The Adventures of Captain Bonneville: Chapter 46
Chapter 46
Scarcity in the camp Refusal of supplies by the Hudson's Bay
Company Conduct of the Indians A hungry retreat John Day's
River The Blue Mountains Salmon fishing on Snake River
Messengers from the Crow country Bear River Valley immense
migration of buffalo Danger of buffalo hunting A wounded
Indian Eutaw Indians A "surround" of antelopes.
PROVISIONS were now growing scanty in the camp, and Captain
Bonneville found it necessary to seek a new neighborhood. Taking
leave, therefore, of his friends, the Skynses, he set off to the
westward, and, crossing a low range of mountains, encamped on the
head-waters of the Ottolais. Being now within thirty miles of
Fort Wallah-Wallah, the trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company,
he sent a small detachment of men thither to purchase corn for
the subsistence of his party. The men were well received at the
fort; but all supplies for their camp were peremptorily refused.
Tempting offers were made them, however, if they would leave
their present employ, and enter into the service of the company;
but they were not to be seduced.
When Captain Bonneville saw his messengers return empty-handed,
he ordered an instant move, for there was imminent danger of
famine. He pushed forward down the course of the Ottolais, which
runs diagonal to the Columbia, and falls into it about fifty
miles below the Wallah-Wallah. His route lay through a beautiful
undulating country, covered with horses belonging to the Skynses,
who sent them there for pasturage.
On reaching the Columbia, Captain Bonneville hoped to open a
trade with the natives, for fish and other provisions, but to his
surprise they kept aloof, and even hid themselves on his
approach. He soon discovered that they were under the influence
of the Hudson's Bay Company, who had forbidden them to trade, or
hold any communion with him. He proceeded along the Columbia,
but it was everywhere the same; not an article of provisions was
to be obtained from the natives, and he was at length obliged to
kill a couple of his horses to sustain his famishing people. He
now came to a halt, and consulted what was to be done. The broad
and beautiful Columbia lay before them, smooth and unruffled as a
mirror; a little more journeying would take them to its lower
region; to the noble valley of the Wallamut, their projected
winter quarters. To advance under present circumstances would be
to court starvation. The resources of the country were locked
against them, by the influence of a jealous and powerful
monopoly. If they reached the Wallamut, they could scarcely hope
to obtain sufficient supplies for the winter; if they lingered
any longer in the country the snows would gather upon the
mountains and cut off their retreat. By hastening their return,
they would be able to reach the Blue Mountains just in time to
find the elk, the deer, and the bighorn; and after they had
supplied themselves with provisions, they might push through the
mountains before they were entirely blocked by snow. Influenced
by these considerations, Captain Bonneville reluctantly turned
his back a second time on the Columbia, and set off for the Blue
Mountains. He took his course up John Day's River, so called from
one of the hunters in the original Astorian enterprise. As famine
was at his heels, he travelled fast, and reached the mountains by
the 1st of October. He entered by the opening made by John Day's
River; it was a rugged and difficult defile, but he and his men
had become accustomed to hard scrambles of the kind. Fortunately,
the September rains had extinguished the fires which recently
spread over these regions; and the mountains, no longer wrapped
in smoke, now revealed all their grandeur and sublimity to the
eye.
They were disappointed in their expectation of finding abundant
game in the mountains; large bands of the natives had passed
through, returning from their fishing expeditions, and had driven
all the game before them. It was only now and then that the
hunters could bring in sufficient to keep the party from
starvation.
To add to their distress, they mistook their route, and wandered
for ten days among high and bald hills of clay. At length, after
much perplexity, they made their way to the banks of Snake River,
following the course of which, they were sure to reach their
place of destination.
It was the 20th of October when they found themselves once more
upon this noted stream. The Shoshokoes, whom they had met with in
such scanty numbers on their journey down the river, now
absolutely thronged its banks to profit by the abundance of
salmon, and lay up a stock for winter provisions. Scaffolds were
everywhere erected, and immense quantities of fish drying upon
them. At this season of the year, however, the salmon are
extremely poor, and the travellers needed their keen sauce of
hunger to give them a relish.
In some places the shores were completely covered with a stratum
of dead salmon, exhausted in ascending the river, or destroyed at
the falls; the fetid odor of which tainted the air.
It was not until the travellers reached the head-waters of the
Portneuf that they really found themselves in a region of
abundance. Here the buffaloes were in immense herds; and here
they remained for three days, slaying and cooking, and feasting,
and indemnifying themselves by an enormous carnival, for a long
and hungry Lent. Their horses, too, found good pasturage, and
enjoyed a little rest after a severe spell of hard travelling.
During this period, two horsemen arrived at the camp, who proved
to be messengers sent express for supplies from Montero's party;
which had been sent to beat up the Crow country and the Black
Hills, and to winter on the Arkansas. They reported that all was
well with the party, but that they had not been able to
accomplish the whole of their mission, and were still in the Crow
country, where they should remain until joined by Captain
Bonneville in the spring. The captain retained the messengers
with him until the 17th of November, when, having reached the
caches on Bear River, and procured thence the required supplies,
he sent them back to their party; appointing a rendezvous toward
the last of June following, on the forks of Wind River Valley, in
the Crow country.
He now remained several days encamped near the caches, and having
discovered a small band of Shoshonies in his neighborhood,
purchased from them lodges, furs, and other articles of winter
comfort, and arranged with them to encamp together during the
winter.
The place designed by the captain for the wintering ground was on
the upper part of Bear River, some distance off. He delayed
approaching it as long as possible, in order to avoid driving off
the buffaloes, which would be needed for winter provisions. He
accordingly moved forward but slowly, merely as the want of game
and grass obliged him to shift his position. The weather had
already become extremely cold, and the snow lay to a considerable
depth. To enable the horses to carry as much dried meat as
possible, he caused a cache to be made, in which all the baggage
that could be spared was deposited. This done, the party
continued to move slowly toward their winter quarters.
They were not doomed, however, to suffer from scarcity during the
present winter. The people upon Snake River having chased off
the buffaloes before the snow had become deep, immense herds now
came trooping over the mountains; forming dark masses on their
sides, from which their deep-mouthed bellowing sounded like the
low peals and mutterings from a gathering thunder-cloud. In
effect, the cloud broke, and down came the torrent thundering
into the valley. It is utterly impossible, according to Captain
Bonneville, to convey an idea of the effect produced by the sight
of such countless throngs of animals of such bulk and spirit, all
rushing forward as if swept on by a whirlwind.
The long privation which the travellers had suffered gave
uncommon ardor to their present hunting. One of the Indians
attached to the party, finding himself on horseback in the midst
of the buffaloes, without either rifle, or bow and arrows, dashed
after a fine cow that was passing close by him, and plunged his
knife into her side with such lucky aim as to bring her to the
ground. It was a daring deed; but hunger had made him almost
desperate.
The buffaloes are sometimes tenacious of life, and must be
wounded in particular parts. A ball striking the shagged frontlet
of a bull produces no other effect than a toss of the head and
greater exasperation; on the contrary, a ball striking the
forehead of a cow is fatal. Several instances occurred during
this great hunting bout, of bulls fighting furiously after having
received mortal wounds. Wyeth, also, was witness to an instance
of the kind while encamped with Indians. During a grand hunt of
the buffaloes, one of the Indians pressed a bull so closely that
the animal turned suddenly on him. His horse stopped short, or
started back, and threw him. Before he could rise the bull rushed
furiously upon him, and gored him in the chest so that his breath
came out at the aperture. He was conveyed back to the camp, and
his wound was dressed. Giving himself up for slain, he called
round him his friends, and made his will by word of mouth. It was
something like a death chant, and at the end of every sentence
those around responded in concord. He appeared no ways
intimidated by the approach of death. "I think," adds Wyeth, "the
Indians die better than the white men; perhaps from having less
fear about the future."
The buffaloes may be approached very near, if the hunter keeps to
the leeward; but they are quick of scent, and will take the alarm
and move off from a party of hunters to the windward, even when
two miles distant.
The vast herds which had poured down into the Bear River Valley
were now snow-bound, and remained in the neighborhood of the camp
throughout the winter. This furnished the trappers and their
Indian friends a perpetual carnival; so that, to slay and eat
seemed to be the main occupations of the day. It is astonishing
what loads of meat it requires to cope with the appetite of a
hunting camp.
The ravens and wolves soon came in for their share of the good
cheer. These constant attendants of the hunter gathered in vast
numbers as the winter advanced. They might be completely out of
sight, but at the report of a gun, flights of ravens would
immediately be seen hovering in the air, no one knew whence they
came; while the sharp visages of the wolves would peep down from
the brow of every hill, waiting for the hunter's departure to
pounce upon the carcass.
Besides the buffaloes, there were other neighbors snow-bound in
the valley, whose presence did not promise to be so advantageous.
This was a band of Eutaw Indians who were encamped higher up on
the river. They are a poor tribe that, in a scale of the various
tribes inhabiting these regions, would rank between the
Shoshonies and the Shoshokoes or Root Diggers; though more bold
and warlike than the latter. They have but few rifles among them,
and are generally armed with bows and arrows.
As this band and the Shoshonies were at deadly feud, on account
of old grievances, and as neither party stood in awe of the
other, it was feared some bloody scenes might ensue. Captain
Bonneville, therefore, undertook the office of pacificator, and
sent to the Eutaw chiefs, inviting them to a friendly smoke, in
order to bring about a reconciliation. His invitation was proudly
declined; whereupon he went to them in person, and succeeded in
effecting a suspension of hostilities until the chiefs of the two
tribes could meet in council. The braves of the two rival camps
sullenly acquiesced in the arrangement. They would take their
seats upon the hill tops, and watch their quondam enemies hunting
the buffalo in the plain below, and evidently repine that their
hands were tied up from a skirmish. The worthy captain, however,
succeeded in carrying through his benevolent mediation. The
chiefs met; the amicable pipe was smoked, the hatchet buried, and
peace formally proclaimed. After this, both camps united and
mingled in social intercourse. Private quarrels, however, would
occasionally occur in hunting, about the division of the game,
and blows would sometimes be exchanged over the carcass of a
buffalo; but the chiefs wisely took no notice of these individual
brawls.
One day the scouts, who had been ranging the hills, brought news
of several large herds of antelopes in a small valley at no great
distance. This produced a sensation among the Indians, for both
tribes were in ragged condition, and sadly in want of those
shirts made of the skin of the antelope. It was determined to
have "a surround," as the mode of hunting that animal is called.
Everything now assumed an air of mystic solemnity and importance.
The chiefs prepared their medicines or charms each according to
his own method, or fancied inspiration, generally with the
compound of certain simples; others consulted the entrails of
animals which they had sacrificed, and thence drew favorable
auguries. After much grave smoking and deliberating it was at
length proclaimed that all who were able to lift a club, man,
woman, or child, should muster for "the surround." When all had
congregated, they moved in rude procession to the nearest point
of the valley in question, and there halted. Another course of
smoking and deliberating, of which the Indians are so fond, took
place among the chiefs. Directions were then issued for the
horsemen to make a circuit of about seven miles, so as to
encompass the herd. When this was done, the whole mounted force
dashed off simultaneously, at full speed, shouting and yelling at
the top of their voices. In a short space of time the antelopes,
started from their hiding-places, came bounding from all points
into the valley. The riders, now gradually contracting their
circle, brought them nearer and nearer to the spot where the
senior chief, surrounded by the elders, male and female, were
seated in supervision of the chase. The antelopes, nearly
exhausted with fatigue and fright, and bewildered by perpetual
whooping, made no effort to break through the ring of the
hunters, but ran round in small circles, until man, woman, and
child beat them down with bludgeons. Such is the nature of that
species of antelope hunting, technically called "a surround."
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