry meat powdered), by way of present, and +then rose to make a speech. After shaking hands, successively, +with all persons present, he said, with much gesticulation, +and in short sentences, between which he appeared +to be reflecting, "that the whole body of the 300 huts was +under the principal chief, Jawitschahka; that his people +had been formerly on good terms with the Mandans, but +had been at variance with them for about a year, on account +of the murder of a Sioux, and now wished to make peace +again; that with this view <span class="opage">171</span> they had sent three of their +people to the Mandan villages, but did not know the result; +and, therefore, were very desirous of the mediation of Mr. +Mc Kenzie; that they happened to be near the river, when +they perceived their father's ship, and were come to visit +him; that to be able to supply the Fur Company with more +beaver skins, they wished to have liberty to hunt on the +Missouri, and on that account peace with the Mandans was +of importance to them. They hoped, therefore, that Mr. +Mc Kenzie would intercede for them, and allow them to accompany +him." The answer was—"That if, like the other +tribes of their nation, who lived constantly on the Missouri, +they would, in future, conduct themselves properly, and +never kill white men, he would attempt all that lay in his +power; but he bade them consider what would be the best +for them, whether to come on board with him, or to go alone +by land to the Mandan villages, as he did not know how +they might be received by the young men of the Mandan +tribe." These Indians showed us a beautiful skin of a young, +white, female buffalo, which they intended as a present for +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">344</a></span> +the Mandans, by whom such skins are highly valued. They +had already sent them a white buffalo calf. Our visitors +were afterwards taken into another apartment, where refreshments +were set before them, and they were lodged for +the night. The next morning, however, they went ashore, +and proceeded to Fort Clarke on foot. During the night +there was a violent tempest, and the next morning, the 18th +June, was gloomy, damp, and windy. We left at an early +hour the place of the meeting, from which it was twelve +miles to Fort Clarke. The Yanktonans, keeping in sight +of us, walked through the prairie, where they frightened +a herd of ten or twelve wolves, which had long amused us +by their gambols. At half-past seven we passed a roundish +island covered with willows, and reached then the wood on +the western bank, in which the winter dwellings of part +of the Mandan Indians are situated; and saw, at a distance, +the largest village of this tribe, Mih-Tutta-Hang-Kush, +in the vicinity of which the whole prairie was covered with +riders and pedestrians.<a name="FNanchor_318" id="FNanchor_318" href="#Footnote_318" class="fnanchor">[318]</a> As we drew nearer the huts of +that village, Fort Clarke, lying before it, relieved by the +back-ground of the blue prairie hills, came in sight, with +the gay American banner waving from the flagstaff.<a name="FNanchor_319" id="FNanchor_319" href="#Footnote_319" class="fnanchor">[319]</a> On +a tongue of land on the left bank were four white men +on horseback; Indians, in their buffalo robes, sat in groups +upon the bank, and the discharge of cannon and musketry +commenced to welcome us. The Assiniboin soon lay to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">345</a></span> +before the fort, against the gently sloping shore, where above +600 Indians were waiting for us. Close to the beach, the +chiefs and most distinguished warriors of the Mandan nation +stood in front of the assembly of red men, among whom the +most eminent were Charata-Numakschi (the wolf chief), +Mato-Topé (the four bears),<a name="FNanchor_320" id="FNanchor_320" href="#Footnote_320" class="fnanchor">[320]</a> Dipauch (the broken arm), +Berock-Itainu (the ox neck), Pehriska-Ruhpa (the two +ravens), and some others. They were all dressed in their +finest clothes, to do us honour. As soon as the vessel was +moored, they came on board, and, after having given us +their hands, sat down in the stern cabin. The pipe went +round, and the conversation began with the Mandans, by +the assistance of Mr. Kipp, clerk to the American Fur Company, +and director of <span class="opage">172</span> the trading post at Fort +Clarke;<a name="FNanchor_321" id="FNanchor_321" href="#Footnote_321" class="fnanchor">[321]</a> and with the Manitaries, by the help of the old +interpreter, Charbonneau, who had lived thirty-seven years +in the villages of the latter people, near this place.<a name="FNanchor_322" id="FNanchor_322" href="#Footnote_322" class="fnanchor">[322]</a> Mr. +Mc Kenzie caused the proposal of the Yanktonans to be +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">346</a></span> +submitted to these Indians, but the latter, after long deliberation, +replied that they could not possibly accept these +proposals of peace, because the Yanktonans were much too +treacherous; that, however, no harm should now be done +to them, and that they might depart unmolested.</p> + +<p>Most of the Indians in our cabin were stout, tall men, +except Mato-Topé, who was of middle stature, and rather +slim. I shall have occasion to say more, in the sequel, of +this brave and distinguished chief. They had their weapons, +such as muskets, bows, war clubs, and battle axes, in their +hands, and also fans of eagles' wings, and wore buffalo robes, +which, on the inner side, are painted reddish-brown, or white, +and adorned with coloured figures. They let their hair hang +down at length, considering it as an ornament. Sometimes +it is divided into plaits, and daubed with a reddish clay. +However, I refrain, at present, from describing these Indians, +of whom I shall have occasion to speak more at length. The +Mandans, Manitaries, and Crows, of which tribe there were +now seventy tents about the fort, differ very little from each +other in their appearance and dress; they are, however, +taller than the Indians on the Missouri whom we had before +seen, and their features more regular than those of the +Sioux.</p> + +<p>We soon went on shore, and examined the numerous assemblage +of brown Indian figures, of whom the women and +children, in numerous groups, were sitting on the ground; +the men, some on horseback, some on foot, were collected +around, and making their observations on the white strangers. +Here we saw remarkably tall and handsome men, and fine +dresses, for they had all done their utmost to adorn themselves. +The haughty Crows<a name="FNanchor_323" id="FNanchor_323" href="#Footnote_323" class="fnanchor">[323]</a> rode on beautiful panther +skins, with red cloth under them, and, as they never wear +spurs, had a whip of elk's horn in their hand. These +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">349</a></span> +mounted warriors, with their diversely painted faces, feathers +in their long hair, bow and arrows slung across their backs, +and with a musket or spear in their hands, the latter of +which is merely for show, were a novel and highly interesting +scene. This remarkable assembly gazed at the strangers +with curiosity, and we conversed with them by signs, +but soon proceeded to the fort, which is built on a smaller +scale, on a plan similar to that of all the other trading posts +or forts of the Company. It is about the size of the Sioux +Agency, but more rudely constructed. Immediately behind +the fort there were, in the prairies, seventy leather tents +of the Crows, which we immediately visited.<a name="FNanchor_324" id="FNanchor_324" href="#Footnote_324" class="fnanchor">[324]</a></p> + +<p>The tents of the Crows are exactly like those of the Sioux, +and are set up without any regular order. On the poles, +instead of scalps, there were small pieces of coloured cloth, +chiefly red, floating like streamers in the wind. We were +struck with the number of wolf-like dogs of all colours, of +which there were certainly from 500 to 600 running about. +They all fell upon the strangers, and it was not without +difficulty that we kept them off by throwing stones, in which +<span class="opage">173</span> some old Indian women assisted us. We then proceeded +about 300 paces in a north-west direction from the +fort, up the Missouri, to the principal village of the Mandans, +Mih-Tutta-Hang-Kush.<a name="FNanchor_325" id="FNanchor_325" href="#Footnote_325" class="fnanchor">[325]</a> This village consisted of about +sixty large hemispherical clay huts, and was surrounded +with a fence of stakes, at the four corners of which conical +mounds were thrown up, covered with a facing of wicker-work, +and embrasures, which serve for defence, and command +the river and the plain. We were told that these +cones or block-houses were not erected by the Indians themselves, +but by the Whites. Three miles further up the river, +and on the same bank, is the second village of the Mandans, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">350</a></span> +called Ruhptare, consisting of about thirty-eight clay +huts, which we could not then visit for want of time. In +the immediate vicinity of the principal village, the stages, +on which these Indians, like the Sioux, place their dead, lay +scattered.<a name="FNanchor_326" id="FNanchor_326" href="#Footnote_326" class="fnanchor">[326]</a></p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo347b" id="illo347b"></a> +<img src="images/illo_348b.jpg" width="479" height="402" alt="Sioux burial stages" /> +<p class="caption">Sioux burial stages</p> +</div> + +<p>Around them were several high poles, with skins and other +things hanging on them, as offerings to the lord of life, Omahank-Numakshi, +or to the first man, Numank-Machana.<a name="FNanchor_327" id="FNanchor_327" href="#Footnote_327" class="fnanchor">[327]</a> +The three villages of the Manitaries (<i>gros ventre</i>) nation, +whose language is totally different from that of the Mandans, +are situated about fifteen miles higher up on the same +side of the river, and most of their inhabitants had come +on this day to the Mandan villages.<a name="FNanchor_328" id="FNanchor_328" href="#Footnote_328" class="fnanchor">[328]</a></p> + +<p>The view of the prairie around Fort Clarke was at this +time highly interesting. A great number of horses were +grazing all round; Indians of both sexes and all ages were +in motion; we were, every moment, stopped by them, obliged +to shake hands, and let them examine us on all sides. This +was sometimes very troublesome. Thus, for example, a +young warrior took hold of my pocket compass which I wore +suspended by a ribbon, and attempted to take it by force, +to hang as an ornament round his neck. I refused his request, +but the more I insisted in my refusal, the more importunate +he became. He offered me a handsome horse +for my compass, <span class="opage">174</span> and then all his handsome clothes, +and arms into the bargain, and as I still refused, he became +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">351</a></span> +angry, and it was only by the assistance of old Charbonneau, +that I escaped a disagreeable and, perhaps, violent scene. +On returning to the steamer we there found a numerous +company of Indians, some smoking, others wrapped in their +blankets, and asleep on the floor.</p> + +<p>Mr. Sandford, the sub-agent of the Mandans, Manitaries, +and Crows, had a conference with Eripuass (the rotten belly), +the distinguished chief of the latter. We accompanied Mr. +Sandford to this meeting. Eripuass, a fine tall man, with a +pleasing countenance, had much influence over his people; +being in mourning he came to the fort in his worst dress, +his hair cut close, and daubed with clay. Charbonneau +acted as interpreter in the Manitari language. Mr. Sandford +recommended to the chief continued good treatment of the +white people who should come to his territory, hung a medal +round his neck, and, in the name of the government, made +him a considerable present of cloth, powder, ball, tobacco, +&c., which this haughty man received without any sign +of gratitude; on the contrary, these people consider such +presents as a tribute due to them, and a proof of weakness. +The Crows, in particular, as the proudest of the Indians, +are said to despise the Whites. They do not, however, +kill them, but often plunder them. At nightfall we visited +Eripuass in his tent. The whole camp of the Crows was +now filled with horses, some with their foals, all which had +been driven in, to prevent their being stolen. This nation, +consisting of 400 tents, is said to possess between 9,000 and +10,000 horses, some of which are very fine. The dogs were +partly taken into the tents, and we were less exposed to +their attacks than in the day time, yet still we had to fight +our way through them. The interior of the tent itself had +a striking effect. A small fire in the centre gave sufficient +light; the chief sat opposite the entrance, and round him +many fine tall men, placed according to their rank, all with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">352</a></span> +no other covering than a breech-cloth. Places were assigned +to us on buffalo hides near the chief, who then lighted his +Sioux pipe, which had a long flat tube, ornamented with +bright yellow nails, made each of us take a few puffs, holding +the pipe in his hand, and then passed it round to the +left hand. After Charbonneau had continued the conversation +for some time in the Manitari language, we suddenly +rose and retired, according to the Indian customs.</p> + +<p>The Crows are called by the Mandans, Hahderuka, by +the Manitaries, Haideroka; they themselves call their own +tribe Apsaruka. The territory in which they move about +is bounded, to the north or north-west, by the Yellow Stone +River, and extends round Bighorn River, towards the +sources of Chayenne River and the Rocky Mountains. These +Indians are a wandering tribe of hunters, who neither dwell +in fixed villages, like the Mandans, Manitaries, and Arikkaras, +nor make any plantations except of tobacco, which, +however, are very small. About six years ago, the Crows +are said to have had only 1,000 warriors, at present they +are reckoned at 1,200. They roam about with their leather +tents, hunt the buffalo, and other wild animals, and have +many horses and dogs, which, however, they never use for +food. They are said to possess more <span class="opage">175</span> horses than any +other tribe of the Missouri, and to send them in the winter +to Wind River, to feed on a certain shrub, which soon fattens +them. The Crow women are very skilful in various +kinds of work, and their shirts and dresses of bighorn leather, +embroidered and ornamented with dyed porcupine quills, +are particularly handsome, as well as their buffalo robes, +which are painted and embroidered in the same manner. I +shall speak, in the sequel, of their large caps of eagles' +feathers, and of their shields, which are ornamented with +feathers and paintings,<a name="FNanchor_329" id="FNanchor_329" href="#Footnote_329" class="fnanchor">[329]</a> and other articles. The men make +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">353</a></span> +their weapons very well, and with much taste, especially +their large bows, covered with the horn of the elk or bighorn, +and often with the skin of the rattle-snake. I have represented +a beautiful quiver of this nation, adorned with rosettes +of porcupine quills.<a name="FNanchor_330" id="FNanchor_330" href="#Footnote_330" class="fnanchor">[330]</a> In stature and dress these Indians +correspond, on the whole, with the Manitaries, both having +been originally one and the same people, as the affinity of +their languages proves. Long hair is considered as a great +beauty, and they take great pains with it. The hair of +one of their chiefs, called Long Hair, was ten feet long, some +feet of which trailed on the ground when he stood upright.<a name="FNanchor_331" id="FNanchor_331" href="#Footnote_331" class="fnanchor">[331]</a> +The enemies of the Crows are the Chayennes, the Blackfeet, +and the Sioux; their allies are the Mandans and +Manitaries. With the latter they bartered their good horses +for European goods, but the American Fur Company has +now established a separate trading post for them on the +Yellow Stone River, which is called Fort Cass.<a name="FNanchor_332" id="FNanchor_332" href="#Footnote_332" class="fnanchor">[332]</a></p> + +<p>Though the Crows look down with contempt upon the +Whites, they treat them very hospitably in their tents, yet +their pride is singularly contrasted with a great propensity +to stealing and begging, which makes them very troublesome. +They are said to have many more superstitious notions than +the Mandans, Manitaries, and Arikkaras; for instance, they +never smoke a pipe when a pair of shoes is hung up in their +tent; when the pipe circulates none ever takes more than +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">354</a></span> +three puffs, and then passes it in a certain manner to his +left-hand neighbour. They are skilful horsemen, and, in +their attacks on horseback, are said to throw themselves off +on one side, as is done by many Asiatic tribes. They have +many bardaches,<a name="FNanchor_333" id="FNanchor_333" href="#Footnote_333" class="fnanchor">[333]</a> or hermaphrodites, among them, and +exceed all the other tribes in unnatural practices.</p> + +<p>As among all the Missouri Indians, the Crows are divided +into different bands or unions. A certain price is paid for +admission into these unions and their dances, of which each +has one peculiar to itself, like the other Missouri tribes; on +which occasion the women are given up to the will of the +seller in the same manner, as will be more particularly mentioned +when speaking of the other tribes. Of the female +sex, it is said of the Crows, that they, with the women of +the Arikkaras, are the most dissolute of all the tribes of the +Missouri.</p> + +<p>This people have a superstitious fear of a white buffalo +cow; when a Crow meets one he addresses the sun in the +following words: "I will give her (<i>i.e.</i> the cow) to you." +He then <span class="opage">176</span> endeavours to kill the animal, but leaves it untouched, +and then says to the sun, "Take her; she is yours." +They never use the skin of these white buffalo cows, as the +Mandans do, of which I shall, by-and-by, speak at length. +The most sacred objects in the eyes of this people are the +sun, the moon, and tobacco, that is, the leaves of the genuine +tobacco (<i>Nicotiana</i>); and, therefore, all their children +wear a small portion of this herb, well wrapped up, round +their necks, by way of amulet.</p> + +<p>They do not bury their dead in the ground, but, like the +Mandans, Manitaries, Sioux, and Assiniboins, lay them on +stages in the prairie.<a name="FNanchor_334" id="FNanchor_334" href="#Footnote_334" class="fnanchor">[334]</a> A Crow woman, who was on the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">355</a></span> +point of death, was very apprehensive and uneasy in her +mind lest she should be interred in the ground, according +to the custom of the Whites. This was her sole concern, +though she did not otherwise express any fear of death; as +soon as she was made easy on this point, she died perfectly +satisfied. +</p> + +<p><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356"></a></p> +<p class="chapter_start">CHAPTER XIV</p> + +<p class="center">VOYAGE FROM FORT CLARKE TO FORT UNION, NEAR THE MOUTH OF +THE YELLOW STONE RIVER, FROM THE 19TH TO +THE 24TH JUNE</p> + +<p class="chapter_summ"> +Ruhptare, the second Village of the Mandans—The Villages of the +Manitaries on the Knife River—Interview with the Manitaries—Winter +Villages of that Nation—Remarkable Hills—Mountain +L'Ours qui Danse—Little Missouri River—Territory of the Assiniboins—Kiasax +and Matsokui, two Blackfeet Indians—The Grizzly +Bear—Interview with the Assiniboins—The Bighorn—Muddy +River, Lewis and Clarke's White Earth River—Yellow Stone River—Fort +Union.</p> + +<p>On the 19th June, the Assiniboin left Fort Clarke, with +a high, cold wind, and clouded sky; the thermometer, at +nine in the morning, being at 60½°. The chiefs, and other +Indians, had come on board, and also Kiasax, a Blackfoot +Indian, who wished to return to his own people. The country, +on the south bank, appeared to us to have some resemblance +with many parts on the banks of the Rhine; but, +on the right bank, there soon appeared those singular +hills, resembling fortifications. At ten o'clock, we came to +Ruhptare, the second Mandan village, on the south bank, +which is situated in a plain a little higher than the river. All +the inhabitants, in their buffalo dresses, were collected on +the bank, and some had taken their station on the tops of +their huts to have a better view: the whole prairie was covered +with people, Indians on horseback, and horses grazing. +In the low willow thickets on the bank, the brown, naked +children were running about; all the men had fans of eagles' +feathers in their hands. The village was surrounded with +a fence of palisades; and, with its spherical clay huts, looked +like a New Zealand Hippah. Here, too, there were high +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">357</a></span> +poles near the village, on which skins and other things were +hung, as offerings to the lord of life, or the sun, and numerous +stages for the dead were scattered about the prairie. As +we proceeded, the whole population accompanied us along +the steep bank on foot and on horseback, followed by many +of their large wolf dogs. The <span class="opage">178</span> country was pretty open +and flat. We saw before us the fine broad mirror of the +river, and, at a distance on the southern bank, the red mass +of the clay huts of the lower village of the Manitaries, which +we reached in half an hour. The Missouri is joined by the +Knife River, on which the three villages of the Manitaries +are built. The largest, which is the furthest from the Missouri, +is called Eláh-Sá (the village of the great willows); +the middle one, Awatichay (the little village), where Charbonneau, +the interpreter, lives; and the third, Awacháwi +(le village des souliers), which is the smallest, consisting of +only eighteen huts, situated at the mouth of Knife River.<a name="FNanchor_335" id="FNanchor_335" href="#Footnote_335" class="fnanchor">[335]</a> +While we were examining this interesting country, and receiving +from Charbonneau many particulars respecting these +villages, in which he had lived for more than thirty years, +our Indian companions were sitting or lying about the fire, +smoking their pipes. Among them was Dipauch (the broken +arm), a tall, stout man, with whom I frequently came in +contact in the following winter. His long, thick hair was +bound together in a large queue, and on his breast he wore +a silver gorget, which he had received as a present from the +Whites. The expression of his countenance was agreeable, +whereas that of Berock Itainú (bull's neck), a similar colossus, +the inseparable companion of the former, was gloomy +and less pleasing. Both were six feet high, and Berock Itainú +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">358</a></span> +wore his hair tied together in a knot upon his head. Mato-Topé +(the four bears), the eminent Mandan chief, whom +I have before mentioned, and Cháratá-Numákshi (the chief +of the wolves), were also present; and I purchased from +the former his painted buffalo dress, which had hitherto +been his medicine (<i>i.e.</i> charm), which he highly valued as +a <i>souvenir</i> of his brother, who had been shot by the enemy. +Our cookery pleased them much; they were fond of coffee, +and sugar was a great delicacy; but they cannot make maple +sugar like the Indians in the woody country, because +the trees are neither numerous nor strong enough to produce +this article.</p> + +<p>When we turned our eyes from the dark brown inhabitants +to the surrounding scenery, we saw, on the banks, grey +hills, with level prairies and willow thickets next the river, +and the country, in general, was rather flat than mountainous. +The hills were partly depressed at the top—a feature +which is almost peculiar to these hills. At noon the +sun burst forth, and the thermometer was at 76°, with a high +wind. The south bank of the river was now animated by +a crowd of Indians, both on foot and on horseback; they +were the Manitaries, who had flocked from their three villages +to see the steamer and to welcome us. The appearance +of this vessel of the Company, which comes up, once +in two years, to the Yellow Stone River, is an event of the +greatest importance to the Indians; they then come from +considerable distances to see this hissing machine, which +they look upon as one of the most wonderful medicines +(charms) of the white men. The sight of the red-brown +crowd collected on the river side, for even their buffalo skins +were mostly of this colour, was, in the highest degree, striking. +We already saw above a hundred of them, with many +dogs, some of which drew sledges, and others, wooden boards +<span class="opage">179</span> fastened to their backs, and the ends trailing on the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">359</a></span> +ground, to which the baggage was attached with leather +straps. The Indians hastened through the willow thicket, +and, altogether, stood opposite to us on the steep, low, sandy +bank, where they were so crowded that we, every moment, +expected to see the sand give way.</p> + +<p>The most attractive sight which we had yet met with upon +this voyage, now presented itself to our view. The steamboat +lay to close to the willow thicket, and we saw, immediately +before us, the numerous, motley, gaily painted, and variously +ornamented crowd of the most elegant Indians on the whole +course of the Missouri. The handsomest and most robust +persons, of both sexes and all ages, in highly original, graceful, +and characteristic costumes, appeared, thronged together, +to our astonished eye; and there was, all at once, so much +to see and to observe, that we anxiously profited by every +moment to catch only the main features of this unique picture. +The Manitaries are, in fact, the tallest and best formed +Indians on the Missouri, and, in this respect, as well as in +the elegance of their costume, the Crows alone approach +them, whom they, perhaps, even surpass in the latter particular. +Their faces were, in general, painted red, in which +the North Americans agree with the Brazilians, and many +other South Americans; their long hair hung in broad flat +braids down their backs; on the side of each eye, they had +hanging, from the forehead, a string of white and blue beads, +alternating with tooth shells, and their heads were adorned +with feathers, stuck in the hair.</p> + +<p>The expression of their remarkable countenances, as they +gazed at us, was very various; in some, it was cold and disdainful; +in others, intense curiosity; in others, again, good-nature +and simplicity. The upper parts of their bodies were, +in general, naked, and the fine brown skin of their arms +adorned with broad, bright bracelets of a white metal. In +their hands they carried their musket, bow and battle-axe; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">360</a></span> +their quivers, of otter skin, elegantly decorated, were slung +over their backs; their leggins were trimmed with tufts of +the hair of the enemies whom they had killed, with dyed +horse-hair of different colours, and with a profusion of leather +fringe, and beautifully embroidered with stripes of dyed porcupine +quills, or glass beads, of the most brilliant colours. These +handsome, robust men, showing their remarkably fine white +teeth as they smiled, gave free expression to their feelings; +and the unnatural and ugly fashions, as well as the different +costumes of the white people, probably afforded ample matter +for satirical observations, for which these children of +nature have a peculiar turn. All these Indians were dressed +in their very finest clothes, and they completely attained +their object; for they made, at least upon us strangers, a +very lively impression. Many of them were distinguished by +wearing leather shirts, of exquisite workmanship, which they +obtain by barter from the Crows. Several tall, athletic men +were on horseback, and managed their horses, which were +frightened by the noise of the steam-boats, with an ease +which afforded us pleasure. Urging them with their short +whips in the manner of the Cossacks, with the bridle fastened +to the lower jaw, they, at length, pushed the <span class="opage">180</span> light, +spirited animals through the willow thicket, till they reached +the river, where these fine bold horsemen, resembling the +Circassians, with their red-painted countenances, were regarded +with great admiration. Many of them wore the +large valuable necklace, made of long bears' claws, and their +handsomely-painted buffalo robe was fastened round the +waist by a girdle. In general they had no stirrups, but sat +very firmly on the naked backs of the horses, and several +rode on a saddle resembling the Hungarian saddle. Among +the young women we observed some who were very pretty, +the white of whose sparkling hazel eyes formed a striking contrast +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">363</a></span> +with the vermilion faces. I regret that it is impossible, +by any description, to give the reader a distinct idea of such +a scene, and there was not sufficient time for Mr. Bodmer +to make a drawing of it. The following winter, however, +afforded us an opportunity, in some measure, to supply this +deficiency.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo361" id="illo361"></a> +<img src="images/illo_362a.jpg" width="434" height="86" alt="A Blackfoot musical instrument" /> +<p class="caption">A Blackfoot musical instrument</p> +</div> + +<p>The chiefs of the Manitaries came on board for a short +time; among them were old Addi-Hiddisch (the road maker), +Péhriska-Rúhpa (the two ravens), Lachpizí-Sihrish (the yellow +bear), and several others, and with them the Blackfoot +Kiasax, in his best dress, who was to make the voyage along +with us. He was accompanied by his Manitari wife, who +carried a little child, wrapped in a piece of leather, fastened +with straps. She wept much at parting from her husband, +and the farewell scene was very interesting. While this was +going on, an Indian, on the shore, was employed in keeping +off the crowd with a long willow rod, which he laid about +the women and children with a right hearty good will, when, +by their curiosity, they hindered our <i>engagés</i> and crew in +loosening the vessel from the shore. The vessel, however, +was ready to start; Mr. Kipp, Charbonneau, the interpreter, +and the Manitari chiefs, took leave, and hastened to land, +on which the Assiniboin proceeded rapidly up the Missouri. +The Indians followed us, for a time, along the bank; about +thirty of them formed an interesting group on horseback, +two sometimes sitting on the same beast. As the willow +thickets on the banks ceased, we had a good view of the +prairie, where many Indian horsemen were galloping about; +herds of horses fled from the noise of the vessel. The friends +and relations of Kiasax and Matsokui—for we had taken +another Blackfoot on board—followed the vessel longer +than any of the others; they frequently called to them, and +nodded farewell, to which Kiasax answered with a long +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">364</a></span> +wooden pipe, upon which he played a wretched piece of +music.<a name="FNanchor_336" id="FNanchor_336" href="#Footnote_336" class="fnanchor">[336]</a> This Mandan pipe, which the Indians, on the Upper +Missouri, frequently use, is from two and a half to three feet +long, rather wider at the lower end, and has a hole on the +upper side, which is alternately opened and shut with the +finger. By way of ornament, an eagle's feather is fastened +<span class="opage">181</span> to the end of the instrument with a string, which is +generally a medicine or talisman of the owner. Kiasax set +a high value on his pipe, which he held constantly in his +hand, and would not sell on any terms. A violent storm, +accompanied by heavy rain, compelled us to lay to, for ten +minutes, on the left bank, where the river is bounded by +steep high hills. At this spot Major Pilcher had formerly +established a trading post for the Crows and Assiniboins.<a name="FNanchor_337" id="FNanchor_337" href="#Footnote_337" class="fnanchor">[337]</a> +There were, at that time, no such posts further up the Missouri, +but it has since been abandoned, and no trace of it +is now to be seen. Before us was a fine extensive view of +romantic gradations of the tongues of land, singular mountain +tops and cones; and, on the grey chain of hills, we again +saw the black horizontal parallel strata of the bituminous +coal, which accompany, without interruption, the course of +the Missouri. This black fossil has often been examined, +with the hope that it might be employed as fuel, but it +is unserviceable, has a very bad smell, and is of no use +even for blacksmiths' work.<a name="FNanchor_338" id="FNanchor_338" href="#Footnote_338" class="fnanchor">[338]</a> These black strata have +evidently undergone, in former times, the action of fire; +and we everywhere observed, on the ridges of the hills, +clay or clay-slate formations, either in the shape of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">365</a></span> +cones, or angular, like fortifications. Many of these pyramids +are perfectly regular, and stand on a broad basis, furrowed +by the water; some are square, and others regularly +flattened. The strata of bituminous coal extend along the +base of most of them; all these singularly-formed rocks have, +doubtless, been elevated by the action of subterraneous fire. +The evening sun illumined the grotesque pyramidal hills, +and their shadows gave us a clear idea of their forms. The +northern declivity of the mountains was partly covered with +bushes; the southern, almost always naked and bare. Towards +nightfall we passed the winter village of the Manitaries,<a name="FNanchor_339" id="FNanchor_339" href="#Footnote_339" class="fnanchor">[339]</a> +situated in a forest, which, at this time, was without +inhabitants, and then came to a tongue of land on the right +hand, with a high, steep, rocky bank, on which Mr. Sandford +once found, in the month of April, great numbers of +serpents, which he estimated at several thousands. They +appear to have consisted of two species only, which, by their +description, were, doubtless, the <i>Col. sirtalis</i> and <i>flaviventris</i> +of Say. All the holes and pits in the sides of the rock, and +between the blocks of stone on the bank, are said to have +been full of them. In one small ravine they lay coiled up +in balls; several hundreds of them were killed, the Americans, +in general, having an antipathy to these animals. +Bradbury, too, mentions large heaps of serpents, under stones, +along the Missouri, but at another season of the year. That +serpents must abound in these parts, seems to be proved by +the name of a small stream, which is called Snake Creek. +Half a mile from this place, the Miry Creek flows, from a +flat meadow;<a name="FNanchor_340" id="FNanchor_340" href="#Footnote_340" class="fnanchor">[340]</a> on the hills beyond we saw some antelopes. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">366</a></span></p> + +<p>On the following morning, the 20th of June, we perceived, +in a forest on the bank, fifteen Indians, and soon afterwards +four large elks, which would have been a welcome prey to +the hunters, had they been aware of their being so near. +One of the strata of black coal on the generally flat hills of +this part of the country had lately been on fire; we did not, +however, perceive any smoke.</p> + +<p><span class="opage">182</span> After ten o'clock, having taken in fuel, we came to +singular hills, flattened at the top, which are called L'Ours +qui Danse, because it is said the Indians here celebrate the +bear dance, a medicine feast, in order to obtain success in +the chase.<a name="FNanchor_341" id="FNanchor_341" href="#Footnote_341" class="fnanchor">[341]</a> At noon there was a high cold wind while the +thermometer was at 70°. The country was rather flat, and +the river was bordered by green forests; on the right bank, +in particular, the wood was beautiful, lofty, and dark. Here +we observed many traces of beavers, such as gnawed trees +and paths leading to the water's edge. Our hunters gradually +returned to the bank; they had shot two Virginian +deer, an antelope, and a prairie hen. Mr. Bodmer, who +returned to the vessel much fatigued and heated, brought +with him a stone<a name="FNanchor_342" id="FNanchor_342" href="#Footnote_342" class="fnanchor">[342]</a> of the shape of a battle-axe, which had +been found in the prairie.<a name="FNanchor_343" id="FNanchor_343" href="#Footnote_343" class="fnanchor">[343]</a></p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo361b" id="illo361b"></a> +<img src="images/illo_362b.jpg" width="227" height="148" alt="Stone battle-axe" /> +<p class="caption">Stone battle-axe</p> +</div> + +<p>Continuing our voyage, we saw the buffaloes hasten away, +and moored our vessel at twilight to some trees on the north +bank. All over the plain there were deeply trodden paths +of the buffaloes. On the morning following, the 21st, the +river had risen considerably, and brought down trunks of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">367</a></span> +trees, branches, &c., which covered the surface, and gave +our vessel some violent shocks: strips of wood, and desolate +hills, without any vegetation, appeared. On the southern +bank we came to a green spot at the mouth of the Little +Missouri,<a name="FNanchor_344" id="FNanchor_344" href="#Footnote_344" class="fnanchor">[344]</a> which is reckoned to be 1670 miles from the +mouth of the Great Missouri. The chain of blue hills, with +the same singular forms as we had seen before, appeared +on the other side of this river. In the forests roses in full +blossom formed a thick underwood, which was traversed by +the path of the buffaloes. Before noon we reached the territory +of the Assiniboins, and were, at this time, at Wild Onion +Creek.<a name="FNanchor_345" id="FNanchor_345" href="#Footnote_345" class="fnanchor">[345]</a> Kiasax (l'ours gauche—left-handed or awkward +bear) had permitted Mr. Bodmer to take his portrait, +without making any objection, whereas Matsokui (beautiful +hair) was not to be persuaded to do so, affirming that he +must then infallibly die. It turned out in the sequel that +he was to die, and Kiasax to return, unhurt by the enemy. +The latter had adopted the costume of the Manitaries, but +at the same time wrapped himself in a Spanish blanket, +striped blue, white and black, which, as well as a metal +cross, which he wore suspended round his neck, was a proof +of the intercourse between the Blackfoot Indians and the +Spaniards near the Rocky Mountains. These two Indians +appeared to be very quiet, obliging men. Thus, for instance, +they never <span class="opage">183</span> returned from an excursion on shore, without +bringing me some handfulls of plants, often, it is true, +only common grass, because they had observed that we always +brought plants home with us. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">368</a></span></p> + +<p>We lay to about three miles below Goose Egg Lake. A +white wolf accompanied the steam-boat as it proceeded. We +came to the canal which joins Goose Egg Lake to the Missouri, +which I was unable to examine, as the steamer did +not stop. Here the river makes a great bend, which, as +well as that near Fort Lookout, is called by some Canadians +Le Grand Détour.<a name="FNanchor_346" id="FNanchor_346" href="#Footnote_346" class="fnanchor">[346]</a> Early on the following morning, the +22nd, we saw wild animals of various kinds, such as buffaloes, +elks, and Virginian deer. The wild geese with their +young suffered us to approach pretty closely, because, at +this season, they moult their long wing feathers. About +ten o'clock we had an alarm of fire on board: the upper +deck had been set on fire by the iron pipe of the chimney +of the great cabin. We immediately lay to, and, by breaking +up the deck, the danger was soon over, which, however, +was not inconsiderable, as we had many barrels of powder +on board. We had scarcely got over this trouble, when another +arose; the current of the swollen river was so strong, +that we long contended against it to no purpose, in order +to turn a certain point of land, while, at the same time, the +high west wind was against us, and both together threw the +vessel back three times on the south coast. The first shock +was so violent, that the lower deck gallery was broken to +pieces. Our second attempt succeeded no better; part of +the paddle-box was broken, and carried away by the current. +We were now obliged to land forty men to tow the vessel, +for which purpose all on board voluntarily offered their services, +even the two Blackfeet overcame their natural laziness. +Beyond this dangerous place, we took on board the hunters +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">369</a></span> +whom we had sent out. They were covered from head to +foot with blood, and hung about with game, having killed +two elks. The effect of the current and the wind upon our +vessel continued for a long time. It was often thrown against +the alluvial bank, so that the deck was covered with earth, and +the track of our vessel clearly marked along the clayey sand +bank. After four o'clock we stopped at a narrow verdant +prairie in front of the hills, to fell wood: several pretty plants, +among which was a juniper with the berries still green, were +found here. The cat bird, the wren and blackbird animated +the thickets, and we observed also the great curlew (<i>Numenius +longirostris</i>). A very large elk horn of twelve antlers +had been found; a number of them lie about in all the forests +and prairies, of which no use is made. In the afternoon +we saw in the prairie of the north bank a large grizzly bear, +and immediately sent Ortubize and another hunter in pursuit +of him, but to no purpose. Soon after we saw two other +bears, one of a whitish, the other of a dark colour, and our +hunters, when they returned, affirmed that they had wounded +the largest. Harvey had shot an elk, and brought the best +part of it from a great distance, and with considerable exertion, +to the river. From this place upwards, the grey bear +became more and more common; further down the river +it is still rare. Brackenridge says, it is not found below the +<span class="opage">184</span> Mandan villages, but this is not quite correct. Near +the prairie where we saw the bears, is the mouth of White +Earth River, called by Lewis and Clarke, Goat-pen River.<a name="FNanchor_347" id="FNanchor_347" href="#Footnote_347" class="fnanchor">[347]</a> +Here we crossed the Missouri, and lay to for the night on +the south coast, where some of our people landed to set +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">370</a></span> +traps for the beavers. Harvey had the good fortune to catch, +during the night, a young beaver, which he brought on board +alive, on the following morning, the 23rd. The iron trap +had broken one of the legs of the little beaver, and with +all our care we could not keep it alive. The surrounding +country on the banks of the Missouri, which is here very +broad, again showed the singularly formed angular hills flattened +at the top like tables: several pretty prairies, in which +the white artemisia and other beautiful plants grew, extended +at the foot of the eminences, on the declivity of which the +buffalo berry and the creeping juniper were common; henceforward +the clay cones were partly burnt as red as bricks, +which was a clear proof of their origin. Many of them had +parallel horizontal stripes, projecting a little, of harder sandstone +strata, which had resisted the influence of the elements +more than the intermediate strata of clay and sand.</p> + +<p>The vessel laying to, about eleven o'clock, near a wood +on the south bank, we suddenly perceived on the north bank +some Indians, who immediately called to us. They were +the first Assiniboins that we had met with; they sat upon +the bank waiting for the boat which Mr. Mc Kenzie sent +to them. After a short pause they came on board the steamer, +and proved to be Stassága (le brecheux), who was well known +to Mr. Mc Kenzie, with seven of his people of the branch +called by the French, Gens des Filles.<a name="FNanchor_348" id="FNanchor_348" href="#Footnote_348" class="fnanchor">[348]</a> The chief, a robust, +thick-set man, rather above the middle size, wore his hair +tied behind in a thick queue, and cut short in front; he had +bound across the crown a slip of whitish skin; in his ears +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">371</a></span> +he had strings of blue and white glass beads; round his neck +a collar of bears' claws; the upper part of his body was +wrapped in a red woollen shirt; his legs were quite bare, but +he had a pair of handsomely embroidered leggins which he +put on when his people left the vessel. He was wrapped +in a buffalo robe, and had in his hand a musket, and an eagle's +wing for a fan. Another robust man had smeared his face, +about the eyes, with white clay. The rest of these Indians +were neither well formed nor well dressed, but dirty and +slovenly. Their hair hung in disorder about their heads; +some of them had made it up into three plaits; their legs +were mostly bare; only a couple of them had leggins. One +of them, with a Jewish physiognomy, wore a white wolf skin +cap. Some of them were marked with two parallel +tattooed black stripes from the neck down the breast; the +upper parts of their bodies were naked, but they were wrapped +in buffalo robes. Most of them had guns, and all, without +distinction, bows and arrows, the latter in a quiver or +bag made of skin, to which also the case for the bow is +attached, as shown in the <a href="#illo287c">woodcut</a>.<a name="FNanchor_349" id="FNanchor_349" href="#Footnote_349" class="fnanchor">[349]</a></p> + +<p>As the Assiniboins are a branch of the Sioux, Ortubize +was able to act as interpreter. They were made to sit down +round the great cabin, and the pipe circulated; they likewise +<span class="opage">185</span> received abundance of food, which seemed to please +them much. They said that since they came to these parts +in the spring, they had suffered much from want of food, +buffaloes being scarce. They intended shortly to leave this +part of the country, but the chief wished to go with us to +Fort Union, which we allowed him to do. After they had +been shown about the vessel, the steam-engine of which +greatly excited their attention, though they suppressed any +mark of surprise, they were landed in a lofty poplar grove +on the north bank. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">372</a></span></p> + +<p>After dinner, we proceeded along the side of a prairie, +where we heard the note of the great curlew. The valley +of the river was bounded on both sides by very remarkable +whitish-grey, obliquely stratified ridges, with singular +spots of red clay, and bushes in the ravines; at their feet +was the prairie, covered with pale green artemisia; and on +the tongues of land, at the windings of the Missouri, there +were fine poplar groves, with an undergrowth of roses in full +bloom, buffalo-berry bushes, and many species of plants. +On the mountains we again saw naked rounded cones of +earth, as if they had been thrown up by moles, and, on the +tops of some of them, a little turret, or cone, while their +sides were rounded by the rain water, or marked with parallel +perpendicular furrows.</p> + +<p>On our further progress up the river, we saw, for the first +time, the animal known by the name of the bighorn, or the +Rocky Mountain sheep, the <i>Ovis montana</i> of the zoologists. +A ram and two sheep of this species stood on the summit +of the highest hill, and, after looking at our steamer, slowly +retired. These animals are not frequent hereabouts, but we +afterwards met with them in great numbers. We here took +on board some cord wood, which the different trading posts +had employed their <i>engagés</i> to get ready for the steamboat.</p> + +<p>On the 24th, in the morning, we found the banks wooded, +and beyond the thickets were the chain of hills, in the middle +of which were strata of the colour of red bricks. Cones +of that colour, and sometimes detached grey figures, with +a red base, crowned the heights. Many varied colours +showed that these eminences must have undergone the action +of fire. About eight o'clock we came to the mouth of Muddy +River (the White Earth River of Lewis and Clarke), which +issues from a thicket on the north bank.<a name="FNanchor_350" id="FNanchor_350" href="#Footnote_350" class="fnanchor">[350]</a> In this part we +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">373</a></span> +saw smoke on the bank, and, soon afterwards, some Assiniboins, +one of whom fired three shots to attract our attention: +others soon came up, and we took them on board. They +were robust men, with high cheek-bones, well dressed, all in +leather shirts, their legs mostly bare, and their hair hanging +smooth about their heads; one of them took off the +leather case of his bow, and wrapped it round his head like +a turban, so that a little tuft of feathers, at one end of it, +stood upright. Following the numerous windings of the +Missouri, from one chain of hills to another, we reached, +at seven o'clock in the evening, the mouth of the Yellow +Stone, a fine river, hardly inferior in breadth to the Missouri +at this part. It issues below the high grey chain of hills, +and its mouth is bordered with a fine wood of tall poplars, +with willow thickets. The two rivers unite in an obtuse +angle; and there <span class="opage">186</span> is a sudden turn of the Missouri to +the north-west; it is not wooded at the junction, but flows +between prairies thirty or more miles in extent. Herds of +buffaloes are often seen here; at this time they had left these +parts: we saw, however, many antelopes. At the next turn +of the river, towards the right hand, we had a fine prospect. +Gentle eminences, with various rounded or flat tops, covered +with bright verdure, formed the back-ground; before +them, tall poplar groves, and willow thickets on the bank +of the river, whose dark blue waters, splendidly illumined +by the setting sun, flowed, with many windings, through +the prairie. A little further on lay Fort Union, on a verdant +plain, with the handsome American flag, gilded by the last +rays of evening, floating in the azure sky, while a herd of +horses grazing animated the peaceful scene.<a name="FNanchor_351" id="FNanchor_351" href="#Footnote_351" class="fnanchor">[351]</a> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">374</a></span></p> + +<p>As the steamer approached, the cannon of Fort Union +fired a salute, with a running fire of musketry, to bid us +welcome, which was answered in a similar manner by our +vessel. When we reached the fort, we were received by Mr. +Hamilton, an Englishman, who, during the absence of Mr. +Mc Kenzie, had performed the functions of director,<a name="FNanchor_352" id="FNanchor_352" href="#Footnote_352" class="fnanchor">[352]</a> as +well as by several clerks of the Company, and a number of +their servants (<i>engagés</i> or <i>voyageurs</i>), of many different +nations, Americans, Englishmen, Germans, Frenchmen, +Russians, Spaniards, and Italians, about 100 in number, +with many Indians, and half-breed women and children. +It was the seventy-fifth day since our departure from St. +Louis, when the Assiniboin cast anchor at Fort Union.</p> + +<p>The Yellow Stone, being one of the principal affluents of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">375</a></span> +the Missouri, receives several considerable streams, of which +the following are the chief:—</p> + +<p> +<span class="i2">1. The Bighorn River (<i>La Grosse Corne</i>).</span><br /> +<span class="i2">2. The Little Bighorn River (<i>La Petite Grosse Corne</i>).</span><br /> +<span class="i2">3. The Tongue River (<i>La Rivière à la Langue</i>).</span><br /> +<span class="i2">4. The Powder River (<i>La Rivière à la Poudre</i>).</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>The Yellow Stone is called, by the Canadians, La Roche +Jaune. Warden calls it Keheetsa, but I do not know where +he got this name. Lewis and Clarke say it has no name. +The names given it by most of the Indian nations signify +Elk River.<a name="FNanchor_353" id="FNanchor_353" href="#Footnote_353" class="fnanchor">[353]</a> +</p> + +<p><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376"></a></p> +<p class="chapter_start">CHAPTER XV</p> + +<p class="center">DESCRIPTION OF FORT UNION AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD</p> + +<p class="chapter_summ"> +Description of the Fort and its Vicinity—Its Inhabitants, and the Fur +Trade on the Upper Missouri—The Indian Branch of the Assiniboins, +the original Possessors of this Spot.</p> + +<p>The erection of Fort Union was commenced in the autumn +of 1829, by Mr. Mc Kenzie, and is now completed, except +that some of the edifices which were erected in haste are +under repair. The fort is situated on an alluvial eminence, +on the northern bank of the Missouri, in a prairie, which +extends about 1,500 paces to a chain of hills, on whose summit +there are other wide-spreading plains. The river runs +at a distance of scarcely fifty or sixty feet from the fort, in +the direction from west to east; it is here rather broad, and +the opposite bank is wooded. The fort itself forms a quadrangle, +the sides of which measure about eighty paces in +length, on the exterior. The ramparts consist of strong +pickets, sixteen or seventeen feet high, squared, and placed +close to each other, and surmounted by a <i>chevaux-de-frise</i>. +On the south-west and north-east ends, there are block-houses, +with pointed roofs, two stories high, with embrasures +and some cannon, which, though small, are fit for service. +In the front of the enclosure, and towards the river, is the +well-defended principal entrance, with a large folding gate. +Opposite the entrance, on the other side of the quadrangle, +is the house of the commandant; it is one story high, and +has four handsome glass windows on each side of the door. +The roof is spacious, and contains a large, light loft. This +house is very commodious, and, like all the buildings of the +inner quadrangle, constructed of poplar wood, the staple +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">377</a></span> +wood for building in this neighbourhood. In the inner quadrangle +are the residences of the clerks, the interpreters, and +the <i>engagés</i>, the powder magazine, the stores, or supplies of +goods and bartered skins, various workshops for the handicraftsmen, +smiths, carpenters, &c., stables for the horses +and cattle, rooms for receiving and entertaining the Indians; +and in the centre is the flag-staff, around which several half-breed +Indian hunters had erected their leathern tents. A +cannon was also placed here, with its mouth towards the +principal <span class="opage">188</span> entrance.<a name="FNanchor_354" id="FNanchor_354" href="#Footnote_354" class="fnanchor">[354]</a> The fort contains about fifty +or sixty horses, some mules, and an inconsiderable number +of cattle, swine, goats, fowls, and domestic animals. The +cattle are very fine, and the cows yield abundance of milk. +The horses are driven, in the day-time, into the prairie, +guarded and exercised by armed men, and, in the evening, +brought back into the quadrangle of the fort, where the +greater part of them pass the night in the open air. Mr. +Mc Kenzie has, however, lately had a separate place, or +park, provided for them.</p> + +<p>Fort Union is one of the principal posts of the Fur Company, +because it is the central point of the two other trading +stations, still higher up, towards the Rocky Mountains, and +having the superintendence of the whole of the trade in the +interior, and in the vicinity of the mountains. One of these +two trading stations, called Fort Cass, is 200 miles up the +Yellow Stone River, and is confined to the trade with the +Crow tribe; the other, Fort Piekann, or, as it is now called, +Fort Mc Kenzie, is 850<a name="FNanchor_355" id="FNanchor_355" href="#Footnote_355" class="fnanchor">[355]</a> miles up the Missouri, or about a +day's journey from the falls of this river, and carries on the +fur trade with the three tribes of the Blackfoot Indians. +The latter station has been established about two years, and, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">378</a></span> +as the steamers cannot often go up to Fort Union, they despatch +keel-boats, to supply the various trading posts with +goods for barter with the Indians. They then pass the winter +at these stations, and in the spring carry the furs to Fort +Union, whence they are transported, in the course of the +summer, to St. Louis, by the steamers.</p> + +<p>The Company maintains a number of agents at these different +stations; during their stay they marry Indian women, +but leave them, without scruple, when they are removed to +another station, or are recalled to the United States. The +lower class of these agents, who are called <i>engagés</i>, or <i>voyageurs</i>, +have to act as steersmen, rowers, hunters, traders, +&c., according to their several capabilities. They are often +sent great distances, employed in perilous undertakings +among the Indians, and are obliged to fight against the +enemy, and many of them are killed every year by the +arms with which the Whites themselves have furnished the +Indians. Some of the agents of the Fur Company winter +every year in the Rocky Mountains.<a name="FNanchor_356" id="FNanchor_356" href="#Footnote_356" class="fnanchor">[356]</a></p> + +<p>The proprietors of the American Fur Company were +Messrs. Astor, at New York, General Pratte, Chouteau, +Cabanné, Mc Kenzie, Laidlow, and Lamont; the three latter +had a share <span class="opage">189</span> in the fur trade on the Upper Missouri +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">379</a></span> +only. Wild beasts and other animals, whose skins are +valuable in the fur trade, have already diminished greatly +in number along this river, and it is said that, in another +ten years, the fur trade will be very inconsiderable. As +the supplies along the banks of the Missouri decreased, the +Company gradually extended the circle of their trading +posts, as well as enterprises, and thus increased their income. +Above 500 of their agents are in the forts of the Upper Missouri, +and at their various trading posts; and, besides these +individuals, who receive considerable salaries (for it is said +that the Company yearly expend 150,000 dollars in salaries), +there are in these prairies, and the forests of the Rocky Mountains, +beaver and fur trappers, who live at their own cost; +but whose present wants, such as horses, guns, powder, ball, +woollen cloths, articles of clothing, tobacco, &c. &c., are +supplied by the Company, and the scores settled, after the +hunting season is over, by the furs which they deliver at +the different trading posts. Many of these, when not employed +in hunting, live at the Company's forts. They are, +for the most part, enterprising, robust men, capital riflemen, +and, from their rude course of life, are able to endure the +greatest hardships.</p> + +<p>During the summer, the Company send out, under the +direction of an experienced clerk, a number of strong, well-armed, +mounted men, who convey the necessary goods and +supplies, on pack-horses, to the trading stations, at a distance +from the river; they always observe and enforce the +required conditions of the Indians, and not unfrequently +come to blows with them. These expeditions have to support +themselves by the chase, consequently the men must +be good hunters, as they subsist almost exclusively on what +they procure by their guns. Besides the forts which I have +so often named, the Company has also small winter posts, +called log-houses, or block-houses, among the Indians, quickly +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">380</a></span> +erected, and as quickly abandoned: to these the Indians +bring their furs, which are purchased, and sent, in the spring, +to the trading posts. The American Fur Company has, at +present, about twenty-three, large and small, trading posts. +In the autumn and winter the Indian tribes generally approach +nearer to these posts, to barter their skins; while +in the spring and summer they devote themselves especially +to catching beavers, for which they receive every encouragement +from the merchants, who lend or advance them iron +traps for the purpose.</p> + +<p>The animals, whose skins are objects of this trade, and +the annual average of the income derived from skins, may +be pretty well ascertained from the following statement:</p> + +<p>1. Beavers: about 25,000 skins. They are sold in packs +of 100 lbs. weight each, put up separately, and tied together. +There are, generally, about sixty large skins in a pack; if +they are smaller, of course there are more skins. A large +beaver skin weighs about two pounds—sometimes more. +The usual price is four dollars a pound.<a name="FNanchor_357" id="FNanchor_357" href="#Footnote_357" class="fnanchor">[357]</a></p> + +<p><span class="opage">190</span> 2. Otters: 200 to 300 skins.</p> + +<p>3. Buffalo cow skins: 40,000 to 50,000. Ten buffalo hides +go to the pack.</p> + +<p>4. Canadian weasel (<i>Musetela Canadensis</i>): 500 to 600.</p> + +<p>5. Martin (pine or beech martin): about the same +quantity.</p> + +<p>6. Lynx; the northern lynx (<i>Felis Canadensis</i>): 1,000 to +2,000.</p> + +<p>7. Lynx; the southern or wild cat (<i>Felis rufa</i>): ditto.</p> + +<p>8. Red foxes (<i>Canis fulvus</i>): 2,000.</p> + +<p>9. Cross foxes: 200 to 300. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">381</a></span></p> + +<p>10. Silver foxes: twenty to thirty. Sixty dollars are often +paid for a single skin.</p> + +<p>11. Minks (<i>Mustela vison</i>): 2,000.</p> + +<p>12. Musk-rats (<i>Ondathra</i>): from 1,000 to 100,000.<a name="FNanchor_358" id="FNanchor_358" href="#Footnote_358" class="fnanchor">[358]</a> According +to Captain Back, half a million of these skins are +annually imported into London, as this animal is found in +equal abundance as far as the coasts of the Frozen Ocean.</p> + +<p>13. Deer (<i>Cervus Virginianus</i> and <i>macrotis</i>): from 20,000 +to 30,000.</p> + +<p>Beyond Council Bluffs, scarcely any articles are bartered +by the Indians—especially the Joways, Konzas, and the +Osages—except the skins of the <i>Cervus Virginianus</i>, which +is found in great abundance, but is said to have fallen off +there likewise very considerably.</p> + +<p>The elk (<i>Cervus Canadensis</i>, or <i>major</i>), is not properly +comprehended in the trade, as its skin is too thick and +heavy, and is, therefore, used for home consumption. The +buffalo skin is taken, as before observed, from the cows +only, as the leather of the bulls is too heavy. The wolf +skins are not at all sought by the company, that is to say, +they do not send out any hunters to procure them; but, +if the Indians bring any, they are bought not to create any +dissatisfaction, and then they are sold at about a dollar +a-piece. The Indians, however, have frequently nothing to +offer for barter but their dresses, and painted buffalo robes.</p> + +<p>The support of so large an establishment as that at Fort +Union requires frequent hunting excursions into the prairie; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">382</a></span> +and Mr. Mc Kenzie, therefore, maintained here several experienced +hunters of a mixed race, who made weekly excursions +to the distance of twenty or more miles into the +prairie, sought the buffalo herds, and, after they had killed +a sufficient number, returned home with their mules well +laden. The flesh of the cows is very good, especially the +tongues, which are smoked in great numbers, and then sent +down to St. Louis. The colossal marrow-bones are considered +quite a delicacy by the hunters and by the Indians. +The consumption of <span class="opage">191</span> this animal is immense in North +America, and is as indispensable to the Indians as the reindeer +is to the Laplanders, and the seal to the Esquimaux. +It is difficult to obtain an exact estimate of the consumption +of this animal, which is yearly decreasing and driven further +inland. In a recent year, the Fur Company sent 42,000 +of these hides down the river, which were sold, in the United +States, at four dollars a-piece. Fort Union alone consumes +about 600 to 800 buffaloes annually, and the other forts in +proportion. The numerous Indian tribes subsist almost +entirely on these animals, sell their skins after retaining a +sufficient supply for their clothing, tents, &c., and the agents +of the Company recklessly shoot down these noble animals +for their own pleasure, often not making the least use of +them, except taking out the tongue. Whole herds of them +are often drowned in the Missouri; nay, I have been assured +that, in some rivers, 1,800 and more of their dead +bodies were found in one place. Complete dams are formed +of the bodies of these animals in some of the morasses of the +rivers; from this we may form some idea of the decrease of +the buffaloes, which are now found on the other side of the +Rocky Mountains, where they were not originally met with, +but whither they have been driven.</p> + +<p>Besides the buffalo, the hunters also shoot the elk, the +deer, and, occasionally, the bighorn. The former especially +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">383</a></span> +are very numerous on the Yellow Stone River. All other +provisions, such as pork, hams, flour, sugar, coffee, wine, +and other articles of luxury for the tables of the chief +officers and the clerks, are sent from St. Louis by the steamer. +The maize is procured from the neighbouring Indian +nations. Vegetables do not thrive at Fort Union, which Mr. +Mc Kenzie ascribes to the long-continued drought and high +winds.</p> + +<p>The neighbourhood around Fort Union is, as I have observed, +a wide, extended prairie, intersected, in a northerly +direction, by a chain of rather high, round, clay-slate, and +sand-stone hills, from the summits of which we had a wide-spreading +view over the country on the other side of the +Missouri, and of its junction with the Yellow Stone, of which +Mr. Bodmer made a very faithful drawing.<a name="FNanchor_359" id="FNanchor_359" href="#Footnote_359" class="fnanchor">[359]</a> We observed +on the highest points, and at certain intervals of this mountain +chain, singular stone signals, set up by the Assiniboins, of +blocks of granite, or other large stones, on the top of which +is placed a buffalo skull,<a name="FNanchor_360" id="FNanchor_360" href="#Footnote_360" class="fnanchor">[360]</a> which we were told the Indians +place there to attract the herds of buffaloes, and thereby to +ensure a successful hunt. The strata of sand-stone occurring +in the above-mentioned hills are filled, at least in part, with +impressions of the leaves of phanerogamic plants, resembling +the species still growing in the country.<a name="FNanchor_361" id="FNanchor_361" href="#Footnote_361" class="fnanchor">[361]</a> A whitish-grey +and reddish-yellow sand-stone are found here. In all +these prairies of North America, as well as in the plains of +northern Europe, those remarkable blocks or fragments of +red granite, are everywhere scattered, which have afforded +the geologist subject for many hypotheses. Major Long's +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">384</a></span> +Expedition to St. Peter's River<a name="FNanchor_362" id="FNanchor_362" href="#Footnote_362" class="fnanchor">[362]</a> mentions blocks of granite +in the prairies of Illinois; they are found in abundance in +the north, about St. Peter's <span class="opage">192</span> River, in the State of +Ohio, &c. Other boulders, however, of quartz, flint, slate, +&c., evidently formed by water, are found everywhere in the +prairies. The hills were partly bare, and very few flowers +were in blossom; the whole country was covered with short, +dry grass, among which there were numerous round spots +with tufts of <i>Cactus ferox</i>, which was only partly in flower. +Another <i>cactus</i>, resembling <i>mammillaris</i>, with dark red flowers, +yellow on the inner side, was likewise abundant. Of +the first kind it seems that two exactly similar varieties, +probably species, are found everywhere here; both have fine, +large, bright yellow flowers, sometimes a greenish-yellow, +and, on their first expanding, are often whitish, and the +outer side of the petals, with a reddish tinge; but in one species, +the staminæ are bright yellow, like the flower itself, +and, in the other, of a brownish blood red, with yellow anthers. +The true flowering time of these plants begins at +the end of June.</p> + +<p>The scene of destruction, which has often been mentioned, +namely, the whitening bones of buffaloes and stags, recurs +everywhere in the prairie, and the great dogs of the fort +frequently seek for such animal remains. Between the hills, +there are, sometimes, in the ravines, little thickets of oak, +ash, negundo maple, elm, bird-cherry, and some others, in +which many kinds of birds, particularly the starling, blackbird, +&c., build their nests. The king-bird and the red +thrush are likewise found. Of mammalia, besides those in +the river, namely, the beaver, the otter, and the muskrat, +there are, about Fort Union, in the prairie, great numbers +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">385</a></span> +of the pretty little squirrel, the skin of which is marked +with long stripes, and regular spots between them (<i>Spermophilus +Hoodii</i>, Sab.), which have been represented by Richardson +and Cuvier. The Anglo-Americans of these parts +call it the ground squirrel; and the Canadians, <i>l'écureuil +Suisse</i>. From its figure and agility, it is a genuine squirrel, +and, therefore, rather different from the true marmot arctomys. +The burrows, in which these animals live, are often +carried to a great extent underground. The entrance is not +much larger than a mouse hole, and has no mound of earth +thrown up, like those of the prairie dogs. Besides these, +there are several kinds of mice, particularly <i>Mus leucopus</i>. +The flat hills of the goffer are likewise seen; this is a kind of +large sand rat, living underground, of which I did not +obtain a specimen.</p> + +<p>Not far above and below the fort there were woods on +the banks of the Missouri, consisting of poplars, willows, +ash, elm, negundo maple, &c., with a thick underwood of +hazel, roses, which were now in flower, and dog-berry, rendered +almost impassable by blackberry bushes and the burdock +(<i>Xanthium strumarium</i>), the thorny fruit of which +stuck to the clothes. In these thickets, where we collected +many plants, the mosquitos were extremely troublesome. In +such places we frequently heard the deep base note of the +frogs; and in those places which were not damp, there were +patches of two kinds of solidago; likewise <i>Gaura coccinea</i> +(Pursh.), and <i>Cristaria coccinea</i>, two extremely beautiful +plants; and, on the banks of the river, the white-flowering +<i>Bartonia ornata</i> (Pursh.), and the <i>Helianthus petiolaris</i> +(Nutt.), which were everywhere in flower, &c. &c.</p> + +<p><span class="opage">193</span> In the forest, a pretty small mouse was frequent, +as well as the large wood rat, already mentioned. Of birds, +there are some species of woodpeckers, the Carolina pigeon, +numerous blackbirds (<i>Quiscalus ferrugineus</i>), thrushes, several +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">386</a></span> +smaller birds, the beautiful bluefinch, first described by +Say, the American fly-catcher, and several others. The whip-poor-will +is not found so high up the Missouri. The river +does not abound in fish; it produces, however, two species +of cat-fish, and soft shell turtles, but which are not often +caught.</p> + +<p>The climate about Fort Union is very changeable. We +had often 76° Fahrenheit, and storms of thunder and lightning +alternating with heavy rains. Other days in the month +of June were cold, the thermometer falling to 56°. Winds +prevail here the greater part of the year, and therefore the +temperature is usually dry. The weather, while we were +there, was uncommonly rainy. Spring is generally the wettest +season; the summer is dry; autumn the finest time of +the year; the winter is severe, and often of long continuance. +The snow is often three, four, or six feet deep in many +places, and then dog sledges are used, and the Indians wear +snow shoes. The winter of 1831-1832 had been remarkably +mild in these parts. The Missouri had scarcely been frozen +for three days together; but the spring, however, set in very +late. On the 30th of May, 1832, the forests were still without +verdure; and there was, in that month, such dreadful +weather, that an Indian was frozen to death in the prairie: +a snow storm overtook him and a girl, who escaped with +one of her feet frozen. In general, however, the climate +is said to be very healthy. There are no endemic disorders, +and the fine water of the Missouri, which, notwithstanding +the sand mixed with it, is light and cold, does not a little +contribute to make the inhabitants attain an advanced +age. There are no physicians here, and the people affirm +they have no need of them. Persons, whom we questioned +on the subject, said, "We don't want doctors; we have no +diseases." In the preceding spring, however, there had +been more sickness than usual on the Missouri, and at the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">387</a></span> +time of our visit, the approach of the cholera was feared. +Colds are, probably, the most frequent complaints, the +changes in the temperature being sudden, the dwellings +slight and ill built, and the people exposing themselves +without any precaution.</p> + +<p>Fort Union is built in the territory of the Assiniboins, of +whom a certain number generally live there. At this time +they had left, because the herds of buffaloes were gone to +a distant part of the country. The Assiniboins are real +Dacotas, or Sioux, and form a branch which separated +from the rest a considerable time ago, in consequence of a +quarrel among them. They still call themselves by that +name, though they seem generally to pronounce it Nacota. +They parted from the rest of the tribe, after a battle which +they had with each other on Devil's Lake, and removed +further to the north. The tribe is said to consist of 28,000 +souls, of whom 7,000 are warriors. They live in 3,000 tents; +the territory which they claim as theirs, is between the +Missouri and the Saskatschawan, bounded by lake Winipick +on the north, extending, on the east, to Assiniboin River, +and, on the west, to Milk River. The English and Americans +sometimes <span class="opage">194</span> call them Stone Indians, which, however, +properly speaking, is the name of only one branch.</p> + +<p>The Assiniboins are divided into the following branches or +bands:</p> + +<p>1. Itscheabiné (<i>les gens des filles</i>).</p> + +<p>2. Jatonabinè (<i>les gens des roches</i>). The Stone Indians +of the English. Captain Franklin, in his first journey to +the Frozen Ocean, speaks of these Indians, and observes +that they are little to be depended upon.<a name="FNanchor_363" id="FNanchor_363" href="#Footnote_363" class="fnanchor">[363]</a> He says that +they call themselves Eascab, a name with which, however, +I have not met. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">388</a></span></p> + +<p>3. Otopachgnato (<i>les gens du large</i>).</p> + +<p>4. Otaopabinè (<i>les gens des canots</i>).</p> + +<p>5. Tschantoga (<i>les gens des bois</i>). They live near the Fort +des Prairies, not far from Saskatschawan River.<a name="FNanchor_364" id="FNanchor_364" href="#Footnote_364" class="fnanchor">[364]</a></p> + +<p>6. Watópachnato (<i>les gens de l'age</i>).</p> + +<p>7. Tanintauei (<i>les gens des osayes</i>).<a name="FNanchor_365" id="FNanchor_365" href="#Footnote_365" class="fnanchor">[365]</a></p> + +<p>8. Chábin (<i>les gens des montagnes</i>).<a name="FNanchor_366" id="FNanchor_366" href="#Footnote_366" class="fnanchor">[366]</a></p> + +<p>In their personal appearance the Assiniboins differ little +from the true Sioux; those whom we saw were, perhaps, on +the whole, not so tall and slender as the Sioux. Their faces +are broad, with high cheeks, and broad maxillary bones. +They frequently do not wear their hair so long as the Sioux; +many of them have it scarcely hanging down to the shoulders; +some, however, let it grow to a great length, and braid it +in two or three tails; nay, some let it hang like a lion's mane +over their faces and about their heads. Several wore round +white leather caps, others feathers in their hair, or a narrow +strip of skin fastened over the crown. A remarkable +head-dress is that with two horns, of which I shall have to +speak in the sequel. They paint their faces red, or reddish-brown, +and, when they have killed an enemy, quite black: +the hair in front is often daubed with clay; the upper part +of the body is seldom naked in winter time, when they wear +leather shirts, with a large round rosette on the breast, which +is embroidered with dyed porcupine quills, of the most vivid +colours; and they have often another exactly similar ornament +on their back. The sleeves of these leather shirts are +adorned with tufts of their enemies' hair. The outer seam +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">389</a></span> +of the leggins, as among all the other tribes, has an embroidered +stripe of coloured porcupine quills, and trimmed in the +same manner with human or dyed horsehair. In the summer +time the upper part of the body is often naked, and the +feet bare, but they are never without the large buffalo robe, +which is often curiously painted. Their necklaces and other +ornaments are similar to those of the other nations which +have already been described. They, however, very frequently +wear the collar of the bears' claws, but not the long +strings of beads <span class="opage">195</span> and dentalium shells, which are used +by the Manitaries. Most of the Assiniboins have guns,<a name="FNanchor_367" id="FNanchor_367" href="#Footnote_367" class="fnanchor">[367]</a> +the stocks of which they ornament with bright yellow nails, +and with small pieces of red cloth on the ferrels for the ramrod. +Like all the Indians, they carry, besides, a separate +ramrod in their hand, a large powder-horn, which they obtain +from the Fur Company, and a leather pouch for the +balls, which is made by themselves, and often neatly ornamented, +or hung with rattling pieces of lead, and trimmed +with coloured cloth. All have bows and arrows; many +have these only, and no gun. The case for the bow and +the quiver are of the skin of some animal, often of the +otter, fastened to each other; and to the latter the tail of +the animal, at full length, is appended. The bow is partly +covered with elk horn, has a very strong string of twisted +sinews of animals, and is wound round in different places +with the same, to strengthen it. The bow is often adorned +with coloured cloth, porcupine quills, and white strips of +ermine, but, on the whole, this weapon does not differ from +that of the Sioux. Most of them carry clubs in their hands, +of various shapes, and the fan of eagles' or swans' wings +is indispensable to an elegant dandy. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">390</a></span></p> + +<p>The Assiniboins being hunters, live in movable leather +tents, with which they roam about, and never cultivate the +ground. Their chief subsistence they derive from the herds +of buffaloes, which they follow in the summer, generally +from the rivers, to a distance in the prairie; in the winter, +to the woods on the banks of the rivers, because these herds, +at that time, seek for shelter and food among the thickets. +They are particularly dexterous in making what are called +buffalo parks, when a tract is surrounded with scarecrows, +made of stones, branches of trees, &c., and the terrified +animals are driven into a narrow gorge, in which the hunters +lie concealed, as represented and described by Franklin, in +his first journey to the Frozen Ocean.<a name="FNanchor_368" id="FNanchor_368" href="#Footnote_368" class="fnanchor">[368]</a> There was such +a park ten miles from Fort Union, where I was told there +were great numbers of the bones of those animals. On such +occasions the Indians sometimes kill 700 or 800 buffaloes. +Of the dried and powdered flesh, mixed with tallow, the +women prepare the well-known pemmican, which is an important +article of food for these people in their wanderings. +These Indians frequently suffer hunger, when the chase or +other circumstances are unfavourable; this is particularly +the case of the northern nations, the Crees, the Assiniboins, +the Chippeways, and others, as may be seen in Tanner,<a name="FNanchor_369" id="FNanchor_369" href="#Footnote_369" class="fnanchor">[369]</a> +Captain Franklin, and other writers, when they consider +dead dogs as a delicacy. In the north, entire families perish +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">391</a></span> +from hunger. They eat every kind of animals, except serpents; +horses and dogs are very frequently killed for food, +which is the reason why they keep so many, particularly +of the latter.</p> + +<p>In comparison with the other nations, the Assiniboins +have not many horses; their bridles and saddles are like +those of the Manitaries. The rope of buffalo hair, which +is fastened to the <span class="opage">196</span> lower jaw as a bridle, is always very +long, and trails on the grass when the animal is not tied up. +Many have large parchment stirrups in the shape of shoes, +and all carry a short whip in their hand, generally made of +the end of an elk's horn, and gaily ornamented. Their +dogs are of great help to the women in their heavy work; +and they are loaded with the baggage in the same manner +as among the Manitaries.</p> + +<p>In general, the Assiniboins have the customs as well as +the superstitious notions of the Sioux; for an account of +which, Major Long's "Expedition to St. Peter's River," +may be consulted. They keep on good terms with the Fur +Company, for their own interest; they are, however, horse-stealers, +and not to be trusted; and when one meets them +alone in the prairie, there is great danger of being robbed. +Smoking is a favourite enjoyment with them, but, as they +live at a distance from the red pipe clay, the bowls of their +pipes are generally made of a blackish stone, or black clay, +and are different in shape from those of the Dacotas.<a name="FNanchor_370" id="FNanchor_370" href="#Footnote_370" class="fnanchor">[370]</a> The +pipe tube is ornamented like those of the other tribes.<a name="FNanchor_371" id="FNanchor_371" href="#Footnote_371" class="fnanchor">[371]</a> +They generally smoke the herb kinikenick, which we have +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">392</a></span> +before mentioned, or the leaves of the bear-berry (<i>Arbutus +uva ursi</i>), mixed with genuine tobacco. To clean their pipes +they make use of a painted stick, bound round with quills, +dyed of various colours, and with a neat tassel at the end +of it,<a name="FNanchor_372" id="FNanchor_372" href="#Footnote_372" class="fnanchor">[372]</a> which is generally stuck in their hair.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo361c" id="illo361c"></a> +<img src="images/illo_362c.jpg" width="425" height="197" alt="Assiniboin pipes" /> +<p class="caption">Assiniboin pipes</p> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo361d" id="illo361d"></a> +<img src="images/illo_362d.jpg" width="457" height="62" alt="Pipe for warlike expeditions" /> +<p class="caption">Pipe for warlike expeditions</p> +</div> + +<p>Many games are in use among these Indians; one of these +is a round game, in which one holds in his hand some small +stones, of which the others must guess the number, or pay +a forfeit. This game is known also to the Blackfeet. Another +is that in which they play with four small bones and +four yellow nails, to which one of each sort is added; they +are laid upon a flat <span class="opage">197</span> wooden plate, which is struck, so +that they fly up and fall back into the plate, and you gain, +or lose, according as they lie together on one side, and the +stake is often very high.</p> + +<p>Among the amusements and festivities are their eating +feasts, when the guests must eat everything set before them, +if they will not give offence. If one of the guests is not able +to eat any more, he gives his neighbour a small wooden +stick, and the plate with food, the meaning of which is that +he will make him a present of a horse, on the next day, if +he will undertake to empty the plate; and the young men +do this in order to gain reputation. The Assiniboins are +brave in battle, and often very daring. They frequently +steal into the villages of the Mandans and Manitaries, shoot +the inhabitants in or near their huts, or steal their horses.</p> + +<p>They believe in a creator, or lord of life (Unkan-Tange), +and also in an evil spirit (Unkan-Schidja), who torments +people with various disorders, against which their sorcerers +or physicians (medicine men) use the drum and the rattle +to expel the evil spirit. Like the Crees and several other +tribes, they believe that thunder is produced by an enormous +bird, which some of them pretend to have seen. Some +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">393</a></span> +ascribe lightning to the Great Spirit, and believe that he is +angry when the storm is violent. They believe that the +dead go to a country in the south, where the good and brave +find women and buffaloes, while the wicked or cowardly +are confined to an island, where they are destitute of all the +pleasures of life. Those who, during their lives, have conducted +themselves bravely, are not to be deposited in trees +when they die, but their corpses are to be laid on the ground, +it being taken for granted that, in case of need, they will +help themselves. Of course they are generally devoured +by the wolves, to secure them from which, however, they +are covered with wood and stones. Other corpses are usually +placed on trees, as among the Sioux, and sometimes on +scaffolds. They are tied up in buffalo hides, and three or +four are sometimes laid in one tree.</p> + +<p>The language of the Assiniboins is, on the whole, the +same as that of the Sioux, altered by their long separation, +and the influence of time and circumstances. Like them, +they have many gutturals and nasal tones; in general, however, +it is an harmonious language, which a German pronounces +without difficulty.</p> + +<p class="center p10"> +<span class="b15">Important</span><br /> +<span class="b15">Historical Publications</span><br /> +OF<br /> +<span class="b15">The Arthur H. Clark Company</span></p> + +<hr class="l15" /> + +<p class="center">Full descriptive circulars will be mailed +on application</p> + +<div class="narrow_body"> +<p class="center b15 p6"> +AUDUBON'S WESTERN<br /> +JOURNAL: 1849-1850</p> +<hr class="l100" /> +<p>Being the MS. record of a trip from New York to +Texas, and an overland journey through Mexico +and Arizona to the gold-fields of California</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By</span><br /> +<span class="b13"><i>JOHN W. AUDUBON</i></span></p> + +<hr class="l100" /> + +<p class="center">With biographical memoir by his daughter<br /> +<span class="b11">MARIA R. AUDUBON</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="s09"><i>Edited by</i></span><br /> +<span class="b11">FRANK HEYWOOD HODDER</span><br /> +<span class="s09">Professor of American History, University of Kansas</span></p> + +<p class="center"><i>With folded map, portrait, and original drawings</i></p> + +<hr class="l100" /> + +<img src="images/illo_397.jpg" alt="J" width="100" height="95" class="floatl" /> +<p>OHN W. AUDUBON, son of the famous +ornithologist, was a member of Colonel +Webb's California Expedition which +started from New York City for the gold-fields +in February, 1849. The Journal +consists of careful notes which Audubon +made en route. It was written with a view +to publication, accompanied by a series of sketches made +at intervals during the journey; but owing to Audubon's +pre-occupation with other affairs, the plan of publication +was never realized.</p> + +<p>The Journal is, therefore, here published for the first +time, and is illustrated by the author's original sketches, +carefully reproduced. It gives a vivid first-hand picture +of the difficulties of an overland journey to California, and +of the excitements, dangers, and privations of life in the +gold-fields. An additional interest attaches to this account +from the fact that Colonel Webb deserted his party, which +consisted of nearly a hundred men, when the expedition +reached Roma, and the command then by unanimous +choice of the party devolved upon Audubon. This situation, +as modestly related by the author, displays his +sympathetic nature, as well as his keenness and ability as +a leader.</p> + +<p>Besides being a fascinating story of adventure, the Journal +throws much light on the interesting years immediately +following the discovery of gold in California. John W. +Audubon was (with his brother Victor G. Audubon) the +assistant of his father, and executed much of the artistic +work on the famous "Quadrupeds of North America." +His pictures of the spreading of the gold craze in the East, +the journey through Mexico, and the social conditions +after reaching California, show him to be a keen and +faithful observer.</p> + +<p>The Editor, Professor F. H. Hodder, of the University +of Kansas, has supplied complete annotation explaining +matters of topography, natural science, and historical and +personal allusions. Professor Hodder in his editorial work +has drawn liberally upon his special knowledge of the history +and geography of the West and Southwest. A biographical +memoir has been written by Miss Maria R. +Audubon. Being the daughter of the author, she has +availed herself of a large amount of auxiliary material not +accessible to any other biographer.</p> + +<hr class="l15" /> + +<p>Printed direct from type on Dickinson's deckle-edged +paper, and illustrated with folded map, portrait, and plates, +in one volume, 8vo, about 225 pages, cloth, uncut.</p> + +<p>Price $3.00 net.</p> + +<hr class="l15" /> + +<p class="center"> +<span class="b15">The Arthur H. Clark Company</span><br /> +<span class="b12"><i>PUBLISHERS</i></span> <span class="b12">CLEVELAND, OHIO</span></p> +</div> + +<div class="narrow_body"> +<p class="center p6"> +<span class="b15">PERSONAL NARRATIVE</span><br /> +OF<br /></p> +<hr class="l100" /> +<p class="center b15"><i>Travels in Virginia, Maryland,<br /> +Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana,<br /> +Kentucky; and of a Residence in<br /> +the Illinois Territory: 1817-1818</i></p> + +<p class="center s09">BY</p> + +<p class="center b11">ELIAS PYM FORDHAM</p> + +<p class="center">With facsimiles of the author's sketches and plans</p> +<hr class="l100" /> +<p class="center">Edited with Notes, Introduction, Index, etc., by<br /> + +FREDERIC AUSTIN OGG, A.M.<br /> + +<i>Author of "The Opening of the Mississippi"</i></p> + +<hr class="l100" /> + +<p class="sidebar"><b>AN UNPUBLISHED +MS.</b></p> + +<p>This hitherto unpublished MS., which is a +real literary and historical find, was written +in 1817-18 by a young Englishman of excellent education +who assisted Morris Birkbeck in establishing his Illinois +settlement. The author writes anonymously, but by a +careful study of various allusions in the <i>Narrative</i> and +from information furnished by the family in possession +of the MS., has been identified as Elias Pym Fordham. +Landing at Baltimore, he reached the West by way of +Philadelphia, Pittsburg, and the Ohio River to Cincinnati, +describing the people and the country as he went along.</p> +<p class="sidebar"><b>THE MIDDLE +WEST IN 1817</b></p> + +<p>Fordham was an especially well-qualified +observer of the Middle West because of +the numerous journeys he undertook, on land-hunting +trips for new emigrants, in the service of Mr. Birkbeck. +These journeys led him into Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky; +and he never omits the opportunity to make frank and +pointed comment on society, manners, and morals, as well +as careful observations of the face of the country and of +industrial conditions. The style is quite unaffected and +has much natural charm and sprightliness; and the fact +that he wrote anonymously made him much more free in +his comments on contemporary society than would otherwise +have been possible.</p> + +<p class="sidebar"><b>LOCAL AND +PIONEER +HISTORY</b></p> + +<p>These journeys also gave him unexampled +opportunities for contact with the pioneers +of Middle West, and his journal is consequently +rich in <i>personalia</i> of early settlers, remarks on +contemporary history and politics, state of trade, agriculture, +prices, and information on local history not obtainable +elsewhere. He also visited the larger cities and gives +very interesting accounts of Pittsburg and Cincinnati, accompanied +by original sketches and plans. In Kentucky +he had the opportunity to study slavery; and although at +first prejudiced against this institution he finally reached +the conclusion that the slave states offered better chances +of successful settlement than the free states.</p> + +<p class="sidebar"><b>VALUE FOR +READERS AND +STUDENTS</b></p> + +<p>The publication of Fordham's <i>Narrative +</i>with introduction, extensive annotations, +and index by professor Frederic A. Ogg, one +of the best authorities on the history of the Mississippi +Valley, will make accessible to historical students much +new and important material, besides giving the general +reader a book of vital and absorbing interest.</p> + +<hr class="l15" /> + +<p>Printed direct from type on Dickinson's deckle-edged +paper, and illustrated with original sketches and plans, in +one volume, 8vo, about 180 pages, cloth, uncut.</p> + +<p>Price $3.00 net.</p> +<hr class="l15" /> +<p class="center"> +<span class="b15">The Arthur H. Clark Company</span><br /> +<span class="b12"><i>PUBLISHERS</i></span> <span class="b12">CLEVELAND, OHIO</span></p> +</div> + +<p class="center p6">"<i>AN AUTHORITY OF THE HIGHEST IMPORTANCE</i>"—Winsor</p> +<hr class="l100" /> +<div id="ad_box"> +<p>THE<br /> +<span class="b12">PRESENT STATE</span><br /> +OF THE<br /> +<span class="b15">EUROPEAN SETTLEMENTS</span><br /> +ON THE<br /> +<span class="b15">MISSISIPPI;</span><br /> +<span class="s07">WITH</span><br /> +<span class="smcap s09">A Geographical Description of that River</span>.<br /> +<span class="s07">ILLUSTRATED BY</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">PLANS and DRAUGHTS</span>.</p> +<p><span class="s07">By Captain</span> PHILIP PITTMAN.</p> + +<p>LONDON.<br /> +<span class="s07">Printed for</span> <span class="smcap s07">J. Nourse</span><span class="s07">, Bookseller to His MAJESTY.</span><br /> +<span class="s07">MDCCLXX</span></p> +</div> + +<div class="narrow_body"> +<p class="center"><i>Edited with Introduction, Notes, and Index, by</i><br /> +<span class="b12">FRANK HEYWOOD HODDER</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Professor of American History, University of Kansas</span></p> + +<hr class="l100" /> + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>his exceedingly rare work was issued in London, in 1770, and +has been so much in demand by historical students and collectors +of Americana that even imperfect copies of the original are now almost +impossible to obtain at any price. Our text is from a perfect copy of +the original with all the folding maps and plans carefully reproduced.</p> + +<p class="s09">*Only two copies have been offered for sale during the past five years; one copy sold +at $95.00, and the other is now offered by a reliable firm of booksellers at $105.00. +</p> + +<p class="sidebar_lg"><i>A valuable +source work</i></p> + +<p>Pittman's <i>Mississippi Settlements</i> contains much valuable original material +for the study of the French and Spanish +Settlements of old Louisiana, West Florida, and +the Illinois country. The author, Captain Philip +Pittman, was a British military engineer, and +gives an accurate general view of the Mississippi Settlements just after +the English came into possession of the eastern half of the valley by +the Peace of 1763. His account, written from personal observation, +is rich in allusions to the political, social, and military readjustments +resulting from this change of possession. "A comprehensive account +of the Illinois country and its inhabitants, with sketches in detail of +the several French posts and villages situated therein, as personally +viewed by him in 1766-67.... It contains, in a compact form, much +useful and reliable information (nowhere else to be found) concerning +the Mississippi Valley and its people at that transition period."—<span class="smcap">Wallace</span>: +<i>Illinois and Louisiana under French Rule</i>.</p> + +<p class="sidebar_lg"><i>The earliest +English account</i></p> + +<p>Dr. William F. Poole in Winsor's <i>Narrative and Critical History of +America</i> says: "It is the earliest English +account of those settlements, and, as an +authority in early western history, is of the +highest importance. He [Pittman] was a +military engineer, and for five years was employed in surveying the +Mississippi River and exploring the western country. The excellent +plans which accompany the work, artistically engraved on copper, +add greatly to its value."</p> + +<p class="sidebar_lg"><i>Annotation by +Professor Hodder</i></p> + +<p>An introduction, notes, and index have been supplied by Professor +Frank Heywood Hodder, who has made a +special study of American historical geography. +The value of the reprint is thus +enhanced by annotation embodying the results +of the latest researches in this field of American history.</p> + +<hr class="l15" /> + +<p>The edition is limited to 500 copies, each numbered. It is handsomely +printed in large Caslon type on Dickinson's deckle-edged +paper. With folding maps and plans. Large 8vo, cloth, uncut, gilt top.</p> + +<p>Price $3.00 net.</p> + +<hr class="l15" /> + +<p class="center"> +<span class="b15">The Arthur H. Clark Company</span><br /> +<span class="b12"><i>PUBLISHERS</i></span> <span class="b12">CLEVELAND, OHIO</span></p> +</div> + +<div class="medium_body p6"> +<p class="s07"> +"We cannot thoroughly understand our own history, local or National, without some knowledge +of these routes of trade and war."—<i>The Outlook.</i></p> + +<hr class="l100" /> + +<p class="center"><span class="b15">The Historic Highways of America</span><br /><br /> + +<span class="b12">by</span> <span class="smcap b12">Archer Butler Hulbert</span></p> + +<p>A series of monographs on the History of America as portrayed in the evolution +of its highways of War, Commerce, and Social Expansion.</p> + +<p>Comprising the following volumes:</p> + +<table summary="Historic Highways Volumes"> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">I</td><td class="tdl">—Paths of the Mound-Building Indians and Great Game Animals.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">II</td><td class="tdl">—Indian Thoroughfares.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">III</td><td class="tdl">—Washington's Road: The First Chapter of the Old French War.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">IV</td><td class="tdl">—Braddock's Road.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">V</td><td class="tdl">—The Old Glade (Forbes's) Road.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">VI</td><td class="tdl">—Boone's Wilderness Road.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">VII</td><td class="tdl">—Portage Paths: The Keys of the Continent.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">VIII</td><td class="tdl">—Military Roads of the Mississippi Basin.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">IX</td><td class="tdl">—Waterways of Westward Expansion.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">X</td><td class="tdl">—The Cumberland Road.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">XI, XII</td><td class="tdl">—Pioneer Roads of America, two volumes.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">XIII, XIV</td><td class="tdl">—The Great American Canals, two volumes.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">XV</td><td class="tdl">—The Future of Road-Making in America.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr">XVI</td><td class="tdl">—Index.</td> +</tr> +</table> +<p>Sixteen volumes, crown 8vo, cloth, uncut, gilt tops. A <span class="smcap">LIMITED EDITION</span> +only printed direct from type, and the type distributed. Each volume handsomely +printed in large type on Dickinson's hand-made paper, and illustrated +with maps, plates, and facsimiles.</p> + +<p>Published a volume each two months, beginning September, 1902.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Price</span>, volumes 1 and 2, $2.00 net each; volumes 3 to 16, $2.50 net +each.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Fifty sets printed on large paper</span>, each numbered and <i>signed by the +author</i>. Bound in cloth, with paper label, uncut, gilt tops. Price, $5.00 +net per volume.</p> + +<hr class="l100" /> +<p class="s08"> +"The fruit not only of the study of original historical sources in documents found here and in +England, but of patient and enthusiastic topographical studies, in the course of which every foot of +these old historic highways has been traced and traversed."—<i>The Living Age.</i></p> + +<p class="s08">"The volumes already issued show Mr. Hulbert to be an earnest and enthusiastic student, and a +reliable guide."—<i>Out West.</i></p> + +<p class="s08">"A look through these volumes shows most conclusively that a new source of history is being +developed—a source which deals with the operation of the most effective causes influencing human +affairs."—<i>Iowa Journal of History and Politics.</i></p> + +<p class="s08">"The successive volumes in the series may certainly be awaited with great interest, for they +promise to deal with the most romantic phases of the awakening of America at the dawn of occidental +civilization."—<i>Boston Transcript.</i></p> + +<p class="s08">"The publishers have done their part toward putting forth with proper dignity this important +work. It is issued on handsome paper and is illustrated with many maps, diagrams, and old +prints."—<i>Chicago Evening Post.</i></p> +</div> + +<div class="footnotes p6"> +<p class="center b15">FOOTNOTES</p> +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_1" id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Montana Historical Society <i>Contributions</i>, iii, pp. 206, 207.</p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_2" id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Smithsonian Institution <i>Report</i>, 1885, part ii, p. 378.</p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_3" id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Consult James's <i>Long's Expedition</i>, in our volume xiv, p. 75, note 41.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_4" id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> We reprint the account of Long's expedition in our volumes xiv-xvii.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_5" id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> For Edwin (not Edward) James and S. H. Long see preface to our volume +xiv, pp. 10-13, 25, 26; for Thomas Say, <i>ibid.</i>, p. 40, note 1; for Washington +Irving as an authority on Western history, Gregg's <i>Commerce of the Prairies</i>, our +volume xix, p. 161, note 2.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (1793-1864) was a well-known traveller, ethnologist, +and historian. Born in New York, he studied at both Middlebury and Union colleges. +His first tour to the West was in 1817-18, when he made a collection +of minerals in Missouri and Arkansas. In 1820 he accompanied Cass's western +expedition, and the following year acted as secretary of the Indian Commissioners +at Chicago. In 1822 he was made Indian agent at Mackinac, where he resided +for seventeen years, having married a descendant of a Chippewa chief. In 1837 +he was promoted to superintendency of the Northern department, whence he +resigned (1841) to devote himself to literary work. In 1847 Congress authorized +the publication of a work upon Indian tribes, to which Schoolcraft devoted the +latter portion of his life. It appeared as <i>Historical and Statistical Information respecting +the History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United +States</i> (Philadelphia, 1851-57). Schoolcraft belonged to many learned and historical +societies, received a medal from the French Institute, and was in his day +the chief authority on American Indians. Besides the work already cited, he published +much, chief of which is <i>Personal Memoirs</i> (Philadelphia, 1851); <i>Summary +Narrative of an Exploratory Expedition to the Source of the Mississippi River in +1820, resumed and completed by the Discovery of its Origin in Itasca Lake in 1832</i> +(Philadelphia, 1855).</p> + +<p class="footnote">Thomas Lorraine McKenney (1785-1859) was superintendent of trade with +the Indian tribes, 1816-24. In the latter year he was made head of the bureau of +Indian affairs in the war department, also serving frequently as treaty commissioner. +The work to which reference is here made, is <i>Sketches of a Tour to the +Lakes</i> (Baltimore, 1827).</p> + +<p class="footnote">Lewis Cass (1782-1866) had unusual opportunities for contact with the tribesmen. +After taking a prominent part in the War of 1812-15, he was for eighteen +years governor of Michigan Territory. His contributions to Indian bibliography +were a series of articles published in the <i>North American Review</i>, xxvi-xxx +(1828-30).</p> + +<p class="footnote">Peter Stephen Duponceau (1760-1844) was a Frenchman who came to America +during the Revolution. Settling at Philadelphia, he became a member of the +American Philosophical Society, and contributed to its <i>Transactions</i> several articles +on the structure and grammar of Indian languages.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_6" id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Christian Gottfried Nees von Esenbeck (1776-1858), a famous botanist and +physician. He first engaged in the practice of medicine, but in 1818 went to Erlangen +as professor of botany, the next year being called to Bonn, then being professor at +Breslau (1831-52). The number of his published works is considerable.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_7" id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Georg August Goldfuss (1782-1848) was born at Bayreuth, and became privatdocent +at Erlangen, then professor of zoölogy and mineralogy at Bonn and director +of the zoölogical museum.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Robert Göppert (1800-1884) was a botanist and palæontologist. First studying +medicine at Breslau and Berlin, he was professor of botany in the university +at the former place (1831-39). In 1852 he was chosen director of the botanical +gardens at Breslau, where he remained until his death.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_8" id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Achille Valenciennes (1794-1864) was a French zoölogist, a friend and fellow-worker +with Cuvier, and director of the Paris zoölogical museum.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Arend Friedrich August Wiegmann (1802-41) was for a time professor of +zoölogy at Berlin. He founded (1835) <i>Archivs fur Naturgeschichte</i>.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_9" id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Sir William Jackson Hooker (1785-1865) was early devoted to the study +of natural history, making scientific journeys to Scotland in 1806 and to Iceland +in 1809. Later (1814), Hooker prosecuted a nine months' botanical tour on the +continent of Europe. The following year he married and settled on his estate +where he commenced an herbarium; from 1820 to 1841 he was regius professor of +botany at Glasgow, being in 1836 knighted for eminent service to science. From +1841 till his death he was director of Kew Gardens, London. Hooker's interest +in American scientific development was marked, and he dispatched many pupils +on botanical tours to unknown parts of the new continent.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_10" id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Reprinted in our volume xxiv.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_11" id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> George Catlin was born in Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, in 1796, of a New +England family; his mother was a woman of artistic tastes, and had lived on the +Indian border. Early in his career, Catlin heard much of the traditions of the +aborigines, and thus was unconsciously prepared for his later life work. In 1817 +he was sent to study law at Litchfield; returning to Pennsylvania two years later, +he practiced in the rural districts until 1823, when he abandoned the law, and +going to Philadelphia became an artist. For several years he was employed in +painting miniatures and other portraits, going as far as Washington and Albany +to execute orders. Having met at the former city a deputation of American Indians, +Catlin was imbued with a desire to paint the portraits of these vanishing tribesmen, +and in 1832 went west with this purpose in view. Eight years were spent +in native lodges and fur-trade camps; then, with a wealth of material widely known +as Catlin's Collection, he opened a museum—first in the United States (1837-39), +then in London (1840-44). In 1845 he took his collection to Paris, where he remained +until expelled by the Revolution of 1848. He thereupon re-opened his +London museum, with additional material; but in 1852 became involved in debt, +and his collection was shipped to the United States, where it remained neglected +until 1879, when it was presented to the National Museum at Washington. Meanwhile +Catlin visited South and Central America (1852-57), and resided thereafter +in Europe, returning to the United States in 1871 only to die the following year at +Jersey City. The work here referred to was <i>Letters and Notes on the Manners +and Customs of the North American Indians</i> (New York and London, 1841), +more commonly cited by the title of later editions, <i>Notes of Eight Years' Travels</i>. +In an appendix are several vocabularies of the Mandan, Blackfeet, Arikara, Sioux, +and Tuscarora Indians.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_12" id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> This was the American Fur Company's steamer "St. Peter's," which carried +the annual outfit and supplies to the Missouri River forts. Larpenteur, in charge +at Fort Union, says that the vessel arrived June 24, 1837. See Elliott Coues, <i>Forty +Years a Fur-Trader on the Upper Missouri</i> (New York, 1898), pp. 131-135.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_13" id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> For the Mandan see Bradbury's <i>Travels</i>, in our volume v, pp. 113, 114, note +76. This should be Fort Clark, not Fort Leavenworth—an evident <i>lapsus calami</i>. +Fort Clark, named for General William Clark, was an American fur-trade post built +among the Mandan in 1831. See <i>post</i>, chapter xiii, for a detailed description.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_14" id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> For Fort Union see <i>post</i>, chapter xv.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_15" id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Authorities differ as to the numbers perishing by the scourge of 1837. +H. M. Chittenden, <i>History of American Fur-Trade of the Far West</i> (New York, +1902), p. 627, thinks fifteen thousand a large estimate.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_16" id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Hannibal Evans Lloyd (1771-1847), a well-known linguist and translator, +especially interested in works of travel and science. His father had been in the +Seven Years' War, of which he wrote a history. Early in life the son studied German, +and published a grammar and dictionary of that language, as well as an +<i>Englisches Lesebuch</i> (Hamburg, 1832) for the use of German students. Lloyd +lived for several years in Hamburg, and was present during the French invasion +in 1813, of which he afterwards wrote an account. Among his other original works +were lives of George IV of England, and Alexander I of Russia. His translations +were from Swedish, German, and Italian, having Englished Katzebue's +<i>Voyages</i>, Orlich's <i>Travels in India</i>, and Maximilian's Brazilian travels. Under +the signature "H. E. L.," Lloyd was a frequent contributor to the <i>London Literary +Gazette</i> (1817-39). His translation of Maximilian's <i>Travels</i> is clear, simple, and +straightforward; the German original sustains small loss either of style or meaning, +although the translator saw fit in many cases to abbreviate the prince's prolix +descriptions, and to eliminate not only the exceedingly valuable linguistic material, +but much other scientific matter.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_17" id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Charles Lucien Bonaparte, prince of Canino and Musignano (1803-1857), +a noted ornithologist, was the eldest son of Lucien, brother of the great Napoleon. +In 1822 he married Joseph Bonaparte's daughter, came to the United States, and +until 1828 resided with his father-in-law, near Philadelphia, making a careful +study of the birds of that locality. Returning to Italy, he headed the republican +forces at Rome in the Revolution of 1848, and from 1854 until his death, three +years later, was director of the Jardin des Plantes, at Paris. In the United States, +Bonaparte published a supplement to Wilson's <i>Ornithology</i>, entitled <i>American +Ornithology, or History of the Birds of the United States</i> (4 volumes, Philadelphia, +1825-33), containing more than a hundred species which he had discovered. +He wrote numerous articles for scientific journals both in this country and +Europe.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_18" id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> See Plate 1, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_19" id="Footnote_19" href="#FNanchor_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> According to the census of 1830, Boston had 61,392 souls, and with Charlestown, +Roxbury, and Cambridge, about 80,000.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_20" id="Footnote_20" href="#FNanchor_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Vide Mrs. Trollope's "Domestic Manners of the Americans," page 106, +where the authoress is probably right in many points.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><i>Comment by Ed.</i> See Wyeth's <i>Oregon</i>, in our volume xxi, p. 44, note 24.</p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_21" id="Footnote_21" href="#FNanchor_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Captain Benjamin Morrell was born on Long Island (1795), entered the +service of a privateer during the War of 1812-15, was captured by the British +and held in prison until the declaration of peace. After his release he was made +captain of a whaling vessel, and in 1832 published a book of travels entitled, +<i>A Narrative of Four Voyages to the South Sea, North and South Pacific Ocean, +Chinese Sea, Ethiopic and Southern Atlantic Ocean, Indian and Arctic Oceans, +Comprising Critical Surveys of Coasts and Islands with Sailing Directions</i> (New +York). A critical analysis of the book is given in <i>American Quarterly Review</i>, +xiii, pp. 314 ff.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_22" id="Footnote_22" href="#FNanchor_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> The cattle in this part of the country are, in general, large and handsome: +there are oxen with immense horns, almost as in the <i>Campagna di Roma</i>, in Italy; +and they are also large and fat. Their colour is generally brown, as in Germany, +but for the most part, a very shining yellowish, or reddish brown, often spotted +with white. The horns of many are turned rather forwards, and round balls are +just on their tips, that they may not gore with them.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_23" id="Footnote_23" href="#FNanchor_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> See preface to Nuttall's <i>Journal</i>, in our volume xiii.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_24" id="Footnote_24" href="#FNanchor_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> E. A. Greenwood having (1825) purchased the Columbian Museum, +founded in Boston in 1795 by Daniel Bowen, erected a building on Court Street +between Brattle and Cornhill, and started the New England Museum. The latter +was purchased by Moses Kimball (1839), who seven years later constructed the +Boston Museum and Gallery of Fine Arts building on Tremont Street, near Court, +at a cost of a quarter of a million dollars. The stock-company theatre operated in +connection with this institution was long regarded as the best in Boston.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_25" id="Footnote_25" href="#FNanchor_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> For the work of the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, see Wyeth's <i>Oregon</i>, in our volume +xxi, p. 71, note 47.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_26" id="Footnote_26" href="#FNanchor_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> The first recorded death by cholera, in North America, occurred on June +8, 1832, at Quebec. The epidemic began raging in northwest India in 1827-28. +It reached the shores of the Caspian Sea (1829), spread throughout Russia (1829-30), +reached England (1831), and spread to the United States by way of Detroit +the following year. Rapidly extending throughout the union, it counted its victims +in nearly every state and territory.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_27" id="Footnote_27" href="#FNanchor_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> For a brief sketch of Astor, see Franchère's <i>Narrative</i>, in our volume vi, +p. 186, note 8.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_28" id="Footnote_28" href="#FNanchor_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> The Americans report of this pine that, if it is cut down, oaks and other trees +immediately grow up in its place; and if these are cut down, the pines grow up +again, and so continually alternating in the same manner!—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_29" id="Footnote_29" href="#FNanchor_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Richard Harlan (1796-1843) graduated from the medical department of the +University of Pennsylvania (1818), practiced medicine in Philadelphia, and later +occupied the chair of comparative anatomy in the Philadelphia Museum. He +was a member of the Cholera Commission of 1832, and of many learned +societies both in this country and abroad. His chief publications were: <i>Observations +on the Genus Salamandra</i> (Philadelphia, 1824), <i>Fauna Americana</i> (1825), +<i>American Herpitology</i> (1827), <i>Medical and Physical Researches</i> (1835), and a +translation of Gaunal, <i>History Of Embalming</i>, with additions (1840).—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_30" id="Footnote_30" href="#FNanchor_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Joseph Bonaparte (1768-1844) held many positions of trust under his brother +Napoleon. He negotiated the treaty of peace between this country and France +in 1800, and the treaty of Amiens in 1802. He was made king of Naples (1806), +and king of Spain two years later. In an interview with his brother after the +battle of Waterloo, arrangements were made for a meeting in New York. In +the summer of 1815 Joseph Bonaparte, under the assumed title of Comte de +Survilliers, came to the United States and purchased a mansion in Philadelphia, +a country seat of about a thousand acres, near Bordentown, New Jersey, six +miles below Trenton, and later a summer home on the edge of the Adirondack +Mountains. His favorite residence was "Point Breeze," near Bordentown, where +in 1820 he built what was accounted the finest mansion in the state. In 1850, +Henry Beckett, the British consul at Philadelphia, purchased "Point Breeze," +and demolished its mansion. Joseph Bonaparte was in Europe from 1832 to +1837; the next two years in this country; and in 1841 went to Florence, Italy, +where he died. His benevolence and hospitality won for him much admiration +in the United States. See our volumes xi, p. 159, and xii, p. 79.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_31" id="Footnote_31" href="#FNanchor_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> On February 4, 1830, the state legislature of New Jersey granted a charter +for the Camden and Amboy Railroad.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_32" id="Footnote_32" href="#FNanchor_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> We were told that the Virginian deer were formerly very numerous here, but +that it had been found necessary to shoot them, because, in the rutting season, +they roamed about and did great damage to the crops.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_33" id="Footnote_33" href="#FNanchor_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> For Major Long's <i>Expedition</i>, see our volumes xiv-xvii. Short notes on +the Peale family, Seymour, and Say may be found in our volume xiv, pp. 39-41, +note 2.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_34" id="Footnote_34" href="#FNanchor_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> Bethlehem is today a post borough and summer resort in Southampton +County, Pennsylvania, fifty-six miles north of Philadelphia. At times during the +Revolutionary War, it was the general hospital headquarters for the Continental +army and about five hundred soldiers were buried there. In 1740, under the +leadership of Whitefield, a small body of Moravians who had recently migrated +to Georgia settled on the Forks of the Delaware. Within a few weeks, however, +doctrinal differences influenced Whitefield to expel the Moravians from his estate. +Through the labors of Bishop Nitschmann, the latter purchased from William +Allen five hundred acres on the banks of the Lehigh River. Count Zinzendorf, +visiting the hamlet at Christmas in the same year, named it Bethlehem. It has +since remained the centre of the northern division of the Moravian church in the +United States.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_35" id="Footnote_35" href="#FNanchor_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> Lewis David von Schweinitz was born at Bethlehem (1780), and died there +in 1834. Educated in Germany, he returned to the United States and won a +large reputation as a botanist being made a member of various scientific societies +in this country and Europe. He added fourteen hundred new species to the +catalogue of American flora, wrote numerous books on botany, and at his death +bequeathed to the Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia his herbarium, at +that time the largest in North America.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Before coming to Pennsylvania, John D. Anders (1771-1847) had charge of +the Moravian church at Berlin, where his great ability attracted much attention +among the students of the university. In 1827 he was appointed to preside over +the northern district of the American Moravian church. This position he held +until 1836, when he was elected to the supreme executive board of the <i>Unitas +Fratrum</i>.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_36" id="Footnote_36" href="#FNanchor_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> See Plate 34, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_37" id="Footnote_37" href="#FNanchor_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> Born and educated in Prussia, John Gottlieb Herman came to the United +States in 1817, and taught and preached in Pennsylvania until 1844, when he was +elected to the supreme executive board of the Moravian church. During a part +of his stay in America, he was principal of Brown's boarding school for boys. +After a brief mission to the West Indies, he was elected president of the synod +of the entire Moravian church, held in Herrnhut, Saxony. Returning to the +United States in 1849, he died (1854) in the wilds of southwest Missouri while +returning from a mission to the Cherokee Indians.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_38" id="Footnote_38" href="#FNanchor_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> The Lehigh Navigation Company, chartered August 10, 1818, was consolidated +in 1820 with the Lehigh Coal Company, and since 1821 has been known +as the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. Temporary navigation of the +Lehigh River being opened by 1820, coal was floated down to the Delaware and +thence to Philadelphia, where the scows were broken up. In 1827 the company +began the construction of a canal which by 1829 was completed between Mauch +Chunk and Easton. A line to White Haven was opened (1835), and to Stoddartsville +(1838). In 1827 there was opened the Mauch Chunk (gravity) Railroad, +the second of its kind in the United States, being in 1828 extended to Room +Run and the Beaver Meadow region; in 1840 the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad +was completed by the same company. In July, 1825, the Morris Canal +and Banking Company, under a charter of the preceding year, commenced work +on a twenty-mile canal between the Delaware and Newark, New Jersey, and completed +it in 1831. Later the canal was extended to Jersey City, a distance of eleven +miles.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_39" id="Footnote_39" href="#FNanchor_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> When found by Europeans, the Delaware Indians were living in detached +bands along the Delaware River. A tribe of the Algonquian family, they comprised +three powerful clans—the Turtle, Turkey, and Wolf—see Post's <i>Journals</i> in our +volume i, p. 220, note 57. By 1753 a portion of the tribe had migrated to the Ohio, +and by 1786 all had settled west of the Allegheny Mountains. They had aided +Pontiac in his attack upon Fort Pitt, and allied themselves with the English during +the Revolutionary War. Defeated, they established themselves along the banks +of the Huron River in Ohio and in Canada. Neutral during the War of 1812-15, +they sold their lands to the United States and occupied a reservation along White +River, in Indiana. By subsequent treaties the Delaware were removed to Missouri, +Kansas, and Texas; and in 1867 they were incorporated among the Cherokee, +and stationed with the latter in Indian Territory.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_40" id="Footnote_40" href="#FNanchor_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Copious springs issuing from the white sand.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_41" id="Footnote_41" href="#FNanchor_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> The names of all these rivers, streams, and many places, are, for the most +part, harmonious with many vowels, and are derived from the ancient Delaware +or Lenni-lappe language. <i>Tobihanna</i> means alder brook. See Duponceau, in the +Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, vol. iv. part iii. page 351, on +the names from the Delaware languages still current in Pennsylvania, Maryland, +New Jersey, and Virginia.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_42" id="Footnote_42" href="#FNanchor_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> See Plate 4, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_43" id="Footnote_43" href="#FNanchor_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> The wood of this shrub is extremely solid and hard.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_44" id="Footnote_44" href="#FNanchor_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> See p. <a href="#illo107">107</a>, for illustration of bear-trap.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_45" id="Footnote_45" href="#FNanchor_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> Wilkes-Barre, seat of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, and eighteen miles +southwest of Scranton, was laid out in 1769 and named jointly for John Wilkes +and Colonel Barre, members of the British parliament. The town is near the +famous "mammoth vein," of anthracite coal, nineteen million tons of which were +mined in the vicinity of Wilkes-Barre in 1900. The census report for that year +exhibited a population of 51,721.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_46" id="Footnote_46" href="#FNanchor_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> The Susquehanna and Tide Water Canal Company was a consolidation +of the Susquehanna Canal Company of Pennsylvania, and the Tide Water Canal +Company of Maryland. It was encouraged by both states, Maryland lending it +credit to the amount of a million dollars. It was opened in 1840. See Henry +V. Poor, <i>History of the Railroads and Canals of the United States</i> (New York, +1860), p. 552.</p> + +<p class="footnote">In 1840 the total mileage of canals in Pennsylvania was twelve hundred and +eighty; of which four hundred and thirty-two were owned by private companies; +the total mileage of railroads in the same year was seven hundred and ninety-five. +See Henry F. Walling and O. W. Gray, <i>New Topographical Atlas of the State +of Pennsylvania</i> (Philadelphia, 1872), p. 30.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_47" id="Footnote_47" href="#FNanchor_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> The executive council of Philadelphia presented General William Ross +with a costly sword for his "gallant services of July 4, 1788," in rescuing Colonel +Pickering from kidnappers. Ross was later made general of the militia, and in +1812 elected to the state senate from the district of Northumberland and Luzerne; +he died (1842) at the age of eighty-two.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_48" id="Footnote_48" href="#FNanchor_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> Tomaqua lies in the coal district at the end of the little Schuylkill Valley, near +Tuscarora. In this country the discovery of the coal has caused agriculture to be +neglected, and thousands of people are said to have been ruined by unsuccessful +speculations.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_49" id="Footnote_49" href="#FNanchor_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> See Plate 5, in accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_50" id="Footnote_50" href="#FNanchor_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> Josiah White, early interested in mechanics, purchased an estate on the +Schuylkill, five miles above Philadelphia, constructed a dam across the river, +and erected there a wire mill. Later, he sought a contract for furnishing Philadelphia +with water by means of power generated at this dam. After long negotiations +the city purchased the plant, belonging to White and Gillingham, his partner, +and constructed the Fairmount water works. White, together with Erskine +Hazard, then directed his activities to the Lehigh coal fields, and became the active +promoter of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. White resided at Mauch +Chunk from 1818 to 1831, and then moved to Philadelphia where he died (1850) +at the age of seventy. His name is inseparably connected with the canal system +of Pennsylvania; see <i>History of the Counties of Lehigh and Carbon</i> (Philadelphia, +1884), p. 670.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_51" id="Footnote_51" href="#FNanchor_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> Lehighton—a corruption of the Delaware, Lechauwekink, "where there +are forks"—is a post borough in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, on the west bank +of the Lehigh, twenty-five miles above Allentown. It was laid out in 1794 on the +lands of Jacob Weiss and William Henry, and the population in 1900 is reported +as 4,269.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_52" id="Footnote_52" href="#FNanchor_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> Loskiel, in his history of the Indian Missions (pp. 415 and 416), gives the following +account of this affair. "On the 24th of November, 1755, the house of the +Indian Missionaries in Gnadenhütten, on the Mahony, was attacked in the evening +by hostile Indians, and burnt. Eleven persons perished: <i>viz.</i>, nine in the flames, +one of the brethren was shot, and another cruelly butchered, and then scalped. +Three brethren, and one sister (the wife of one of them), and a boy, escaped by +flight; the woman and the boy, by a fortunate leap from the burning roof. One +of those who escaped, the Missionary Sensemann, who, at the beginning of the attack, +had gone out of the back door to see what might be the cause of the violent +barking of the dogs, and who of course was not able to return to those whom he +had left in the house, had the affliction to see his wife perish in the flames."—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><i>Comment by Ed.</i> Gnadenhütten was a mission established (1746) by the Moravians +for their converts among the Delaware Indians; it was placed under the +charge of Martin Mack.</p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_53" id="Footnote_53" href="#FNanchor_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> Weissport is today a village of more than six hundred inhabitants, four +miles southeast of Mauch Chunk. It was laid out by Colonel Jacob Weiss and +his brother Francis.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_54" id="Footnote_54" href="#FNanchor_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> Allentown, the seat of Lehigh County, sixteen miles southwest of Easton, +was laid out (1752) by William Allen, chief justice of Pennsylvania. In 1811 +it was incorporated with the borough of Northampton, but in 1838 reverted to +its old name. Allentown is today one of the chief seats of furniture-making in +the United States, and second only to Paterson in production of American silk. +Its population in 1900 was 35,416.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_55" id="Footnote_55" href="#FNanchor_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> This plant, called by the Americans the poke plant, is used, in many parts, +as a vegetable for the table. When the plant is young, and not above six inches +high, of a whitish, and not dark green colour, the leaves are tender, and very delicate. +It is thought that it might be very advisable to cultivate it in the kitchen +gardens.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_56" id="Footnote_56" href="#FNanchor_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> Huntingdon, seat of the county of the same name, was settled about 1760 +on the site of a famous Indian council ground, and named for Selena, Countess +of Huntingdon. It was incorporated in 1760, and had a population at the last +federal census of 6,053.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_57" id="Footnote_57" href="#FNanchor_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> New Alexandria is a small village in Westmoreland County, on Loyalhanna +Creek, thirty-three miles east of Pittsburg.</p> + +<p class="footnote">New Salem (or Salem), in the same county, twenty-five miles east of Pittsburg, +was laid out in 1833.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Many early western travellers give descriptions and historical accounts of +Pittsburg. See particularly Cuming's <i>Tour</i>, in our volume iv, pp. 242-255.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_58" id="Footnote_58" href="#FNanchor_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> James R. Lambdin was born in Pittsburg (1807), studied under Thomas +Sully, of Philadelphia (1823-25), and began painting in his native town. Later he +made professional visits to the chief towns between Pittsburg and Mobile, and started +a museum of art and antiquities at Louisville, Kentucky, where he lived several years. +From 1837 until his death in 1889 he resided principally in Philadelphia, but +painted much at Washington, executing portraits of all the presidents from John Q. +Adams to James A. Garfield. Lambdin was appointed by President Buchanan +(May 15, 1859) as one of the three members of the Art Commission provided for +by acts of Congress on June 12, 1858, and March 3, 1859, for the purpose of +a survey of the public buildings at Washington and submitting a report on the +system of decorations hitherto used, and recommending plans to secure a harmonious +effect in the future. For this report, dated February 22, 1860, see +<i>Executive Documents, 36 Cong., 1 sess., No. 43</i>.—<span class="smcap">Ed</span>.</p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_59" id="Footnote_59" href="#FNanchor_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> See Plate 6 in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_60" id="Footnote_60" href="#FNanchor_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> Maximilian is here referring to Duke Bernard, <i>Travels through North America +during the Years 1825-26</i> (2 vols., Philadelphia, 1828). For a short statement +of George Rapp and his enterprises, see Hulme's <i>Journal</i>, in our volume x, pp. 50 +and 54, notes 22 and 25 respectively.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Economy, an Ohio River town, in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, seventeen +miles northwest of Pittsburg, was settled by the Harmonites in 1825. The property +of the community is now quite valuable, but in 1902 the membership was only +eight. Celibacy has been encouraged and new members have not been solicited, +and the property is now in the hands of a single trustee.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_61" id="Footnote_61" href="#FNanchor_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> For the early history of Wheeling, see A. Michaux's <i>Travels</i>, in our volume +iii, p. 33, note 15.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_62" id="Footnote_62" href="#FNanchor_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> For notes on Canonsburg, Washington, and Alexandria, see Harris's <i>Journal</i>, +in our volume iii, pp. 347, 348, notes 31, 32, 33 respectively. The Associate Presbyterian +Theological Seminary was organized at Canonsburg in 1794, with Rev. +John Anderson as the first instructor.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_63" id="Footnote_63" href="#FNanchor_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> For Elizabeth Town, New Town, and Sistersville, see, respectively, Cuming's +<i>Tour</i>, in our volume iv, p. 34, note 7; A. Michaux's <i>Travels</i>, in our volume iii, +p. 49, note 66; and Woods's <i>English Prairie</i>, in our volume x, p. 223, note 25.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Henry S. Tanner (1786-1858), a resident of Philadelphia, engraved and published +atlases and separate maps. Worthy of mention are the <i>New American +Atlas</i> (Philadelphia, 1817-23), <i>The World</i> (1825), <i>Map of the United States of +Mexico</i> (1825), <i>Map of the United States of America</i> (1829). Tanner was a member +of the geographical societies of London and Paris, made numerous contributions +to periodicals, and published the <i>American Traveller</i> (Philadelphia, 1836), +<i>Central Traveller</i> (New York, 1840), <i>New Picture of Philadelphia</i> (Philadelphia, +1840), <i>Description of the Canals and Railroads of the United States</i> (New York, +1840), and <i>View of the Valley of the Mississippi</i> (Philadelphia, 1832).—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_64" id="Footnote_64" href="#FNanchor_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> Maximilian is probably here referring to the hamlet Newport, in Washington +County, instead of to Newark. Newport was not laid out as a village until 1839. +For an account of Marietta see A. Michaux's <i>Travels</i>, in our volume iii, p. 34, +note 16.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_65" id="Footnote_65" href="#FNanchor_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> Benjamin Smith Barton (1766-1815) studied in Philadelphia, Edinburgh, +London, and Göttingen, practiced medicine in Philadelphia, and for a number of +years taught in the college of that city and its successor, the University of Pennsylvania. +He made numerous contributions to scientific journals, and published +<i>Observations on Some Parts of Natural History</i> (London, 1787), <i>New Views on +the Origin of the Tribes of America</i> (1797), etc.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Caleb Atwater (1778-1867) went to Ohio in 1811, served several years in the +legislature of that state, and was appointed Indian commissioner under Jackson. +He published <i>A Tour to Prairie du Chien</i> (1831), <i>Western Antiquities</i> (1833), +<i>Writings of Caleb Atwater</i> (1833), and <i>History of Ohio</i> (1838).</p> + +<p class="footnote">Christian Schultz, <i>Travels on an Inland Voyage through the States of New York, +Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and through the territories of +Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi and New Orleans: performed in the years 1807-1808</i> +(New York, 1810).</p> + +<p class="footnote">David Baillie Warden (1778-1845) was for many years United States consul +at Paris. He was much interested in antiquities and published <i>Recherches sur +les Antiquités de l'Amérique Septentrionale</i> (Paris, 1827); also earlier <i>A Statistical, +Political, and Historical Account of the United States of North America</i> (Edinburgh, +1819).—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_66" id="Footnote_66" href="#FNanchor_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> Audubon (see "Ornithological Biography," vol. i. p. 156) mentions an instance +of a cow that swam in to the window of a house which was seven feet above the +ground, and sixty feet above low-watermark.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_67" id="Footnote_67" href="#FNanchor_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> For Parkersburg, see Woods's <i>English Prairie</i>, in our volume x, p. 224, +note 27. The other settlement should be Belpré, for which see our volume iv, +p. 127, note 87.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_68" id="Footnote_68" href="#FNanchor_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> For points of historic interest connected with the Little Hockhocking (Hocking) +River, see Croghan's <i>Journals</i>, in our volume i, p. 131, note 99.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Shade Creek rises in Atkins County, flows southeast through Meigs County, +and enters the Ohio about twenty-one miles below Blennerhassett's Island.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_69" id="Footnote_69" href="#FNanchor_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> For Point Pleasant and Gallipolis, see respectively Croghan's <i>Journals</i>, in +our volume i, p. 132, note 101, and F. A. Michaux's <i>Travels</i>, volume iii, p. 185, +note 34.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_70" id="Footnote_70" href="#FNanchor_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> Racoon Creek, ninety miles in length, drains Vinton County, Ohio, flows +through Gallia County, and joins the Ohio River seven miles below Gallipolis.</p> + +<p class="footnote">For Guyandotte River, see Woods's <i>English Prairie</i>, in our volume x, p. 229, +note 33.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_71" id="Footnote_71" href="#FNanchor_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> Symmes Creek, which enters the Ohio five miles above Burlington, probably +derived its name, like the village Symmes, from John Cleves Symmes, appointed +judge in the Northwest Territory in 1787. In 1788 Judge Symmes received a +federal grant of a million acres of public land, upon which was founded Cincinnati +and North Bend.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Burlington, in the southwestern extremity of Ohio, was once the seat of Lawrence +County.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Catlettsburg, here incorrectly written Cadetsburg, is the seat of Boyd County, +Kentucky. See Cuming's <i>Tour</i>, in our volume iv, p. 155, note 103.</p> + +<p class="footnote">The Sandy, or the Big Sandy, River (not creek), formed by the junction of +Tug and Levisa forks, flows north to the Ohio River, separating the states of Kentucky +and West Virginia. It drains an area of four thousand square miles, and +is navigable for small steamboats to a distance of a hundred miles.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Hanging Rock, named for a high sandstone escarpment, is on the right bank +of the river, three miles below Ironton.</p> + +<p class="footnote">For Greenupsburg and Governor Greenup, see Woods's <i>English Prairie</i>, in +our volume x, p. 229, note 34.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Concerning the historic importance of the Scioto River, see Croghan's <i>Journals</i>, +in our volume i, p. 134, note 102; and for the Ohio Canal, see Flint's <i>Letters</i> in +our volume ix, p. 96, note 44.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Rockville, Adams County, Ohio, was laid out in 1830.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_72" id="Footnote_72" href="#FNanchor_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> Adamsville, Muskingum County, Ohio, was laid out in 1832 by M. Adams.</p> + +<p class="footnote">For the early history of Manchester, Ohio, and its founder, General Nathaniel +Massie, see Cuming's <i>Tour</i>, in our volume iv, p. 160, note 107.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Aberdeen, Brown County, Ohio, was laid out by Nathan Ellis in 1816.</p> + +<p class="footnote">For Ripley, see Woods's <i>English Prairie</i>, in our volume x, p. 233, note 41; for +Vanceburg, see Cuming's <i>Tour</i>, in our volume iv, p. 165, note 111; for Maysville, +see A. Michaux's <i>Travels</i>, in our volume iii, p. 35, note 23; and for Augusta, see +Flint's <i>Letters</i>, in our volume ix, p. 148, note 69.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Neville, in Clermont County, Ohio, was settled by John Gregg in 1795.</p> + +<p class="footnote">The "Helen Mar" steamboat (88 tons) was built at Cincinnati in 1832; it was +reported as being out of commission in 1837.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Moscow, Clermont County, Ohio, was laid out by Owen Davis (1816); and +Point Pleasant, five miles farther down the river, in the same county, was platted +in the same year by Joseph Jackson for its proprietor, Henry Ludlow.</p> + +<p class="footnote">For New Richmond, see Flint's <i>Letters</i>, in our volume ix, p. 148, note 70.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_73" id="Footnote_73" href="#FNanchor_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> For the founding of Cincinnati, see Cuming's <i>Tour</i>, in our volume iv, p. 256, +note 166.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_74" id="Footnote_74" href="#FNanchor_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> For Big Bone Lick and the remains of the mammoth found there, see Croghan's +<i>Journals</i>, in our volume i, p. 135, note 104.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_75" id="Footnote_75" href="#FNanchor_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> In Ferussac's "Bulletin des Sciences," 1831, there is a notice of a colossal +animal, sixty feet long, lately discovered there, and the whole story was invented, +merely to attract visitors. In Silliman's American Journal (Vol. xx. No. 2, July, +1831, page 370), there is a correct description of these bones, in refutation of the +preceding statement.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_76" id="Footnote_76" href="#FNanchor_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> On the early history of Louisville and the Falls of the Ohio, see Croghan's +<i>Journals</i> in our volume i, p. 136, note 106.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_77" id="Footnote_77" href="#FNanchor_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> Portland was laid out in 1814 for the proprietor, William Lytle; it was incorporated +in 1834, and annexed to Louisville in 1837.</p> + +<p class="footnote">The "Water Witch" (120 tons) was built at Nashville in 1831, being sunk near +Plaquemine, Louisiana, two years later.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_78" id="Footnote_78" href="#FNanchor_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> For New Albany, see Hulme's <i>Journal</i>, in our volume x, p. 44, note 15.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_79" id="Footnote_79" href="#FNanchor_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> Brandenburg is the seat of Meade County, Kentucky, forty miles below +Louisville. It was incorporated in 1825, and named after Colonel Solomon Brandenburg, +the proprietor.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Leavenworth, named for Messrs. S. M. and J. Leavenworth, is the seat of +justice in Crawford County, Indiana. It was located in 1818.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Rome, Perry County, Indiana, was laid out (May, 1818) by one Cummings, +and named Washington; in the fall of the same year the name was changed to +Franklin; when it was made the county seat in 1819, it was given its present name. +See <i>History of Warrick, Spencer, and Perry Counties, Indiana</i> (Chicago, 1885).</p> + +<p class="footnote">Stevensport was incorporated in 1825. Cloverport, originally Jossville, was +established in 1828.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_80" id="Footnote_80" href="#FNanchor_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> For Rockport, see Woods's <i>English Prairie</i>, in our volume x, p. 251, note 58.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Owensboro (incorrectly written Owenburg) is the seat of justice for Daviess +County, Kentucky. Originally called Rossborough, the name was later changed +to that now used, being given in honor of Colonel Abraham Owen, killed in the +battle of Tippecanoe. The town was incorporated February 3, 1817.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_81" id="Footnote_81" href="#FNanchor_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> An account of the founding of Evansville is given in Hulme's <i>Journal</i>, in +our volume x, p. 45, note 16.</p> + +<p class="footnote">For Henderson, see Cuming's <i>Tour</i>, in our volume iv, p. 267, note 175.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_82" id="Footnote_82" href="#FNanchor_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> For Mount Vernon, see Flint's <i>Letters</i>, in our volume ix, p. 306, note 154. +A short account of New Harmony is given in Hulme's <i>Journal</i>, in our volume x, +p. 50, note 22.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_83" id="Footnote_83" href="#FNanchor_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> Robert Owen (1771-1858) was a prominent English socialist and propagandist. +Rising from the ranks of workingmen, by shrewd business capacity he +acquired a fortune, which he devoted to the improvement of the conditions of +working people, and to the spread of principles of co-operation and education. +His factory and schools at New Lanark, Scotland, became famous, and were visited +by eminent reformers. He was also instrumental in securing the first Factory +Act, protecting the rights of children. In 1825 he purchased New Harmony, +Indiana, for the purpose of establishing a co-operative community. Owen's connection +with this experiment was dissolved about 1828, although his sons remained +on the property many years. The latter years of his life were entirely devoted to +theoretical discussion, erratic journalism, and socialistic experimentation. He +is considered the founder of the co-operative movement in England.</p> + +<p class="footnote">William Maclure (1763-1840), a wealthy merchant, geologist, and philanthropist, +made an unsuccessful attempt (1819) to found an agricultural school at Alicaut, +Spain, for the benefit of the poorer classes. In 1824 he went with Robert Owen +to New Harmony and took charge of the educational department. The following +year, however, together with a hundred and fifty followers, he withdrew to found +Macluria. Later, they purchased the New Harmony establishment, and for a +short time conducted a school of industry destined to early failure. In 1827, +because of failing health, he went to Mexico, where he died (1840).—<span class="smcap">Ed</span>.</p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_84" id="Footnote_84" href="#FNanchor_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> Jean Baptiste Audebert (1759-1800), an eminent French painter, engraver, +and naturalist, published <i>A Natural History of Apes, Lemurs, and Galeopitheci</i>, +with numerous plates (1800), and <i>A History of Humming Birds, Fly Catchers, +Jacamars and Promerap</i> (1 vol., 1802). Audebert at his death left unfinished several +works on birds, subsequently edited by Vieillot and Destray.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_85" id="Footnote_85" href="#FNanchor_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> See Plate 8, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_86" id="Footnote_86" href="#FNanchor_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> See Plate 25, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_87" id="Footnote_87" href="#FNanchor_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> <i>Cervus major</i>, or <i>Canadensis</i>. I have retained the American name of elk +for this animal, but it must not be confounded with the elendthier (<i>Cervus alces</i>), +which is sometimes called elk, in Prussia. The name wapiti, given to it by the +English, which is derived from one of the Indian languages, ought never to be used, +because it is scarcely known to anybody, even in America.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_88" id="Footnote_88" href="#FNanchor_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> Edward Pöppig (1798-1868) was educated as a naturalist at Leipzig. He +travelled in Cuba and the United States (1822-24), and subsequently went to South +America, returning to Germany in 1832. In 1845 he was elected professor of +zoölogy at the University of Leipzig and died in 1868. He wrote <i>Reise in Chila, +Peru und auf dem Amazonenstromer</i> (Leipzig, 1835-36), and <i>Landschaftliche Ansichten +und erläuterude Darstellungen aus dem Gebiete der Erdbunde</i> (Leipzig, 1838).</p> + +<p class="footnote">For Mrs. Trollope, see Wyeth's <i>Oregon</i>, in our volume xxi, p. 44, note 24; +for Doctor Drake, see Flint's <i>Letters</i>, in our volume ix, p. 121, note 61.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_89" id="Footnote_89" href="#FNanchor_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> For a brief sketch of Lesueur, see our volume xvi, p. 138, note 60.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752-1840) was a distinguished professor in +the University of Göttingen. As a recognition of his ability, he was in 1812 elected +secretary of the Royal Society of Sciences.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_90" id="Footnote_90" href="#FNanchor_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> Mr. Lesueur sketched these from memory, having parted with the originals.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><i>Comment by Ed.</i> See opposite page for illustration of Indian pipes.</p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_91" id="Footnote_91" href="#FNanchor_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> See the "Disseminator" for 1831. Say writes—"Some arrow-heads and +knives made of flint were found in the same tumulus, which are perfectly like those +often found on the surface. These arrow-heads are generally known, but the instrument +which probably served as a knife, deserves more particular consideration. +It is from an inch and a half to two inches and a quarter long, from three-tenths to +seven-tenths broad, and has two edges; in shape it resembles the obsidian knives +of the ancient Aztecks, or, perhaps, of the Tultecks, of which we found a great +many near the Mexican city of Chalco, and of which there are engravings in one +of the last numbers of 'Silliman's Journal.' We have compared several specimens +of flint and obsidian knives, and found them as perfectly alike as if they had been +made by the same artist, and as the difference of the material allows. If we cannot +decide how far this fact may serve to confirm the hieroglyphic accounts of the +emigration of the Aztecks and Tultecks from north to south, it seems, however, to +strengthen the conjecture that the remote ancestors of the present Mexicans erected +the tumuli and walls which are spread in such numbers over this country, and of +the origin of which the present race of red men have no tradition." These obsidian +knives are likewise represented in one of the early volumes of the French Academy, +but Warden does not mention them in his "Antiquités Mexicaines." He puts the +question, whether the people of the Ohio Valley may not have been a colony of the +ancient inhabitants of Palenque? The old tumuli of Harmony appear, at least, +to belong to a kindred race. On this obscure but highly interesting subject, see +Alex. V. Humboldt, "Voy. au Nouv. Cont." t. iii. p. 155, &c.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_92" id="Footnote_92" href="#FNanchor_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> This must have been a wandering band either of Sauk and Foxes (the latter +of whom often were entitled "Musquake") or of Mascoutin. The Indian title +to this region had been extinguished in 1804; see note 92, <i>post</i>. Possibly they were +Potawatomi, several of whose chiefs bore names resembling these.</p> + +<p class="footnote">An account of the battle of Tippecanoe is given in Evans's <i>Tour</i>, in our volume +viii, p. 286, note 131.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_93" id="Footnote_93" href="#FNanchor_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> Some of the southern tribes of the North American Indians still use such +wooden pipes. I have seen such belonging to the Cherokees, which were in the +shape of a bear. The opening for the tobacco was on the back, and the tube fixed +near the tail.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_94" id="Footnote_94" href="#FNanchor_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> For the Kickapoo and Mascoutin (Masquiton) Indians, see Croghan's <i>Journals</i>, +in our volume i, p. 139, note 111; for the Potawatomi (Potanons), <i>ibid.</i>, p. 115, +note 84. The Piankeshaw and Miami are respectively noted in our volume i, +p. 142, note 115; p. 27, note 24. The Wyandot (Viandots) were the Huron; see +our volume i, p. 29, note 26.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Two treaties—the first with the Delawares, signed August 18, 1804; the second +with the Piankeshaw, August 27, 1804—were concluded by William Henry +Harrison at Vincennes. By these treaties all the southwestern portion of Indiana +below the Vincennes tract already ceded, became the property of the United States. +See W. H. Smith, <i>History of Indiana</i> (Indianapolis, 1897), pp. 230-233.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_95" id="Footnote_95" href="#FNanchor_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> Bloomington, the seat of Monroe County, Indiana, was laid out by Benjamin +Park, July 12, 1818.</p> + +<p class="footnote">By the two acts of March 26, 1804, and April 16, 1816, Congress granted two +townships of land, subsequently located in Gibson and Monroe counties "for the +use of a seminary of learning." The territorial legislature on November 9, 1806, +established in the borough of Vincennes "an university to be known by the name +and style of the Vincennes University." The attempt proved a failure, and the +land was transferred to the Indiana Seminary created on January 20, 1820. The +latter was, on January 24, 1828, raised to the dignity of Indiana College, and on +February 15, 1838, to Indiana University.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_96" id="Footnote_96" href="#FNanchor_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> The other taxes were at this time the following:—1. Poll-tax, thirty-seven +and a half cents per head, per annum. 2. Land-tax, according to the quality of +the land; in Illinois, one and a half cents per acre on land of the best quality. +3. Watch-tax, twenty-five cents on a silver watch, and half a dollar on a gold +watch. 4. Horse-tax, thirty-five cents on every horse above three years old. +Twenty-five cents on every pair of draught oxen. This was the case in Indiana; +in Illinois, a tax of half a dollar, on the value of 100 dollars for every head of cattle +above three years old. All grocers who sell sugar, coffee, and spirituous liquors, +pay a tax in Indiana, as well as publicans. The landlord of the inn at which we +lodged, paid a tax of ten dollars per annum. All these taxes are levied by the +Government of the State, and are liable to be changed.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_97" id="Footnote_97" href="#FNanchor_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> See p. <a href="#illo175b">175</a>, for illustration of neck-yoke and plow.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_98" id="Footnote_98" href="#FNanchor_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> In the splendid work, "Genus Pinus," by my lamented friend, A. B. Lambert, +Esq., Vice-President of the Linnean Society, lately deceased, there is a plate and +an interesting account of this tree. Mr. Lambert states that "it was introduced +into England by Lord Bagot, from seeds received from the celebrated naturalist, +Mr. Correa de Serra, then ambassador of Portugal to the United States. Lord +Bagot has two fine trees in his conservatory, and was so good as to give me plants +of it, which are now growing in my conservatory at Boyton."—<span class="smcap">H. Evans Lloyd.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_99" id="Footnote_99" href="#FNanchor_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> Fox River, a bayou of the Big Wabash River, in the eastern portion of Philip +Township, White County, Illinois, cuts off about six miles of territory, known as +Fox Island.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_100" id="Footnote_100" href="#FNanchor_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> See Bodmer's view of this junction, Plate 38, in the accompanying atlas, +our volume xxv.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_101" id="Footnote_101" href="#FNanchor_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> See Evans's <i>Pedestrious Tour</i>, in our volume viii, p. 192, note 45.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_102" id="Footnote_102" href="#FNanchor_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> This <i>Nymphæa</i> had, in January, thrown out short pedunculi, near to its +tuberculous root, at some depth below the water, from which thick, round, yellow +flower-buds had sprouted. The arrow-shaped leaves were green, but, at this time, +at a great depth under water.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_103" id="Footnote_103" href="#FNanchor_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> The parroquet (or parrakeet), a diminution of the Spanish <i>perico</i>, meaning +parrot, is the term applied to many small varieties of parrots, especially to the +long-tailed East Indian and Australian species of the genus <i>Palæorius</i>. At the +opening of the nineteenth century they were quite numerous in the southern portion +of the United States; but they have now disappeared, save in the wilder portions +of Indian Territory and Florida. See Cuming's <i>Tour</i>, in our volume iv, p. 161, +note 108.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_104" id="Footnote_104" href="#FNanchor_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> See Plate 38, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_105" id="Footnote_105" href="#FNanchor_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> The "Napoleon" (100 tons) was built at Pittsburg in 1831, and the "Conveyance" +(90 tons) at Cincinnati in the same year.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_106" id="Footnote_106" href="#FNanchor_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> For the Shawnee Indians and Shawneetown, see Croghan's <i>Journals</i>, in our +volume i, p. 138, note 108.</p> + +<p class="footnote">The reference is to Dr. Jedidiah Morse (1761-1826), <i>Report to Secretary of War +on Indian Affairs</i> (New Haven, 1822), the result of a tour among the Western +tribes in 1820.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_107" id="Footnote_107" href="#FNanchor_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> Saline Creek (or River), formed by the union of the North and South Forks +in Gallatin County, Illinois, flows southeast and enters the Ohio River about ten +miles below Shawneetown. For a short statement on salt deposits, see James's +<i>Long's Expedition</i>, in our volume xiv, p. 58, note 11.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_108" id="Footnote_108" href="#FNanchor_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> The "Paragon" (90 tons) was constructed at Cincinnati in 1829.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_109" id="Footnote_109" href="#FNanchor_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> Battery Rock is twelve miles below Shawneetown.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_110" id="Footnote_110" href="#FNanchor_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> See Plate 7, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv. See also Cuming's +<i>Tour</i>, in our volume iv, p. 273, note 180.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_111" id="Footnote_111" href="#FNanchor_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> For Golconda consult Woods's <i>English Prairie</i>, in our volume x, p. 327, +note 77. Sister's Island, a narrow strip a mile in length, lies twenty miles below +Elizabethtown, Illinois. Smithland is the county seat of Livingston County, +Kentucky, immediately below the mouth of the Cumberland.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_112" id="Footnote_112" href="#FNanchor_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> Paducah, the seat of McCracken County, Kentucky, and forty-eight miles +above Cairo, was laid out in 1827 and named from a well-known Indian chief. It +is a large shipping place and in 1900 had a population of 12,797. It is the seat of +Paducah University.</p> + +<p class="footnote">The book here referred to is Samuel Cumings' <i>Western Pilot, containing Charts +of the Ohio River and of the Mississippi from the Mouth of the Missouri to the Gulf +of Mexico, accompanied with Directions for navigating the same, and a Gazetteer +or Description of Towns on their Banks, Tributary Streams, etc., also a variety of +Matter interesting to Travelers and all concerned in the Navigation of these Rivers</i> +(Cincinnati, 1828, 1829, 1834).</p> + +<p class="footnote">For a brief sketch of Fort Massac, see A. Michaux's <i>Travels</i>, in our volume iii, +p. 73, note 139.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_113" id="Footnote_113" href="#FNanchor_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> Several fruitless attempts were made to establish a city at the confluence +of the two rivers. Trinity, long time a rival of Cairo, was first settled in 1817 at +Cache River. Shortly afterwards Shadrach Bond, John Comyges, and others +entered a land claim for eighteen hundred acres between the Ohio and Mississippi +rivers and incorporated it as the City and Bank of Cairo. At Comyges's death, +however, the claim was allowed to lapse. In the same year William Bird occupied +three hundred and sixty acres at the extreme point of the peninsula, and named +his proposed city Bird's Point. A few houses were built; but during the War +of Secession were removed to the Missouri side. In 1828 John and Thompson +Bird built the first houses on the present site of Cairo. Here boats were long accustomed +to stop for supplies. In 1835, Sidney Breeze, Baker Gilbert, and others +re-entered the forfeited land of the City and Bank of Cairo, and two years later +obtained its incorporation as Cairo City and Canal Company. Speculation followed; +the company purchased at a high price ten thousand acres, comprising all +the territory between the Ohio, Mississippi, and Cache rivers, including Bird's +Point. Plans for extensive improvements were made. D. B. Holbrook, one of +the leading promoters, sold in Europe two million dollars in bonds. Sharp reverses +followed and Cairo was not incorporated as a city until 1858.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_114" id="Footnote_114" href="#FNanchor_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> The steamboat "O'Connell" was built at Pittsburg in 1833.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_115" id="Footnote_115" href="#FNanchor_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> Commerce, on the Missouri side thirty miles above Cairo, was a trading +post, as early as 1803. It was laid out in 1822, incorporated in 1857, and made +the seat of Scott County in 1864. See Campbell, <i>Gazetteer of Missouri</i> (St. Louis, +1875).—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_116" id="Footnote_116" href="#FNanchor_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> For the early history of Cape Girardeau, see A. Michaux's <i>Travels</i>, in our +volume iii, p. 80, note 154. Devil's Island, less than three miles in length, is near +the Illinois side four miles above Cape Girardeau. Bainbridge, Missouri, twelve +miles above the town of Cape Girardeau, was on the road from Kentucky and +Illinois to the White River and Arkansas. Hamburg (not Harrisburg), in Calhoun +County, Illinois, is directly across the river from Bainbridge, and at the time +of Maximilian's visit was a new landing. The Devil's Tea Table is on the Missouri +side eighteen miles above Cape Girardeau. For more particulars concerning the +places between St. Louis and the mouth of the Ohio, see Flagg's <i>Far West</i>, in our +volume xxvi, pp. 50-83 (original pagination), and footnotes to the same.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_117" id="Footnote_117" href="#FNanchor_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> See Plate 9, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_118" id="Footnote_118" href="#FNanchor_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> It is well known that the whole tract contains shell limestone. Mr. Lesueur +has made important collections of this kind on the Tower Rock at Vicksburg, +Natchez, and other places on the banks of the Mississippi, of part of which he has +made descriptions and drawings. He has accurately stated the several strata, with +the shells of animals and fishbones occurring in them. The shells are very friable +when taken out of the rock—afterwards, and especially if washed in water, they +are firmer. Mr. Lesueur has sent large collections of these things to France.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_119" id="Footnote_119" href="#FNanchor_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> St. Mary's River rises in Perry County, Illinois, and enters the Mississippi +six miles below the mouth of the Kaskaskia. Chester is the seat of Randolph +County, seventy-six miles below St. Louis. Large quantities of bituminous coal +and building stone are in the vicinity. For the early history of Kaskaskia, see +A. Michaux's <i>Travels</i>, in our volume iii, p. 69, note 132.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_120" id="Footnote_120" href="#FNanchor_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> An account of the founding of Ste. Geneviève is given in Cuming's <i>Tour</i> +in our volume iv, p. 266, note 174.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_121" id="Footnote_121" href="#FNanchor_121"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> The mines here referred to are the <i>Mine La Mothe</i> and the <i>Mine á Burton</i>; +a more extended account of these will be given in Flagg's <i>Far West</i>, in our volume +xxvi.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_122" id="Footnote_122" href="#FNanchor_122"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> For the history of Fort Chartres, see A. Michaux's <i>Travels</i>, in our volume +iii, p. 71, note 136.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_123" id="Footnote_123" href="#FNanchor_123"><span class="label">[123]</span></a> See opposite page for formations of limestone rocks.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_124" id="Footnote_124" href="#FNanchor_124"><span class="label">[124]</span></a> Herculaneum is a small village in Jefferson County, Missouri, at the mouth +of Joachim Creek, about twenty-eight miles below St. Louis, and a few miles above +the hamlet of Selena. Herculaneum was laid out in 1808 by Moses Austin and S. +Hammond, and subsequently was made the seat of Jefferson County.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_125" id="Footnote_125" href="#FNanchor_125"><span class="label">[125]</span></a> Platteen (commonly spelled Plattin) Creek is a small stream rising in the +southern part of Jefferson County, flowing north, and emptying into the Mississippi +at the northern extremity of the county, four and a half miles below Herculaneum.</p> + +<p class="footnote">The Maramec (often pronounced and written Merrimac) River finds its source +in Dent County, Missouri, and flowing northeast joins the Mississippi nineteen +miles below St. Louis. Its estimated length is a hundred and fifty miles, draining +a territory rich in mines of copper, iron, and lead.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_126" id="Footnote_126" href="#FNanchor_126"><span class="label">[126]</span></a> For an account of Jefferson Barracks, see Townsend's <i>Narrative</i>, in our +volume xxi, p. 122, note 2.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Carondelet, named for Baron Carondelet, Spanish governor of Louisiana in +1791, was formerly a village in St. Louis County, Missouri; but in 1860 it was +merged with the First Ward of St. Louis, under the name of South St. Louis.</p> + +<p class="footnote">For Cahokia, see A. Michaux's <i>Travels</i>, in our volume iii, p. 70, note 135.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_127" id="Footnote_127" href="#FNanchor_127"><span class="label">[127]</span></a> For the early history of St. Louis, see A. Michaux's <i>Travels</i>, in our volume +iii, p. 71, note 138. Probably the author here intends Auguste Chouteau, stepson +of Laclède, founder of the city—for the former consult our volume xvi, p. 275, +note 127.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_128" id="Footnote_128" href="#FNanchor_128"><span class="label">[128]</span></a> For a brief sketch of General William Clark, see Bradbury's <i>Travels</i>, in our +volume v, p. 254, note 143; for a more extended notice, consult Thwaites, <i>Original +Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition</i> (New York, 1905), introduction. This +is an interesting glimpse of General Clark in the professional duties of his later +life.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_129" id="Footnote_129" href="#FNanchor_129"><span class="label">[129]</span></a> For the early history and the alliance of the Sauk and Foxes, see J. Long's +<i>Voyages</i>, in our volume ii, p. 185, note 85. Black Hawk and his fellow prisoners +were being kept as hostages for the good behavior of the remainder of the tribe, +after the war of 1832. See Thwaites, "Black Hawk War," in <i>How George Rogers +Clark won the Northwest</i> (Chicago, 1903), pp. 116-200; and <i>Treaties between the +United States of America and the several Indian Tribes</i> (Washington, 1837), pp. +508-510. Soon after Maximilian's visit, Black Hawk was sent on a tour to the +East, in order that he might appreciate the resources and power of the American +people.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_130" id="Footnote_130" href="#FNanchor_130"><span class="label">[130]</span></a> Keokuk (Watchful Fox) was not a chieftain by birth, but by his address +and eloquence raised himself to a prominent place in the allied Sauk and Fox +tribes. Born at Saukenuk about 1780, he was younger than Black Hawk, and +early took opposition to his policy. Keokuk was for peace and the American alliance, +and about 1826 removed his division of the tribe across the Mississippi to +a village southwest of the present Muscatine, Iowa. During the Black Hawk War +he kept a large portion of the tribe neutral, and at its close was recognized by the +federal government as head-chief of the tribe. In 1836 a large tract of Iowa land +was ceded by the Indians to the federal government, whereupon the tribesmen +removed to Kansas. Keokuk visited Washington several times, notably in 1837, +when he made addresses from the platform of Catlin's museum. Catlin painted +his portrait in the full garb of an Indian councillor, and daguerreotypes of him also +exist. His features were of a Caucasian type, for his father was part French. +Keokuk died in Kansas in 1848; in 1883 his remains were removed to Keokuk, +Iowa. It is not true that in person Keokuk surrendered Black Hawk to the American +authorities. Consult on the capture of the latter, <i>Wisconsin Historical Collections</i>, +v, p. 293; viii, p. 316.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_131" id="Footnote_131" href="#FNanchor_131"><span class="label">[131]</span></a> In confirmation of the similarity of the Americans to each other, we may +quote the authority of Humboldt, and other travellers. (See Essay on the Political +State of New Spain, vol. i. p. 115). Dr. Meyen gives a figure of a Peruvian Mummy +(N. Acta Acad. Caes. Leop. Car. I. xvi. Suppl. 1. Tab. 1), which perfectly expresses +the character of the North American Indians.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_132" id="Footnote_132" href="#FNanchor_132"><span class="label">[132]</span></a> See Meyen, Loc. cit. p. 45.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_133" id="Footnote_133" href="#FNanchor_133"><span class="label">[133]</span></a> There are numerous tribes in North America, also, among whom the aquiline +nose is very rare. This is certified, with respect to the Chippeways, in Major +Long's account of his journey to St. Peter's River; and Captain Bonneville says +that the people to the east of the Rocky Mountains have, in general, aquiline noses, +but that the tribes to the west of those mountains, mostly straight or flat noses. +(See Washington Irving's Adventures of Captain Bonneville, p. 221.)—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_134" id="Footnote_134" href="#FNanchor_134"><span class="label">[134]</span></a> N. Bossu, a French officer who in 1750 came with troops to Louisiana. He +remained about twelve years in the country, and published <i>Nouveaux Voyages +aux Indes occidentales</i> (Paris, 1768), an English translation of which appeared +in 1771.</p> + +<p class="footnote">For the fate of the Natchez, consult Nuttall's <i>Journal</i>, in our volume xiii, p. 303, +note 226.</p> + +<p class="footnote">The Botocudo are a Tapuyan tribe of southeastern Brazil.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_135" id="Footnote_135" href="#FNanchor_135"><span class="label">[135]</span></a> For Baron von Humboldt, see our volume xviii, p. 345, note 136.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Franz Julius Ferdinand Meyen was a German botanist who voyaged around +the world in 1830-32. Upon his return he was called to a chair at Berlin, but +died prematurely in 1840 at the age of thirty-eight. He published many memoirs +in scientific journals, and in 1834-35 an account of his world-wide voyage.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_136" id="Footnote_136" href="#FNanchor_136"><span class="label">[136]</span></a> Louis Isidore Duperrey, a French naval officer (1786-1865), entered the +navy in 1802. Soon afterwards he made two long voyages around the world, and +published much hydrographic and scientific matter. In 1842 he was chosen member +of the French Academy of Sciences.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_137" id="Footnote_137" href="#FNanchor_137"><span class="label">[137]</span></a> Loc. cit. p. 18.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_138" id="Footnote_138" href="#FNanchor_138"><span class="label">[138]</span></a> Loc. cit. p. 117.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_139" id="Footnote_139" href="#FNanchor_139"><span class="label">[139]</span></a> For Zebulon M. Pike, see Evans's <i>Pedestrious Tour</i>, in our volume viii, +p. 280, note 122.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_140" id="Footnote_140" href="#FNanchor_140"><span class="label">[140]</span></a> Loc. cit., vol. i. p. 3.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_141" id="Footnote_141" href="#FNanchor_141"><span class="label">[141]</span></a> Warden, Loc. cit., part ii. plate x. fig. 4.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><i>Comment by Ed.</i> Referring to D. B. Warden, <i>Recherches sur les Antiquities +de l'Amérique Septentrionale</i>. The stream where the antique vase was found, was +Caney Fork of Cumberland, in central Tennessee.</p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_142" id="Footnote_142" href="#FNanchor_142"><span class="label">[142]</span></a> The Foxes call this ornament kateüikunn. I have given a figure of it, in +the Plate of utensils and arms.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><i>Comment by Ed.</i> See Plate 81, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.</p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_143" id="Footnote_143" href="#FNanchor_143"><span class="label">[143]</span></a> See Plate 36, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote">Watapinat, a Fox Indian, is cited as being here portrayed. This drawing +could not, however, be engraved; and so another Musquake (Fox) Indian, +Wakassasse was pictured.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian</span> (in German edition).</p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_144" id="Footnote_144" href="#FNanchor_144"><span class="label">[144]</span></a> These small shell cylinders are known to be cut out of the shells of the <i>Venus +mercenaria</i>, and strung on threads; they are arranged blue and white alternately. +All the northern and eastern nations, in the neighbourhood of the great lakes, and +even the tribes on the Lower Missouri, use this ornament, but not those on the +Upper Missouri. On this subject see Blumenbach, Handbuch der Naturgeschichte, +12 ed., p. 359, 385.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_145" id="Footnote_145" href="#FNanchor_145"><span class="label">[145]</span></a> An iron battle-axe, made by the whites, which has a pipe bowl at the back, +the handle being bored through, to serve as tube to the pipe.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_146" id="Footnote_146" href="#FNanchor_146"><span class="label">[146]</span></a> This instrument is the only weapon of the Indians which has lost something +of its original character, since the merchants have had them manufactured +with a steel point, as an article of trade with the Indians. A specimen of the +original form is found in Pennant's "Arctic Zoology," Plate VI., the middle figure.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_147" id="Footnote_147" href="#FNanchor_147"><span class="label">[147]</span></a> See Plate 81, figure 4, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_148" id="Footnote_148" href="#FNanchor_148"><span class="label">[148]</span></a> See the same Plate, figure 3.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_149" id="Footnote_149" href="#FNanchor_149"><span class="label">[149]</span></a> In 1816, in order to control the neighboring territory, Fort Armstrong was +erected on Rock Island. For many years Thomas Forsyth was Indian agent to +the Sauk and Fox tribe at this place, and by many it was thought that had he not +been removed the Black Hawk War might have been prevented. Felix St. Vrain, +his successor, was slain at the outset of that uprising (1832). At the time of Maximilian's +journey, W. S. Davenport was agent at Fort Armstrong.</p> + +<p class="footnote">This treaty referred to was made in 1804 at St. Louis, by Governor William +H. Harrison. It was not ratified, however, until January, 1805. It was the inciting +cause of the Black Hawk War. See Thwaites, <i>op. cit.</i> in note 127, <i>ante</i>, pp. +116-126.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_150" id="Footnote_150" href="#FNanchor_150"><span class="label">[150]</span></a> For this reference see note 104, <i>ante</i>, p. 201.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_151" id="Footnote_151" href="#FNanchor_151"><span class="label">[151]</span></a> See Thwaites, "Early Lead Mining on the Mississippi," in <i>How George +Rogers Clark won the Northwest</i>, pp. 299-332.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_152" id="Footnote_152" href="#FNanchor_152"><span class="label">[152]</span></a> Portions of this collection are still in possession of Clark's descendants; see +Thwaites, "Newly Discovered Records of Lewis and Clark," in <i>Scribner's Magazine</i>, +xxxv, pp. 685-700.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_153" id="Footnote_153" href="#FNanchor_153"><span class="label">[153]</span></a> The "Warrior," built at Pittsburg in 1832, was rated at 110 tons. It was +used during the Black Hawk War to convey federal supplies, and took effective +part in the battle of Bad Axe, by which Black Hawk's band was nearly annihilated. +See J. H. Fonda's "Reminiscences," in <i>Wisconsin Historical Collections</i>, v, pp. +261-264.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_154" id="Footnote_154" href="#FNanchor_154"><span class="label">[154]</span></a> General Henry Atkinson was born in North Carolina in 1782. In 1808 he +entered the regular army as captain, mounting through various grades to that of +brigadier-general (1821). He was connected with the Yellowstone expeditions +of 1819 and 1825, but perhaps his most important service was as leader of the +federal troops in the Black Hawk War, wherein he was called "White Beaver" +by the Indians. At its close he took command of Jefferson Barracks, where he +died in 1842.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_155" id="Footnote_155" href="#FNanchor_155"><span class="label">[155]</span></a> See Townsend's <i>Narrative</i>, in our volume xxi, p. 123, note 3, for a brief +sketch of Black Hawk. His portrait was painted by Catlin at Jefferson Barracks, +and again by R. M. Sully at Fortress Monroe. The latter canvas is in the museum +of the Wisconsin Historical Society.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_156" id="Footnote_156" href="#FNanchor_156"><span class="label">[156]</span></a> Winnebago Prophet, more commonly known as White Cloud (a translation +of his Indian name Wabokieshiek), was the "medicine man" of Black Hawk's +revolt. He was Winnebago on his mother's side, and had a village on Rock River, +forty miles above Rock Island—the present Prophetstown, Illinois. After the war +he was captured, and shared Black Hawk's imprisonment, dying among the Winnebago +about 1841. His portrait was painted by Catlin at Jefferson Barracks, +and again at Fortress Monroe by R. M. Sully—the latter, in the museum of the +Wisconsin Historical Society, portrays a cunning, rather low type of face, stronger +and more subtle than that of Black Hawk.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_157" id="Footnote_157" href="#FNanchor_157"><span class="label">[157]</span></a> For Captain Stewart, see Townsend's <i>Narrative</i>, in our volume xxi, p. 197, +note 42.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_158" id="Footnote_158" href="#FNanchor_158"><span class="label">[158]</span></a> For the building and first voyages of the "Yellowstone" see our volume xxi, +p. 46, note 26 (Wyeth).—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_159" id="Footnote_159" href="#FNanchor_159"><span class="label">[159]</span></a> For the Mackinac Company see Ross's <i>Oregon Settlers</i>, our volume vii, pp. +34, 35—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_160" id="Footnote_160" href="#FNanchor_160"><span class="label">[160]</span></a> See Washington Irving's Astoria.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_161" id="Footnote_161" href="#FNanchor_161"><span class="label">[161]</span></a> Astor's company had originally been organized in 1808. After absorbing +the Mackinac Company it was until 1816 known as the South West Company, +when a re-organization occurred, resulting in the American Fur Company. See +Chittenden, <i>Fur-Trade</i>, i, pp. 309-311. The Columbia River enterprise is narrated +in our volumes vi and vii.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_162" id="Footnote_162" href="#FNanchor_162"><span class="label">[162]</span></a> The Missouri Fur Company was organized (1808) soon after the return of +the Lewis and Clark expedition, with Clark, a brother of Lewis, and several well-known +merchants of Illinois and St. Louis as members. Its chief trader, later +the president, was Manuel Lisa. After his death in 1820 the fortunes of the company +declined.</p> + +<p class="footnote">By the French Company Maximilian intends a firm composed of Papin, Cerré, +and Picotte, which in 1830 sold out to the American Fur Company. Its career +was but about three years long.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_163" id="Footnote_163" href="#FNanchor_163"><span class="label">[163]</span></a> The Columbia Fur Company was organized after the consolidation of the +British companies (1821) had thrown a number of enterprising Scotch and Canadian +traders out of employment. Its leading spirits were Kenneth McKenzie, +William Laidlaw, and Daniel Lamont. Organized to trade within the boundaries +of the United States, it was technically known as Tilton and Company, of +New York. The chief outfitting post was built upon Lake Traverse, Minnesota, +whence passage to the upper Missouri was quickly secured. The operations of +this company harassed the American Fur Company, which in 1827 entered into +a combination with the Columbia, thus securing control of the upper Missouri +trade. See Chittenden, <i>Fur-Trade</i>, i, pp. 323-327.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_164" id="Footnote_164" href="#FNanchor_164"><span class="label">[164]</span></a> For Ramsay Crooks, see our volume v, p. 36, note 3.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_165" id="Footnote_165" href="#FNanchor_165"><span class="label">[165]</span></a> The Rocky Mountain Fur Company—first under General William H. Ashley, +later under the Sublettes, Thomas Fitzpatrick, etc.—absorbed a large proportion +of the Western fur-trade in the decade before Maximilian arrived in St. Louis. +It was one of their caravans that Captain Stewart urged the prince to accompany. +Consult our volume xxi, for the operations of this corporation.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_166" id="Footnote_166" href="#FNanchor_166"><span class="label">[166]</span></a> Mr. Schoolcraft, in his latest journey to Itasca Lake (page 35), gives a short +history of the fur trade, which, in many places, has already fallen into entire decay; +for instance, on Lake St. Croix (page 141), if the inhabitants of those parts do +not take to agriculture, they must emigrate or starve.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_167" id="Footnote_167" href="#FNanchor_167"><span class="label">[167]</span></a> For the early history of the Hudson's Bay and North West companies see +preface to J. Long's <i>Voyages</i>, in our volume ii.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_168" id="Footnote_168" href="#FNanchor_168"><span class="label">[168]</span></a> The "Upper Missouri Outfit" branch of the American Fur Company controlled +the upper Missouri and its tributaries, from the date of consolidation with +the Columbia Company (1827) until the advance of emigration and settlement made +fur-trapping unprofitable.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_169" id="Footnote_169" href="#FNanchor_169"><span class="label">[169]</span></a> For Major Benjamin O'Fallon and John Dougherty, see Faux's <i>Journal</i> +in our volume xii, p. 49, note 127, and James's <i>Long's Expedition</i>, in our volume +xiv, p. 126, note 92.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_170" id="Footnote_170" href="#FNanchor_170"><span class="label">[170]</span></a> Pierre Chouteau, jr., son of the elder of that name (for whom see our volume +xvi, p. 275, note 127), was born at St. Louis, January 19, 1789; among his family +he was known as "Cadet." Early evincing unusual talents as a trader, he entered +his father's business at the age of sixteen. The years 1806-08 he spent at the lead +mines with Julien Dubuque, and in 1809 made his first fur-trade voyage to the +upper Missouri, whose commercial destinies he was so long to control. In 1813 +he formed a partnership on his own account with Bartholomew Berthold, which +operated independently until they were bought out by the American Fur Company, +for whom Chouteau became local manager. Later he extended his financial operations +to New York, and became one of the moneyed princes of that city, although +dying in St. Louis in 1865. His public services were chiefly local, but he served +in the state constitutional convention of 1820. He was interested in scientific pursuits, +and ready to assist travellers bound on such errands.</p> + +<p class="footnote">For Kenneth McKenzie see Wyeth's <i>Oregon</i>, in our volume xxi, p. 45, note 25. +The winter of 1834-35 McKenzie paid a visit to Prince Maximilian in his German +home, where he was received with much hospitality and brought news to his host of +recent affairs on the Missouri, which the latter reports in the appendix to the +German edition of his work, ii, p. 616.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_171" id="Footnote_171" href="#FNanchor_171"><span class="label">[171]</span></a> Especially provisions, coffee, sugar, brandy, candles, fine gunpowder, shot +of every kind, colours, paper, some books, &c.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_172" id="Footnote_172" href="#FNanchor_172"><span class="label">[172]</span></a> For Joshua Pilcher, see our volume xiv, p. 269, note 193.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_173" id="Footnote_173" href="#FNanchor_173"><span class="label">[173]</span></a> Major John F. A. Sanford was a native of Winchester, Virginia. Upon +appointment to an Indian sub-agency, he came west, and (1827-34) lived among +the Mandans; later (1837), he was agent at Fort Gibson. He married Emilie +Chouteau, daughter of Pierre, jr. Subsequently becoming interested in American +Fur Company affairs, he (about 1838) removed to New York as its representative.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Jonathan L. Bean, of Pennsylvania, was government sub-agent (1827-34) for +the Sioux.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_174" id="Footnote_174" href="#FNanchor_174"><span class="label">[174]</span></a> Major Benjamin O'Fallon was a nephew of William Clark, and the map of +the upper Missouri, which he furnished to Maximilian, was a manuscript copy of +an original map by the hand of the famous explorer. Inquiry of the reigning +prince of Wied-Neuwied elicits the following information: "Major O'Fallon +made a present to the prince in the year 1833, at the beginning of his journey of +that year, of a copy of this chart, which the prince [Maximilian] during his journey +completed and supplied its deficiencies. This copy, a little atlas of thirty-seven leaves, +is in the archives here. Upon one leaf, in the handwriting of Prince Max, is the +following inscription: 'I received this exact copy of the original by the goodness +of the late Indian agent, Major O'Fallon.'" See Thwaites' <i>Original Journals of +the Lewis and Clark Expedition</i>, introduction, concerning Clark's maps and the +extant originals.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_175" id="Footnote_175" href="#FNanchor_175"><span class="label">[175]</span></a> Other travellers of our series made their way up the Missouri—Bradbury +(volume v), and Brackenridge (volume vi), in 1811, in a barge; Long's party (our +volumes xiv-xvii) in 1819, 1820 in a steamboat; Townsend (our volume xxi), in +1834, partly by land and partly by river. Such places as they mention will not +here be specifically noticed, a general reference to these earlier volumes being considered +sufficient.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_176" id="Footnote_176" href="#FNanchor_176"><span class="label">[176]</span></a> See Plate 10, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv. The Kickapoo +are briefly noticed in Croghan's <i>Journals</i>, in our volume i, p. 139, note 111. They +removed to the west of the Mississippi after the treaty at Edwardsville, Illinois, +in 1819.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_177" id="Footnote_177" href="#FNanchor_177"><span class="label">[177]</span></a> Schoolcraft justly observes that the course of the Missouri is much more +considerable than that of the Mississippi, and that it would have been more +proper to leave the name Missouri to the river, and not call it the Mississippi.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_178" id="Footnote_178" href="#FNanchor_178"><span class="label">[178]</span></a> Still called Ramrod Eddy, about five miles above St. Charles. See Missouri +River Commissioners' map, made by United States engineers in 1878-79, +and published 1883-84.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_179" id="Footnote_179" href="#FNanchor_179"><span class="label">[179]</span></a> See our volume xviii, p. 25, note 1.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_180" id="Footnote_180" href="#FNanchor_180"><span class="label">[180]</span></a> The stream is now called Buffalo Creek, in Warren County, with the town +of Dundee at its mouth.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Pinckney was a small village, the seat of Montgomery County (1818-24), but +now in Warren County, where a township still retains the name, the site of the +town having long since been washed away.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_181" id="Footnote_181" href="#FNanchor_181"><span class="label">[181]</span></a> The success of the steamboat "Yellowstone," in the fur-trade business, +was so great that the company ordered a somewhat larger craft, which was built +at Cincinnati in the winter of 1832-33, and christened the "Assiniboine." This +was its initial voyage. The next year it ventured too far above the Yellowstone +River, was caught by low water and obliged to winter near Poplar River. The +"Assiniboine" was lost by fire near Bismarck, North Dakota, June 1, 1835, having +on board a large cargo of furs, the year's supply, as well as all of Maximilian's +collection. See preface, <i>ante</i> p. <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_182" id="Footnote_182" href="#FNanchor_182"><span class="label">[182]</span></a> Otter is more commonly known as Loutre Island; see Bradbury's <i>Travels</i>, +our volume v, p. 47, note 18.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_183" id="Footnote_183" href="#FNanchor_183"><span class="label">[183]</span></a> Au Vase (now Auxvasse) Creek took its name from the miring of a party +under charge of Lilburn W. Boggs. It is in Callaway County; and Portland, a +hamlet on the north side of the stream, was laid off therein in 1831.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_184" id="Footnote_184" href="#FNanchor_184"><span class="label">[184]</span></a> The defense of this place is detailed in our volume xiv, pp. 139, 140. For +Brackenridge, see our volume vi.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_185" id="Footnote_185" href="#FNanchor_185"><span class="label">[185]</span></a> In 1820 a commission was chosen to select a site for the state capital, somewhere +near the centre of the state. The place selected was in Cole County, but +it did not actually become the capital until about 1826. On Long's map it is +marked as "Missouriopolis."—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_186" id="Footnote_186" href="#FNanchor_186"><span class="label">[186]</span></a> These two places are noticed in our volume xxi, p. 133, note 8 (Townsend.)—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_187" id="Footnote_187" href="#FNanchor_187"><span class="label">[187]</span></a> For Boonville see our volume xxi, p. 89, note 59 (Wyeth). For Franklin, +volume xix, p. 188, note 33 (Gregg).—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_188" id="Footnote_188" href="#FNanchor_188"><span class="label">[188]</span></a> Probably the settlement now known as Arrow Rock, in Saline County.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_189" id="Footnote_189" href="#FNanchor_189"><span class="label">[189]</span></a> The treaty of cession was signed in 1824, whereby the Iowa Indians relinquished +all lands in Missouri, agreeing not to hunt therein after January 1, 1826. +See <i>Indian Treaties</i> (Washington, 1837), p. 316.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_190" id="Footnote_190" href="#FNanchor_190"><span class="label">[190]</span></a> None of the Indian languages of these parts, of which Major Dougherty +spoke thirteen or fourteen, have any general plural; thus, for instance, they never +say, in general, <i>horses</i>, but always mention a number, as expressive of many horses; +nor is there any real article.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_191" id="Footnote_191" href="#FNanchor_191"><span class="label">[191]</span></a> Wakenda Creek, the largest stream in Carroll County, is named from an +Indian term meaning "divinity" or "worshipped."—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_192" id="Footnote_192" href="#FNanchor_192"><span class="label">[192]</span></a> Some accounts say that the Osages were the assailants, but I believe the +above statement to be correct, because it was given me by Major Dougherty.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_193" id="Footnote_193" href="#FNanchor_193"><span class="label">[193]</span></a> This defeat of the Missouri, once the most powerful tribe on the lower reaches +of the river, occurred toward the close of the eighteenth century. Small-pox completed +the destruction of the tribe. See Bradbury's <i>Travels</i>, in our volume v, +p. 56, note 26.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_194" id="Footnote_194" href="#FNanchor_194"><span class="label">[194]</span></a> Fire Prairie is on the south bank of the Missouri, in the present Lafayette +County, a creek of the same name entering the river at this point. It is said to +take its name from the death there of several Indians in a prairie fire.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_195" id="Footnote_195" href="#FNanchor_195"><span class="label">[195]</span></a> See Plate 37, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_196" id="Footnote_196" href="#FNanchor_196"><span class="label">[196]</span></a> Fishing Creek (or River) rises in Clinton County and flows south and southeast +into the Missouri through Clay and Ray counties.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_197" id="Footnote_197" href="#FNanchor_197"><span class="label">[197]</span></a> An historical notice of old Fort Osage is given in Bradbury's <i>Travels</i>, our +volume v, p. 60, note 31. The Osage Indians, <i>ibid</i>, p. 50, note 22. The cession +by which the Osage were forced back was made at St. Louis in June, 1825, under +General William Clark's superintendency.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_198" id="Footnote_198" href="#FNanchor_198"><span class="label">[198]</span></a> Now known as Little Blue Creek, rising on the southern borders of Jackson +County and flowing nearly north into the Missouri.—<i>Ed.</i></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_199" id="Footnote_199" href="#FNanchor_199"><span class="label">[199]</span></a> Liberty, the county seat of Clay, was settled in 1822, but up to 1826 had +only about a dozen houses; it was incorporated in 1829. During the Mormon +troubles of the fourth decade of the nineteenth century, Liberty rose into prominence. +The town is set back about six miles from the river, on the high, salubrious +uplands. Liberty Landing, on the river, was in the days of the Santa Fé +trade of some commercial importance.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_200" id="Footnote_200" href="#FNanchor_200"><span class="label">[200]</span></a> Maximilian's remarks are misleading in regard to the operations of these +traders. Ashley began his fur-trading ventures in 1822; four years later he sold +out to Smith, Jackson, and Sublette; they in turn relinquished their business to +younger traders in 1830. So the Rocky Mountain Fur Company had for about +eleven years been an efficient rival to the American.</p> + +<p class="footnote">For a brief sketch of Sublette see our volume xix, p. 221, note 55 (Gregg).</p> + +<p class="footnote">General William Henry Ashley was born in Virginia in 1778. Soon after the +beginning of the nineteenth century he went to Missouri, settling first at Ste. Geneviève, +later in St. Louis, and embarking in various mercantile enterprises. In +1816-17 he surveyed in the state, and the knowledge thus obtained permitted him +to make heavy investments for some English capitalists, which laid the foundation +of his fortune. In 1820 he was elected lieutenant-governor, and during his term +(1820-24) began his fur-trading exploits, from which he derived profit and fame. +His title came as leader of the state militia, in whose development he was much +interested. In 1831 he was appointed to a vacant seat in Congress, being re-elected +thereto two successive terms. He died at St. Louis in 1838.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_201" id="Footnote_201" href="#FNanchor_201"><span class="label">[201]</span></a> The Big Blue rises in Johnson County, Kansas, and flows northeast and +north through Jackson County, Missouri, until it joins the Missouri six miles +below Kansas City.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_202" id="Footnote_202" href="#FNanchor_202"><span class="label">[202]</span></a> This trading post was on the south side of the Kansas, opposite Muncie, +in what is now Wyandotte County, built about 1828. It was for many years in +charge of Cyprian Chouteau (1802-79), half brother of Pierre, jr. Frémont set +out thence on his journey (1842).—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_203" id="Footnote_203" href="#FNanchor_203"><span class="label">[203]</span></a> See our volume xiv, pp. 183-198.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_204" id="Footnote_204" href="#FNanchor_204"><span class="label">[204]</span></a> These villages of the Iowa, on the Little Platte, appear to have been temporary. +Probably the tribe had fled in this direction after the troubles of the +Black Hawk War (1832). In 1836 they ceded this strip—which was added to +Missouri as the "Platte Purchase"—and removed to Kansas. The author cannot +intend that the language of the Iowa resembled that of the Ottawa; the +former is of Dakota stock, the latter of Algonquian. The Sauk and Foxes, at +this time intimately commingled with the Iowa, spoke Algonquian.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_205" id="Footnote_205" href="#FNanchor_205"><span class="label">[205]</span></a> For these islands, see our volume xiv, p. 174, note 141.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_206" id="Footnote_206" href="#FNanchor_206"><span class="label">[206]</span></a> Fort Leavenworth was founded to supersede two smaller posts—Forts Osage +and Atkinson—the latter near Council Bluffs. The site was chosen because of +the increasing interest in the Santa Fé trade, and because of the removal of large +tribes of Indians west of the Missouri border. On March 7, 1827, Colonel Henry +Leavenworth was ordered to proceed from Jefferson Barracks and choose the site +for an establishment on the left bank of the Missouri, within twenty miles of the +mouth of Little Platte. He selected instead Rattlesnake Hills on the right bank, +a site later approved by the government. Fort Leavenworth has been an important +military post throughout the history of the West. It was called Leavenworth +Cantonment until the name was officially changed to "Fort," about 1832.</p> + +<p class="footnote">For Major Bennett Riley see our volume xix, p. 185, note 25 (Gregg).—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_207" id="Footnote_207" href="#FNanchor_207"><span class="label">[207]</span></a> This law was passed in the first session of the twenty-second congress, and +was merely a portion of an act to create an Indian commissioner. It caused but +little debate, and apparently was fathered by General Ashley and others cognizant +of conditions in the fur-trade. For the consternation it created among the traders +consult Chittenden, <i>Fur-Trade</i>, index.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_208" id="Footnote_208" href="#FNanchor_208"><span class="label">[208]</span></a> According to the treaty held at St. Louis in 1832, with the Kickapoo chiefs, +a deputation was to visit the new territory in Kansas and agree to the lands chosen. +This was accordingly done in November, and this would appear to be among the +arrivals early in the spring of 1833 to take possession of the new reservation.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_209" id="Footnote_209" href="#FNanchor_209"><span class="label">[209]</span></a> Lewis and Clark apply this term with different orthography (Waucarba, +wacandda) to the island above Fort Leavenworth now known as Kickapoo. The +river is here compressed into a narrow space, above which it widens considerably. +See Thwaites, <i>Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition</i>, i, p. 64.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_210" id="Footnote_210" href="#FNanchor_210"><span class="label">[210]</span></a> For this detachment under Captain Martin, see our volume xiv, p. 175.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_211" id="Footnote_211" href="#FNanchor_211"><span class="label">[211]</span></a> The creek was so named by Lewis and Clark because its mouth was passed +by them on July 4, 1804. It is a small stream entering the Missouri near the +boundaries of Doniphan and Atchison counties, Kansas. According to Lewis and +Clark this was the second old Kansa village, the first being just above Kickapoo +Island. If the Spanish ever had a post in this vicinity, it must have been in the +capacity of succeeding (after 1764) to the possession of the old French post among +the Kansa Indians. See on this subject, <i>Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark +Expedition</i>, i, pp. 64-68, and notes.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_212" id="Footnote_212" href="#FNanchor_212"><span class="label">[212]</span></a> Joseph Robidoux, whose trading post was on the site of the future city of +St. Joseph, which took its name from its founder. The Robidoux were a family +of fur-traders. The father, Joseph, came from Montreal to Kaskaskia, and having +won a competence removed to St. Louis, where at his house the first territorial +legislature of Missouri met in 1812. Joseph, jr., was born in 1783, and early +entered the fur-trade. Lewis and Clark met "young Mr. Robidoux" on their +return journey (1806), and scrutinized his license with some suspicion. Lewis +also complained of the loyalty of the elder trader, saying that he enticed the Indians +from their allegiance to the United States. The younger Robidoux lived for many +years at the post where Maximilian met him—in 1868 dying at this place, where +the city had already sprung up around him. See sketch in Joseph Tasse, <i>Canadiens +du Nord-Ouest</i> (Montreal, 1878), ii, p. 131.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_213" id="Footnote_213" href="#FNanchor_213"><span class="label">[213]</span></a> The Joways had exchanged their blankets and other effects for brandy. +White settlers have already established themselves fifteen or sixteen miles within +the Indian territory, who make whisky, and sell it excessively cheap to the Indians, +by which these people are ruined. The distance is only eight miles from Roubedoux +trading house to the Little Platte River; and between these two rivers and the +high land, is the village of the Joways.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_214" id="Footnote_214" href="#FNanchor_214"><span class="label">[214]</span></a> This is, doubtless, the same river which Bradbury, in his <i>Travels</i>, calls Naduet +River.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_215" id="Footnote_215" href="#FNanchor_215"><span class="label">[215]</span></a> For Captain Martin see James's <i>Long's Expedition</i>, in our volume xiv, p. 175, +note 142. Maximilian would here appear to be confused. Martin passed the winter +of 1818 to 1819 on Cow Island (see note 208, <i>ante</i>, p. 256). He had, however, +a hunting camp in this vicinity.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_216" id="Footnote_216" href="#FNanchor_216"><span class="label">[216]</span></a> For the Oto, see Bradbury's <i>Travels</i>, our volume v, p. 74, note 42.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_217" id="Footnote_217" href="#FNanchor_217"><span class="label">[217]</span></a> Morgan's Island is just below Nemaha City, in the Nebraska county of the +same name. Probably it took its title from Colonel Willoughby Morgan, for whom +see our volume xiv, p. 178, note 146. The trading post has not been identified, +unless it were that of Crooks and McClellan, who once (1810-11) wintered in this +region. See Brackenridge's <i>Journal</i>, volume vi of our series, p. 71.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_218" id="Footnote_218" href="#FNanchor_218"><span class="label">[218]</span></a> Lewis and Clark found the passage across the narrows at this point but +300 yards. Changes have since occurred in the beds of both rivers. See our +volume xiv, p. 217, note 166. The range of hills was aptly designated by the explorers +as Bald Pated Prairie.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_219" id="Footnote_219" href="#FNanchor_219"><span class="label">[219]</span></a> Weeping Water Creek is a small stream paralleling the Platte in Cass County, +Nebraska. The French form was "l'eau qui pleure."</p> + +<p class="footnote">Five Barrel Islands are laid down on early maps; with changes in the river's +bed, they are now swept away.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_220" id="Footnote_220" href="#FNanchor_220"><span class="label">[220]</span></a> For a brief sketch of Fontenelle, see our volume xiv, p. 275, note 196.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_221" id="Footnote_221" href="#FNanchor_221"><span class="label">[221]</span></a> See Brackenridge's <i>Journal</i>, in our volume vi, p. 76, for the origin of this +name. The Indian name of the chief—an Oto—is given by Lewis and Clark as +"Sarnanona."—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_222" id="Footnote_222" href="#FNanchor_222"><span class="label">[222]</span></a> In the Appendix there is an account of this purchase.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span> +<i>Comment by Ed.</i> See our volume xxiv.</p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_223" id="Footnote_223" href="#FNanchor_223"><span class="label">[223]</span></a> The first trading post in this locality (with possible exceptions for the Spanish +régime) was that of Crooks and McClellan, who in 1810 built a "wintering establishment" +here, which was abandoned the following spring—see Bradbury and +Brackenridge (1811). Shortly after, Manuel Lisa built his well-known Fort Lisa, +some sixteen miles above Bellevue, which continued to be the prominent post of +the vicinity (see James's <i>Long's Expedition</i>, our volume xiv, p. 221), near which +the Yellowstone Expedition built Engineer Cantonment for the winter of 1819-20. +The Missouri Fur Company, under Joshua Pilcher, who succeeded Lisa as president, +removed from Fort Lisa to the site of Bellevue about 1823. It was this post +that Fontenelle bought out, and turned over to the American Fur Company when +he became their agent. The post was for many years in command of Peter Sarpy. +The Indian agency was officially entitled "Council Bluffs at Bellevue." In 1849 +a postoffice was established here, and the village incorporated in 1854; some of +the post buildings remained until 1870. Bellevue is now a village in Sarpy County, +of which it was the capital until 1875.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_224" id="Footnote_224" href="#FNanchor_224"><span class="label">[224]</span></a> Mackinaw boats are strong, open vessels, made of a light wood, in which +goods are conveyed on the rivers of the Northern and Western States.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_225" id="Footnote_225" href="#FNanchor_225"><span class="label">[225]</span></a> See opposite <a href="#illo269">page</a> for illustration of Omaha Indians.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_226" id="Footnote_226" href="#FNanchor_226"><span class="label">[226]</span></a> See our volume xv, pp. 27-33. This woman was the Indian wife of Manuel +Lisa. See Chittenden, <i>Fur-Trade</i>, i, pp. 133-135. Judge Walter B. Douglas, of +St. Louis, furnishes the following facts concerning Lisa's daughter, who was +educated among the whites. She married a Baptist minister named Ely, and +reared a considerable family, dying recently at Trenton, Illinois, a small town not +far from St. Louis.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_227" id="Footnote_227" href="#FNanchor_227"><span class="label">[227]</span></a> For the Omaha Indians see our volume v, p. 86, note 49.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_228" id="Footnote_228" href="#FNanchor_228"><span class="label">[228]</span></a> Jean Pierre Cabanné was born in Pau, France, in 1773. After receiving +good education he came to America—first to New Orleans, later to St. Louis, +where he married (1797) Julie Gratiot, whose sister was the wife of Pierre Chouteau. +For many years he was member of the firm of Chouteau and Pratte, thus +acquiring an interest in the American Fur Company. The family home at St. +Louis was the seat of a pleasant hospitality; but like many of the chief fur-traders, +Cabanné spent part of each year in the Indian country, where he was head of the +department centering near Council Bluffs. He left this post about the time of +Maximilian's visit, owing to difficulty with a rival trader, Le Clerc, who had appealed +to the courts. Cabanné died in St. Louis in 1841. His post was nine or +ten miles by land above the present site of Omaha.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_229" id="Footnote_229" href="#FNanchor_229"><span class="label">[229]</span></a> See p. <a href="#illo269b">269</a>, for illustration of an Omaha boy.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_230" id="Footnote_230" href="#FNanchor_230"><span class="label">[230]</span></a> Not only these feather caps are pretty similar to those in Brazil, but also +the chief instrument of the conjurors, or physicians (medicine men)—schischikue, +as it is called—a calabash with a handle, in which there are small stones to rattle. +The Omahas, and all the other North American tribes, use it exactly in the same +manner as the Brazilians.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_231" id="Footnote_231" href="#FNanchor_231"><span class="label">[231]</span></a> See p. <a href="#illo269c">269</a>, for illustration of an Omaha war-club.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_232" id="Footnote_232" href="#FNanchor_232"><span class="label">[232]</span></a> See our volume xiv, pp. 288-321; and xv, pp. 11-136.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_233" id="Footnote_233" href="#FNanchor_233"><span class="label">[233]</span></a> For Boyer River, see our volume xiv, p. 221, note 174.</p> + +<p class="footnote">This fort at Council Bluffs was not on the site of the Iowa town of that name, +but some miles higher up the river, on the Nebraska bank, near the village now +known as Fort Calhoun, in Washington County. The name was first applied to +the bluffs by Lewis and Clark, who held here (1804) an important council with +chiefs of neighboring tribes. The United States post was built by a detachment +under Colonel Henry Atkinson, when embarked on the famous Yellowstone expedition +of 1819. The means of transportation proving inadequate, the troops +never reached the Yellowstone, but formed at this point Camp Missouri, where +during the winter of 1819-20 much sickness prevailed. The fort was finally christened +Atkinson, for its founder, and was so known to the government. The local +name was Fort Calhoun—whether in honor of the then secretary of war, or for a +soldier who was the first to be here buried, is disputed. On the building of Fort +Leavenworth, the troops were removed thither. See note 204, <i>ante</i>, p. 253.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_234" id="Footnote_234" href="#FNanchor_234"><span class="label">[234]</span></a> For Blackbird, see Bradbury's <i>Travels</i>, in our volume v, p. 86; Brackenridge's +<i>Journal</i>, in our volume vi, pp. 81, 82; and James's <i>Long's Expedition</i>, in +our volume xiv, pp. 315-320.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_235" id="Footnote_235" href="#FNanchor_235"><span class="label">[235]</span></a> For Big Elk, see our volume v, p. 90, note 52; also xv, p. 320.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Dr. John D. Godman (1794-1830) was a Marylander who in 1814 participated +in the defense of Fort McHenry. Later studying medicine, he was a professor of +anatomy at several colleges, retiring finally to Germantown, Pennsylvania, where +he devoted himself to scientific pursuits. His best known work was <i>American +Natural History</i> (Philadelphia, 1828).</p> + +<p class="footnote">By Horn River our author intends Elkhorn, for which see our volume xiv, +p. 240, note 182.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_236" id="Footnote_236" href="#FNanchor_236"><span class="label">[236]</span></a> For Floyd, see our volume v, p. 91, note 56; also <i>Original Journals of the +Lewis and Clark Expedition</i>, i, p. 114.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_237" id="Footnote_237" href="#FNanchor_237"><span class="label">[237]</span></a> For the Big Sioux River, see our volume vi, p. 85, note 30. This branch +of the Dakota (or Sioux), mentioned by Maximilian, is known as the Wahpekute, +one of the two components of the Santee band of the Sioux. Together with the +Mdewakantonwan or Spirit Lake band, they were the Sioux first known to Europeans, +being designated by Hennepin as Issati. Their habitat was the upper +waters of the Mississippi, and the St. Peter's (Minnesota) River. They wandered +toward the Big Sioux River, which was made the boundary by the treaty of 1825 +at Prairie du Chien—William Clark and Lewis Cass, commissioners. In this +treaty the Big Sioux River is designated as the Calumet, probably because of the +proximity of its source to the red pipestone quarries of southwestern Minnesota.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_238" id="Footnote_238" href="#FNanchor_238"><span class="label">[238]</span></a> Iowa Creek, a small stream running nearly parallel to the Missouri in Dixon +County, Nebraska. Lewis and Clark speak of the peculiar appearance of the +bluff at this place, calling the creek "Rologe."—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_239" id="Footnote_239" href="#FNanchor_239"><span class="label">[239]</span></a> Wigwam is the name given to the Indian huts. The word comes from the +Ojibua language, in which uikiuam signifies hut. This word has been corrupted, +and applied by the whites to the habitations of all the Indian tribes.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_240" id="Footnote_240" href="#FNanchor_240"><span class="label">[240]</span></a> The James (or Dakota) River rises just south of Devil's Lake in Wells and +Fargo counties, North Dakota, and flows nearly south into the Missouri. Its +French name was Rivière à Jacques. Calumet Bluff is just above its mouth, nearly +opposite Yankton, South Dakota. The term "Sego Island" does not occur in +the Lewis and Clark text, nor has the name been preserved to the present day. +They named White Bear Cliff for an animal of that kind killed in one of its holes. +It was on the north bank, three or four miles above Yankton.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_241" id="Footnote_241" href="#FNanchor_241"><span class="label">[241]</span></a> For Bernard Pratte, sr., see our volume xv, p. 193, note 71. In addition, +these facts of his life may be stated. Born at Ste. Geneviève in 1772, he went to +St. Louis when twenty-one years of age, and entered the fur-trade, marrying (1794) +Emilie Labbadie, niece of Pierre Chouteau, sr. During the War of 1812-15, he +was in command of an expedition which proceeded against Fort Madison; later +was appointed territorial judge, and in Monroe's administration receiver of public +moneys at St. Louis. He died April 1, 1836, respected by the entire community.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Bernard Pratte, jr., was born in upper Louisiana, December 17, 1803. He +was sent to Kentucky to be educated, and upon his return embarked in the fur-trade +with his father. Being particularly interested in navigation, he went on the +"Yellowstone's" early voyages, in this instance taking command of the "Assiniboine;" +see his recollections in J. T. Scharf, <i>History of St. Louis</i> (Philadelphia, +1883), i, p. 675. He was a member of the Missouri assembly in 1838, and mayor +of St. Louis for two terms (1844-46). In 1850 he retired to a farm near Jonesboro', +Montgomery County, where he died in 1887.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_242" id="Footnote_242" href="#FNanchor_242"><span class="label">[242]</span></a> This name signifies "the smoker." The French Canadians generally call +this chief Le Boucan, because smoke has that name among them.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><i>Comment by Ed.</i> This Indian was also painted by Catlin. See Smithsonian +Institution <i>Report</i>, 1885, ii, p. 64.</p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_243" id="Footnote_243" href="#FNanchor_243"><span class="label">[243]</span></a> The word Passitopa signifies the number "four." This brother of the +chief is known from the circumstance of his having shot an Indian, who sought +the life of a white man, who was his friend. Mr. Bodmer drew the portraits of +the two brothers, which are very like. He has succeeded particularly in that of +Shudegacheh.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_244" id="Footnote_244" href="#FNanchor_244"><span class="label">[244]</span></a> For this portrait which Maximilian calls "a good resemblance" see Plate +40, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_245" id="Footnote_245" href="#FNanchor_245"><span class="label">[245]</span></a> For the Ponca, and their present numbers, see our volume v, p. 96, note +63.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_246" id="Footnote_246" href="#FNanchor_246"><span class="label">[246]</span></a> Now known as Bazile Creek, in Knox County, Nebraska. It flows into the +Missouri just east of Niobrara. Lewis and Clark called it White Paint Creek.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_247" id="Footnote_247" href="#FNanchor_247"><span class="label">[247]</span></a> See Plate 11, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_248" id="Footnote_248" href="#FNanchor_248"><span class="label">[248]</span></a> In the portrait referred to in note <a href="#Footnote_242">242</a>, <i>ante</i>, the chief wears this +medal on his breast. Similar medals were carried by Lewis and Clark; see +Townsend's <i>Narrative</i>, in our volume xxi, p. 363, note 133.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_249" id="Footnote_249" href="#FNanchor_249"><span class="label">[249]</span></a> See p. <a href="#illo269d">269</a> for illustration of Ponca war-club.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_250" id="Footnote_250" href="#FNanchor_250"><span class="label">[250]</span></a> Probably Charles Primeau, a fur-trader in the employ of the American Fur +Company—later (1845), setting up in opposition to the company. Consult <i>Larpenteur's +Journal</i>, i, p. 227.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_251" id="Footnote_251" href="#FNanchor_251"><span class="label">[251]</span></a> See <a href="#illo287">opposite page</a> for illustration of Ponca Indians in buffalo robes.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_252" id="Footnote_252" href="#FNanchor_252"><span class="label">[252]</span></a> The children of the North Americans resemble, in all respects, those of the +Brazilians; I have mentioned the same circumstance of the Tapuyas of eastern +Brazil, in the account of my travels in that country.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_253" id="Footnote_253" href="#FNanchor_253"><span class="label">[253]</span></a> For Manuel Lisa, see our volume v, p. 97, note 64. This creek, now called +Emanuel, is in Bonhomme County, South Dakota, just above Springfield.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_254" id="Footnote_254" href="#FNanchor_254"><span class="label">[254]</span></a> This river rises in the Black Hills, near the sources of Tongue River, and +discharges itself into the Missouri, about 1,000 miles from its mouth. The mouth +of this river is said to be 150 paces broad, and its current very rapid. In the +American descriptions of travels, the French name of this river is generally written +incorrectly; for instance, "Qui-courre River," &c. It likewise bears the name +of the Rapid River. Bradbury gives the names of some plants which he gathered +on its banks.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_255" id="Footnote_255" href="#FNanchor_255"><span class="label">[255]</span></a> Ponca Creek, a small prairie stream, rises in the eastern part of Tripp County, +South Dakota, and flows east and southeast about parallel to the Niobrara. Lewis +and Clark speak of mineral springs on the northern bank, but do not mention them +as warm.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_256" id="Footnote_256" href="#FNanchor_256"><span class="label">[256]</span></a> A conspicuous landmark in Wheeler County, South Dakota, just below Fort +Randall, at the 969 mile mark from the mouth of the Missouri. Lewis and Clark +speak of it as the Dome.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_257" id="Footnote_257" href="#FNanchor_257"><span class="label">[257]</span></a> Hugh Glass's adventures with wild beasts and Indians formed a kind of +frontier epic, and were told around many a camp-fire. All that is known of his +early life is that he came from Pennsylvania, and was spoken of as "old man +Glass." He was in the Ankara campaign of 1823, and seriously wounded. Nevertheless +he set out with Andrew Henry for the Yellowstone, but was nearly killed +by a grizzly bear, and left to die. He survived, made his way to Fort Kiowa, and +later joined Henry on the Yellowstone. See Chittenden, <i>Fur-Trade</i>, ii, pp. 698-705. +For his death, see <i>post</i>, volume xxiv.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_258" id="Footnote_258" href="#FNanchor_258"><span class="label">[258]</span></a> Sir George Back (1796-1878), a well-known explorer of arctic North America. +He entered the navy in 1808, and in 1817 made his first northern journey in +company with Sir John Franklin. Later he accompanied Franklin on several +expeditions, being one of his most trusted lieutenants. In 1833 Back organized an +expedition to search for Sir John Ross; his account of this latter enterprise was +published as <i>Narrative of the Arctic Land Expedition, 1833, 1834, and 1835</i> (London, +1836). In 1836 Back made a final voyage in the "Terror," whose narrative was +published in 1838. Upon his return he received many honors, being knighted, +made rear-admiral (1857), and admiral (1867). Maximilian quotes either from +his earlier book, or from some of his narratives published with those of Franklin's +expeditions.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_259" id="Footnote_259" href="#FNanchor_259"><span class="label">[259]</span></a> Little Cedar Island, still so-called, is just above Wheeler, South Dakota, +about 1010 miles up the river. Maximilian has confused the distance with that +of an island beyond, upon which Fort Recovery stood, given by Bradbury as 1075 +miles up. See note 261, <i>post</i>, p. 304, and Bradbury's <i>Travels</i>, our volume v, +p. 99, note 66.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_260" id="Footnote_260" href="#FNanchor_260"><span class="label">[260]</span></a> Bijoux Hills are on the east bank of the river, not far below Chamberlain, +South Dakota. Bijoux was an engagé with Long. See our volume xvi, pp. 58-59. +Catlin, <i>North American Indians</i>, ii, p. 432, says Bijoux was ultimately killed +by the Sioux.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_261" id="Footnote_261" href="#FNanchor_261"><span class="label">[261]</span></a> The name Shannon was given to the first creek by Lewis and Clark, for +one of their men, George Shannon, who here rejoined them after an absence of +sixteen days, when he had been lost on the prairies. It is now called Dry (or +Rosebud) Creek, with Rosebud Landing at its mouth.</p> + +<p class="footnote">White, a South Dakota river, entering the Missouri in Lyman County, from +the west.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_262" id="Footnote_262" href="#FNanchor_262"><span class="label">[262]</span></a> This is the post usually known as Fort Recovery; see Bradbury's <i>Travels</i>, +our volume v, p. 99, note 67.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_263" id="Footnote_263" href="#FNanchor_263"><span class="label">[263]</span></a> Fort Lookout had originally been built (about 1822) by the Columbia Fur +Company, and from them passed into the hands of the American Fur Company. +Later, the Indian agency was established here, as Maximilian notes. It later +became a military post where troops were quartered until the building of Fort +Randall in 1857. The site was some ten miles above Chamberlain, on the west +bank—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_264" id="Footnote_264" href="#FNanchor_264"><span class="label">[264]</span></a> For the Yankton, see our volume v, p. 90, note 55.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_265" id="Footnote_265" href="#FNanchor_265"><span class="label">[265]</span></a> Maximilian's classification of the Dakota (or Sioux) is in accord with modern +philological conclusions. J. W. Powell, "Indian Linguistic Families," in United +States Bureau of Ethnology <i>Report</i>, 1885-86, gives six subdivisions of this great +tribe—Santee, Wahpeton, Sisseton, Yankton, Yanktonnai, and Teton; the last +three, or Missouri, tribes corresponding with those given by Maximilian.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_266" id="Footnote_266" href="#FNanchor_266"><span class="label">[266]</span></a> See p. <a href="#illo287b">287</a>, for illustration of method of wearing hair.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_267" id="Footnote_267" href="#FNanchor_267"><span class="label">[267]</span></a> See his portrait, which Maximilian calls "a striking likeness," Plate 41, in +the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_268" id="Footnote_268" href="#FNanchor_268"><span class="label">[268]</span></a> See p. <a href="#illo287c">287</a>, for illustration of bows, arrows, and quiver.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_269" id="Footnote_269" href="#FNanchor_269"><span class="label">[269]</span></a> See p. <a href="#illo319">319</a>, for illustration of Sioux tents.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_270" id="Footnote_270" href="#FNanchor_270"><span class="label">[270]</span></a> See Plate 81, figure 8, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_271" id="Footnote_271" href="#FNanchor_271"><span class="label">[271]</span></a> Schoolcraft (Expedition of Gov. Cass, p. 323) says, that the Dacotas, on the +Mississippi, tanned their skins with oak bark, which I did not observe on the Missouri: +they probably learned it from the Whites. The Aucas, in South America, +seem to use such an instrument.—D'Orbigny Voyage, t. ii. p. 234.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_272" id="Footnote_272" href="#FNanchor_272"><span class="label">[272]</span></a> Apparently the creeks took somewhat different courses in the time of Clark's +visit—at least Crow, Wolf, and Campbell are now some distance apart in the Crow +Creek Indian reservation of Buffalo County, South Dakota.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_273" id="Footnote_273" href="#FNanchor_273"><span class="label">[273]</span></a> This is a climbing plant, and the leaves are a very nourishing food for horses +and oxen, which are said to thrive upon it. The root has a bulb, about the size +of a walnut, with a violet outer skin, and white inside, which is said to be a wholesome +food for man.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_274" id="Footnote_274" href="#FNanchor_274"><span class="label">[274]</span></a> Clark describes the Big Bend as being from a mile to a mile and a quarter +at its neck, with a low range of hills running across, from ninety to a hundred and +eighty feet high. He himself walked across the "gouge;" but the boats were a +day and a half in passing around.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_275" id="Footnote_275" href="#FNanchor_275"><span class="label">[275]</span></a> Medicine Creek was called by Lewis and Clark Tyler's River. It is a western +affluent of the Missouri, and the hills mentioned are known as Medicine Butte, +in Lyman County. The mouth of the creek is the site of the Red Cloud or Lower +Brulé Indian agency. This creek and hills should be distinguished from Medicine +Knoll and a creek of that name, eastern affluents a few miles higher up.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_276" id="Footnote_276" href="#FNanchor_276"><span class="label">[276]</span></a> Daniel Lamont, supposed to be of a Scotch family, was one of the original +members of the Columbia Fur Company, and became one of the three partners +of the "Upper Missouri Outfit." He was for many years in the fur-trade, but +little is known of his personal history.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Colonel David D. Mitchell was a Virginian by birth (1806), who early entered +the fur-trade—first as a clerk, later as a partner in the American Fur Company. +In 1832 he built the first fort for that company among the Blackfeet (see our volume +xxiii), and was for some time in charge at Fort Clark, where Larpenteur speaks +of him as "very much of a gentleman." In 1841, Mitchell was chosen superintendent +of Indian affairs for the Western Department, with headquarters at St. +Louis—a position which he filled until 1852. Joining the volunteer service for the +Mexican War, he was chosen lieutenant-colonel of Colonel Sterling Price's regiment, +and advanced first to New Mexico and later to Chihuahua with Colonel Alexander +Doniphan. Mitchell died in St. Louis in 1861.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_277" id="Footnote_277" href="#FNanchor_277"><span class="label">[277]</span></a> This island is now known as Fort George (or Airhart's) Island.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_278" id="Footnote_278" href="#FNanchor_278"><span class="label">[278]</span></a> The second Fort Teton was built about 1828; it has been contended by +several authorities that its site was south of or below Teton River; but in the light +of Maximilian's testimony, this appears improbable. The first Fort Teton was +probably that built by Joseph La Framboise in 1817. Maximilian does not state +that Fort Tecumseh was the successor of Fort Teton, and the predecessor of Fort +Pierre, although alluding to the former—see note 278, <i>post</i>. On the entire +subject see "Fort Pierre and its Neighbors," in <i>South Dakota Historical Collections</i> +(Aberdeen, 1902), i, pp. 263-379.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_279" id="Footnote_279" href="#FNanchor_279"><span class="label">[279]</span></a> Fort Pierre was built by the American Fur Company in 1831-32 to replace +Fort Tecumseh, which had begun to be undermined by the river. The site chosen +was three miles above the mouth of the Teton, about one thousand yards back +from the river. The post was christened in June, 1832, upon the visit of Pierre +Chouteau, jr., in whose honor it was named. Fort Pierre continued to be the +entrepôt of the upper Missouri until 1855, when the company sold the post to the +United States, then engaged in a campaign against the hostile Sioux. General +Harney wintered here (1855-56) with one thousand two hundred men. The following +year (1857), Fort Pierre was abandoned for Fort Randall, a hundred miles +farther down the river; the old post was demolished, the best of its fittings transferred +to the new post, and the rest allowed to fall into the hands of the Indians. +The same year a trader built a new post, also popularly called Fort Pierre, three +miles above the old one. New Fort Pierre, a company trading post, was built +in 1859 about two miles above the original stockade. This was abandoned in +the Sioux outbreak of 1863, and the goods removed to the neighborhood of Fort +Sully, a government post established on an island below the city of Pierre, South +Dakota.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_280" id="Footnote_280" href="#FNanchor_280"><span class="label">[280]</span></a> Fort Tecumseh was the principal establishment on this part of the river for +the Columbia Fur Company, being built about 1822. When this concern was +consolidated with the American Fur Company, the latter made headquarters at +Fort Tecumseh until the building of the original Fort Pierre (1831-32). Its site +has been thought, by a misreading of authorities, to have been on the east bank; +but it was probably only a short distance below old Fort Pierre, on the western +bank.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_281" id="Footnote_281" href="#FNanchor_281"><span class="label">[281]</span></a> William Laidlaw was a Scotchman who had been trained in the British +fur companies, and came to the Missouri with the Columbia Fur Company. He +was for several years the factor of Forts Tecumseh and Pierre, and was then promoted +to the charge of Fort Union, where he was as late as 1845—probably for +some time after. When he finally retired, it was to settle near Liberty, Missouri, +where he died a poor man. He was an able trader, but of quick, irascible temper, +and unpopular with his subordinates.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_282" id="Footnote_282" href="#FNanchor_282"><span class="label">[282]</span></a> See p. <a href="#illo319b">319</a>, for plan of Fort Pierre.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_283" id="Footnote_283" href="#FNanchor_283"><span class="label">[283]</span></a> For Pierre Dorion, see our volume v, p. 38, note 7. Although Maximilian +speaks of him as "old Dorion," it is probable that this was another son of Pierre, +sr.; for Pierre, jr., was a grown man at the time of the Lewis and Clark expedition, +and his father was a Frenchman, not a half-breed.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_284" id="Footnote_284" href="#FNanchor_284"><span class="label">[284]</span></a> See the portrait of the Dakota woman, Plate 42, in the accompanying atlas, +our volume xxv.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_285" id="Footnote_285" href="#FNanchor_285"><span class="label">[285]</span></a> The red pipe-clay is found chiefly on a lateral stream of the Big Sioux River, +but also in other places, for instance, on St. Peter's River; and it is said, that the +several Indian tribes behave peaceably towards each other while they are digging +up the stone in that place, but again treat each other as enemies as soon as they +have left it. Persons who have visited the quarries on the Big Sioux River have +given me the following description of them: the red stone occurs in large beds or +strata, where the perpendicular sides of the stream show divers alternating layers. +The strata of red stone, which are at the most a foot thick, alternate with yellow, +blue, white, and other kinds of clay. The green turf on the surface, and the upper +stratum, are removed, and the red-brown colour of the stone is generally more +lively and beautiful the deeper you go down. It is possible to obtain large pieces, +and to make beautiful slabs of them. The Indians make not only pipe-heads of +this stone, but likewise war-clubs, which, however, are only carried in their hands +for show.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><i>Comment by Ed.</i> The first white person to visit the Pipestone quarries in +southwest Minnesota was the artist George Catlin, who in 1836 obtained permission +from the Indians to inspect this sacred spot. The mineral has since been called +"catlinite," from his name. There are, however, other quarries in Dakota, Wisconsin, +and Minnesota.</p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_286" id="Footnote_286" href="#FNanchor_286"><span class="label">[286]</span></a> See Plate 81, figure 12, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv, for a +figure of a Dakota pipe; also illustration on opposite <a href="#illo323">page</a> of Dakota pipes.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_287" id="Footnote_287" href="#FNanchor_287"><span class="label">[287]</span></a> See p. <a href="#illo323d">323</a>, for illustration of a Dakota with plaited hair.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_288" id="Footnote_288" href="#FNanchor_288"><span class="label">[288]</span></a> See Plate 81, figure 9, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_289" id="Footnote_289" href="#FNanchor_289"><span class="label">[289]</span></a> For the Teton, see our volume v, p. 104, note 71. The Teton bands (as +at present classified) are the Brulé, Sans Arcs, Blackfeet (not to be confused +with the Blackfoot tribe of Algonquian origin), Miniconjou, Two Kettle, Oglala, +and Hunkpapa. The Yankton bands are not classified by Powell.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_290" id="Footnote_290" href="#FNanchor_290"><span class="label">[290]</span></a> See p. <a href="#illo287b">287</a>, for illustration of method of wearing hair.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_291" id="Footnote_291" href="#FNanchor_291"><span class="label">[291]</span></a> See Plate 30, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv, for an Indian +horse-race.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_292" id="Footnote_292" href="#FNanchor_292"><span class="label">[292]</span></a> See p. <a href="#illo323c">323</a>, for illustration of this Teton.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_293" id="Footnote_293" href="#FNanchor_293"><span class="label">[293]</span></a> See p. <a href="#illo323b">323</a>, for illustration of hill of baked clay.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_294" id="Footnote_294" href="#FNanchor_294"><span class="label">[294]</span></a> Called "No Timber Creek," by Lewis and Clark. It is now Chantier in +Stanley County, a term clipped from its Siouan name.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_295" id="Footnote_295" href="#FNanchor_295"><span class="label">[295]</span></a> For the Cheyenne River see our volume v, p. 126, note 81. Cheyenne +Island, about three miles long, below the river's embouchment, was called "Pania" +by Lewis and Clark. They note also an old Arikara village, of which only a circular +wall remained.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_296" id="Footnote_296" href="#FNanchor_296"><span class="label">[296]</span></a> For the Cheyenne, see our volume v, p. 140, note 88. Their migration was +from the northeast, the habitat of the Algonquian stock.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_297" id="Footnote_297" href="#FNanchor_297"><span class="label">[297]</span></a> Coues, in his edition of Biddle's Lewis and Clark, identifies the island called +"Caution" by the explorers, as the present Plum Island. The Little Cheyenne +is a prairie stream coming into the Mission from the northeast, in Potter County, +South Dakota.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_298" id="Footnote_298" href="#FNanchor_298"><span class="label">[298]</span></a> Called Beaver (or Otter) Creek by Lewis and Clark; probably the present +Swan Creek, in Walworth County, with the town of Lebeau at its mouth.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_299" id="Footnote_299" href="#FNanchor_299"><span class="label">[299]</span></a> For this stream, see our volume v, p. 127, note 82.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_300" id="Footnote_300" href="#FNanchor_300"><span class="label">[300]</span></a> For these rivers, see our volume v, p. 127, note 83.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_301" id="Footnote_301" href="#FNanchor_301"><span class="label">[301]</span></a> In Lewis and Clark's time there were three Arikara villages on the Missouri. +The lower village on the island, headed by the chief Kakawissassa, had +been abandoned by 1811. See Bradbury's <i>Travels</i>, our volume v, p. 127.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_302" id="Footnote_302" href="#FNanchor_302"><span class="label">[302]</span></a> A party returning from Santa Fé in the winter of 1832-33, was attacked +January 1, on the Canadian River, lost all of their property, and had one man +killed. The Arikara apparently never reoccupied their village permanently. +Audubon found them in 1843 in one village with the Mandan, where they lived +until removed to Fort Berthold reservation.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_303" id="Footnote_303" href="#FNanchor_303"><span class="label">[303]</span></a> Known to the traders as "Old Star" present at Fort Clark in 1847; see +<i>Larpenteur's Journal</i>, ii, p. 246.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_304" id="Footnote_304" href="#FNanchor_304"><span class="label">[304]</span></a> For the Arikara and Lisa see our volume v, p. 113, note 76, and p. 97, note +64, respectively. Fort Manuel, Lisa's post, erected in 1800, was near the Arikara +villages, the site not being definitely determined.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_305" id="Footnote_305" href="#FNanchor_305"><span class="label">[305]</span></a> These are now called Cheyenne Hills. Lewis and Clark speak of one with +a top resembling the slanting roof of a house.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_306" id="Footnote_306" href="#FNanchor_306"><span class="label">[306]</span></a> Lewis and Clark give this as Warraconne (Elk shed their horns) Creek; now +Beaver (or Sand) Creek, in Emmons County, North Dakota.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_307" id="Footnote_307" href="#FNanchor_307"><span class="label">[307]</span></a> On a careful investigation, I have not been able to discover from what source +Lewis and Clarke procured a part of their singular denominations for the affluents +of the Missouri; for, in the languages of the neighbouring Indian nations, they +have entirely different names.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_308" id="Footnote_308" href="#FNanchor_308"><span class="label">[308]</span></a> The French form for this river was Le Boulet. It rises somewhat north of +the Black Hills, flows east in two branches across North Dakota, and empties into +the Missouri in Morton County.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_309" id="Footnote_309" href="#FNanchor_309"><span class="label">[309]</span></a> For a brief sketch of the Mandan, see our volume v, pp. 113, 114, note 76. +Maximilian is a chief authority for the customs of this interesting tribe. See our +volume xxiii.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_310" id="Footnote_310" href="#FNanchor_310"><span class="label">[310]</span></a> Alexander Harvey was a clerk of the American Fur Company. Born and +reared in St. Louis, he quarrelled with his first employers while still a minor, and +ran away to join the fur company. He was for several years at Fort McKenzie, +and one of the participants in the Blackfoot massacre of 1843-44. Harvey was a +bold and desperate character, and tales of his atrocities are narrated by Larpenteur, +a fellow employé. In 1845 he left the company's employ, and organized +a rival concern, of which he was head. He was living at Fort Yates as late as +1896.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_311" id="Footnote_311" href="#FNanchor_311"><span class="label">[311]</span></a> The black-tailed or mule deer of the Americans (<i>Cervus macrotis</i>, Say), has +been described, by later zoologists, from an imperfect skin; I will, therefore, give +an imperfect description from nature. It is larger than the Virginian deer, not +so light, has a larger hoof, much longer ears, and does not run so swiftly—not +quicker than a buffalo cow. It casts its horns in March, and throws off the rough +skin of them in August. They have, generally, only one young one—sometimes +two; they are marked with white spots, on a pale yellowish-red ground. One of +these animals, of three or four years old, in shape nearly resembled the Virginian +deer; the hair of the body was hard and scanty; the whole of a pale yellowish-red; +the breast greyish-brown, and, on the belly, yellowish-white. In winter, the colour +nearly resembles that of our deer in the same season. Each of the horns of this +deer had four antlers, nearly as in <i>Cervus elaphus</i>. Woodcut B represents the horns +of a large deer of this species.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><i>Comment by Ed.</i> See p. <a href="#illo347">347</a>, for illustration of antlers of deer.</p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_312" id="Footnote_312" href="#FNanchor_312"><span class="label">[312]</span></a> Marked on Lewis and Clark's map as Shepherd River; it is now Apple +Creek, flowing from the east in Bismarck County, North Dakota.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_313" id="Footnote_313" href="#FNanchor_313"><span class="label">[313]</span></a> For Heart River, see our volume v, p. 148, note 91.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_314" id="Footnote_314" href="#FNanchor_314"><span class="label">[314]</span></a> On the west bank; Square Butte Creek takes its name therefrom.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_315" id="Footnote_315" href="#FNanchor_315"><span class="label">[315]</span></a> Lewis and Clark here met a party of Mandan on a hunting excursion. This +creek has not been certainly identified, the river's bed having changed in the vicinity. +It is probably Deer Creek, in Oliver County.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_316" id="Footnote_316" href="#FNanchor_316"><span class="label">[316]</span></a> Old Mandan villages had been scattered all along this reach of the river, +Lewis and Clark noting the first remains below Heart River.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_317" id="Footnote_317" href="#FNanchor_317"><span class="label">[317]</span></a> The Cheyenne River of North Dakota—not to be confused with the Missour +affluent in South Dakota—is the largest western tributary of Red River of the +North. Devil's Lake, a large body of fresh water in Halsey County, was a favorite +habitat of the Sioux. South of it is now an Indian reservation, chiefly for Sisseton +and Wahpeton Sioux. St. Peter's River is the present Minnesota; its source is +in Big Stone Lake, on the boundary of Minnesota and South Dakota.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_318" id="Footnote_318" href="#FNanchor_318"><span class="label">[318]</span></a> Lewis and Clark called the first Mandan village Ma-too-ton-ka. This was +in a wooded bend, three miles below the site of Fort Clark.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_319" id="Footnote_319" href="#FNanchor_319"><span class="label">[319]</span></a> Fort Clark, named in honor of General William Clark, was built in 1831 +as the American Fur Company's post among the Mandan. An earlier post near +by, had been the company's home since 1822. Fort Clark was second in importance +only to Forts Union and Pierre. A trusted employé was kept as chief factor, +and the post was maintained until the close of the fur-trading era. Its site was eight +miles below the mouth of Big Knife River, on the west bank, some eighty or ninety +paces back from the river, and about three-quarters of a mile lower down and on +the opposite side of the river from Fort Mandan, Lewis and Clark's wintering +place (1804-05).—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_320" id="Footnote_320" href="#FNanchor_320"><span class="label">[320]</span></a> The Wolf chief, called by the French traders Chef de Loup, and by Catlin +Ha-na-ta-nu-mauk, was head chief of the nation. Of an austere and haughty +nature, he was feared rather than beloved by the tribe, whose idol was Four Bears, +the second chief. Bodmer painted this chief in two ways (see Plates 46 and 47, +in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv). Catlin also secured his likeness both +in full dress and in mourning. Catlin describes in detail a buffalo robe covered +with paintings representing his exploits; see Catlin, <i>North American Indians</i>, i, +pp. 145-154.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_321" id="Footnote_321" href="#FNanchor_321"><span class="label">[321]</span></a> James Kipp was born in Canada in 1788. When about twenty years of +age he entered the fur-trade, as hunter and trapper in the Red River region. By +1818 he was on the upper Missouri, and became the agent of the Columbia Fur +Company at its Mandan post. Later, he became a trusted employé of the American +Fur Company, building Fort Piegan among the Blackfeet (1831). For many +years he was chief factor at Fort Clark, transferring (1835) to Fort McKenzie. +Audubon found him in charge of Fort Alexander, on the Yellowstone, in 1843, +and two years later he was entrusted with the important post at Fort Union. He +retired from the fur-trade in 1865, and settled upon his Missouri farm, which he +had acquired many years before. As late as 1876 he once more visited the Mandan, +whose language he was said to have been the first white man to master.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_322" id="Footnote_322" href="#FNanchor_322"><span class="label">[322]</span></a> For Toussaint Charbonneau, see Brackenridge's <i>Journal</i>, in our volume vi, +p. 32, note 3.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_323" id="Footnote_323" href="#FNanchor_323"><span class="label">[323]</span></a> For the Crow Indians, see our volume v, p. 226, note 121.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_324" id="Footnote_324" href="#FNanchor_324"><span class="label">[324]</span></a> See Plate 13, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_325" id="Footnote_325" href="#FNanchor_325"><span class="label">[325]</span></a> See Plate 49, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_326" id="Footnote_326" href="#FNanchor_326"><span class="label">[326]</span></a> See p. <a href="#illo347b">347</a>, for illustration of Sioux burial stages.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_327" id="Footnote_327" href="#FNanchor_327"><span class="label">[327]</span></a> For the traditions of the first man, Nu-mohk-muck-a-nah, consult Catlin, +<i>North American Indians</i>, i, pp. 178-181.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_328" id="Footnote_328" href="#FNanchor_328"><span class="label">[328]</span></a> For the Minitaree, see our volume v, pp. 113, 114, note 76. An extended +account is given by Washington Matthews, "Ethnography and Philology of the +Hidatsa Indians," in United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the +Territories, <i>Miscellaneous Publications</i>, No. 7 (Washington, 1877). Maximilian +classes with the Minitaree villages that of the Ahnahaway, or Gens des Souliers, +also called Wetersoon, whom Lewis and Clark considered a separate though +allied tribe.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_329" id="Footnote_329" href="#FNanchor_329"><span class="label">[329]</span></a> See Plate 81, figures 5 and 6, in the accompanying atlas, volume xxv of +our series.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_330" id="Footnote_330" href="#FNanchor_330"><span class="label">[330]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, figure 10.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_331" id="Footnote_331" href="#FNanchor_331"><span class="label">[331]</span></a> Catlin says that Long Hair was the head chief of the tribe, having received +his office from the circumstance of having the longest hair in the tribe. Campbell +and Sublette stated that they had lived in his lodge and examined his hair, which +measured ten feet and seven inches of natural growth.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_332" id="Footnote_332" href="#FNanchor_332"><span class="label">[332]</span></a> Fort Cass was built by the American Fur Company in the autumn of 1832, +on the right bank of the Yellowstone, two or three miles below the mouth of the +Bighorn. It was intended for the Crow trade, and frequently was called Tulloch's +fort from its founder, a company employé. Wyeth, on his famous voyage, passed +this fort in a bull-boat, August 18, 1833. See Irving, <i>Rocky Mountains</i>, ii, pp. +159-161. About 1838 Fort Cass was abandoned in favor of Fort Van Buren +farther down the Yellowstone.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_333" id="Footnote_333" href="#FNanchor_333"><span class="label">[333]</span></a> The bardaches will be spoken of when we are treating of the customs of +the Mandans.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_334" id="Footnote_334" href="#FNanchor_334"><span class="label">[334]</span></a> See p. <a href="#illo347b">347</a>, for illustration of Sioux burial stages.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_335" id="Footnote_335" href="#FNanchor_335"><span class="label">[335]</span></a> Knife River, called by the French Rivière de Couteau, and by the Indians +Minah Wakpa, is a prairie stream, whose course is in general east, entering the +Missouri in Mercer County, North Dakota. The town of Stanton is now on the +site of the third village, Awachawi—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_336" id="Footnote_336" href="#FNanchor_336"><span class="label">[336]</span></a> See p. <a href="#illo361">361</a>, for illustration of a Blackfoot musical instrument.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_337" id="Footnote_337" href="#FNanchor_337"><span class="label">[337]</span></a> This fort of Pilcher, built for the Missouri Fur Company about 1822, was +about eleven miles above the mouth of Knife River, and named Fort Vanderburgh. +Not proving profitable, it was maintained but a short time. See another mention +in our volume xxiii, chapter xxiii.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_338" id="Footnote_338" href="#FNanchor_338"><span class="label">[338]</span></a> See article by O. D. Wheeler, in <i>Wonderland</i> (1904), on the recent development +of the lignite coal area of North Dakota.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_339" id="Footnote_339" href="#FNanchor_339"><span class="label">[339]</span></a> It was a custom of the Minitaree, maintained until 1866, to leave their permanent +village each winter for a spot where fuel was convenient, and there build +log-cabins, very warm and secure, as winter quarters. They thus preserved both +the fuel supply, and the game in the neighborhood of their summer home.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_340" id="Footnote_340" href="#FNanchor_340"><span class="label">[340]</span></a> Miry Creek appears to be the present Snake Creek, in McLean County, +North Dakota, the one which Maximilian designates as Snake being a small run +from a cliff which was known as Snake den. See <i>Original Journals of the Lewis +and Clark Expedition</i>, i, p. 291.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_341" id="Footnote_341" href="#FNanchor_341"><span class="label">[341]</span></a> See description of bear-dance, with illustration, in Catlin, <i>North American +Indians</i>, i, pp. 242-245.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_342" id="Footnote_342" href="#FNanchor_342"><span class="label">[342]</span></a> These stones are generally granite, not sharp, but rounded in front; are used +by the Indians to break the large bones of the buffaloes, of the marrow of which +they are very fond. Stones closely resembling these are found among the Blackfoot +Indians.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_343" id="Footnote_343" href="#FNanchor_343"><span class="label">[343]</span></a> See p. <a href="#illo361b">361</a>, for illustration of a stone battle-axe.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_344" id="Footnote_344" href="#FNanchor_344"><span class="label">[344]</span></a> The Little Missouri is the most important North Dakota affluent of the +Missouri, above the Cannonball. It rises on the northwestern slopes of the Black +Hills and flows north for some distance, thence turning northeast and east to enter +the main river in Williams County. It is a broad but shallow stream, impregnated +with alkali.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_345" id="Footnote_345" href="#FNanchor_345"><span class="label">[345]</span></a> Wild Onion Creek was so named by Lewis and Clark because of the quantity +of that plant growing upon its bordering plains. Within Garfield County, North +Dakota, it is now denominated Pride Creek.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_346" id="Footnote_346" href="#FNanchor_346"><span class="label">[346]</span></a> Goose Egg Lake, so named by the explorers "from the circumstance of my +[Clark] shooting a goose on her nest on some sticks in the top of a high cotton +wood tree in which there was one egg," is now Cold Spring Lake (<i>Original Journals +of the Lewis and Clark Expedition</i>, i, pp. 304, 305). The great bend (Grand Detour) +is still so named, but is much wider than the lower bend, being nearly ten +miles across, and over twenty around the curve.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_347" id="Footnote_347" href="#FNanchor_347"><span class="label">[347]</span></a> Coues, <i>Lewis and Clark Expedition</i>, i, p. 274, identifies Goat Pen Creek +with Upper Knife River. Maximilian's identification of this stream as the present +White Earth River appears to accord better with the <i>Original Journals</i> (i, +p. 313). The White Earth rises in Coteau des Prairies, and flows directly south +into the Missouri. Lewis and Clark applied the name to a river farther up, near +the forks of the Yellowstone. See note 348, <i>post</i>, p. 372.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_348" id="Footnote_348" href="#FNanchor_348"><span class="label">[348]</span></a> For the Assiniboin see our volume ii, p. 168, note 75. They separated from +the Wazikute gens of the Yanktonnai Sioux before the middle of the seventeenth +century. The Dakota stigmatize them as "Hohe" (rebels). Lewis and Clark +name three bands of these people, of whom they heard along the Missouri—Gens +de Canoe, Gens des Filles, and Gens des Grand Diables. The Gens des Filles +(girl band) was composed of about sixty tents, its head chief being Les Yeux Gris +(Grey Eyes). See United States Bureau of Ethnology <i>Report</i>, 1894-95, p. 223.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_349" id="Footnote_349" href="#FNanchor_349"><span class="label">[349]</span></a> See p. <a href="#illo287c">287</a>, for illustration of bows, arrows, and quiver.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_350" id="Footnote_350" href="#FNanchor_350"><span class="label">[350]</span></a> The White Earth River of Lewis and Clark, now Muddy River, is a northern +affluent of the Missouri, taking its name from the mud by which its mouth is choked. +Above the mouth it is a clear and partly navigable stream, flowing through a +valley nearly five miles wide, fertile although treeless. It enters the Missouri in +Buford County, having the town of Williston at its mouth.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_351" id="Footnote_351" href="#FNanchor_351"><span class="label">[351]</span></a> Fort Union was the most important post of the American Fur Company on +the upper Missouri. It was commenced in the autumn of 1828 (Maximilian says +1829), being at first known as Fort Floyd—another Fort Union existing higher up +the river, which was abandoned, and the property transferred to the fort at the +mouth of the Yellowstone. The actual site was five miles above the meeting of +the rivers, on the north bank of the Missouri; see <i>Larpenteur's Journal</i>, i, pp. 50, +68. The fort was injured by fire in 1832, but substantially rebuilt, Wyeth (1833) +pronouncing it superior to the Oregon forts of the British companies. Maintained +until 1867, it was finally abandoned, part of its effects being transferred to the +government post Fort Buford, some miles below.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_352" id="Footnote_352" href="#FNanchor_352"><span class="label">[352]</span></a> Our knowledge of Hamilton is chiefly derived from the pages of Larpenteur, +who says that the former was an English nobleman, whose real name was Archibald +Palmer. Having become involved in some difficulties, he assumed the name +James Archdale Hamilton, and having formed acquaintance with Kenneth McKenzie +was sent by the latter as book-keeper to Fort Union, where he took full +command during McKenzie's frequent absences. Hamilton was at this time about +fifty years of age, punctilious in manner, particular in dress, and both respected +and feared by his subordinates. Later he reverted to his own name and returned +to St. Louis, becoming cashier for the American Fur Company, and dying in that +city.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_353" id="Footnote_353" href="#FNanchor_353"><span class="label">[353]</span></a> The French form for the name of this great river (Roche Jaune) was in +early use; Chittenden (<i>Yellowstone National Park</i> (Cincinnati, 1895), pp. 1-7) +thinks it a translation of the Indian term, derived from the predominant color of +Yellowstone Cañon. The first use of the English form appears to be in the writings +of David Thompson, the English explorer (1798). See Elliott Coues, <i>New +Light on the Early History of the Greater Northwest</i> (New York, 1897), i, p. 302. +The Crow Indians had a name for this stream, signifying "Elk."</p> + +<p class="footnote">The reference is to D. B. Warden, <i>Statistical, Political, and Historical Account +of the United States of North America</i> (Edinburgh, 1819), i, p. 93.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_354" id="Footnote_354" href="#FNanchor_354"><span class="label">[354]</span></a> For a view of this fort see Plate 61, in the accompanying atlas, our volume +xxv.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_355" id="Footnote_355" href="#FNanchor_355"><span class="label">[355]</span></a> This is the distance by water; on horseback, the journey has been accomplished +in ten days.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_356" id="Footnote_356" href="#FNanchor_356"><span class="label">[356]</span></a> On this subject see "Astoria," and "Adventures of Captain Bonneville," +also "Ross Cox's Adventures on the Columbia River," p. 198. The dress of the +white agents of the Company is made of cloth, like our own; but the hunters often +wear a leather dress, ornamented, for the most part, in the Indian fashion, while +the common <i>engagés</i> wear white blanket coats, such as I have described when +speaking of the inhabitants of Indiana, on the Wabash. They are mostly shod +in Indian mocassins, a dozen pair of which may be purchased from the Indian +women for one dollar, when they are not ornamented. The hunters, here, maintain +that these Indian shoes are better adapted to the prairies than our European +ones, as they do not become so slippery. They are frequently soled with elk hide, +or parchment. The worst is, that they are easily penetrated by the prickles of +the cactus, and on this account we greatly preferred our European shoes. At Fort +Union, artisans of almost every description are to be met with, such as smiths, +masons, carpenters, joiners, coopers, tailors, shoemakers, hatters, &c.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_357" id="Footnote_357" href="#FNanchor_357"><span class="label">[357]</span></a> Some idea may be formed of the enormous quantity of beavers killed every +year, from the circumstance that the Hudson's Bay Company sends to London +alone 50,000, this animal being found as far as the coasts of the Frozen Ocean.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_358" id="Footnote_358" href="#FNanchor_358"><span class="label">[358]</span></a> At Rock River, which falls into the Mississippi, the Indians caught, in 1825, +about 130,000 musk-rats; in the following year, about half the number; and, in +about two years after, these animals were scarcely to be met with. Previous to +this time, an Indian caught, in thirty days, as many as 1,600 of them. In South +America, there is only one species of wild animal, known to me, whose skins are +collected in large quantities. According to D'Orbigny, in the first six months of +1828, above 150,000 dozen Quiyaa were sold, in Corrientes, at from fifteen to +eighteen francs the dozen. The Indians hunt this animal, which lives in the +morasses, with dogs, and shoot it with arrows.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_359" id="Footnote_359" href="#FNanchor_359"><span class="label">[359]</span></a> See Plate 62, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_360" id="Footnote_360" href="#FNanchor_360"><span class="label">[360]</span></a> See Plate 15, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_361" id="Footnote_361" href="#FNanchor_361"><span class="label">[361]</span></a> Unfortunately, all these interesting specimens were destroyed in the fire +on board the steam-boat.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><i>Comment by Ed.</i> Reference is made to the burning of the "Assiniboine." +See note 179, <i>ante</i>, p. 240.</p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_362" id="Footnote_362" href="#FNanchor_362"><span class="label">[362]</span></a> William Keating, <i>Narrative of an Expedition to the source of St. Peter's +River, performed in the year 1823, under command of Stephen H. Long</i> (Philadelphia, +1824).—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_363" id="Footnote_363" href="#FNanchor_363"><span class="label">[363]</span></a> Sir John Franklin, <i>Narrative of a Journey to the shores of the Polar Sea in +the years 1819, 1820, 1821, and 1822</i> (London, 1823), p. 104.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_364" id="Footnote_364" href="#FNanchor_364"><span class="label">[364]</span></a> Fort des Prairies was at different periods applied to various Hudson's Bay +Company posts. Apparently this was the fort on the site of Edmonton, for which +see Franchère's <i>Narrative</i>, in our volume vi, p. 364, note 177.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_365" id="Footnote_365" href="#FNanchor_365"><span class="label">[365]</span></a> The word <i>osayes</i> is one of the many Canadian terms which are mixed with +the French of that country, and means bones.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_366" id="Footnote_366" href="#FNanchor_366"><span class="label">[366]</span></a> Consult on the bands or gentes of the Assiniboin, J. O. Dorsey, "Siouan +Sociology," in Bureau of Ethnology <i>Report</i>, 1893-94, pp. 222, 223.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_367" id="Footnote_367" href="#FNanchor_367"><span class="label">[367]</span></a> The common Mackinaw guns, which the Fur Company obtain from England +at the rate of eight dollars a-piece, and which are sold to the Indians for the +value of thirty dollars.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_368" id="Footnote_368" href="#FNanchor_368"><span class="label">[368]</span></a> <i>Op. cit.</i> in note 361, [<i>ante</i>] p. 112.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_369" id="Footnote_369" href="#FNanchor_369"><span class="label">[369]</span></a> The reference is to Edwin James (editor) <i>Narrative of Captivity and Adventures +during thirty years' residence among the Indians in the interior of North +America by John Tanner</i> (New York, 1830). John Tanner, a boy of nine years, +was captured in Kentucky about 1790. He passed the larger part of his life in +the northern woods. In 1818 he sought his relatives in Kentucky while his brother +Edward was searching for him near Mackinac. For some years he was employed +as interpreter at Sault Ste. Marie, but having become an Indian in habit he shot +(1836) and killed James L. Schoolcraft and fled to the wilderness where he died +about 1847 (but see <i>Minnesota Historical Collections</i>, vi, p. 114). His <i>Narrative</i> +was much quoted by contemporary writers.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_370" id="Footnote_370" href="#FNanchor_370"><span class="label">[370]</span></a> See p. <a href="#illo361c">361</a>, for illustration of Assiniboin pipes.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_371" id="Footnote_371" href="#FNanchor_371"><span class="label">[371]</span></a> The Indians on the Upper Missouri have another kind of tobacco pipe, +the bowl of which is in the same line as the tube, and which they use only on their +warlike expeditions. As the aperture of the pipe is more inclined downwards than +usual, the fire can never be seen, so as to betray the smoker, who lies on the ground, +and holds the pipe on one side.—<span class="smcap">Maximilian.</span></p> + +<p class="footnote"><i>Comment by Ed.</i> See p. <a href="#illo361d">361</a>, for illustration of pipe for warlike expeditions.</p> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_372" id="Footnote_372" href="#FNanchor_372"><span class="label">[372]</span></a> See Plate 81, figure 11, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRAVELS IN THE INTERIOR OF NORTH AMERICA, PART I, (BEING CHAPTERS I-XV OF THE LONDON EDITION, 1843)***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 38784-h.txt or 38784-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/8/7/8/38784">http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/7/8/38784</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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