On the following morning, July 27th, Fontenelle moved his camp across the river; whileCaptain Bonneville proceeded some little distance below, where there was a small butfresh meadow yielding abundant pasturage. Here the poor jaded horses were turnedout to graze, and take their rest: the weary journey up the mountains had worn themdown in flesh and spirit; but this last march across the thirsty plain had nearly finishedthem.
The captain had here the first taste of the boasted strategy of the fur trade. During hisbrief, but social encampment, in company with Fontenelle, that experienced trapper hadmanaged to win over a number of Delaware Indians whom the captain had brought withhim, by offering them four hundred dollars each for the ensuing autumnal hunt. Thecaptain was somewhat astonished when he saw these hunters, on whose services hehad calculated securely, suddenly pack up their traps, and go over to the rival camp.
That he might in some measure, however, be even with his competitor, he dispatchedtwo scouts to look out for the band of free trappers who were to meet Fontenelle in thisneighborhood, and to endeavor to bring them to his camp.
As it would be necessary to remain some time in this neighborhood, that both men andhorses might repose, and recruit their strength; and as it was a region full of danger,Captain Bonneville proceeded to fortify his camp with breastworks of logs and pickets.
These precautions were, at that time, peculiarly necessary, from the bands of BlackfeetIndians which were roving about the neighborhood. These savages are the mostdangerous banditti of the mountains, and the inveterate foe of the trappers. They areIshmaelites of the first order, always with weapon in hand, ready for action. The youngbraves of the tribe, who are destitute of property, go to war for booty; to gain horses,and acquire the means of setting up a lodge, supporting a family, and entitlingthemselves to a seat in the public councils. The veteran warriors fight merely for thelove of the thing, and the consequence which success gives them among their people.
They are capital horsemen, and are generally well mounted on short, stout horses,similar to the prairie ponies to be met with at St. Louis. When on a war party, however,they go on foot, to enable them to skulk through the country with greater secrecy; tokeep in thickets and ravines, and use more adroit subterfuges and stratagems. Theirmode of warfare is entirely by ambush, surprise, and sudden assaults in the night time.
If they succeed in causing a panic, they dash forward with headlong fury: if the enemyis on the alert, and shows no signs of fear, they become wary and deliberate in theirmovements.
Some of them are armed in the primitive style, with bows and arrows; the greater parthave American fusees, made after the fashion of those of the Hudson's Bay Company.
These they procure at the trading post of the American Fur Company, on Marias River,where they traffic their peltries for arms, ammunition, clothing, and trinkets. They areextremely fond of spirituous liquors and tobacco; for which nuisances they are ready toexchange not merely their guns and horses, but even their wives and daughters. Asthey are a treacherous race, and have cherished a lurking hostility to the whites eversince one of their tribe was killed by Mr. Lewis, the associate of General Clarke, in hisexploring expedition across the Rocky Mountains, the American Fur Company isobliged constantly to keep at that post a garrison of sixty or seventy men.
Under the general name of Blackfeet are comprehended several tribes: such as theSurcies, the Peagans, the Blood Indians, and the Gros Ventres of the Prairies: whoroam about the southern branches of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers, togetherwith some other tribes further north.
The bands infesting the Wind River Mountains and the country adjacent at the time ofwhich we are treating, were Gros Ventres of the Prairies , which are not to beconfounded with Gros Ventres of the Missouri , who keep about the lower part of thatriver, and are friendly to the white men.
This hostile band keeps about the headwaters of the Missouri, and numbers about ninehundred fighting men. Once in the course of two or three years they abandon theirusual abodes, and make a visit to the Arapahoes of the Arkansas. Their route lies eitherthrough the Crow country, and the Black Hills, or through the lands of the Nez Perces,Flatheads, Bannacks, and Shoshonies. As they enjoy their favorite state of hostility withall these tribes, their expeditions are prone to be conducted in the most lawless andpredatory style; nor do they hesitate to extend their maraudings to any party of whitemen they meet with; following their trails; hovering about their camps; waylaying anddogging the caravans of the free traders, and murdering the solitary trapper. Theconsequences are frequent and desperate fights between them and the"mountaineers," in the wild defiles and fastnesses of the Rocky Mountains.
The band in question was, at this time, on their way homeward from one of theircustomary visits to the Arapahoes; and in the ensuing chapter we shall treat of somebloody encounters between them and the trappers, which had taken place just beforethe arrival of Captain Bonneville among the mountains. [Return to Contents].
