Captain Bonneville sets out for Green River valley-- Journey up the PopoAgie--Buffaloes--The staring white bears--The smoke--The warm springs--Attempt to traverse the Wind River Mountains--The Great Slope--Mountain dells andchasms--Crystal lakes--Ascent of a snowy peak--Sublime prospect-- Apanorama--"Les dignes de pitie," or wild men of the mountains HAVING FORDED WIND RIVER a little above its mouth, Captain Bonneville and histhree companions proceeded across a gravelly plain, until they fell upon the Popo Agie,up the left bank of which they held their course, nearly in a southerly direction. Herethey came upon numerous droves of buffalo, and halted for the purpose of procuring asupply of beef. As the hunters were stealing cautiously to get within shot of the game,two small white bears suddenly presented themselves in their path, and, rising upontheir hind legs, contemplated them for some time with a whimsically solemn gaze. Thehunters remained motionless; whereupon the bears, having apparently satisfied theircuriosity, lowered themselves upon all fours, and began to withdraw. The hunters nowadvanced, upon which the bears turned, rose again upon their haunches, and repeatedtheir serio-comic examination. This was repeated several times, until the hunters,piqued at their unmannerly staring, rebuked it with a discharge of their rifles. The bearsmade an awkward bound or two, as if wounded, and then walked off with great gravity,seeming to commune together, and every now and then turning to take another look atthe hunters. It was well for the latter that the bears were but half grown, and had not yetacquired the ferocity of their kind.
The buffalo were somewhat startled at the report of the firearms; but the hunterssucceeded in killing a couple of fine cows, and, having secured the best of the meat,continued forward until some time after dark, when, encamping in a large thicket ofwillows, they made a great fire, roasted buffalo beef enough for half a score, disposedof the whole of it with keen relish and high glee, and then "turned in" for the night andslept soundly, like weary and well fed hunters.
At daylight they were in the saddle again, and skirted along the river, passing throughfresh grassy meadows, and a succession of beautiful groves of willows and cotton-wood. Towardevening, Captain Bonneville observed a smoke at a distance rising fromamong hills, directly in the route he was pursuing. Apprehensive of some hostile band,he concealed the horses in a thicket, and, accompanied by one of his men, crawledcautiously up a height, from which he could overlook the scene of danger. Here, with aspy-glass, he reconnoitred the surrounding country, but not a lodge nor fire, not a man,horse, nor dog, was to be discovered; in short, the smoke which had caused suchalarm proved to be the vapor from several warm, or rather hot springs of considerablemagnitude, pouring forth streams in every direction over a bottom of white clay. One ofthe springs was about twenty-five yards in diameter, and so deep that the water was ofa bright green color.
They were now advancing diagonally upon the chain of Wind River Mountains, whichlay between them and Green River valley. To coast round their southern points wouldbe a wide circuit; whereas, could they force their way through them, they might proceedin a straight line. The mountains were lofty, with snowy peaks and cragged sides; it washoped, however, that some practicable defile might be found. They attempted,accordingly, to penetrate the mountains by following up one of the branches of thePopo Agie, but soon found themselves in the midst of stupendous crags and precipicesthat barred all progress. Retracing their steps, and falling back upon the river, theyconsulted where to make another attempt. They were too close beneath the mountainsto scan them generally, but they now recollected having noticed, from the plain, abeautiful slope rising, at an angle of about thirty degrees, and apparently without anybreak, until it reached the snowy region. Seeking this gentle acclivity, they began toascend it with alacrity, trusting to find at the top one of those elevated plains whichprevail among the Rocky Mountains. The slope was covered with coarse gravel,interspersed with plates of freestone. They attained the summit with some toil, butfound, instead of a level, or rather undulating plain, that they were on the brink of adeep and precipitous ravine, from the bottom of which rose a second slope, similar tothe one they had just ascended. Down into this profound ravine they made their way bya rugged path, or rather fissure of the rocks, and then labored up the second slope.
They gained the summit only to find themselves on another ravine, and now perceivedthat this vast mountain, which had presented such a sloping and even side to thedistant beholder on the plain, was shagged by frightful precipices, and seamed withlongitudinal chasms, deep and dangerous.
In one of these wild dells they passed the night, and slept soundly and sweetly aftertheir fatigues. Two days more of arduous climbing and scrambling only served to admitthem into the heart of this mountainous and awful solitude; where difficulties increasedas they proceeded. Sometimes they scrambled from rock to rock, up the bed of somemountain stream, dashing its bright way down to the plains; sometimes they availedthemselves of the paths made by the deer and the mountain sheep, which, however,often took them to the brinks of fearful precipices, or led to rugged defiles, impassablefor their horses. At one place, they were obliged to slide their horses down the face of arock, in which attempt some of the poor animals lost their footing, rolled to the bottom,and came near being dashed to pieces.
