Volume 16 — [70] CHAPTER XI [V]

[70] CHAPTER XI [V]

Termination of the Great Bend of the Arkansa—Ietan War-party—Little Arkansa—Red River Fork—Little Neosho and Little Verdigrise Creeks.

Thursday, 10th. The great bend of the Arkansa terminates here;108 and as our horses have fed insufficiently for several days past, we lay by for the day to give them an opportunity of recruiting themselves. A S.S.E. wind prevailed, and at noon exerted a considerable force; the extreme degree of heat was 96 degrees. The hunters brought in a deer and bison.

Friday, 11th. Left the encampment at the confluence of the creek and proceeded onwards. The sandy soil and growth of sunflowers still continue on the river bottoms, and the surface of the opposite bank still swells into occasional hillocks of naked sand. The rice bird (emberiza oryzivora, L.) was feeding on the seeds of the sunflower, and the bald eagle was seen sailing high in the air.

We have hitherto generally been able to procure a sufficient supply of small drift-wood for our culinary purposes, but at this noon-day halting-place we were obliged to despatch a man across the river to collect enough to kindle a fire. From our evening encampment not a tree was within the range of sight.

This day was extremely warm, the mercury at three o'clock indicating 96 degrees, a temperature not decreased by a nimbus in the west, pouring rain, with some thunder. In the evening, silent lightning played beautifully amongst the mingled cirrostratus and cumulus clouds with which the heavens became overcast. In the afternoon, we passed the termination of the sand-hills of the opposite shore. A fine male [71] antelope was shot by Lieut. Swift, and a skunk was also the game of the day. Distance, twenty-five miles.

Saturday, 12th. Passed over a very wide bottom, of which the soil, when not too sandy, produces a most luxuriant growth of grasses and other plants; but the river is still in a great measure destitute of trees, of which we passed but three during the morning's ride, and not a bush over the height of about two and a half feet, being a few willows and barren plum bushes. We were again gratified with the appearance of the prairie fowl running nimbly before us through the grass, the first we have seen since leaving the Platte. The bisons have now very much diminished in number; we passed, unheeded, within a few yards of a young bull, whose glazed eye and panting respiration showed the operation of some malady; and it was curious to observe, that though he stood erect and firmly on his legs, the wolves, which fled on our approach, acquainted with his defenceless condition, surrounded him in considerable numbers, awaiting his dissolution, and probably watching their opportunity to accelerate it.

The afternoon was calm, and the mercury, at its greatest elevation, stood at 99 degrees. Soon after our departure from our resting-place of noon, we observed a large herd of bisons on our left, running with their utmost rapidity towards us, from the distant bluffs. This was a sufficient warning to put us on our guard against another unwelcome war-party. Looking attentively over the surface of the country in that direction, a mounted Indian was observed to occupy an elevated swell of the surface, at the distance of a mile from us. Our peace-flag was, as usual, immediately displayed, to let him know that we were white people, and to induce him to come to us, whilst we halted to wait for him. Assured by this pacific display, he approached a short distance, but again halted, as if doubting our intentions. Julien was then sent forward towards him bearing the flag, to [72] assure him of our friendship. The Indian now advanced, but with much caution, and obliquely, from one side to the other, as if beating against the wind. Another Indian was now observed advancing rapidly, who joined his companion. After some communication, by means of signs, with Julien, to ascertain who we were, they approached within gun-shot of us, and halting, desired to shake hands with our chief; after this ceremony they rode to an elevated ground, in order to give information to their party, which, during this short interview, we had discovered at a long distance towards the bluffs, drawn up in line, in a conspicuous situation. One of the horsemen halted whilst his companion rode transversely twice between him and the party. This telegraphic signal was immediately understood by the party, that consequently came on towards us. But their movement was so tardy, that it required the exertion of the greater part of our stock of patience to wait their coming, under the ardour of the heated rays of the sun, to which we were exposed. They seemed peaceably disposed, and desired to accompany us to the river bank, in order to smoke with us; but such was the scarcity of timber, that we were unable to avail ourselves of the shade of a single tree.

We now ascertained that they were an Ietan or Camanch109 (a band of the Snake Indians) war-party, thirty-five in number, of whom five were squaws. They had marched to attack the Osages, but were surprised in their camp of night before last, by a party of unknown Indians. In the skirmish that ensued, they lost three men, and had six wounded. They however escaped under cover of the darkness, with the further loss of fifty-six horses, and all their clothing, which were captured by the enemy.110 They were indeed in a naked condition, being destitute of robes, leggings, and mockasins; with nothing to cover their bodies at night, or to protect them from the influence of the sun during the day. The squaws, however, had [73] managed to retain their clothing, and one of the warriors had preserved an article of dress, resembling a coat, half red and half blue, ornamented with beads on the sleeves and shoulders. The usual decoration of beads about the neck and in the hair and ears were preserved, and one warrior only was painted with vermilion. The hair of several was matted into flat braids with red clay, and one individual had seven or eight pieces of the pearl shell suspended from his ears, so highly valued by these Indians. In every particular of form and feature, they were undistinguishable from the Kiawas, Kaskaias, and Arrapahoes. Much attention was devoted to the wounded, who were each accommodated with a horse, of which animals eight had been fortunately retained. These objects of sympathy were assisted in alighting from their horses with great tenderness, particularly one of them, who was shot through the body. Another of them, who was one of the two mounted spies that first approached us, had lost his brother in the late battle; and to prove the sincerity of his grief for his loss, he had cut more than one hundred parallel transverse lines on his arms and thighs, of the length of from three to four inches, deep enough to draw blood, and so close to each other that the width of the finger could not be interposed between any two of them.

They were armed with bows and arrows, lances and shields, and thirteen guns, but by far the greater number carried lances. They begged stoutly for various articles, particularly clothing; and it was found necessary to separate from them a few feet into a distinct body, in order to be prepared to act together in case of necessity. One of us, however, occupied with the appearance of these Indians, still remained amongst them, until one of them attempted to seize his gun, when a slight scuffle ensued, which he terminated by violently wresting the piece from the grasp of the Indian, and warily retreating from the midst of them.

[74] All being seated, the pipe was passed round to a few principal persons who sat directly in front of us. Some presents were likewise laid before the partizan, consisting of a blanket, a skin to make mockasins of, a dozen knives, and five twists of tobacco; and though some of them complained aloud, and with a violent shivering gesticulation, of the cold they suffered during the night, such was the state of our stores, both public and private, that it was not thought prudent further to enlarge our bounty.

One of our number, who was earnestly occupied in endeavouring to obtain a few words of their language, but who succeeded in recording but four, heard one of them, whilst in conversation with the partizan, terminate a remark with a word or phrase so exactly similar in sound to the words How is it, that he almost involuntarily repeated them aloud. The speaker seemed pleased with this, and believing, from the exact similarity of the sounds, that he understood the language, immediately directed his discourse to him, but was answered only by signs denoting ignorance of the language. Their words seem less harsh, more harmonious, and easier of acquisition, than those of their neighbours.

Whilst thus occupied, one of the soldiers who were behind us called our attention to an Indian who had the effrontery to seize the Kaskaia horse by the halter, and, as in a former instance, was making a noose to pass over his head; this procedure was pointed out to the partizan, who taking no notice of it, the fellow was ordered, in a peremptory tone of voice and unequivocal manner, to desist, which he reluctantly complied with. Thus this horse is immediately distinguished and recognized by all the parties we have met with since he has been with us.

We had remained about an hour with this party, when, in consequence of this conduct, of their importunateness, and some incipient symptoms of disorder [75] amongst them, we judged it prudent to leave them, in order to avoid a quarrel. We therefore mounted our horses, notwithstanding the earnest solicitations of these Indians that we would pass the night with them, probably anticipating another night attack from some unseen enemy: but hardly had we proceeded an hundred yards, when Julien's voice called our attention to the precarious situation in which he was placed. He had been by an accident detained in the rear, and being separated a short distance from the party, he was now entirely surrounded by the Indians, who appeared determined to strip him of every thing, and by pulling at his blanket, bridle, &c. they had nearly unhorsed him. Several of us, of course, at this critical juncture turned our horses to assist him, and a soldier who was nearest prepared his rifle to begin the onset. Observing our attitude, many of the Indians were in a moment prepared for battle, by placing their arrows across their bows. And a skirmish would no doubt have ensued, had not the partizan, observing our determination, and influenced perhaps by gratitude for the presents he had received, called off his men from Julien, and permitted us, without any further futile molestation, to proceed on our way.

In consequence of the desperate situation of this party, we could not entertain a doubt that they would attempt to capture our horses during the night, and to appropriate to themselves our personal equipments. We therefore continued our movement until a later hour than usual; and after a day's journey of twenty-two miles, during which we saw but three trees, we encamped on a selected position, and made the best arrangements in our power to repulse a night attack. The horses were staked as near to each other and to ourselves as possible; the packs were arranged in a semicircular line of defence, and each man reposed on his private baggage; the guard was doubled, and we remained wakeful during the [76] night. No alarm, however, occurred; and in the morning,

Sunday 13th, set out early. Our way led over a luxuriant bottom of from three to twelve miles in breadth, producing a luxuriant growth of grasses, now glittering with drops of collected dew; crossed a creek which is destitute of timber, as far as the eye can trace its course. The depth of the water being to all appearance considerable, it became necessary to seek a fording-place, which was found about a mile above its confluence. It was here knee-deep, flowing with a moderate current over a bed of sand and gravel, the surface of the water being depressed only about four feet below the general level.111 About an hundred yards beyond its confluence, we observed a canal of water backed up from the river, which, from a little distance, gave a double appearance to the creek. We remained here until a large elk, which had been shot, was cut up, and the meat packed upon the horses. At our mid-day resting-place were a few trees, and some elevated sand-hills, but as the situation was not an eligible one for the protection of the horses from Indian depredation, we moved a few miles further, and encamped, as usual, on the bank of the river. The day had been very sultry, with an extreme temperature of 95 degrees, and the evening was accompanied by a display of lightning in the north-western horizon.

The bisons are yet numerous, and the white wolves also abundant; packs of the latter are still heard to howl about our camp in the night, thus responding to the harsh bellowing or grunting of the bulls. Our dogs, that formerly took part in this wild and savage concert, by barking fiercely in return, no longer rouse us from our sleep by noticing it.

Monday, 14th. A slight dew had fallen; the wind was S.S.E., nearly calm; and our morning's journey was arduous, in consequence of the great heat of the atmosphere. Our dogs, these two or three days past, [77] had evidently followed us with difficulty. Cæsar, a fine mastiff, and the larger of the two, this morning trotted heavily forwards, and threw himself down directly before the first horse in the line; the rider turned his horse aside, to avoid doing injury to the dog; but had he noticed the urgency of this eloquent appeal of the animal for a halt, it would not have passed unregarded. The dog, finding this attempt to draw attention to his sufferings unavailing, threw himself successively before two or three other horses, but still failed to excite the attention he solicited, until a soldier in the rear observed that his respiration was excessively laborious, and his tongue to a great length depended from his widely extended mouth. He therefore took the dog upon his horse before him, intending to bathe him in the river, which, however, being at the distance of half a mile, the poor exhausted animal expired in his arms before he reached it. To travellers in such a country, any domesticated animal, however abject, becomes an acceptable companion; and our dogs, besides their real usefulness as guards at night, drew our attention in various ways during the day, and became gradually so endeared to us, that the loss of Cæsar was felt as a real evil.

The afternoon continued sultry, the extreme heat being 97 degrees. Towards evening a brisk N. E. wind appeared to proceed from a nimbus which was pouring rain in that direction, and produced so instantaneous and great a change in the atmospheric temperature, that we were obliged to button up to the chin; but it refreshed and revived us all. As we were now approaching a well-wooded creek, we hoped soon to assuage our impatient thirst, but great was the mortification, upon arriving at the naked bank, to see a dry bed of gravel of at least fifty yards in breadth. Crossing this inhospitable tract, which appears to be occasionally deluged with water, with the intention of passing down the opposite bank to [78] the river, we were agreeably surprised to discover a fine limpid stream of cool flowing water, meandering through a dense growth of trees and bushes, which had before concealed it from view. Here we remarked the honey locust and button-wood (platanus occidentalis), though the principal growth was cotton-wood, elm, and ash. This stream of water, we believe, is known to a few hunters, who have had an opportunity to visit it, by the name of Little Arkansa.112

The distance of the day's journey was twenty-three miles, during which but a single prairie dog village was seen, and proved to be the last one that occurred on the expedition. Partridges and prairie fowls were numerous.

Tuesday, 15th. Much lightning occurred during the night, pervading the eastern heavens nearly from N. to S. At a distance of a mile from encampment, we crossed a timbered ravine, and further on, a small creek; when, upon looking back on our right, we saw the appearance of an Indian village situated near the confluence of the Little Arkansa with the river. Inspired with hope, we turned towards the spot; but on arriving there, it proved to be a large hunting camp, which had probably been occupied during the preceding season. It exhibited a more permanent aspect than three others that occurred on our route of the three past days; much bark covered the boweries; and a few pumpkins, water-melons, and some maize, the seeds of which had fallen from unknown hands, were fortuitously growing as well within as without the rude frail tenements. Of the maize, we collected enough to furnish out a very slight but extremely grateful repast, and the water-melons were eaten in their unripe state.

Resuming our ride, we crossed three branches of a creek,113 in one of which two of the horses entered in a part not fordable, and as the banks were steep and miry, it was with much exertion and delay that they [79] were recovered. Oak and walnut trees abound upon this creek, besides elm, ash, and locust. A king-fisher (alcedo alcyon) was also seen. The extreme heat was rather more intense than that of the preceding day, the mercurial column standing for a time at 97½ degrees. The bluffs, hitherto more or less remote from the bed of the river, now approach it so closely as to render it necessary to pursue our course over them. On ascending upon the elevated prairie, we observed that it had assumed a different appearance, in point of fertility, from that which we had been familiar with nearer to the mountains; and although the soil is not yet entirely concealed from the view by its produce, yet the grass is from six inches to one foot in height.

But five bisons were seen to-day, a privation which communicates a solitary air to this region, when compared with the teeming plains over which we have passed, and of which these animals formed the chief feature.

Our distance this day on a straight line may be estimated at 14¼ miles, though the actual travelled distance was much more considerable.

During the space of one month, our only regular food, besides meat, has been coarsely ground parched maize meal, of which a ration of one gill per day was shared to each individual. This quantity was thrown into common stock, and boiled with the meat, into a kind of soup. This meal is nutritious, portable, not subject to spoil by keeping a reasonable length of time, and is probably to be preferred, as a substitute for bread, to other succedanea, by travellers in an uncivilised country. Our store of meal, however, was now exhausted, and we were obliged to resort to a small quantity of mouldy crumbs of biscuit, which had been treasured up for times of need.

At night almost incessant lightning coruscated in the north-western horizon.

Wednesday, 16th. Several showers of rain, with much thunder and vivid lightning, fell during the [80] night, and the early morning continued showery; but the clouds were evidently undergoing the change from nimbus to cirrostratus, in this instance the harbingers of a fine day. Several ravines occurred on the morning's journey, containing, in the deeper parts of their beds, pools of standing water. The first was of considerable size, with steep banks, and thickly wooded, as far up its course as the vision extended; the trees were principally oak, some walnut, elm, ash, mulberry, button-wood, cotton-wood, and willow.

A horse presented by the Kiawa chief could not be prevailed upon to traverse this occasional watercourse; he evaded the attempts of several men to urge him forward; and after being thus fruitlessly detained a considerable space of time, the animal was shot. If he had been abandoned, he must have perished for want of water, having been accidentally deprived of sight, and more certainly, as that fluid, so indispensable for the support of the animal's life, was here of difficult access.

At the ravine, which served as a halting place during the mid-day heats, we first observed the plant familiarly known in the settlements by the name of poke (phytolacca decandria), reclining over the banks with its fecundity, in the midst of a crowded assemblage of bushes, and partially shading a limpid pool that mantled a rocky bed below. A large species of mushroom, of the puff-ball kind, was not uncommon, nearly equal in size to a man's head.

We have now passed the boundary of the summer bison range; and the wolves, those invariable attendants on that animal, are now but rarely seen. The antelopes also have disappeared. The river banks, as well as the creeks and some ravines, from near the Little Arkansa, are pretty well wooded, with but few interruptions, and in many parts sufficiently dense, but always, as yet, strictly limited to skirting those watercourses.

[81] During the afternoon we crossed numerous ravines, some of which, judging by the infallible indications of dried grass and floated wood lodged on high in the crotches of the trees, poured down at certain seasons large volumes of water from the prairies into the river.

Near our evening encampment, but on the opposite side of the river, appeared the entrance of a large creek, of the width of 90 or 100 yards, and of considerable depth; it seems to be well wooded, and its course is nearly parallel to the river for a great distance before it discharges into it. This stream is called Red river fork, its waters are turbid, opaque, and red;114 great numbers of fresh water tortoises, closely allied to the testudo geographica of Le Sueur, inhabit the basin formed by the entrance of this stream immediately below its junction. The bluffs on that side are washed by the stream of the river.

The bottom land, on the left bank, is still confined to a narrow strip. The sun having been, during the chief part of the day, obscured by an interrupted sheet of cirrostratus, and a brisk N. E. wind prevailing, rendered the day temperate and agreeable. Travelled distance miles nineteen and a half.

Thursday, 17th. Having been entirely unsuccessful in hunting since the 13th instant, we remained in our position during the morning, and sent out four hunters to procure fresh meat; but towards noon they all returned with but three turkies, of which two were young; they saw no deer, but much elk sign.

At two o'clock proceeded onward, upon a slightly undulated prairie, over which the eye roves to a great distance without impediment. Indeed the surface of the country, which extends along the upper portions of the Platte and Arkansa rivers, is generally less undulated than that which extends on either side of the Missouri.

[82] The ravines which intersected our path were not so extensive or profound as those of yesterday, and in one of them we observed the common elder (sambucus).

Should military possession ever be taken of this elevated country, eligible positions might readily be selected for military posts, at several different points below the Little Arkansa, where the bluffs almost impend over the river. Such a position was occupied by our evening encampment. This bluff is naked, of a gently rounded surface, presenting a high rugged and inaccessible front upon the river, which it commands to a considerable distance in both directions. An adequate supply of wood, for fuel and architectural purposes, is offered by a ravine, which flanks its lower side, and by other points.

Two fawns were killed during this afternoon's journey of twelve miles, and a black bear was seen. The bitter apple vine occurred now but rarely.

Friday, 18th. The inequality of the surface increases as we proceed, the undulations being now much more abrupt and considerable, belted near their summits with a rocky stratum, and assuming much the same character with those spoken of in the account of our expedition to the Konza village. This stratum, which is of gray and ferruginous sandstone, contains petrifactions of marine shells, so completely assimilated with the matrix in which they repose, and decomposing so entirely simultaneously with it, when exposed to atmospheric action, that even their generic characters cannot be recognised. Amongst other appearances, however, we observed a bivalve, which seemed to differ from terebratula and its congeners.

At the distance of eleven miles we crossed a small river, flowing with a very gentle current over a gravelly bed, with a breadth of fifty or sixty yards, and an extreme depth of three feet; we have named [83] it Little Neosho, or Stinking Fork.115 Its western bottom is of very considerable width, well wooded with the before mentioned description of trees, in addition to which the hackberry here first appears, and supporting a crowded undergrowth of pea-vines, nettles, and rank weeds, which obstruct the passage of the traveller. The eastern bank, upon which our noon-day encampment was established, was high rock and precipitous, requiring considerable exertion to surmount it.

Here the organic reliquiæ are somewhat more distinct than those which we examined on the opposite side of this secondary river. They are referable to those generally extinct genera that inhabited the great depths of the primeval ocean. Amongst them we recognized a smooth species of anomia of the length of half an inch, a species of terebratula, an encrinus, and numerous insulated species of a Linnæan echinus.

At two o'clock pursued our journey, under an extreme heat of 92 degrees, which was hardly mitigated by the gentle fanning of a slight S. E. breeze. The appearance of the country here undergoes a somewhat abrupt change. Low scrubby oaks, the prevailing timber, no longer exclusively restricted, as we have hitherto observed it, to a mere margin of a watercourse, now was seen extending in little clusters or oases, in the low grounds. In the ravines, which are numerous, profound, abrupt, and rocky, we observed the hickory (caria of Nuttall), which had not before occurred since our departure from the forest of the Missouri. The bluffs are steep and stony, rendering the journey much more laborious to our horses, that were almost exhausted by traversing a plain country, and their hoofs, already very much worn by constant friction with the grass, will, we fear, be splintered and broken by the numerous loose and angular stones which they cannot avoid. Near the summits of some of these bluffs the stratum of rock [84] assumes an appearance of such extraordinary regularity, as to resemble an artificial wall, constructed for the support of the superincumbent soil.

At the distance of eight miles from the small river before mentioned we encamped for the night, on the east side of a creek which we call Little Verdigrise.116

It is about forty yards in breadth, and not so deep as the Little Neosho; its bed is gravelly, but the foot of each bank is so miry that we experienced some difficulty in crossing. There is but a slight skirting of forest, which denotes to the distant spectator the locality of this creek.

One of the hunters returned with the information of his having discovered a small field of maize, occupying a fertile spot, at no great distance from the camp; it exhibited proofs of having been lately visited by the cultivators; a circumstance which leads us to believe, that an ascending column of smoke, seen at a distance this afternoon, proceeded from an encampment of Indians, whom, if not a war-party, we should now rejoice to meet. We took the liberty, agreeably to the customs of the Indians, of procuring a mess of corn, and some small but nearly ripe water-melons, that were also found growing there, intending to recompense the Osages for them, to whom we supposed they belonged. During the night we were visited by a slight shower of rain from the S. W., accompanied by distant thunder.