Departure for the rendezvous—A war party of Blackfeet—A mock bustle—Sham fires at night—Warlike precautions—Dangers of a night attack—A panic among horses—Cautious march—The Beer Springs—A mock carousel—Skirmishing with buffaloes—A buffalo bait—Arrival at the rendezvous—Meeting of various bands
AFTER THE TWO DAYS of festive indulgence, Captain Bonneville broke
up the encampment, and set out with his motley crew of hired and free
trappers, half-breeds, Indians, and squaws, for the main rendezvous in
Bear River valley. Directing his course up the Blackfoot River, he soon
reached the hills among which it takes its rise. Here, while on the
march, he descried from the brow of a hill, a war party of about
sixty Blackfeet, on the plain immediately below him. His situation was
perilous; for the greater part of his people were dispersed in various
directions. Still, to betray hesitation or fear would be to discover his
actual weakness, and to invite attack. He assumed, instantly, therefore,
a belligerent tone; ordered the squaws to lead the horses to a small
grove of ashen trees, and unload and tie them; and caused a great bustle
to be made by his scanty handful; the leaders riding hither and thither,
and vociferating with all their might, as if a numerous force was
getting under way for an attack.
To keep up the deception as to his force, he ordered, at night, a number
of extra fires to be made in his camp, and kept up a vigilant watch. His
men were all directed to keep themselves prepared for instant action. In
such cases the experienced trapper sleeps in his clothes, with his rifle
beside him, the shot-belt and powder-flask on the stock: so that, in
case of alarm, he can lay his hand upon the whole of his equipment at
once, and start up, completely armed.
Captain Bonneville was also especially careful to secure the horses,
and set a vigilant guard upon them; for there lies the great object and
principal danger of a night attack. The grand move of the lurking savage
is to cause a panic among the horses. In such cases one horse frightens
another, until all are alarmed, and struggle to break loose. In camps
where there are great numbers of Indians, with their horses, a night
alarm of the kind is tremendous. The running of the horses that have
broken loose; the snorting, stamping, and rearing of those which remain
fast; the howling of dogs; the yelling of Indians; the scampering of
white men, and red men, with their guns; the overturning of lodges, and
trampling of fires by the horses; the flashes of the fires, lighting up
forms of men and steeds dashing through the gloom, altogether make
up one of the wildest scenes of confusion imaginable. In this way,
sometimes, all the horses of a camp amounting to several hundred will be
frightened off in a single night.
The night passed off without any disturbance; but there was no
likelihood that a war party of Blackfeet, once on the track of a camp
where there was a chance for spoils, would fail to hover round it. The
captain, therefore, continued to maintain the most vigilant precautions;
throwing out scouts in the advance, and on every rising ground.
In the course of the day he arrived at the plain of white clay, already
mentioned, surrounded by the mineral springs, called Beer Springs, by
the trappers. Here the men all halted to have a regale. In a few moments
every spring had its jovial knot of hard drinkers, with tin cup in hand,
indulging in a mock carouse; quaffing, pledging, toasting, bandying
jokes, singing drinking songs, and uttering peals of laughter, until it
seemed as if their imaginations had given potency to the beverage, and
cheated them into a fit of intoxication. Indeed, in the excitement of
the moment, they were loud and extravagant in their commendations of
"the mountain tap"; elevating it above every beverage produced from hops
or malt. It was a singular and fantastic scene; suited to a region
where everything is strange and peculiar:—These groups of trappers, and
hunters, and Indians, with their wild costumes, and wilder countenances;
their boisterous gayety, and reckless air; quaffing, and making merry
round these sparkling fountains; while beside them lay their weep
ons, ready to be snatched up for instant service. Painters are fond of
representing banditti at their rude and picturesque carousels; but here
were groups, still more rude and picturesque; and it needed but a sudden
onset of Blackfeet, and a quick transition from a fantastic revel to
a furious melee, to have rendered this picture of a trapper's life
complete.
The beer frolic, however, passed off without any untoward circumstance;
and, unlike most drinking bouts, left neither headache nor heartache
behind. Captain Bonneville now directed his course up along Bear River;
amusing himself, occasionally, with hunting the buffalo, with which
the country was covered. Sometimes, when he saw a huge bull taking his
repose in a prairie, he would steal along a ravine, until close upon
him; then rouse him from his meditations with a pebble, and take a shot
at him as he started up. Such is the quickness with which this animal
springs upon his legs, that it is not easy to discover the muscular
process by which it is effected. The horse rises first upon his fore
legs; and the domestic cow, upon her hinder limbs; but the buffalo
bounds at once from a couchant to an erect position, with a celerity
that baffles the eye. Though from his bulk, and rolling gait, he does
not appear to run with much swiftness; yet, it takes a stanch horse to
overtake him, when at full speed on level ground; and a buffalo cow is
still fleeter in her motion.
Among the Indians and half-breeds of the party, were several admirable
horsemen and bold hunters; who amused themselves with a grotesque kind
of buffalo bait. Whenever they found a huge bull in the plains, they
prepared for their teasing and barbarous sport. Surrounding him on
horseback, they would discharge their arrows at him in quick succession,
goading him to make an attack; which, with a dexterous movement of the
horse, they would easily avoid. In this way, they hovered round him,
feathering him with arrows, as he reared and plunged about, until he was
bristled all over like a porcupine. When they perceived in him signs
of exhaustion, and he could no longer be provoked to make battle, they
would dismount from their horses, approach him in the rear, and seizing
him by the tail, jerk him from side to side, and drag him backward;
until the frantic animal, gathering fresh strength from fury, would
break from them, and rush, with flashing eyes and a hoarse bellowing,
upon any enemy in sight; but in a little while, his transient excitement
at an end, would pitch headlong on the ground, and expire. The arrows
were then plucked forth, the tongue cut out and preserved as a dainty,
and the carcass left a banquet for the wolves.
Pursuing his course up Bear River, Captain Bonneville arrived, on the
13th of June, at the Little Snake Lake; where he encamped for four or
five days, that he might examine its shores and outlets. The latter, he
found extremely muddy, and so surrounded by swamps and quagmires, that
he was obliged to construct canoes of rushes, with which to explore
them. The mouths of all the streams which fall into this lake from the
west, are marshy and inconsiderable; but on the east side, there is
a beautiful beach, broken, occasionally, by high and isolated bluffs,
which advance upon the lake, and heighten the character of the scenery.
The water is very shallow, but abounds with trout, and other small fish.
Having finished his survey of the lake, Captain Bonneville proceeded on
his journey, until on the banks of the Bear River, some distance higher
up, he came upon the party which he had detached a year before, to
circumambulate the Great Salt Lake, and ascertain its extent, and the
nature of its shores. They had been encamped here about twenty days;
and were greatly rejoiced at meeting once more with their comrades,
from whom they had so long been separated. The first inquiry of Captain
Bonneville was about the result of their journey, and the information
they had procured as to the Great Salt Lake; the object of his intense
curiosity and ambition. The substance of their report will be found in
the following chapter.
