Edwin James

“ The wide and densely-wooded valley of the Arkansa lay on our route. The course of the river was marked by a long and undulating line of mist, brightening in the beams of the rising sun; beyond rose the blue summits of the Point Sucre and Cavaniol mountains, "in the clear light above the dews of morn." Though the region about us had all the characters of a mountain district, we could discover little uniformity in the direction of the ranges. ”

“ Turkies were very numerous. The paroquet, chuck-wills-widow, wood-robin, mocking bird, and many other small birds, filled the woods with life and music. [23] The bald eagle, the turkey buzzard, and black vulture, raven and crow, were seen swarming like the blowing flies about any spot where a bison, an elk, or a deer had fallen a prey to the hunter. About the river were large flocks of pelicans, with numbers of snowy herons, and the beautiful ardea egretta. ”

“ This morning we turned our backs upon the mountains, and began to move down the Arkansa. It was not without a feeling of something like regret, that we found our long contemplated visit to these grand and interesting objects, was now at an end. One thousand miles of dreary and monotonous plain lay between us, and the enjoyments and indulgences of civilized countries. This we were to traverse in the heat of summer, but the scarcity of game about the mountains rendered our immediate departure necessary. ”

“ Throughout the night the roaring of immense herds of bisons, and the solemn notes of the hooting owl were heard, intermixed with the desolate cries of the jackal and the screech-owl. The mulberry, and the guilandina, growing near our camp, with many of the plants and birds we had been accustomed to see in the frontier settlements of the United States, reminded us of the comforts of home and the [140] cheering scenes of civilized society, giving us at the same time the assurance that we were about to arrive at the point where we should take leave of the desert. ”

“ From the concurrent testimony of those who have seen the animal in its native country, and who have had an opportunity of observing its manners, it is, without doubt, the most daring and truly formidable animal that exists in the United States. He frequently pursues and attacks hunters; and no animal, whose swiftness or art is not superior to his own, can evade him. He kills the bison, and drags the ponderous carcass to a distance to devour at his leisure, as the calls of hunger may influence him.
The grizzly bear is not exclusively carnivorous, as has by some persons been imagined ”

“ The wide valley of the river here presented a pleasing alternation of heavy forests, with small but luxuriant meadows, affording a profuse supply of grass for our horses. The broad hills, swelling gently one above another as they recede from the river, are diversified with nearly the same intermixture of field and forest as in the most highly cultivated portions of the eastern states. Herds of bisons, wild horses, elk and deer, are seen quietly grazing in these extensive and fertile pastures; the habitations and the works of man alone seem wanting to complete the picture of rural abundance. ”

“ We were this afternoon assailed by a very severe thunder-storm, and Julien, who had skirted the timber for the purpose of hunting, was electrified by a flash of lightning, which entered the earth within a few yards of him. The wind was violent, and blew the drops of rain with so much force into our faces, that our horses refused to proceed, constantly endeavouring to turn themselves about from the storm; we at length yielded to their obstinacy, and halted upon the plain. ”

“ The mercury at sunrise stood at 71°. The morning was calm, and the sky tinged with that intense and beautiful blue which marks many of our summer skies, and is seen with greater pleasure by those who know that home or a good tavern is near, than by such as have no prospect of shelter save what a tent or a blanket can afford. We were now looking with much impatience for something to indicate an approach towards the village of the Pawnee Piqua, but instead of this the traces of Indians seemed to become less and less frequent. ”

“ This scenery is not to be compared in point of grandeur with the naked and towering majesty of the great chain of the Andes, which we had lately left, but in its kind it is of uncommon beauty. The hills, though often abrupt and high, are sometimes smooth and grassy to their summits, having a surface, unbroken by a single rock or tree, large enough to be seen at the distance of a mile. ”

“ The white wolves and jackals, more intelligent than their associates, judging by the eye of the proximity of danger, as well as by their exquisite sense of smelling, either dashed over the river, or unhesitatingly crossed our scent in the rear, and at an easy pace, or dog-trot, chose the shortest route to the bluffs. ”

“ Notwithstanding the astonishing numbers of bison, deer, antelopes, and other animals, the country is less strewed with bones than almost any we have seen; affording an evidence that it is not a favourite hunting ground of any tribe of Indians. The animals also appear wholly unaccustomed to the sight of men. The bisons and wolves move slowly off to the right and left, leaving a lane for the party to pass, but those on the windward side often linger for a long time, almost within the reach of our rifles, regarding us with little appearance of alarm. ”

“ We however became gradually accustomed to the hunter's life in its utmost simplicity, eating our bison or bear meat without salt or condiments of any kind, and substituting turkey or venison, both of which we had in the greatest plenty, for bread. The few hungry weeks we had spent about the sources of the river had taught us how to dispense with superfluous luxuries, so the demands of nature could be satisfied. ”

“ We left our camp at the usual hour, and after riding eight or ten miles, arrived at the confluence of our supposed Red river with another of a much greater size, which we at once perceived to be the Arkansa. Our disappointment and chagrin at discovering the mistake we had so long laboured under, was little alleviated by the consciousness that the season was so far advanced, our horses and our means so far exhausted, as to place it beyond our power to return and attempt the discovery of the sources of the Red river. ”

“ Notwithstanding the scarcity of game which we had so long felt, we daily saw considerable numbers of antelopes, with some signs of bear, deer, and turkies; but these animals had acquired all the vigilance which results from the habit of being often hunted, and the entire want of thick forests, and even of solitary trees or inequalities of the surface, to conceal the approach of the hunter, rendered abortive most of our attempts to take them. ”

“ To the east lay the great plain, rising as it receded, until in the distant horizon it appeared to mingle with the sky. A little want of transparency in the atmosphere, added to the great elevation from which we saw the plain, prevented our distinguishing the small inequalities of the surface. The Arkansa, with several of its tributaries, and some of the branches of the Platte, could be distinctly traced as on a map, by the line of timber along their courses. ”

“ If they are ever but partially filled, it is easy to see that what, for a great part of the year, is a naked sand beach, then becomes a broad and majestic river. It must flow with a rapid current, and in floods; its waters cannot be otherwise than of an intense red colour. The immediate valley of the river had now become little less than two miles in width; and had, in some places, a fertile soil. This happens wherever there occur spots having little elevation above the bed of the river, and which have not recently been covered with sand. ”

“ We indulged ourselves to excess, if excess could be committed in the use of such delicious and salutary fruit, and invited by the cleanness of the sand, and a refreshing shade, we threw ourselves down, and slept away, with unusual zest, a few of the hours of a summer afternoon. ”

“ We had, however, too much confidence in the skill of the hunter to doubt but his shot had been fatal, and several of the party dismounting, pursued the herd into the woods, where they soon overtook the wounded buck. The noble animal, finding his pursuers at his heels, turned upon the foremost, who saved himself by springing into a thicket which the elk could not penetrate, but in which he soon became entangled by his enormous antlers, and fell an easy victim. His head was enveloped in such a quantity of cissus smilax and other twining vines, that scarce the tips of his horns could be seen ”

“ They scarcely dared to reiterate their admonitions to their followers, not to press so closely upon the white people, but to limit their approaches to the line of our baggage. Still our tents were filled, and our persons hemmed in by the ardent and insatiable curiosity of the multitude, of both sexes and of all ages, mounted and on foot. ”

“ 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 common post oak, the white oak, and several other species, with gymnocladus or coffee-bean tree, the cercis and the black walnut, indicate here a soil of very considerable fertility; and game is so abundant, that we have it at any time in our power to kill as many bison, bear, deer, and turkies as we may wish, and it is not without some difficulty we can restrain the hunters from destroying more than sufficient to supply our wants. ”

“ It was in fact higher in proportion to the surface before us than any other portion of the country we had seen on this side of the mountains. The eye from this height roved over a vast distance of prairie, and comparatively plain country; and it was evident that we had now passed the hilly and even mountainous country, which we have of late been traversing. A few hills still interrupted the continuity of surface below, more particularly on the right of the landscape towards the river. Not a human being was yet to be perceived, nor a single trait indicative of their present existence. ”

“ The Indians of the Missouri sometimes go to war in small parties against the grizzly bear, and trophies obtained from his body are highly esteemed, and dignify the fortunate individual who obtains them. We saw, on the necks of many of their warriors, necklaces, composed of the long fore-claws separated from the foot, tastefully arranged in a radiating manner; and one of the band of Pawnee warriors, that encountered a detachment of our party near the Kanza village, was ornamented with the entire skin of the fore-foot, with the claws remaining upon it, suspended on his breast. ”

“ On the evening of the fifteenth, finding all our stock of meat injured by too long keeping, four men were sent out on horseback to hunt. At the distance of six miles from camp, they found a solitary bison, which they killed, but concluding from its extreme leanness and the ill-savour of the flesh, that the animal was diseased, they took no part of it. On the following morning they returned, bringing nothing. We were now reduced to the necessity of feeding on our scanty allowance of a gill of parched maize per day to each man, this being the utmost that our limited stores would afford. ”

“ The river bed in the front of our camp was found by admeasurement to be sixty yards in width, twenty of which were naked sand-bar, the remaining forty covered with water, having an average depth of about ten inches. The current is moderate, the water intensely red, having nearly the temperature and the saltness of new milk. It suspends a great quantity of clay, derived from the cement of the sand-rock; but notwithstanding its impurities, it is more grateful to the taste than any we had met with since leaving the mountains, and though drank in large quantities, produces no unpleasant effect. ”

“ The Arkansa, below the great bend, becomes more serpentine than it is above, and very much obstructed by sand-bars and islands, either naked or clothed with a recent vegetation; they are but little elevated above the water, and are covered to some depth during the prevalence of floods in the river. At Belle Point, and some distance above, these islands almost wholly disappear, but the sandy shores still continue, and are, as above, alternately situated on either side of the river, as the stream approaches or recedes from the opposite river bottoms. The colour of the water was now olive green. ”

“ In attempting to descend the creek from our last encampment, we found the valley so obstructed with fragments of greenstone as to be wholly impassable. We accordingly ascended into the plain; and continuing along on the brink of the precipice, arrived in a few hours at a point where the substratum of sandstone emerges to light at the base of an inconsiderable hill. It is a fine gray sandstone, having an argillaceous cement, and its lamina are so nearly horizontal, that their inclination is not manifest to the eye. ”

“ Beyond commences the wide sandy desert, stretching westward to the base of the Rocky Mountains. We have little apprehension of giving too unfavourable an account of this portion of the country. Though the soil is in some places fertile, the want of timber, of navigable streams, and of water for the necessities of life, render it an unfit residence for any but a nomade population. ”

“ The treatment here employed by nature, to bring to perfection the fruit of the vine may be imitated; but without the same peculiarities of soil and exposure, and with difficulty be carried to the same magnificent extent. Here are hundreds of acres, covered with a movable surface of sand, and abounding in vines, which, left to the agency of the sun and the winds, are, by their operation, placed in more favourable circumstances than it is in the power of man, to so great an extent, to afford. ”