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CHAPTER 2
Departure from Fort Osage Modes of transportation Pack-
horses Wagons Walker and Cerre; their characters Buoyant feelings
on launching upon the prairies Wild equipments of the
trappers Their gambols and antics Difference of character between
the American and French trappers Agency of the Kansas General
Clarke White Plume, the Kansas chief Night scene in a trader's
camp Colloquy between White Plume and the captain Bee-
hunters Their expeditions Their feuds with the Indians Bargaining
talent of White Plume
IT WAS ON THE FIRST of May, 1832, that Captain Bonneville took
his departure from the frontier post of Fort Osage, on the
Missouri. He had enlisted a party of one hundred and ten men,
most of whom had been in the Indian country, and some of whom
were experienced hunters and trappers. Fort Osage, and other
places on the borders of the western wilderness, abound with
characters of the kind, ready for any expedition.
The ordinary mode of transportation in these great inland
expeditions of the fur traders is on mules and pack-horses; but
Captain Bonneville substituted wagons. Though he was to travel
through a trackless wilderness, yet the greater part of his route
would lie across open plains, destitute of forests, and where
wheel carriages can pass in every direction. The chief difficulty
occurs in passing the deep ravines cut through the prairies by
streams and winter torrents. Here it is often necessary to dig a
road down the banks, and to make bridges for the wagons.
In transporting his baggage in vehicles of this kind, Captain
Bonneville thought he would save the great delay caused every
morning by packing the horses, and the labor of unpacking in the
evening. Fewer horses also would be required, and less risk
incurred of their wandering away, or being frightened or carried
off by the Indians. The wagons, also, would be more easily
defended, and might form a kind of fortification in case of
attack in the open prairies. A train of twenty wagons, drawn by
oxen, or by four mules or horses each, and laden with
merchandise, ammunition, and provisions, were disposed in two
columns in the center of the party, which was equally divided
into a van and a rear-guard. As sub-leaders or lieutenants in his
expedition, Captain Bonneville had made choice of Mr. J. R.
Walker and Mr. M. S. Cerre. The former was a native of Tennessee,
about six feet high, strong built, dark complexioned, brave in
spirit, though mild in manners. He had resided for many years in
Missouri, on the frontier; had been among the earliest
adventurers to Santa Fe, where he went to trap beaver, and was
taken by the Spaniards. Being liberated, he engaged with the
Spaniards and Sioux Indians in a war against the Pawnees; then
returned to Missouri, and had acted by turns as sheriff, trader,
trapper, until he was enlisted as a leader by Captain Bonneville.
Cerre, his other leader, had likewise been in expeditions to
Santa Fe, in which he had endured much hardship. He was of the
middle size, light complexioned, and though but about twenty-five
years of age, was considered an experienced Indian trader. It was
a great object with Captain Bonneville to get to the mountains
before the summer heats and summer flies should render the
travelling across the prairies distressing; and before the annual
assemblages of people connected with the fur trade should have
broken up, and dispersed to the hunting grounds.
The two rival associations already mentioned, the American Fur
Company and the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, had their several
places of rendezvous for the present year at no great distance
apart, in Pierre's Hole, a deep valley in the heart of the
mountains, and thither Captain Bonneville intended to shape his
course.
It is not easy to do justice to the exulting feelings of the
worthy captain at finding himself at the head of a stout band of
hunters, trappers, and woodmen; fairly launched on the broad
prairies, with his face to the boundless West. The tamest
inhabitant of cities, the veriest spoiled child of civilization,
feels his heart dilate and his pulse beat high on finding himself
on horseback in the glorious wilderness; what then must be the
excitement of one whose imagination had been stimulated by a
residence on the frontier, and to whom the wilderness was a
region of romance!
His hardy followers partook of his excitement. Most of them had
already experienced the wild freedom of savage life, and looked
forward to a renewal of past scenes of adventure and exploit.
Their very appearance and equipment exhibited a piebald mixture,
half civilized and half savage. Many of them looked more like
Indians than white men in their garbs and accoutrements, and
their very horses were caparisoned in barbaric style, with
fantastic trappings. The outset of a band of adventurers on one
of these expeditions is always animated and joyous. The welkin
rang with their shouts and yelps, after the manner of the
savages; and with boisterous jokes and light-hearted laughter. As
they passed the straggling hamlets and solitary cabins that
fringe the skirts of the frontier, they would startle their
inmates by Indian yells and war-whoops, or regale them with
grotesque feats of horsemanship, well suited to their halfsavage
appearance. Most of these abodes were inhabited by men who had
themselves been in similar expeditions; they welcomed the
travellers, therefore, as brother trappers, treated them with a
hunter's hospitality, and cheered them with an honest God speed
at parting.
And here we would remark a great difference, in point of
character and quality, between the two classes of trappers, the
"American" and "French," as they are called in contradistinction.
The latter is meant to designate the French creole of Canada or
Louisiana; the former, the trapper of the old American stock,
from Kentucky, Tennessee, and others of the western States. The
French trapper is represented as a lighter, softer, more
self-indulgent kind of man. He must have his Indian wife, his
lodge, and his petty conveniences. He is gay and thoughtless,
takes little heed of landmarks, depends upon his leaders and
companions to think for the common weal, and, if left to himself,
is easily perplexed and lost.
The American trapper stands by himself, and is peerless for the
service of the wilderness. Drop him in the midst of a prairie, or
in the heart of the mountains, and he is never at a loss. He
notices every landmark; can retrace his route through the most
monotonous plains, or the most perplexed labyrinths of the
mountains; no danger nor difficulty can appal him, and he scorns
to complain under any privation. In equipping the two kinds of
trappers, the Creole and Canadian are apt to prefer the light
fusee; the American always grasps his rifle; he despises what he
calls the "shot-gun." We give these estimates on the authority of
a trader of long experience, and a foreigner by birth. "I
consider one American," said he, "equal to three Canadians in
point of sagacity, aptness at resources, self-dependence, and
fearlessness of spirit. In fact, no one can cope with him as a
stark tramper of the wilderness."
Beside the two classes of trappers just mentioned, Captain
Bonneville had enlisted several Delaware Indians in his employ,
on whose hunting qualifications he placed great reliance.
On the 6th of May the travellers passed the last border
habitation, and bade a long farewell to the ease and security of
civilization. The buoyant and clamorous spirits with which they
had commenced their march gradually subsided as they entered upon
its difficulties. They found the prairies saturated with the
heavy cold rains, prevalent in certain seasons of the year in
this part of the country, the wagon wheels sank deep in the mire,
the horses were often to the fetlock, and both steed and rider
were completely jaded by the evening of the 12th, when they
reached the Kansas River; a fine stream about three hundred yards
wide, entering the Missouri from the south. Though fordable in
almost every part at the end of summer and during the autumn, yet
it was necessary to construct a raft for the transportation of
the wagons and effects. All this was done in the course of the
following day, and by evening, the whole party arrived at the
agency of the Kansas tribe. This was under the superintendence of
General Clarke, brother of the celebrated traveller of the same
name, who, with Lewis, made the first expedition down the waters
of the Columbia. He was living like a patriarch, surrounded by
laborers and interpreters, all snugly housed, and provided with
excellent farms. The functionary next in consequence to the agent
was the blacksmith, a most important, and, indeed, indispensable
personage in a frontier community. The Kansas resemble the Osages
in features, dress, and language; they raise corn and hunt the
buffalo, ranging the Kansas River, and its tributary streams; at
the time of the captain's visit, they were at war with the
Pawnees of the Nebraska, or Platte River.
The unusual sight of a train of wagons caused quite a sensation
among these savages; who thronged about the caravan, examining
everything minutely, and asking a thousand questions: exhibiting
a degree of excitability, and a lively curiosity totally opposite
to that apathy with which their race is so often reproached.
The personage who most attracted the captain's attention at this
place was "White Plume," the Kansas chief, and they soon became
good friends. White Plume (we are pleased with his chivalrous
soubriquet) inhabited a large stone house, built for him by order
of the American government: but the establishment had not been
carried out in corresponding style. It might be palace without,
but it was wigwam within; so that, between the stateliness of his
mansion and the squalidness of his furniture, the gallant White
Plume presented some such whimsical incongruity as we see in the
gala equipments of an Indian chief on a treaty-making embassy at
Washington, who has been generously decked out in cocked hat and
military coat, in contrast to his breech-clout and leathern
legging; being grand officer at top, and ragged Indian at bottom.
White Plume was so taken with the courtesy of the captain, and
pleased with one or two presents received from him, that he
accompanied him a day's journey on his march, and passed a night
in his camp, on the margin of a small stream. The method of
encamping generally observed by the captain was as follows: The
twenty wagons were disposed in a square, at the distance of
thirty-three feet from each other. In every interval there was a
mess stationed; and each mess had its fire, where the men cooked,
ate, gossiped, and slept. The horses were placed in the centre of
the square, with a guard stationed over them at night.
The horses were "side lined," as it is termed: that is to say,
the fore and hind foot on the same side of the animal were tied
together, so as to be within eighteen inches of each other. A
horse thus fettered is for a time sadly embarrassed, but soon
becomes sufficiently accustomed to the restraint to move about
slowly. It prevents his wandering; and his being easily carried
off at night by lurking Indians. When a horse that is "foot free"
is tied to one thus secured, the latter forms, as it were, a
pivot, round which the other runs and curvets, in case of alarm.
The encampment of which we are speaking presented a striking
scene. The various mess-fires were surrounded by picturesque
groups, standing, sitting, and reclining; some busied in cooking,
others in cleaning their weapons: while the frequent laugh told
that the rough joke or merry story was going on. In the middle of
the camp, before the principal lodge, sat the two chieftains,
Captain Bonneville and White Plume, in soldier-like communion,
the captain delighted with the opportunity of meeting on social
terms with one of the red warriors of the wilderness, the
unsophisticated children of nature. The latter was squatted on
his buffalo robe, his strong features and red skin glaring in the
broad light of a blazing fire, while he recounted astounding
tales of the bloody exploits of his tribe and himself in their
wars with the Pawnees; for there are no old soldiers more given
to long campaigning stories than Indian "braves."
The feuds of White Plume, however, had not been confined to the
red men; he had much to say of brushes with bee hunters, a class
of offenders for whom he seemed to cherish a particular
abhorrence. As the species of hunting prosecuted by these
worthies is not laid down in any of the ancient books of venerie,
and is, in fact, peculiar to our western frontier, a word or two
on the subject may not be unacceptable to the reader.
The bee hunter is generally some settler on the verge of the
prairies; a long, lank fellow, of fever and ague complexion,
acquired from living on new soil, and in a hut built of green
logs. In the autumn, when the harvest is over, these; frontier
settlers form parties of two or three, and prepare for a bee
hunt. Having provided themselves with a wagon, and a number of
empty casks, they sally off, armed with their rifles, into the
wilderness, directing their course east, west, north, or south,
without any regard to the ordinance of the American government,
which strictly forbids all trespass upon the lands belonging to
the Indian tribes.
The belts of woodland that traverse the lower prairies and border
the rivers are peopled by innumerable swarms of wild bees, which
make their hives in hollow trees and fill them with honey tolled
from the rich flowers of the prairies. The bees, according to
popular assertion, are migrating like the settlers, to the west.
An Indian trader, well experienced in the country, informs us
that within ten years that he has passed in the Far West, the bee
has advanced westward above a hundred miles. It is said on the
Missouri, that the wild turkey and the wild bee go up the river
together: neither is found in the upper regions. It is but
recently that the wild turkey has been killed on the Nebraska, or
Platte; and his travelling competitor, the wild bee, appeared
there about the same time.
Be all this as it may: the course of our party of bee hunters is
to make a wide circuit through the woody river bottoms, and the
patches of forest on the prairies, marking, as they go out, every
tree in which they have detected a hive. These marks are
generally respected by any other bee hunter that should come upon
their track. When they have marked sufficient to fill all their
casks, they turn their faces homeward, cut down the trees as they
proceed, and having loaded their wagon with honey and wax, return
well pleased to the settlements.
Now it so happens that the Indians relish wild honey as highly as
do the white men, and are the more delighted with this natural
luxury from its having, in many instances, but recently made its
appearance in their lands. The consequence is numberless disputes
and conflicts between them and the bee hunters: and often a party
of the latter, returning, laden with rich spoil, from one of
their forays, are apt to be waylaid by the native lords of the
soil; their honey to be seized, their harness cut to pieces, and
themselves left to find their way home the best way they can,
happy to escape with no greater personal harm than a sound
rib-roasting.
Such were the marauders of whose offences the gallant White Plume
made the most bitter complaint. They were chiefly the settlers of
the western part of Missouri, who are the most famous bee hunters
on the frontier, and whose favorite hunting ground lies within
the lands of the Kansas tribe. According to the account of White
Plume, however, matters were pretty fairly balanced between him
and the offenders; he having as often treated them to a taste of
the bitter, as they had robbed him of the sweets.
It is but justice to this gallant chief to say that he gave
proofs of having acquired some of the lights of civilization from
his proximity to the whites, as was evinced in his knowledge of
driving a bargain. He required hard cash in return for some corn
with which he supplied the worthy captain, and left the latter at
a loss which most to admire, his native chivalry as a brave, or
his acquired adroitness as a trader.
Content of CHAPTER 2 [Washington Irving's book: The Adventures of Captain Bonneville]
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