Chapter III: {i}18 (4)

This daring deed would, almost to a certainty, have terminated in an unsuccessful attempt, under the arm of any other warrior; and Petalesharoo was, no doubt, indebted for this successful and noble achievement to the distinguished renown which his feats of chivalry had already gained for him, and which commanded the high respect of all his rival warriors. Notwithstanding the signal success of this enterprise, another display of the firmness and determination of the young warrior was required to abolish this sacrifice, it is to be hoped for ever. The succeeding spring, a warrior, who had captured a fine Spanish boy, vowed to sacrifice him to the Great {83} Star, and accordingly placed him under the care of the magi, for that purpose.

The Knife Chief, learning the determination of the warrior, consulted with his son, respecting the best means of preventing a repetition of the horrible ceremony. "I will rescue the boy," said Petalesharoo, "as a warrior should, by force;" but the Knife Chief, unwilling that his son should again expose himself to a danger so imminent, as that which he had once encountered in this cause, hoped to compel the warrior to exchange his victim for a large quantity of merchandize, which he would endeavour to obtain with that view. For this purpose he repaired to Mr. Pappan, who happened to be in the village for the purposes of trade, and communicated to him his intentions. Mr. Pappan generously contributed a considerable quantity of merchandize, and much was added by himself, by Petalesharoo, and other Indians.

All this treasure was laid in a heap together, in the lodge of the Knife Chief, who thereupon summoned the warrior before him. The chief armed himself with his war-club, and explained the object of his call, commanding the warrior to accept the merchandize and yield up the boy, or prepare for instant death. The warrior refused, and the chief waved his club in the air towards the warrior. "Strike," said Petalesharoo, who stood near to support his father; "I will meet the vengeance of his friends." But the more prudent and politic chief added a few more articles to the mass of merchandize, in order to give the warrior another opportunity of acquiescing without forfeiting his word.

This expedient succeeded; the goods were reluctantly accepted, and the boy was liberated, and was subsequently conducted to St. Louis by the traders. The merchandize was sacrificed in place of the boy; the cloth was cut in shreds, and suspended by poles at the place of sacrifice, and many {84} of the valuables were consumed by fire. It is not expected that another attempt will be made to immolate a human victim, during the life of Petalesharoo, or of his benign father.

Our cavalcade performed a circuit round the village, and saluted at the lodge of Latelesha, upon which the flag of the United States was hoisted; the soldiers were then marched to a proper encampment place, and we were feasted as before. Great order prevailed in this village, and silence reigned throughout, which was attributed to their loss of friends and kinsmen.

On the following day the council was held, at which eleven horses and mules were presented in the usual manner. In two instances, however, the horse was represented by a cord or halter attached to a stick. One of these cords was drawn by a little Ietan girl, that Petalesharoo had captured in some battle and adopted as his daughter; she seemed to be the favourite of his family.

In the afternoon the greater part of the population were observed coming from the village towards our camp. As they drew near, we ascertained that many were painted, armed, and decorated as if for war. Petalesharoo advanced, and gave notice that he had brought some of his warriors, for the purpose of honouring his American father with a dance. The dancers were about forty in number, and their movements and evolutions were similar to those of the Grand Pawnees. The deep-toned gong was so entirely concealed in the centre of the mass of dancers, that it was with difficulty we ascertained whence the wild and measured sound proceeded, which regulated their simultaneous movements. It was accompanied by other simple instruments, and occasionally interrupted from the ear by the piercing note of the whistle, or the sudden discharge of a gun, with the muzzle directed to the earth. At the termination of the first dance, the partizan requested {85} the accompaniment of our music for the succeeding dance. The music accordingly struck up, with the renewed beating of the gong; but it immediately threw them all into confusion, and after vainly endeavouring to regain their regularity, they ceased. Again the experiment was tried, and again it produced inextricable confusion. This repeated result brought a smile to the countenance of the partizan, who expressed his conviction, that his party was unable to dance to the music of the white people.

The principal men having now arrived, agreeably to invitation, they were introduced into a large skin lodge which had been erected for us by the orders of Latelesha, as our marquee was too feeble to resist a strong wind which prevailed during the day. Presents were made to Latelesha and the Metiff chief. The latter transferred his parcel to Latelesha, who laid the whole before Petalesharoo, to dispose of as he thought proper. The young chief appointed two persons to distribute them; and thus the whole was disposed of, though very unequally. The chiefs then returned their thanks and withdrew.

I passed the night at the lodge of the Metiff chief, and in the evening was amused by the exhibition of another dancing party, who concluded by inviting the chief to partake of a feast, to be given on the following day, for the purpose of dispelling his grief for the loss of his brother, in the late contest with the Indians of the Rocky Mountains.

This severe battle was fought by ninety-three Pawnee Loup warriors, against a large body of Ietans, Arrapahoes and Kiawas.[48]

[48] The Arapaho were a tribe of Algonquian stock, which, with the kindred Cheyenne, had pushed their way through the country of the hostile Sioux to the region of the Black Hills; later, they entered Wyoming and Colorado. Their present number is about seventeen hundred, half in Oklahoma and half in Wyoming.

The Kiowa are generally regarded as an independent stock (see Bureau of Ethnology _Report_, 1885-86, p. 84), whose pristine territory was rather indefinitely located on the upper Arkansas and Platte. The Comanche were closely associated. There are now about eleven hundred Kiowa in Oklahoma.—ED.

The party was led by the most distinguished brave of the village, and half brother of the Metiff chief, but of unmixed blood, and a principal supporter of the influence of that chief. The party, who were all on foot, were on their way to capture horses, but they were badly armed for a contest, and had but {86} twelve guns amongst them. They were proceeding cautiously along in the prairies between the head waters of the Arkansa and the Rio del Norte, when one party of their runners, or discoverers, came in with information that a great body of the enemy were ahead, and had not seen them; another party of runners soon came in with the same information. The whole now halted to wait for night to capture horses, and busied themselves in preparing their ropes and halters, and in putting themselves in the best order in case of attack. One of the party ascended a small eminence, and perceived three of the enemy mounted and coming on in full career; presently more appeared, and soon after they began to show themselves in every quarter. It was now evident to the party, that the enemy were the first discoverers, and that they were now necessitated to contend against a vastly superior force, better armed than themselves, and possessing also the advantage of being all mounted on good horses. It was obvious also that there was no hope for them, but in the display of desperate valour. Their first wish had been to gain a creek at some distance in the rear, which was margined with small timber; but as their enemy now completely surrounded them, this was impossible. The battle commenced about ten o'clock A. M., and soon raged with great fury. Every muscle was called into action in our little band, who hung firmly together, discharging their arrows and occasionally a fusee at the enemy with the steadiest aim. The dead and wounded were falling in every direction in both parties. The enemy were so numerous that numbers of their braves, armed only with a shield, having rejected their offensive weapons, hovered in front of their companions, intent only' upon the acquisition of the renown dearest to the heart of the warrior, that of first striking the body of a fallen enemy; many of them however were killed, even by their own people, as they rushed along and intercepted the flight of the {87} arrow or bullet from its destined mark. The combatants were at very close quarters, and the arrow had its full effect. They were for some time intermingled, and contended with their war-clubs and knives. The partizan, who had been wounded severely early in the action, and had received several more wounds during its continuance, now was struck by an arrow, which buried itself to the feathers in his body. He knew the wound was a mortal one, and fell, but supported himself upon the ground to encourage his men; "My braves," said he, "fight whilst you can move a limb, and when your arrows are expended take your knives." Looking around now upon his companions in arms, he perceived that nearly all his principal braves were killed or disabled, and with his dying words he ordered those who were still on their feet to pierce the surrounding enemy, and endeavour to save themselves in the timber of the creek. As soon as it was ascertained that their partizan was dead, his orders were carried into effect; and the remnant of the party fought their way to the creek, where the enemy abandoned them, and returned to exult over the slain. One only of the principal braves was left in this shattered band; he declared he was ashamed that he had survived, and he immediately ran back to the enemy, although much wounded, and was seen no more. The party now found that they had left fifty-three men dead, or disabled, on the battle ground, amongst whom were all their braves, who had exposed themselves to danger more than the others. Of their numbers, now diminished to forty, all were wounded, with the exception of seven only, and some of these very desperately; one individual had eight different wounds. As they had thrown off their robes, breech-cloths, and leggings, at the commencement of the battle, they were now absolutely naked, and the weather was extremely cold. They made rude cars on which they drew along those who could not walk; and thus {88} they commenced and proceeded in their slow and laborious march to their village. During the journey some of the wounded requested to be killed, or left to die alone; and one who was wounded in the knee, after soliciting death from his brother repeatedly in vain, sought an opportunity to die, and finally plunged his knife in his heart. The party subsisted by killing a few bisons on the way, and partially clothed themselves with their raw hides; a miserable defence against the intensity of the cold.

The Grand Pawnees were more successful in war excursions during the winter. One of their parties encountered a party of Spaniards, who, my informant asserted, sought safety in flight. But it seems highly probable that a battle took place, and that many were killed; inasmuch as the victors returned with much clothing, merchandize, very handsome figured blankets, many horses, and some silver money. I was almost confirmed in this belief, by being subsequently informed that the party had certainly brought with them some scalps which were not those of Indians; and on passing through the village, I thought that some of the hair which streamed in the wind from numerous portions of human scalps, suspended on sticks from the roofs of the lodges, was taken from the heads of Spaniards.

These three bands or clans of Pawnees, although they harmonize well together at present, are not exempt from the lot of artificial distinctions; and party animosity sometimes occurs, which, in one instance, had nearly produced fatal consequences. The Puncaw Indians, having conceived themselves injured by the Pawnee Loups, applied to the Grand Pawnees for aid in obtaining redress. The latter warmly espoused their cause, and the Grand Chief marched his warriors towards the Loup village, in avowed hostility. Petalesharoo hastily assembled his warriors for defence, and sallied out to meet the enemy; but finding their numerical force to be greatly superior{89} to his own, he saw that the resistance which his little band could offer, though it might check their career, would, in all probability, be insufficient to repel them. He therefore rode forward between the parties, and called aloud on Tarrarecawaho, who then advanced to meet him. The young chief immediately challenged him to a single combat; let us, said he, thus avoid the copious effusion of kindred blood, which otherwise must flow upon the earth in a general battle. This proposition was peremptorily refused. Then, said Petalesharoo, I must call you an old squaw, and a coward; return to your party and select for me the bravest of your men. This being also refused, Latelesha came forward, and by amicable negociation adjusted the point in dispute. This village contains about one hundred and forty-five lodges.

29th. The horses that were _smoked_ yesterday were brought this morning, and we departed on our return by way of the Republican village. When within a mile of the latter, we were again halted by a messenger, in order that the warriors might prepare to receive us properly. In about an hour they were seen issuing from the village, with four chiefs in front, who lamented aloud as they came near, in token of penitence for their offences. They proceeded to shake us by the hand, whilst about one hundred and fifty mounted, decorated, and painted warriors were rushing about us in every direction, whooping and yelling, and exhibiting such gracefulness and safety of riding as we had never before witnessed, excepting at the Loup village, of which the present display was nearly a counterpart in miniature. In this sham attack, the partizan performed the part of our defender, hovering near us, and as the warriors charged upon us, he intercepted and repelled them. I expected to recognize amongst these warriors many of the individuals who had composed the war party that we encountered near the Konza village. I therefore scrutinizingly examined{90} the countenance and figure of each one as they successively offered their hands. But although I had on that occasion particularly noted the features of several of the war party, for the purpose of identifying them on a future time, I could now recognize but a single individual. I knew him immediately, and judging from the Indian character, he knew me equally well; yet his physiognomy, on presenting me his hand, was not varied in the slightest degree from the expression with which he regarded my companions, many of whom he had not before seen.

After saluting at the village as before, we were invited into the lodge of Fool Robe, the principal chief, an old man of about eighty years, destitute of any thing remarkable in his appearance. The chief men being assembled, the council was immediately held. Major O'Fallon arose, and spoke at considerable length, informing them of the great power of the United States; he detailed the glaring offences of the Pawnee Republicans, and concluded by offering them peace or war, though neither of these was solicited in preference. The chief men, in reply, manifested a great desire to adjust all differences, and promised to conduct themselves better in future. Fool Robe spoke well, but with evident embarrassment. They lamented their poverty, which prevented them from presenting more than four horses, sixteen bison robes, and a package of dried meat. A chief of this nation, called Petalesharoo, who promised, at Engineer cantonment, to chastise the offenders, having neglected to execute this act of justice, retired from the village on our approach. The agent, on this account, declared to the council, that he wished never to see him again; that he did not consider him a brave man, as he was afraid to comply with his promise; and that if he ever should meet with him in council, he would compel him to sit with the young men. The council{91} was further assured, that the offences, which the young men of this nation had committed against white people, would be forgiven, but not forgotten. We had to regret the absence of the son of Fool Robe, a fine intelligent young man, who was engaged on some predatory excursion, at the head of one hundred and sixty warriors.

During the night a Konza war party carried off one hundred and forty horses from the village.

The following day we returned to the village of the Grand Pawnees, and received the horses that had been presented at the council by the ceremony of the pipe. A quantity of merchandize had been brought with us from Camp Missouri, to exchange for horses for the service of the troops. This was put into the hands of Messrs. Pappan and Dougherty for that purpose; and we retired to our camp, which was upon the same spot as that we occupied on the night of the 24th instant.

May 1st. Mr. Pappan and Mr. Dougherty arrived from the village, having purchased nineteen horses and mules. The price of the horses and mules averaged about the amount of thirty dollars in Indian merchandize, estimated at the St. Louis valuation.

At each of the villages we observed small sticks, of the length of eighteen inches or two feet, painted red, stuck in the earth in various situations, but chiefly on the roofs of the houses, each bearing the fragment of a human scalp, the hair of which streamed in the wind. Before the entrance to some of the lodges were small frames, like painters' easels, supporting each a shield, and generally a large painted cylindrical case of skin, prepared like parchment, in which a war dress is deposited. The shield is circular, made of bison skin, and thick enough to ward off an arrow; but not to arrest the flight of a rifle ball at close quarters.

Defended by this shield, a warrior will not hesitate to cross the path of an arrow; he will sometimes {92} dexterously seize the missile after it has struck, and discharge it back again at the enemy.

The lodges or houses of these three villages are similar in structure, but differ in size. The description of those of the Konzas will apply to them, excepting that the beds are all concealed by a mat partition, which extends parallel to the walls of the lodge, and from the floor to the roof. Small apertures, or doors, at intervals in this partition, are left for the different families that inhabit a lodge to enter their respective bed chambers.

In the evening Major O'Fallon presented each of us with a horse.

Several Indians came to our camp for the purpose of trading with the men. Major O'Fallon wished to obtain one of their horses, in exchange for one that he possessed; but the Indian modestly declined, saying, "My father, the horse you offer was given by my brother, which is the same as if I had given him myself; I will exchange for almost any other horse."

Early on the following morning we departed on our return to the Missouri, with a numerous retinue of horses, amounting to more than sixty. On the way several bisons were killed, and three calves were taken alive in the chase, by throwing nooses over their heads.

On the 6th we arrived at the Missouri, after an absence of sixteen days. Much of the information we acquired, respecting the manners, &c. of the Pawnees, is incorporated in the account of the Indians of the Missouri, in some of the preceding chapters of this work.

{93} CHAPTER VII {V}

Journey by Land from St. Louis to Council Bluff—Grand
River—Plains at the Sources of the Little Platte, the
Nishnebottona, &c.—Departure of the Expedition from Engineer
Cantonment.

WHILE the transactions above detailed were passing, Major Long had returned from the seat of government.

On the 24th of April 1820, he arrived at St. Louis, on his way from Philadelphia to Council Bluff, to rejoin the party. He was accompanied by Captain John R. Bell, attached to the exploring Expedition by order from the War Department, and by Dr. E. James, who had been appointed to serve as botanist and geologist, in consequence of recommendations from the Honourable Secretary of the Navy, from Dr. Torrey and Captain Le Conte.[49]

[49] John R. Bell was a New Yorker, who was graduated from West Point in 1812, and served in the light artillery through the War of 1812-15. For a short time prior to his departure for the Missouri, he was commandant of cadets and instructor in infantry tactics at West Point. Afterwards he was in garrison at Savannah and Fort Moultrie; breveted major in 1824, he died the succeeding year.

For sketch of Edwin James, the compiler of this account of the expedition, see preface of volume xiv.

The secretary of the navy at this time was Smith Thompson, of New York (1768-1843). He succeeded George Crowinshield, of Massachusetts, in this office (1818), and held the post until 1823. Previous to his appointment he had been on the supreme bench of New York (since 1802), and had become chief justice (1814). In 1823 he was made associate justice on the federal bench.

John Torrey (1796-1873), one of America's greatest botanists, was the son of a New York Revolutionary officer. Entering the army as a surgeon in 1824, he taught the sciences at West Point until 1828; from that time until 1855 he was connected, as professor of chemistry and botany, with Princeton College, the University of the City of New York, and the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. He was one of the founders (1817) of the New York Lyceum of Natural History, which became the New York Academy of Sciences, and was the preceptor and lifelong associate of Asa Gray, with whom he also collaborated. Of especial interest to readers of the present volumes is the fact that Dr. Torrey undertook the examination of the botanical collections made on Long's expedition. He also examined the collections made by several later exploring parties, notably those of Frémont to the Rocky Mountains (1845) and California (1853).

John Eatton Le Conte (1784-1860) was descended from a Huguenot family which settled at New Rochelle, New York, about the close of the seventeenth century. He served in the corps of topographical engineers from 1818 to 1831, gaining the brevet rank of major. Known as the author of special botanical and zoological studies, he was also a member of the New York Lyceum of Natural History, and vice-president of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences.—ED.

Having procured horses, and equipped ourselves for a journey in the wilderness, we left St. Louis on the 4th of May, intending to proceed by the most direct route across the country to Council Bluff.

The lands immediately in the rear of St. Louis, between the Mississippi and the Missouri, below their junction, have an undulated surface, and a deep alluvial soil. Since their occupation by permanent inhabitants, the yearly ravages of fire have been prevented, and a dense growth of oaks and elms has sprung up.

In this fact we have a satisfactory explanation of the cause of the present want of forest trees in extensive tracts on the Missouri, which appear, in every respect, adapted to the growth of timber. If these lands, called prairies, were at any former period covered with forests, it may easily be supposed, the {94} yearly devastations of fires breaking out in dry seasons would destroy many of the trees. The forests being thus broken, the growth of grasses and annual plants would be greatly facilitated by the nakedness of the soil, and the free admission of the rays of the sun. Forests attract rain, and impede evaporation; while the reverberation from the surface of vast plains, and deserts, tends to dissipate the clouds and vapours which are driven over them by the winds. In fertile districts like the alluvial lands of the Missouri and Mississippi, a heavy annual growth of herbaceous plants is produced, which, after the autumnal frosts, becomes dry and peculiarly adapted to facilitate and extend the ravages of fire. In a country occupied by hunters, who are kindling their camp fires in every part of the forest, and who often, like the Mongalls in the grassy deserts of Asia, set fire to the plains, in order to attract herbivorous animals, by the growth of tender and nutritious herbage which springs up soon after the burning, it is easy to see these annual conflagrations could not fail to happen.

In the Autumn of 1819, the burnings, owing to the unusual drought, continued until very late in the season; so that the weeds in the low grounds were consumed, to the manifest injury of the forests. Large bodies of timber are so frequently destroyed in this way, that the appearance has become familiar to hunters and travellers, and has received the name of _deadening_.

After the burning of the grass in the open prairies, the wind, which at that season usually blows with great strength from the north-west, carries off the ashes from the general surface into the hollows and small vallies, thus contributing to enrich the latter at the expense of the former.[50]

[50] See Wells _On the Origin of Prairies_, in the 4th number of Silliman's Journal.—JAMES.

_Comment by Ed._ "La Grande Prairie," as the French settlers of St. Louis called it, began at Fourth Street of the present city.

The prairie appears to have heretofore extended, {95} almost without interruption, for several miles in the rear of St. Louis. The western portions of it are yet naked meadows, without trees or bushes. As we followed the little pathway towards Bon Homme,[51] we passed large tracts to which the labours of the sand rat[52] had given the aspect of a ploughed field. From the great quantities of fresh earth recently brought up, we perceived the little animals were engaged in enlarging their subterranean excavations; and we watched long, though in vain, expecting to see them emerge from their burrows. It is probable the jarring of the earth under the hoofs of our horses, by giving early notice of our approach, prevented them from appearing at the surface.

[51] Bonhomme (Good Man) is the name of a creek, a township, and a post-office in St. Louis County, but has never been the name of a town. The post-office of Bonhomme is of comparatively recent origin, and even now contains but one store. The name as used in the text apparently applies collectively to the settlements along Bonhomme Creek.—ED.

[52] Genus _Pseudostoma_.[53] SAY.—Cheek-pouches exterior to the mouth; incisores naked, truncated; molares sixteen, destitute of radicles; crown simple, oval; anterior ones double.

Species, _Pseudostoma bursaria_.—Body sub-cylindrical, covered with reddish-brown hair, which is plumbeous at base; feet white, anterior nails elongated, posterior ones short, and concave beneath.

_Mus bursarius_, (Shaw, Trans. Lin. Soc. Lond. and Genl. Zoology.)—_Body_ elongated, sub-cylindrical; _hair_ reddish-brown, plumbeous at base; _beneath_ rather paler; _cheek-pouches_ capacious, covered with hair both within and without; _vibrissæ_ numerous, slender, whitish; _eyes_ black; _ears_ hardly prominent; _feet_ five-toed, white, anterior pair robust, with large, elongated, somewhat compressed nails, exposing the bone on the inner side, middle nail much longest, then the fourth, then the second, then the fifth, the first being very short; posterior feet slender, nails concave beneath, rounded at tip, the exterior one very small; _tail_ short, hairy at base, nearly naked towards the tip.

This animal is congeneric with the Tucan of Hernandez, which Buffon erroneously considers the same as the _Talpha rubra Americana_ of Seba, or _Talpha rubra_, Lin., an animal which is, however, entirely out of the question, and which, if we may be allowed to judge from Seba's figure, is so far from having any specific affinity with the _bursarius_, that it cannot now be regarded as co-ordinate with it.

The late professor B. S. Barton, in his Medical and Physical Journal, says, that a species of _Mus_ allied to the _M. bursarius_ of Shaw, is common in Georgia and Florida; that he examined a living specimen of this animal, and was convinced that it is no other than the Tucan of Hernandez, and the Tuza or Tozan of Clavigero. He says nothing of its size; but on the same page he remarks, "that another species of Mus, much larger [than] the Tuza, inhabits west of the Mississippi about latitude 30°, of which very little is known." Dr. Barton was aware that the cheek pouches, in the figures given by Shaw, are represented in an inverted position, but not having seen specimens from the trans-Mississippi country, he was unacquainted with their specific identity with those of Canada, from which those figures were drawn. In our zoological reports to Major Long, in the year 1819, the specimens which we found on the Missouri were recorded under the name of _bursarius_ of Shaw. Coxe, in his description of "Carolana called Florida, and of the Meschacebe," 1741, mentions a "rat with a bag under its throat, wherein it conveys its young when forced to fly."

Several other writers have noticed these animals, of whom Dr. Mitchell, in Silliman's Journal, 1821, mentions the identity of specimens obtained beyond Lake Superior, with the M. _bursarius_ of Shaw.

The animals belonging to this genus are distinguished by their voluminous cheek-pouches, which are perfectly exterior to the mouth, from which they are separated by the common integument, they are profoundly concave, opening downwards, and towards the mouth.

The _incisores_ which are not covered by the lips, but are always exposed to view, are strong and truncated in their entire width at tip; the superior ones are each marked by a deep, longitudinal groove near the middle, and by a smaller one at the inner margin. The _molares_, to the number of eight in each jaw, penetrate to the base of their respective alveoles, without any division into roots, as in the genus _Arvicola_, _Lepus_, &c., their crown is simply discoidal, transversely oblong oval, margined by the enamel, and in general form they resemble the teeth of a _Lepus_, but without the appearance either of a groove at their ends, or of a dividing crest of enamel; the posterior tooth is rather more rounded than the others, and that of the upper-jaw has a small prominent angle on its posterior face; the anterior tooth is double, in consequence of a profound duplicature in its side, so that its crown presents two oval disks, of which the anterior one is smaller, and in the lower jaw somewhat angulated. All the molares of the lower jaw incline obliquely forward, and those of the superior jaw obliquely backward.

The whole animal has a clumsy aspect, having a large head and body, with short legs, large fore feet, and small hind feet; and although it walks awkwardly, yet it burrows with the greatest rapidity, so that the difficulty of obtaining specimens may be, in a great degree, attributed to the facility with which the animal passes through the soil, in removing from the vicinity of danger.

They cast up mounds of loose earth, which, like those of the _blind rat_, (Spalax typhlus) have no exterior opening. These elevations have been aptly compared, by Lewis and Clarke, to such heaps of earth as would be formed by the emptying of the loose contents of a flower-pot upon the soil. The mounds are of various dimensions, from the diameter of a few inches only, to that of several yards; the quantity of earth employed consequently varies from a pint to two or three bushels.

So entirely subterranean is the life of this animal, that it is rarely seen; and many persons have lived for many years surrounded by their little edifices, without knowing the singular being by whose labours they are produced.

It is known by the names of _sand-rat_, _goffer_, _pouched-rat_, _salamander_, _&c._—JAMES.

[53] From ψευδω, false, and στομα, a _mouth_, in allusion to the false mouths or cheek-pouches.

In our way we passed the large hepatic spring visited by Mr. Jessup, and described in his report. It rises in the bed of a large brook, and diffuses a strong sulphurous odour, perceptible at a distance of one hundred yards. It probably derives its mineral impregnation from some decomposition in the alluvial substances through which it rises to the surface.

Eight or ten miles west of St. Louis, forests of oak and hickory begin to occur, and become more frequent towards Chesterfield and Bon Homme.[54] At evening we descended into the deep cotton-wood forests of the Missouri bottom, and a little before sunset arrived on the bank of that majestic river. Here we were politely received and entertained in the house of a gentleman formerly of New York. A large and splendid collection of books, several articles of costly furniture, and above all, manners and conversation like those of the better classes in our cities, formed here a striking contrast to the rude and solitary cabin, and the wild features of nature, in a spot where the labours of men had as yet produced scarce a perceptible change.

[54] Chesterfield was situated on Bonhomme Creek, one mile from the Missouri River. It was laid out in 1818.—ED.

On the ensuing morning, May 5th, we crossed the Missouri above Bon Homme. The forests on the {96} north side of the Missouri were here narrow, and confined principally to the vallies.

Pond Fort, where we halted to dine, was at this time the residence of a single family. In the late war, the inhabitants of the surrounding country had collected their families and their cattle at this place, building their temporary residences in the form of a hollow square, within which their cattle and horses were enclosed at night.[55]

[55] Pond Fort was one of a half dozen posts erected by the settlers of St. Charles County during the War of 1812-15, for protection against the Indians. Boone's Fort, built by a son of Daniel Boone, was the largest and strongest of the group. Pond Fort was a short distance southeast of the site of Wentzville.—ED.

In the pond, which lies along the north side of the fort, the nelumbium was growing in great perfection. Its broad orbicular leaves are somewhat raised from the water, almost concealing its surface. Its showy yellow flower, when fully expanded, is larger, as remarked by Nuttall, than that of any other plant indigenous to the United States, except the magnolia macrophylla. The nuts, of which there are several immersed in the receptacle of each flower, have, when ripe, the size and the general appearance of small acorns, but are much more palatable. The large farinaceous root is sometimes used by the Indians as an article of diet, as are also the nuts.

Our path lay through extensive and fertile meadows, stretching away to the distant horizon, and bounded sometimes by the verge of the sky, and sometimes by the margin of a forest. The elk, the deer, and the bison, the indigenous inhabitants of these delightful meadows, had been long since driven away by the incursions of the white settlers, scattered at remote intervals on the borders of the forests. The dense and uniform growth of grass had risen untrodden and uncropped, and was now waving with ceaseless undulations, as the wind swept lightly over the surface of the plain. The slender and graceful panicles of the heuchera americana, rising above the grass, resembled a grove of spears, bristling above the heads of an embattled host. Along the margins of the brooks, we noticed the beautiful spiræa opulifolia, and a slender species of {97} viburnum, bending under their clusters of snowy flowers.

Through the day, the weather had been fine but warm. At sunset a thunder-storm rose in the west; and the day was succeeded, almost without any interval of twilight, by the most impenetrable darkness. The wind soon rose to a tempest; and hailstones of uncommon magnitude began to fall, accompanied with thunder and lightning. Our first thought was to dismount from our horses, and shelter ourselves from the hail on the leeward side of their bodies. We were in the middle of an extensive prairie, where no other protection could be looked for. The hailstones, however, diminished in size, and soon ceased to fall; but such torrents of rain ensued, that the plain became inundated, and the frequent flashes of lightning were reflected to our eyes from the surface of a vast lake. The plains in many places having little inclination, the water of a sudden shower is drained off less rapidly than it falls. After raging with great violence for a short time, the storm ceased; but the darkness was so intense, that we did not arrive at the settlement, where we proposed to lodge, until a late hour in the night.

Soon after crossing the Missouri, we had ascended so far as to reach the general level of the great woodless plain; and after travelling a few miles, we found the surface sloping to the north-east towards the Mississippi. In the afternoon, we crossed the Darden, which enters the Mississippi eight miles above the mouth of the Illinois; and on the following morning the Cuivre, tributary to the same river, ten miles above the other.[56] The point between the Missouri and Mississippi, near their confluence, is raised in the highest parts, probably less than one hundred and fifty feet above the water-table. It is of a deep and fine soil, which would appear rather to have subsided from the waters of a quiet ocean, than to have been brought down from above, and deposited {98} in its present situation by the rivers. Between the sources of the streams which descend from either side of this narrow cape, extends an irregular tongue of land, destitute of timber, and every where nearly of the same elevation; as if it had been a part of the great plain, left naked at the retiring of the ocean, and in which the vast vallies of the Missouri and Mississippi had since been excavated by the operations of those streams. The smaller rivers of this region appear, both in extent and direction, to have been wholly independent of any peculiar conformation of the original surface on which they commenced their course; and their present beds gradually deepening, and descending in the nearest direction towards the vallies of the great rivers, are in every respect such as we may suppose to have resulted from the wearing away of a great and uniform plain. At a house where we rested in the middle of the day, and which was in the highest part of the country between the Missouri and Mississippi, here sixty miles distant from each other, a well had been sunk sixty-five feet without finding water. This well passes through several strata of loam, clay, and sand; then through a narrow horizontal bed, of that peculiar substance called chalk, by Mr. Schoolcraft;[57] which is here intermixed with numerous angular fragments of flints, and terminates at the surface of a stratum of blue compact limestone, abounding in organic remains. We were informed, that among other things brought up from this well, were masses of carbonized wood, bearing the marks of the axe; but as these could not be found, we thought it reasonable to attribute some part of the account to the active imagination of the narrator.

[56] On Dardenne Creek, see preceding volume, note 97.

The Cuivre (Copper) River forms part of the northern boundary of St. Charles County.—ED.

[57] Views of the Lead Mines, pp. 180, 227.—JAMES.

From the _divide_ at the sources of the Cuivre, we overlooked an extensive tract of undulating meadow; and could distinguish on the distant horizon, the wide valley, and the extensive forests of Loutre lick.[58]

[58] The Loutre is a Montgomery County stream.—ED.

{99} This stream is the first deserving notice, which enters the Missouri from the north. Its sources are several miles to the north-west of those of the Cuivre. In its valley the rocky substrata of the plain are exposed, for an extent of many miles. Near Van Babber's,[59] where we arrived a little before sunset on the 6th, there is, in the middle of the creek, a large brine spring. Over this has been placed a section of the hollow trunk of a tree, to prevent the intermixture of the fresh water of the creek.

[59] The correct name of this man was Isaac Van Bibber. His father was killed at the Battle of Point Pleasant (see Bradbury's _Travels_, in our volume v, note 156); he was brought up in Daniel Boone's family, and married Elizabeth Hays, daughter of Boone's eldest daughter, Susan. Emigrating to Missouri in 1800, he served during the War of 1812-15 as major of militia. In the autumn of 1815 he settled at the place called Loutre Lick, on the site of the present village of Mineola, Montgomery County, and a considerable immigration followed. A man named Massey had attempted a settlement even earlier, but from fear of the Indians had retreated. The settlement was sometimes called Van Bibber's Lick. An effort was made to utilize the spring in the manufacture of salt, but the brine proved too weak to yield profitably.—ED.

The sandstone, from which this spring issues, is granulated and glimmering, like that about the old lead mines of St. Michael.[60] Like that, it is in horizontal strata, and exhibits sufficient evidence of being a continuation of the same stratum. Perceiving the same indications of fossil coal, lead, and other minerals here, as were known to exist in the same range of country on the other side of the Missouri, we listened with a credulity which seemed rather to disappoint and surprise our host, to his account of the phenomena that had appeared from time to time in his neighbourhood. The combustion of a coalbed, or the decomposition of a mass of pyrites, has, we believe, given rise to many more astonishing stories than he related.

[60] The old mining district in Madison County, Missouri, centered around the town of Mine la Motte, named for the Frenchman who discovered the deposits. Mine la Motte was settled as early as 1722; its site is about four miles north of Fredericktown. St. Michael was settled in 1801, by immigrants from North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia, and in 1822 contained fifty dwellings; then it declined and almost disappeared. Its site is on the north bank of Saline Creek, opposite Fredericktown.—ED.

He gave an account of several luminous appearances that had been seen at the breaking up of winter, or in unusually rainy seasons, or at other times of the year. These had been witnessed by many persons of unquestionable veracity; but so great had been their terror on the occasion, that they could never afterwards recollect the precise spot where the light had appeared to them. He told us of two itinerant preachers, who had encountered an indescribable phenomenon, at a place about nine miles east of Loutre lick. As they were riding side by side at a late hour in the evening, one of them requested the other to observe a ball of fire attached {100} to the end of his whip. No sooner was his attention directed to this object, than a similar one began to appear on the other end of the whip. In a moment afterwards, their horses and all objects near them were enveloped in wreaths of flame. By this time the minds of the itinerant preachers were so much confounded, that they were no longer capable of observation, and could therefore give no further account of what happened. He also stated as a fact, authenticated by many credible witnesses, that a very considerable tract of land near by, had been seen to send up vast volumes of smoke, which rose through the light and porous soil, like the smoke through the covering of a coal-pit. This had in one instance been witnessed by a son of the celebrated Col. Boon, and was at first mistaken for a prairie on fire. This phenomenon also occurs at the breaking up of winter, or at such seasons as the earth is drenched by uncommon quantities of rain.

Within a few miles of the lick, are eight or nine rude furnaces, disposed in the direction of a straight line, extending about two miles. He stated, that it was not known by whom, or when they were built, nor could it be ascertained for what purpose. It was evident they had been used; but no slag cinders or any thing of the kind had ever been found, nor was it possible to conjecture for what purpose the furnaces had been constructed. We regarded all these accounts, and many others of a similar character, as a sort of traditionary evidence of the accidental discovery, at some former time, of lead, coal, or pyrites; and that this discovery, by the ignorance and credulity of the people, had been magnified into an object, to which they had at length learned to ascribe a mysterious and indefinite importance.

Immediately about Loutre lick the surface was rocky and uneven; low cliffs of light gray sandstone, fringed with tufts of the dark green pteris atropurpurea, and the black striped asplenium, overhung {101} the margin of the brook, where the inconspicuous flowers of the prinos lævigatus and zanthoxylon fraxineum, and the blue spikes of the amorpha fruticosa, were just expanding.

Beyond Loutre lick the road traverses longitudinally that great woodless plain, thirty miles in length, called the Grand Prairie. It varies in width from one to ten or fifteen miles. The soil is deep and fertile, closely covered with grasses, interspersed with a proportion of gaudy euchromias and lichnedias, with the purple and yellow pedicularia, the tradescantia, and many beautiful astragali.

At Thrall's settlement,[61] sixty miles above Loutre lick, the floerkea proserpinacoides[62] is found in great abundance in open fields and by the road side, reclining its flexile and delicate stem upon the species of bidens, polygonum, &c. common in such situations. It grows much larger here than at Albany, the only locality where we have met with it east of the Mississippi; and its leaves, instead of being quinate, are usually composed of six leafits. In neither place does it show any preference to marshy grounds, as the newly-proposed name, _palustris_, would seem to imply. Our course, inclining considerably towards the Missouri, made it necessary to leave the elevated region of the plains, and betake ourselves to the forests, soon after passing the Grand Prairie. In these forests the linden, the hop-horn beam, maple, beech, and ash, attain an uncommon magnitude. The blue beech (ostrya virginica) sometimes occurs, and is of a larger growth than in New England.

[61] Thrall's settlement was about four miles north of Rocheport, Boone County. The first settlers arrived as early as 1812, and after the War of 1812-15 the population grew rapidly. Augustus Thrall, for whom the place was named, came in 1816. The site was on land granted by the federal government to sufferers from the New Madrid earthquake.—ED.

[62] Willdenow. F. palustris. Nuttall.—JAMES.

Extensive and very accessible beds of coal have been opened near Thrall's plantation. The inhabitants assert that, in sinking wells, the trunks of large trees have been met with at a great depth below the surface. We could, however, discover no satisfactory {102} confirmation of this statement. The soil appeared to us to exhibit no evidence of having been disturbed at any period since the deposition of the coal beds and the accompanying sandstones.

On the 8th of June we arrived at Franklin. Here we delayed several days, in the expectation of receiving from Washington some further instructions, and the supply of funds necessary for the prosecution of the duties of the expedition. Having anxiously awaited one weekly arrival of the mail, and being disappointed of the expected communications, Major Long resolved to continue the journey, and to proceed in the accomplishment of the services assigned him, as far as the means then at his command would allow. As the great part of our proposed route to Council Bluff lay through the wilderness, we now thought it necessary to procure two horses, in addition to those we already had; one of them to be loaded with provisions, and the other for the use of a man whom we had engaged to accompany us.

We left Franklin on the 14th; and proceeding by a rugged and circuitous road across a tract of hilly forests, arrived at Charaton the same evening.

From Charaton to the mouth of Grand river,[63] _the trace_, as the paths are here called, passes through a tract of low alluvial lands, partly covered with forests, but all extremely fertile. Here we were to take leave of the settlements, and to pursue the remainder of our journey through the wilderness; after dining in the cabin of a settler, we crossed Grand river, and betook ourselves to the course we thought proper to pursue, through a tangled and pathless forest. This brought us, after a few hours, to the border of an extensive plain. Our horses, somewhat unaccustomed to travelling in woods, and particularly the pack-horse, being young and untutored, gave us much trouble.

[63] For Franklin and Chariton, see the preceding volume, notes 116, 122. Grand River is a considerable affluent of the Missouri; it rises in southern Iowa and flows southeasterly; its lower course forms the boundary between Chariton and Carroll counties, Missouri.—ED.

After ascending into the prairie, as the night came on, we were compelled to go a mile or two off {103} from our course, in search of water and wood for our encampment; at length finding a suitable place on the bank of a small stream, called Doe creek, discharging into Grand river, we kindled a fire, cooked, and ate our supper of bacon, pilot-bread, and coffee; and as we had no tent, spread our blankets under the shelter of a large tree, and laid ourselves down to rest. The hooting of owls, together with the howling of wolves, and the cries of other nocturnal animals, as we were yet unaccustomed to them, occasionally interrupted our slumbers. On the following morning, however, we found ourselves well refreshed, and were prepared to resume our journey at an early hour.

The road known by the name of Field's trace ascends from Charaton on the east side of Grand river about sixty miles, thence running nearly north-west through the immense plains of the Little Platte, the Nishnebottona, and the Mosquito river, to Council Bluff. At the mouth of Grand river we had learned that the eastern tributaries of that stream were much swollen, and were therefore difficult to cross; accordingly, we determined to ascend along the ridge between that river and the Little Platte, until we should fall in with the trace.

We were detained several hours in searching for a place where we might cross Doe creek. Though a very inconsiderable stream, its steep muddy banks were now almost filled, by the reflux occasioned by the freshet in the Missouri. It was not without great difficulty we at length effected a passage, at a point three miles distant from our encampment; thence directing our course by the compass, we travelled north, 45° west, twenty-two miles. In this distance we crossed three large creeks; two of them running eastward into Grand river, the other westward to the Wahconda.[64]

[64] The text does not make clear the route of the party through Carroll County, especially as Doe Creek cannot be identified. If this stream was a tributary of Grand River, the party could not have crossed a branch of the Wahconda in a course north, 45° west; for Big Creek, a tributary of the Grand, which flows southeasterly through the eastern half of the county, would have separated them from the Wahconda basin. It seems likely that they ascended the watershed between Big Creek and the Wahconda, and that Doe Creek was a small branch of the former. The two tributaries of the Grand which were crossed may have been Big Creek and one of its large branches, probably the Little Wahconda, which flows south through the centre of the county. The journey of twenty-two miles must have brought them near the northern line of Carroll County.

Wahconda (sometimes Wakanda and Wakenda) is, as the text has explained, the Indian name for the supreme being (Master of Life). The stream pursues an eastward course across Carroll County. Its waters abounded in fish and its banks in game; to the Indians such abundance seemed to betoken the presence of the deity, and the stream was regarded as sacred. Another legend concerning the name is, that two Sioux died while passing a night upon its bank, and as they bore no marks of violence, the Indians attributed their death to the Master of Life.—ED.