Washinton Irving.....................................................................................................................................1

AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................2

CHAPTER I. ...........................................................................................................................................3

CHAPTER II. .........................................................................................................................................8

CHAPTER III.......................................................................................................................................11

CHAPTER IV.......................................................................................................................................16

CHAPTER V........................................................................................................................................20

CHAPTER VI.......................................................................................................................................24

CHAPTER VII. .....................................................................................................................................30

CHAPTER VIII....................................................................................................................................34

CHAPTER IX.......................................................................................................................................36

CHAPTER X........................................................................................................................................38

CHAPTER XI.......................................................................................................................................43

CHAPTER XII. .....................................................................................................................................47

CHAPTER XIII....................................................................................................................................50

CHAPTER XIV....................................................................................................................................54

CHAPTER XV.....................................................................................................................................57

CHAPTER XVI....................................................................................................................................63

CHAPTER XVII. ..................................................................................................................................68

CHAPTER XVII. ..................................................................................................................................72

CHAPTER XVIII. .................................................................................................................................76

CHAPTER XIX....................................................................................................................................80

CHAPTER XX.....................................................................................................................................84

CHAPTER XXI....................................................................................................................................88

CHAPTER XXII. ..................................................................................................................................93

CHAPTER XXIII. .................................................................................................................................95

CHAPTER XXIV.................................................................................................................................97

CHAPTER XXV. ..................................................................................................................................99

CHAPTER XXVI...............................................................................................................................101

CHAPTER XXVII. .............................................................................................................................104

CHAPTER XXVIII. ............................................................................................................................106

CHAPTER XXIX...............................................................................................................................109

CHAPTER XXX. ................................................................................................................................112

CHAPTER XXXI...............................................................................................................................113

CHAPTER XXXII. .............................................................................................................................117

CHAPTER XXXIII. ............................................................................................................................119

CHAPTER XXXIV............................................................................................................................122

CHAPTER XXXV. .............................................................................................................................127

CHAPTER XXXVI............................................................................................................................129

CHAPTER XXXVII...........................................................................................................................132

CHAPTER XXXVIII. .........................................................................................................................137

CHAPTER XXXIX............................................................................................................................140

CHAPTER XL. ...................................................................................................................................142

CHAPTER XLI. ..................................................................................................................................145

CHAPTER XLII.................................................................................................................................150

CHAPTER XLIII. ...............................................................................................................................152

CHAPTER XLIV. ...............................................................................................................................155

CHAPTER XLV.................................................................................................................................161

CHAPTER XLVI. ...............................................................................................................................164

CHAPTER XLVII..............................................................................................................................168

CHAPTER XLVIII.............................................................................................................................172

CHAPTER XLIX. ...............................................................................................................................175

CHAPTER L. ......................................................................................................................................178

CHAPTER LI.....................................................................................................................................182

CHAPTER LII....................................................................................................................................184

CHAPTER LIII. ..................................................................................................................................187

CHAPTER LIV. ..................................................................................................................................192

CHAPTER LV. ...................................................................................................................................194

CHAPTER LVI. ..................................................................................................................................195

CHAPTER LVII.................................................................................................................................197

CHAPTER LVIII. ...............................................................................................................................200

CHAPTER LIX. ..................................................................................................................................204

CHAPTER LX. ...................................................................................................................................206

CHAPTER LXI. ..................................................................................................................................208

APPENDIX .........................................................................................................................................213

IN THE COURSE of occasional visits to Canada many years since, I became intimately acquainted with

some of the principal partners of the great Northwest Fur Company, who at that time lived in genial style at

Montreal, and kept almost open house for the stranger. At their hospitable boards I occasionally met with

partners, and clerks, and hardy fur traders from the interior posts; men who had passed years remote from

civilized society, among distant and savage tribes, and who had wonders to recount of their wide and wild

peregrinations, their hunting exploits, and their perilous adventures and hairbreadth escapes among the

Indians. I was at an age when imagination lends its coloring to everything, and the stories of these Sinbads of

the wilderness made the life of a trapper and fur trader perfect romance to me. I even meditated at one time a

visit to the remote posts of the company in the boats which annually ascended the lakes and rivers, being

thereto invited by one of the partners; and I have ever since regretted that I was prevented by circumstances

from carrying my intention into effect. From those early impressions, the grand enterprise of the great fur

companies, and the hazardous errantry of their associates in the wild parts of our vast continent, have always

been themes of charmed interest to me; and I have felt anxious to get at the details of their adventurous

About two years ago, not long after my return from a tour upon the prairies of the far West, I had a

conversation with my friend, Mr. John Jacob Astor, relative to that portion of our country, and to the

adventurous traders to Santa Fe and the Columbia. This led him to advert to a great enterprise set on foot and

conducted by him, between twenty and thirty years since, having for its object to carry the fur trade across the

Finding that I took an interest in the subject, he expressed a regret that the true nature and extent of his

enterprise and its national character and importance had never been understood, and a wish that I would

undertake to give an account of it. The suggestion struck upon the chord of early associations already

vibrating in my mind. It occurred to me that a work of this kind might comprise a variety of those curious

details, so interesting to me, illustrative of the fur trade; of its remote and adventurous enterprises, and of the

various people, and tribes, and castes, and characters, civilized and savage, affected by its operations. The

journals, and letters, also, of the adventurers by sea and land employed by Mr. Astor in his comprehensive

project, might throw light upon portions of our country quite out of the track of ordinary travel, and as yet but

little known. I therefore felt disposed to undertake the task, provided documents of sufficient extent and

minuteness could be furnished to me. All the papers relative to the enterprise were accordingly submitted to

my inspection. Among them were journals and letters narrating expeditions by sea, and journeys to and fro

across the Rocky Mountains by routes before untravelled, together with documents illustrative of savage and

colonial life on the borders of the Pacific. With such material in hand, I undertook the work. The trouble of

rummaging among business papers, and of collecting and collating facts from amidst tedious and

commonplace details, was spared me by my nephew, Pierre M. Irving, who acted as my pioneer, and to

As the journals, on which I chiefly depended, had been kept by men of business, intent upon the main object

of the enterprise, and but little versed in science, or curious about matters not immediately bearing upon their

interest, and as they were written often in moments of fatigue or hurry, amid the inconveniences of wild

encampments, they were often meagre in their details, furnishing hints to provoke rather than narratives to

satisfy inquiry. I have, therefore, availed myself occasionally of collateral lights supplied by the published

journals of other travellers who have visited the scenes described: such as Messrs. Lewis and Clarke,

Bradbury, Breckenridge, Long, Franchere, and Ross Cox, and make a general acknowledgment of aid

The work I here present to the public is necessarily of a rambling and somewhat disjointed nature, comprising

various expeditions and adventures by land and sea. The facts, however, will prove to be linked and banded

together by one grand scheme, devised and conducted by a master spirit; one set of characters, also, continues

throughout, appearing occasionally, though sometimes at long intervals, and the whole enterprise winds up

by a regular catastrophe; so that the work, without any labored attempt at artificial construction, actually

possesses much of that unity so much sought after in works of fiction, and considered so important to the

TWO leading objects of commercial gain have given birth to wide and daring enterprise in the early history

of the Americas; the precious metals of the South, and the rich peltries of the North. While the fiery and

magnificent Spaniard, inflamed with the mania for gold, has extended his discoveries and conquests over

those brilliant countries scorched by the ardent sun of the tropics, the adroit and buoyant Frenchman, and the

cool and calculating Briton, have pursued the less splendid, but no less lucrative, traffic in furs amidst the

hyperborean regions of the Canadas, until they have advanced even within the Arctic Circle.

These two pursuits have thus in a manner been the pioneers and precursors of civilization. Without pausing

on the borders, they have penetrated at once, in defiance of difficulties and dangers, to the heart of savage

countries: laying open the hidden secrets of the wilderness; leading the way to remote regions of beauty and

fertility that might have remained unexplored for ages, and beckoning after them the slow and pausing steps

It was the fur trade, in fact, which gave early sustenance and vitality to the great Canadian provinces. Being

destitute of the precious metals, at that time the leading objects of American enterprise, they were long

neglected by the parent country. The French adventurers, however, who had settled on the banks of the St.

Lawrence, soon found that in the rich peltries of the interior, they had sources of wealth that might almost

rival the mines of Mexico and Peru. The Indians, as yet unacquainted with the artificial value given to some

descriptions of furs, in civilized life, brought quantities of the most precious kinds and bartered them away

for European trinkets and cheap commodities. Immense profits were thus made by the early traders, and the

As the valuable furs soon became scarce in the neighborhood of the settlements, the Indians of the vicinity

were stimulated to take a wider range in their hunting expeditions; they were generally accompanied on these

expeditions by some of the traders or their dependents, who shared in the toils and perils of the chase, and at

the same time made themselves acquainted with the best hunting and trapping grounds, and with the remote

tribes, whom they encouraged to bring their peltries to the settlements. In this way the trade augmented, and

was drawn from remote quarters to Montreal. Every now and then a large body of Ottawas, Hurons, and other

tribes who hunted the countries bordering on the great lakes, would come down in a squadron of light canoes,

laden with beaver skins, and other spoils of their year's hunting. The canoes would be unladen, taken on

shore, and their contents disposed in order. A camp of birch bark would be pitched outside of the town, and a

kind of primitive fair opened with that grave ceremonial so dear to the Indians. An audience would be

demanded of the governorgeneral, who would hold the conference with becoming state, seated in an

elbowchair, with the Indians ranged in semicircles before him, seated on the ground, and silently smoking

their pipes. Speeches would be made, presents exchanged, and the audience would break up in universal good

Now would ensue a brisk traffic with the merchants, and all Montreal would be alive with naked Indians

running from shop to shop, bargaining for arms, kettles, knives, axes, blankets, brightcolored cloths, and

other articles of use or fancy; upon all which, says an old French writer, the merchants were sure to clear at

least two hundred per cent. There was no money used in this traffic, and, after a time, all payment in

spirituous liquors was prohibited, in consequence of the frantic and frightful excesses and bloody brawls

Their wants and caprices being supplied, they would take leave of the governor, strike their tents, launch their

A new and anomalous class of men gradually grew out of this trade. These were called coureurs des bois,

rangers of the woods; originally men who had accompanied the Indians in their hunting expeditions, and

made themselves acquainted with remote tracts and tribes; and who now became, as it were, peddlers of the

wilderness. These men would set out from Montreal with canoes well stocked with goods, with arms and

ammunition, and would make their way up the mazy and wandering rivers that interlace the vast forests of the

Canadas, coasting the most remote lakes, and creating new wants and habitudes among the natives.

Sometimes they sojourned for months among them, assimilating to their tastes and habits with the happy

facility of Frenchmen, adopting in some degree the Indian dress, and not unfrequently taking to themselves

Twelve, fifteen, eighteen months would often elapse without any tidings of them, when they would come

sweeping their way down the Ottawa in full glee, their canoes laden down with packs of beaver skins. Now

came their turn for revelry and extravagance. "You would be amazed," says an old writer already quoted, "if

you saw how lewd these peddlers are when they return; how they feast and game, and how prodigal they are,

not only in their clothes, but upon their sweethearts. Such of them as are married have the wisdom to retire to

their own houses; but the bachelors act just as an East Indiaman and pirates are wont to do; for they lavish,

eat, drink, and play all away as long as the goods hold out; and when these are gone, they even sell their

embroidery, their lace, and their clothes. This done, they are forced upon a new voyage for subsistence."

Many of these coureurs des bois became so accustomed to the Indian mode of living, and the perfect freedom

of the wilderness, that they lost relish for civilization, and identified themselves with the savages among

whom they dwelt, or could only be distinguished from them by superior licentiousness. Their conduct and

example gradually corrupted the natives, and impeded the works of the Catholic missionaries, who were at

To check these abuses, and to protect the fur trade from various irregularities practiced by these loose

adventurers, an order was issued by the French government prohibiting all persons, on pain of death, from

These licenses were granted in writing by the governorgeneral, and at first were given only to persons of

respectability; to gentlemen of broken fortunes; to old officers of the army who had families to provide for; or

to their widows. Each license permitted the fitting out of two large canoes with merchandise for the lakes,

and no more than twentyfive licenses were to be issued in one year. By degrees, however, private licenses

were also granted, and the number rapidly increased. Those who did not choose to fit out the expeditions

themselves, were permitted to sell them to the merchants; these employed the coureurs des bois, or rangers of

the woods, to undertake the long voyages on shares, and thus the abuses of the old system were revived and

The pious missionaries employed by the Roman Catholic Church to convert the Indians, did everything in

their power to counteract the profligacy caused and propagated by these men in the heart of the wilderness.

The Catholic chapel might often be seen planted beside the trading house, and its spire surmounted by a

cross, towering from the midst of an Indian village, on the banks of a river or a lake. The missions had often a

beneficial effect on the simple sons of the forest, but had little power over the renegades from civilization.

At length it was found necessary to establish fortified posts at the confluence of the rivers and the lakes for

the protection of the trade, and the restraint of these profligates of the wilderness. The most important of

these was at Michilimackinac, situated at the strait of the same name, which connects Lakes Huron and

Michigan. It became the great interior mart and place of deposit, and some of the regular merchants who

prosecuted the trade in person, under their licenses, formed establishments here. This, too, was a rendezvous

for the rangers of the woods, as well those who came up with goods from Montreal as those who returned

with peltries from the interior. Here new expeditions were fitted out and took their departure for Lake

Michigan and the Mississippi; Lake Superior and the Northwest; and here the peltries brought in return were

The French merchant at his trading post, in these primitive days of Canada, was a kind of commercial

patriarch. With the lax habits and easy familiarity of his race, he had a little world of selfindulgence and

misrule around him. He had his clerks, canoe men, and retainers of all kinds, who lived with him on terms of

perfect sociability, always calling him by his Christian name; he had his harem of Indian beauties, and his

troop of halfbreed children; nor was there ever wanting a louting train of Indians, hanging about the

establishment, eating and drinking at his expense in the intervals of their hunting expeditions.

The Canadian traders, for a long time, had troublesome competitors in the British merchants of New York,

who inveigled the Indian hunters and the coureurs des bois to their posts, and traded with them on more

favorable terms. A still more formidable opposition was organized in the Hudson's Bay Company, chartered

by Charles II., in 1670, with the exclusive privilege of establishing trading houses on the shores of that bay

and its tributary rivers; a privilege which they have maintained to the present day. Between this British

company and the French merchants of Canada, feuds and contests arose about alleged infringements of

territorial limits, and acts of violence and bloodshed occurred between their agents.

In 1762, the French lost possession of Canada, and the trade fell principally into the hands of British subjects.

For a time, however, it shrunk within narrow limits. The old coureurs des bois were broken up and dispersed,

or, where they could be met with, were slow to accustom themselves to the habits and manners of their

British employers. They missed the freedom, indulgence, and familiarity of the old French trading houses,

and did not relish the sober exactness, reserve, and method of the new comers. The British traders, too, were

ignorant of the country, and distrustful of the natives. They had reason to be so. The treacherous and bloody

affairs of Detroit and Michilimackinac showed them the lurking hostility cherished by the savages, who had

It was not until the year 1766, that the trade regained its old channels; but it was then pursued with much

avidity and emulation by individual merchants, and soon transcended its former bounds. Expeditions were

fitted out by various persons from Montreal and Michilimackinac, and rivalships and jealousies of course

ensued. The trade was injured by their artifices to outbid and undermine each other; the Indians were

debauched by the sale of spirituous liquors, which had been prohibited under the French rule. Scenes of

drunkeness, brutality, and brawl were the consequence, in the Indian villages and around the trading houses;

while bloody feuds took place between rival trading parties when they happened to encounter each other in

To put an end to these sordid and ruinous contentions, several of the principal merchants of Montreal entered

into a partnership in the winter of 1783, which was augmented by amalgamation with a rival company in

1787. Thus was created the famous "Northwest Company," which for a time held a lordly sway over the

wintry lakes and boundless forests of the Canadas, almost equal to that of the East India Company over the

The company consisted of twentythree shareholders, or partners, but held in its employ about two thousand

persons as clerks, guides, interpreters, and "voyageurs," or boatmen. These were distributed at various trading

posts, established far and wide on the interior lakes and rivers, at immense distances from each other, and in

Several of the partners resided in Montreal and Quebec, to manage the main concerns of the company. These

were called agents, and were personages of great weight and importance; the other partners took their stations

at the interior posts, where they remained throughout the winter, to superintend the intercourse with the

The goods destined for this wide and wandering traffic were put up at the warehouses of the company in

Montreal, and conveyed in batteaux, or boats and canoes, up the river Attawa, or Ottowa, which falls into the

St. Lawrence near Montreal, and by other rivers and portages, to Lake Nipising, Lake Huron, Lake Superior,

and thence, by several chains of great and small lakes, to Lake Winnipeg, Lake Athabasca, and the Great

Slave Lake. This singular and beautiful system of internal seas, which renders an immense region of

wilderness so accessible to the frail bark of the Indian or the trader, was studded by the remote posts of the

The company, as we have shown, was at first a spontaneous association of merchants; but, after it had been

regularly organized, admission into it became extremely difficult. A candidate had to enter, as it were,

"before the mast," to undergo a long probation, and to rise slowly by his merits and services. He began, at an

early age, as a clerk, and served an apprenticeship of seven years, for which he received one hundred pounds

sterling, was maintained at the expense of the company, and furnished with suitable clothing and equipments.

His probation was generally passed at the interior trading posts; removed for years from civilized society,

leading a life almost as wild and precarious as the savages around him; exposed to the severities of a northern

winter, often suffering from a scarcity of food, and sometimes destitute for a long time of both bread and salt.

When his apprenticeship had expired, he received a salary according to his deserts, varying from eighty to

one hundred and sixty pounds sterling, and was now eligible to the great object of his ambition, a partnership

in the company; though years might yet elapse before he attained to that enviable station.

Most of the clerks were young men of good families, from the Highlands of Scotland, characterized by the

perseverance, thrift, and fidelity of their country, and fitted by their native hardihood to encounter the

rigorous climate of the North, and to endure the trials and privations of their lot; though it must not be

concealed that the constitutions of many of them became impaired by the hardships of the wilderness, and

their stomachs injured by occasional famishing, and especially by the want of bread and salt. Now and then,

at an interval of years, they were permitted to come down on a visit to the establishment at Montreal, to

recruit their health, and to have a taste of civilized life; and these were brilliant spots in their existence.

As to the principal partners, or agents, who resided in Montreal and Quebec, they formed a kind of

commercial aristocracy, living in lordly and hospitable style. Their posts, and the pleasures, dangers,

adventures, and mishaps which they had shared together in their wild wood life, had linked them heartily to

each other, so that they formed a convivial fraternity. Few travellers that have visited Canada some thirty

years since, in the days of the M'Tavishes, the M'Gillivrays, the M'Kenzies, the Frobishers, and the other

magnates of the Northwest, when the company was in all its glory, but must remember the round of feasting

Sometimes one or two partners, recently from the interior posts, would make their appearance in New York,

in the course of a tour of pleasure and curiosity. On these occasions there was a degree of magnificence of the

purse about them, and a peculiar propensity to expenditure at the goldsmith's and jeweler's for rings, chains,

brooches, necklaces, jeweled watches, and other rich trinkets, partly for their own wear, partly for presents to

their female acquaintances; a gorgeous prodigality, such as was often to be noticed in former times in

Southern planters and West India creoles, when flush with the profits of their plantations.

To behold the Northwest Company in all its state and grandeur, however, it was necessary to witness an

annual gathering at the great interior place of conference established at Fort William, near what is called the

Grand Portage, on Lake Superior. Here two or three of the leading partners from Montreal proceeded once a

year to meet the partners from the various trading posts of the wilderness, to discuss the affairs of the

On these occasions might be seen the change since the unceremonious times of the old French traders; now

the aristocratic character of the Briton shone forth magnificently, or rather the feudal spirit of the Highlander.

Every partner who had charge of an interior post, and a score of retainers at his Command, felt like the

chieftain of a Highland clan, and was almost as important in the eyes of his dependents as of himself. To him

a visit to the grand conference at Fort William was a most important event, and he repaired there as to a

The partners from Montreal, however, were the lords of the ascendant; coming from the midst of luxurious

and ostentatious life, they quite eclipsed their compeers from the woods, whose forms and faces had been

battered and hardened by hard living and hard service, and whose garments and equipments were all the

worse for wear. Indeed, the partners from below considered the whole dignity of the company as represented

in their persons, and conducted themselves in suitable style. They ascended the rivers in great state, like

sovereigns making a progress: or rather like Highland chieftains navigating their subject lakes. They were

wrapped in rich furs, their huge canoes freighted with every convenience and luxury, and manned by

Canadian voyageurs, as obedient as Highland clansmen. They carried up with them cooks and bakers,

together with delicacies of every kind, and abundance of choice wines for the banquets which attended this

great convocation. Happy were they, too, if they could meet with some distinguished stranger; above all,

some titled member of the British nobility, to accompany them on this stately occasion, and grace their high

Fort William, the scene of this important annual meeting, was a considerable village on the banks of Lake

Superior. Here, in an immense wooden building, was the great council hall, as also the banqueting chamber,

decorated with Indian arms and accoutrements, and the trophies of the fur trade. The house swarmed at this

time with traders and voyageurs, some from Montreal, bound to the interior posts; some from the interior

posts, bound to Montreal. The councils were held in great state, for every member felt as if sitting in

parliament, and every retainer and dependent looked up to the assemblage with awe, as to the House of

Lords. There was a vast deal of solemn deliberation, and hard Scottish reasoning, with an occasional swell of

These grave and weighty councils were alternated by huge feasts and revels, like some of the old feasts

described in Highland castles. The tables in the great banqueting room groaned under the weight of game of

all kinds; of venison from the woods, and fish from the lakes, with hunters' delicacies, such as buffalos'

tongues, and beavers' tails, and various luxuries from Montreal, all served up by experienced cooks brought

for the purpose. There was no stint of generous wine, for it was a harddrinking period, a time of loyal toasts,

While the chiefs thus revelled in hall, and made the rafters resound with bursts of loyalty and old Scottish

songs, chanted in voices cracked and sharpened by the northern blast, their merriment was echoed and

prolonged by a mongrel legion of retainers, Canadian voyageurs, halfbreeds, Indian hunters, and vagabond

hangerson who feasted sumptuously without on the crumbs that fell from their table, and made the welkin

Such was the Northwest Company in its powerful and prosperous days, when it held a kind of feudal sway

over a vast domain of lake and forest. We are dwelling too long, perhaps, upon these individual pictures,

endeared to us by the associations of early life, when, as yet a stripling youth, we have sat at the hospitable

boards of the "mighty Northwesters," the lords of the ascendant at Montreal, and gazed with wondering and

inexperienced eye at the baronial wassailing, and listened with astonished ear to their tales of hardship and

adventures. It is one object of our task, however, to present scenes of the rough life of the wilderness, and we

are tempted to fix these few memorials of a transient state of things fast passing into oblivion; for the feudal

state of Fort William is at an end, its council chamber is silent and deserted; its banquet hall no longer echoes

to the burst of loyalty, or the "auld world" ditty; the lords of the lakes and forests have passed away; and the

THE success of the Northwest Company stimulated further enterprise in this opening and apparently

boundless field of profit. The traffic of that company lay principally in the high northern latitudes, while there

were immense regions to the south and west, known to abound with valuable peltries; but which, as yet, had

been but little explored by the fur trader. A new association of British merchants was therefore formed, to

prosecute the trade in this direction. The chief factory was established at the old emporium of

Michilimackinac, from which place the association took its name, and was commonly called the Mackinaw

While the Northwesters continued to push their enterprises into the hyperborean regions from their

stronghold at Fort William, and to hold almost sovereign sway over the tribes of the upper lakes and rivers,

the Mackinaw Company sent forth their light perogues and barks, by Green Bay, Fox River, and the

Wisconsin, to that areas artery of the West, the Mississippi; and down that stream to all its tributary rivers. In

this way they hoped soon to monopolize the trade with all the tribes on the southern and western waters, and

The government of the United States began to view with a wary eye the growing influence thus acquired by

combinations of foreigners, over the aboriginal tribes inhabiting its territories, and endeavored to counteract

it. For this purpose, as early as 1796, the government sent out agents to establish rival trading houses on the

frontier, so as to supply the wants of the Indians, to link their interests and feelings with those of the people

of the United States, and to divert this important branch of trade into national channels.

The expedition, however, was unsuccessful, as most commercial expedients are prone to be, where the dull

patronage of government is counted upon to outvie the keen activity of private enterprise. What government

failed to effect, however, with all its patronage and all its agents, was at length brought about by the

enterprise and perseverance of a single merchant, one of its adopted citizens; and this brings us to speak of

the individual whose enterprise is the especial subject of the following pages; a man whose name and

character are worthy of being enrolled in the history of commerce, as illustrating its noblest aims and

soundest maxims. A few brief anecdotes of his early life, and of the circumstances which first determined

him to the branch of commerce of which we are treating, cannot be but interesting.

John Jacob Astor, the individual in question, was born in the honest little German village of Waldorf, near

Heidelberg, on the banks of the Rhine. He was brought up in the simplicity of rural life, but, while yet a mere

stripling, left his home, and launched himself amid the busy scenes of London, having had, from his very

boyhood, a singular presentiment that he would ultimately arrive at great fortune.

At the close of the American Revolution he was still in London, and scarce on the threshold of active life. An

elder brother had been for some few years resident in the United States, and Mr. Astor determined to follow

him, and to seek his fortunes in the rising country. Investing a small sum which he had amassed since leaving

his native village, in merchandise suited to the American market, he embarked, in the month of November,

1783, in a ship bound to Baltimore, and arrived in Hampton Roads in the month of January. The winter was

extremely severe, and the ship, with many others, was detained by the ice in and about Chesapeake Bay for

During this period, the passengers of the various ships used occasionally to go on shore, and mingle sociably

together. In this way Mr. Astor became acquainted with a countryman of his, a furrier by trade. Having had a

previous impression that this might be a lucrative trade in the New World, he made many inquiries of his new

acquaintance on the subject, who cheerfully gave him all the information in his power as to the quality and

value of different furs, and the mode of carrying on the traffic. He subsequently accompanied him to New

York, and, by his advice, Mr. Astor was induced to invest the proceeds of his merchandise in furs. With these

he sailed from New York to London in 1784, disposed of them advantageously, made himself further

acquainted with the course of the trade, and returned the same year to New York, with a view to settle in the

He now devoted himself to the branch of commerce with which he had thus casually been made acquainted.

He began his career, of course, on the narrowest scale; but he brought to the task a persevering industry, rigid

economy, and strict integrity. To these were added an aspiring spirit that always looked upwards; a genius

bold, fertile, and expansive; a sagacity quick to grasp and convert every circumstance to its advantage, and a

As yet, trade in peltries was not organized in the United States, and could not be said to form a regular line of

business. Furs and skins were casually collected by the country traders in their dealings with the Indians or

the white hunters, but the main supply was derived from Canada. As Mr. Astor's means increased, he made

annual visits to Montreal, where he purchased furs from the houses at that place engaged in the trade. These

he shipped from Canada to London, no direct trade being allowed from that colony to any but the mother

In 1794 or '95, a treaty with Great Britain removed the restrictions imposed upon the trade with the colonies,

and opened a direct commercial intercourse between Canada and the United States. Mr. Astor was in London

at the time, and immediately made a contract with the agents of the Northwest Company for furs. He was

now enabled to import them from Montreal into the United States for the home supply, and to be shipped

thence to different parts of Europe, as well as to China, which has ever been the best market for the richest

The treaty in question provided, likewise, that the military posts occupied by the British within the territorial

limits of the United States, should be surrendered. Accordingly, Oswego, Niagara, Detroit, Michilimackinac,

and other posts on the American side of the lakes, were given up. An opening was thus made for the

American merchant to trade on the confines of Canada, and within the territories of the United States. After

an interval of some years, about 1807, Mr. Astor embarked in this trade on his own account. His capital and

resources had by this time greatly augmented, and he had risen from small beginnings to take his place

among the first merchants and financiers of the country. His genius had ever been in advance of his

circumstances, prompting him to new and wide fields of enterprise beyond the scope of ordinary merchants.

With all his enterprise and resources however, he soon found the power and influence of the Michilimackinac

(or Mackinaw) Company too great for him, having engrossed most of the trade within the American borders.

A plan had to be devised to enable him to enter into successful competition. He was aware of the wish of the

American government, already stated, that the fur trade within its boundaries should be in the hands of

American citizens, and of the ineffectual measures it had taken to accomplish that object. He now offered, if

aided and protected by government, to turn the whole of that trade into American channels. He was invited to

unfold his plans to government, and they were warmly approved, though the executive could give no direct

Thus countenanced, however, he obtained, in 1809, a charter from the legislature of the State of New York,

incorporating a company under the name of "The American Fur Company," with a capital of one million of

dollars, with the privilege of increasing it to two millions. The capital was furnished by himself he, in fact,

constituted the company; for, though he had a board of directors, they were merely nominal; the whole

business was conducted on his plans and with his resources, but he preferred to do so under the imposing and

formidable aspect of a corporation, rather than in his individual name, and his policy was sagacious and

As the Mackinaw Company still continued its rivalry, and as the fur trade would not advantageously admit of

competition, he made a new arrangement in 1811, by which, in conjunction with certain partners of the

Northwest Company, and other persons engaged in the fur trade, he bought out the Mackinaw Company, and

merged that and the American Fur Company into a new association, to be called the "Southwest Company."

This he likewise did with the privity and approbation of the American government.

By this arrangement Mr. Astor became proprietor of one half of the Indian establishments and goods which

the Mackinaw Company had within the territory of the Indian country in the United States, and it was

understood that the whole was to be surrendered into his hands at the expiration of five years, on condition

Unluckily, the war which broke out in 1812 between Great Britain and the United States suspended the

association; and, after the war, it was entirely dissolved; Congress having passed a law prohibiting the British

fur traders from prosecuting their enterprises within the territories of the United States.

WHILE the various companies we have noticed were pushing their enterprises far and wide in the wilds of

Canada, and along the course of the great western waters, other adventurers, intent on the same objects, were

traversing the watery wastes of the Pacific and skirting the northwest coast of America. The last voyage of

that renowned but unfortunate discoverer, Captain Cook, had made known the vast quantities of the seaotter

to be found along that coast, and the immense prices to be obtained for its fur in China. It was as if a new

gold coast had been discovered. Individuals from various countries dashed into this lucrative traffic, so that in

the year 1792, there were twentyone vessels under different flags, plying along the coast and trading with

the natives. The greater part of them were American, and owned by Boston merchants. They generally

remained on the coast and about the adjacent seas, for two years, carrying on as wandering and adventurous a

commerce on the water as did the traders and trappers on land. Their trade extended along the whole coast

from California to the high northern latitudes. They would run in near shore, anchor, and wait for the natives

to come off in their canoes with peltries. The trade exhausted at one place, they would up anchor and off to

another. In this way they would consume the summer, and when autumn came on, would run down to the

Sandwich Islands and winter in some friendly and plentiful harbor. In the following year they would resume

their summer trade, commencing at California and proceeding north: and, having in the course of the two

seasons collected a sufficient cargo of peltries, would make the best of their way to China. Here they would

sell their furs, take in teas, nankeens, and other merchandise, and return to Boston, after an absence of two or

The people, however, who entered most extensively and effectively in the fur trade of the Pacific, were the

Russians. Instead of making casual voyages, in transient ships, they established regular trading houses in the

high latitudes, along the northwest coast of America, and upon the chain of the Aleutian Islands between

To promote and protect these enterprises, a company was incorporated by the Russian government with

exclusive privileges, and a capital of two hundred and sixty thousand pounds sterling; and the sovereignty of

that part of the American continent, along the coast of which the posts had been established, was claimed by

the Russian crown, on the plea that the land had been discovered and occupied by its subjects.

As China was the grand mart for the furs collected in these quarters, the Russians had the advantage over

their competitors in the trade. The latter had to take their peltries to Canton, which, however, was a mere

receiving mart, from whence they had to be distributed over the interior of the empire and sent to the northern

parts, where there was the chief consumption. The Russians, on the contrary, carried their furs, by a shorter

voyage, directly to the northern parts of the Chinese empire; thus being able to afford them in the market

We come now to the immediate field of operation of the great enterprise we have undertaken to illustrate.

Among the American ships which traded along the northwest coast in 1792, was the Columbia, Captain Gray,

of Boston. In the course of her voyage she discovered the mouth of a large river in lat. 46 19' north. Entering

it with some difficulty, on account of sandbars and breakers, she came to anchor in a spacious bay. A boat

was well manned, and sent on shore to a village on the beach, but all the inhabitants fled excepting the aged

and infirm. The kind manner in which these were treated, and the presents given them, gradually lured back

the others, and a friendly intercourse took place. They had never seen a ship or a white man. When they had

first descried the Columbia, they had supposed it a floating island; then some monster of the deep; but when

they saw the boat putting for shore with human beings on board, they considered them cannibals sent by the

Great Spirit to ravage the country and devour the inhabitants. Captain Gray did not ascend the river farther

than the bay in question, which continues to bear his name. After putting to sea, he fell in with the celebrated

discoverer, Vancouver, and informed him of his discovery, furnished him with a chart which he had made of

the river. Vancouver visited the river, and his lieutenant, Broughton, explored it by the aid of Captain Gray's

chart; ascending it upwards of one hundred miles, until within view of a snowy mountain, to which he gave

The existence of this river, however, was known long before the visits of Gray and Vancouver, but the

information concerning it was vague and indefinite, being gathered from the reports of Indians. It was spoken

of by travellers as the Oregon, and as the Great River of the West. A Spanish ship is said to have been

wrecked at the mouth, several of the crew of which lived for some time among, the natives. The Columbia,

however, is believed to be the first ship that made a regular discovery and anchored within its waters, and it

has since generally borne the name of that vessel. As early as 1763, shortly after the acquisition of the

Canadas by Great Britain, Captain Jonathan Carver, who had been in the British provincial army, projected a

journey across the continent between the fortythird and fortysixth degrees of northern latitude to the shores

of the Pacific Ocean. His objects were to ascertain the breadth of the continent at its broadest part, and to

determine on some place on the shores of the Pacific, where government might establish a post to facilitate

the discovery of a northwest passage, or a communication between Hudson's Bay and the Pacific Ocean. This

place he presumed would be somewhere about the Straits of Annian, at which point he supposed the Oregon

disembogued itself. It was his opinion, also, that a settlement on this extremity of America would disclose

new sources of trade, promote many useful discoveries, and open a more direct communication with China

and the English settlements in the East Indies, than that by the Cape of Good Hope or the Straits of Magellan.

* This enterprising and intrepid traveller was twice baffled in individual efforts to accomplish this great

journey. In 1774, he was joined in the scheme by Richard Whitworth, a member of Parliament, and a man of

wealth. Their enterprise was projected on a broad and bold plan. They were to take with them fifty or sixty

men, artificers and mariners. With these they were to make their way up one of the branches of the Missouri,

explore the mountains for the source of the Oregon, or River of the West, and sail down that river to its

supposed exit, near the Straits of Annian. Here they were to erect a fort, and build the vessels necessary to

carry their discoveries by sea into effect. Their plan had the sanction of the British government, and grants

and other requisites were nearly completed, when the breaking out of the American Revolution once more

The expedition of Sir Alexander Mackenzie in 1793, across the continent to the Pacific Ocean, which he

reached in lat. 52 20' 48", again suggested the possibility of linking together the trade of both sides of the

continent. In lat. 52 30' he had descended a river for some distance which flowed towards the south, and wag

called by the natives Tacoutche Tesse, and which he erroneously supposed to be the Columbia. It was

afterwards ascertained that it emptied itself in lat. 49 degrees, whereas the mouth of the Columbia is about

When Mackenzie some years subsequently published an account of his expeditions, he suggested the policy

of opening an intercourse between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and forming regular establishments

through the interior and at both extremes, as well as along the coasts and islands. By this means, he observed,

the entire command of the fur trade of North America might be obtained from lat. 48 north to the pole,

excepting that portion held by the Russians, for as to the American adventurers who had hitherto enjoyed the

traffic along the northwest coast, they would instantly disappear, he added, before a well regulated trade.

A scheme of this kind, however, was too vast and hazardous for individual enterprise; it could only be

undertaken by a company under the sanction and protection of a government; and as there might be a

clashing of claims between the Hudson's Bay and Northwest Company, the one holding by right of charter,

the other by right of possession, he proposed that the two comparties should coalesce in this great

undertaking. The longcherished jealousies of these two companies, however, were too deep and strong to

In the meantime the attention of the American government was attracted to the subject, and the memorable

expedition under Messrs. Lewis and Clarke fitted out. These gentlemen, in 1804, accomplished the enterprise

which had been projected by Carver and Whitworth in 1774. They ascended the Missouri, passed through the

stupendous gates of the Rocky Mountains, hitherto unknown to white men; discovered and explored the

upper waters of the Columbia, and followed that river down to its mouth, where their countryman, Gray, had

anchored about twelve years previously. Here they passed the winter, and returned across the mountains in

the following spring. The reports published by them of their expedition demonstrated the practicability of

establishing a line of communication across the continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.

it was then that the idea presented itself to the mind of Mr. Astor, of grasping with his individual hand this

great enterprise, which for years had been dubiously yet desirously contemplated by powerful associations

and maternal governments. For some time he revolved the idea in his mind, gradually extending and maturing

his plans as his means of executing them augmented. The main feature of his scheme was to establish a line

of trading posts along the Missouri and the Columbia, to the mouth of the latter, where was to be founded the

chief trading house or mart. Inferior posts would be established in the interior, and on all the tributary streams

of the Columbia, to trade with the Indians; these posts would draw their supplies from the main

establishment, and bring to it the peltries they collected. Coasting craft would be built and fitted out, also at

the mouth of the Columbia, to trade, at favorable seasons, all along the northwest coast, and return, with the

proceeds of their voyages, to this place of deposit. Thus all the Indian trade, both of the interior and the coast,

A ship was to be sent annually from New York to this main establishment with reinforcements and supplies,

and with merchandise suited to the trade. It would take on board the furs collected during the preceding year,

carry them to Canton, invest the proceeds in the rich merchandise of China, and return thus freighted to New

York. As, in extending the American trade along the coast to the northward, it might be brought into the

vicinity of the Russian Fur Company, and produce a hostile rivalry, it was part of the plan of Mr. Astor to

conciliate the goodwill of that company by the most amicable and beneficial arrangements. The Russian

establishment was chiefly dependent for its supplies upon transient trading vessels from the United States.

These vessels, however, were often of more harm than advantage. Being owned by private adventurers, or

casual voyagers, who cared only for present profit, and had no interest in the permanent prosperity of the

trade, they were reckless in their dealings with the natives, and made no scruple of supplying them with

firearms. In this way several fierce tribes in the vicinity of the Russian posts, or within the range of their

trading excursions, were furnished with deadly means of warfare, and rendered troublesome and dangerous

The Russian government had made representations to that of the United States of these malpractices on the

part of its citizens, and urged to have this traffic in arms prohibited; but, as it did not infringe any municipal

law, our government could not interfere. Yet, still it regarded, with solicitude, a traffic which, if persisted in,

might give offence to Russia, at that time almost the only friendly power to us. In this dilemma the

government had applied to Mr. Astor, as one conversant in this branch of trade, for information that might

point out a way to remedy the evil. This circumstance had suggested to him the idea of supplying the Russian

establishment regularly by means of the annual ship that should visit the settlement at the mouth of the

Columbia (or Oregon) ; by this means the casual trading vessels would be excluded from those parts of the

Such is a brief outline of the enterprise projected by Mr. Astor, but which continually expanded in his mind.

Indeed it is due to him to say that he was not actuated by mere motives of individual profit. He was already

wealthy beyond the ordinary desires of man, but he now aspired to that honorable fame which is awarded to

men of similar scope of mind, who by their great commercial enterprises have enriched nations, peopled

wildernesses, and extended the bounds of empire. He considered his projected establishment at the mouth of

the Columbia as the emporium to an immense commerce; as a colony that would form the germ of a wide

civilization; that would, in fact, carry the American population across the Rocky Mountains and spread it

along the shores of the Pacific, as it already animated the shores of the Atlantic. As Mr. Astor, by the

magnitude of his commercial and financial relations, and the vigor and scope of his selftaught mind, had

elevated himself into the consideration of government and the communion and correspondence with leading

statesmen, he, at an early period, communicated his schemes to President Jefferson, soliciting the

countenance of government. How highly they were esteemed by that eminent man, we may judge by the

"I remember well having invited your proposition on this subject,*** and encouraged it with the assurance of

every facility and protection which the government could properly afford. I considered, as a great public

acquisition, the commencement of a settlement on that point of the western coast of America, and looked

forward with gratification to the time when its descendants should have spread themselves through the whole

length of that coast, covering it with free and independent Americans, unconnected with us but by the ties of

The cabinet joined with Mr. Jefferson in warm approbation of the plan, and held out assurance of every

protection that could, consistently with general policy, be afforded. Mr. Astor now prepared to carry his

scheme into prompt execution. He had some competition, however, to apprehend and guard against. The

Northwest Company, acting feebly and partially upon the suggestions of its former agent, Sir Alexander

Mackenzie, had pushed one or two advanced trading posts across the Rocky Mountains, into a tract of

country visited by that enterprising traveller, and since named New Caledonia. This tract lay about two

degrees north of the Columbia, and intervened between the territories of the United States and those of

Russia. Its length was about five hundred and fifty miles, and its breadth, from the mountains to the Pacific,

Should the Northwest Company persist in extending their trade in that quarter, their competition might be of

serious detriment to the plans of Mr. Astor. It is true they would contend with him to a vast disadvantage,

from the checks and restrictions to which they were subjected. They were straitened on one side by the rivalry

of the Hudson's Bay Company; then they had no good post on the Pacific where they could receive supplies

by sea for their establishments beyond the mountains; nor, if they had one, could they ship their furs thence to

China, that great mart for peltries; the Chinese trade being comprised in the monopoly of the East India

Company. Their posts beyond the mountains had to be supplied in yearly expeditions, like caravans, from

Montreal, and the furs conveyed back in the same way, by long, precarious, and expensive routes, across the

continent. Mr. Astor, on the contrary, would be able to supply his proposed establishment at the mouth of the

Columbia by sea, and to ship the furs collected there directly to China, so as to undersell the Northwest

Still, the competition of two rival companies west of the Rocky Mountains could not but prove detrimental to

both, and fraught with those evils, both to the trade and to the Indians, that had attended similar rivalries in

the Canadas. To prevent any contest of the kind, therefore, he made known his plan to the agents of the

Northwest Company, and proposed to interest them, to the extent of one third, in the trade thus to be opened.

Some correspondence and negotiation ensued. The company were aware of the advantages which would be

possessed by Mr. Astor should he be able to carry his scheme into effect; but they anticipated a monopoly of

the trade beyond the mountains by their establishments in New Caledonia, and were loth to share it with an

individual who had already proved a formidable competitor in the Atlantic trade. They hoped, too, by a

timely move, to secure the mouth of the Columbia before Mr. Astor would be able to put his plans into

operation; and, that key to the internal trade once in their possession, the whole country would be at their

command. After some negotiation and delay, therefore, they declined the proposition that had been made to

them, but subsequently despatched a party for the mouth of the Columbia, to establish a post there before any

In the meantime Mr. Astor, finding his overtures rejected, proceeded fearlessly to execute his enterprise in

face of the whole power of the Northwest Company. His main establishment once planted at the mouth of the

Columbia, he looked with confidence to ultimate success. Being able to reinforce and supply it amply by sea,

he would push his interior posts in every direction up the rivers and along the coast; supplying the natives at a

lower rate, and thus gradually obliging the Northwest Company to give up the competition, relinquish New

Caledonia, and retire to the other side of the mountains. He would then have possession of the trade, not

merely of the Columbia and its tributaries, but of the regions farther north, quite to the Russian possessions.

He now proceeded, with all diligence, to procure proper agents and coadjutors, habituated to the Indian trade

and to the life of the wilderness. Among the clerks of the Northwest Company were several of great capacity

and experience, who had served out their probationary terms, but who, either through lack of interest and

influence, or a want of vacancies, had not been promoted. They were consequently much dissatisfied, and

ready for any employment in which their talents and acquirements might be turned to better account.

Mr. Astor made his overtures to several of these persons, and three of them entered into his views. One of

these, Mr. Alexander M'Kay, had accompanied Sir Alexander Mackenzie in both of his expeditions to the

northwest coast of America in 1789 and 1793. The other two were Duncan M'Dougal and Donald M'Kenzie.

To these were subsequently added Mr. Wilson Price Hunt, of New Jersey. As this gentleman was a native

born citizen of the United States, a person of great probity and worth, he was selected by Mr. Astor to be his

On the 23d of June, 1810, articles of agreement were entered into between Mr. Astor and those four

gentlemen, acting for themselves and for the several persons who had already agreed to become, or should

According to these articles, Mr. Astor was to be at the head of the company, and to manage its affairs in New

York. He was to furnish vessels, goods, provisions, arms, ammunition, and all other requisites for the

enterprise at first cost and charges, provided that they did not, at any time, involve an advance of more than

The stock of the company was to be divided into a hundred equal shares, with the profits accruing thereon.

Fifty shares were to be at the disposition of Mr. Astor, and the other fifty to be divided among the partners

Mr. Astor was to have the privilege of introducing other persons into the connection as partners, two of

whom, at least, should be conversant with the Indian trade, and none of them entitled to more than three

A general meeting of the company was to be held annually at Columbia River, for the investigation and

regulation of its affairs; at which absent members might be represented, and might vote by proxy under

The association, if successful, was to continue for twenty years; but the parties had full power to abandon and

dissolve it within the first five years, should it be found unprofitable. For this term Mr. Astor covenanted to

bear all the loss that might be incurred; after which it was to be borne by all the partners, in proportion to

The parties of the second part were to execute faithfully such duties as might be assigned to them by a

majority of the company on the northwest coast, and to repair to such place or places as the majority might

An agent, appointed for the term of five years, was to reside at the principal establishment on the northwest

coast, and Wilson Price Hunt was the one chosen for the first term. Should the interests of the concern at any

time require his absence, a person was to be appointed, in general meeting, to take his place.

Such were the leading conditions of this ascociation; we shall now proceed to relate the various hardy and

* Carver's Travels, Introd. b. iii. Philad. 1796. ** Carver's Travels, p. 360. *** On this point Mr. Jefferson's

memory was in error. The proposition alluded to was the one, already mentioned, for the establishment of an

American Fur Company in the Atlantic States. The great enterprise beyond the mountains, that was to sweep

the shores of the Pacific, originated in the mind of Mr. Astor, and was proposed by him to the government.

IN prosecuting his great scheme of commerce and colonization, two expeditions were devised by Mr. Astor,

one by sea, the other by land. The former was to carry out the people, stores, ammunition, and merchandise,

requisite for establishing a fortified trading post at the mouth of Columbia River. The latter, conducted by

Mr. Hunt, was to proceed up the Missouri, and across the Rocky Mountains, to the same point; exploring a

line of communication across the continent and noting the places where interior trading posts might be

established. The expedition by sea is the one which comes first under consideration.

A fine ship was provided called the Tonquin, of two hundred and ninety tons burden, mounting ten guns,

with a crew of twenty men. She carried an assortment of merchandise for trading with the natives of the

seaboard and of the interior, together with the frame of a schooner, to be employed in the coasting trade.

Seeds also were provided for the cultivation of the soil, and nothing was neglected for the necessary supply of

the establishment. The command of the ship was intrusted to Jonathan Thorn, of New York, a lieutenant in

the United States navy, on leave of absence. He was a man of courage and firmness, who had distinguished

himself in our Tripolitan war, and, from being accustomed to naval discipline, was considered by Mr. Astor

as well fitted to take charge of an expedition of the kind. Four of the partners were to embark in the ship,

namely, Messrs. M'Kay, M'Dougal, David Stuart, and his nephew, Robert Stuart. Mr. M'Dougal was

empowered by Mr. Astor to act as his proxy in the absence of Mr. Hunt, to vote for him and in his name, on

any question that might come before any meeting of the persons interested in the voyage.

Besides the partners, there were twelve clerks to go out in the ship, several of them natives of Canada, who

had some experience in the Indian trade. They were bound to the service of the company for five years, at the

rate of one hundred dollars a year, payable at the expiration of the term, and an annual equipment of clothing

to the amount of forty dollars. In case of ill conduct they were liable to forfeit their wages and be dismissed;

but, should they acquit themselves well, the confident expectation was held out to them of promotion, and

partnership. Their interests were thus, to some extent, identified with those of the company.

Several artisans were likewise to sail in the ship, for the supply of the colony; but the most peculiar and

characteristic part of this motley embarkation consisted of thirteen Canadian "voyageurs,"who had enlisted

for five years. As this class of functionaries will continually recur in the course of the following narrations,

and as they form one of those distinct and strongly marked castes or orders of people, springing up in this

vast continent out of geographical circumstances, or the varied pursuits, habitudes, and origins of its

population, we shall sketch a few of their characteristics for the information of the reader.

The "voyageurs" form a kind of confraternity in the Canadas, like the arrieros, or carriers of Spain, and, like

them, are employed in long internal expeditions of travel and traffic: with this difference, that the arrieros

travel by land, the voyageurs by water; the former with mules and horses, the latter with batteaux and canoes.

The voyageurs may be said to have sprung up out of the fur trade, having originally been employed by the

early French merchants in their trading expeditions through the labyrinth of rivers and lakes of the boundless

interior. They were coeval with the coureurs des bois, or rangers of the woods, already noticed, and, like

them, in the intervals of their long, arduous, and laborious expeditions, were prone to pass their time in

idleness and revelry about the trading posts or settlements; squandering their hard earnings in heedless

conviviality, and rivaling their neighbors, the Indians, in indolent indulgence and an imprudent disregard of

When Canada passed under British domination, and the old French trading houses were broken up, the

voyageurs, like the coureurs des bois, were for a time disheartened and disconsolate, and with difficulty could

reconcile themselves to the service of the new comers, so different in habits, manners, and language from

their former employers. By degrees, however, they became accustomed to the change, and at length came to

consider the British fur traders, and especially the members of the Northwest Company, as the legitimate

The dress of these people is generally half civilized, half savage. They wear a capot or surcoat, made of a

blanket, a striped cotton shirt, cloth trousers, or leathern leggins, moccasins of deerskin, and a belt of

variegated worsted, from which are suspended the knife, tobaccopouch, and other implements. Their

language is of the same piebald character, being a French patois, embroidered with Indian and English words

The lives of the voyageurs are passed in wild and extensive rovings, in the service of individuals, but more

especially of the fur traders. They are generally of French descent, and inherit much of the gayety and

lightness of heart of their ancestors, being full of anecdote and song, and ever ready for the dance. They

inherit, too, a fund of civility and complaisance; and, instead of that hardness and grossness which men in

laborious life are apt to indulge towards each other, they are mutually obliging and accommodating;

interchanging kind offices, yielding each other assistance and comfort in every emergency, and using the

familiar appellations of "cousin" and "brother" when there is in fact no relationship. Their natural goodwill

is probably heightened by a community of adventure and hardship in their precarious and wandering life.

No men are more submissive to their leaders and employers, more capable of enduring hardship, or more

goodhumored under privations. Never are they so happy as when on long and rough expeditions, toiling up

rivers or coasting lakes; encamping at night on the borders, gossiping round their fires, and bivouacking in

the open air. They are dextrous boatmen, vigorous and adroit with the oar and paddle, and will row from

morning until night without a murmur. The steersman often sings an old traditionary French song, with some

regular burden in which they all join, keeping time with their oars; if at any time they flag in spirits or relax

in exertion, it is but necessary to strike up a song of the kind to put them all in fresh spirits and activity. The

Canadian waters are vocal with these little French chansons, that have been echoed from mouth to mouth and

transmitted from father to son, from the earliest days of the colony; and it has a pleasing effect, in a still

golden summer evening, to see a batteau gliding across the bosom of a lake and dipping its oars to the

cadence of these quaint old ditties, or sweeping along in full chorus on a bright sunny morning, down the

But we are talking of things that are fast fading away! The march of mechanical invention is driving

everything poetical before it. The steamboats, which are fast dispelling the wildness and romance of our lakes

and rivers, and aiding to subdue the world into commonplace, are proving as fatal to the race of the Canadian

voyageurs as they have been to that of the boatmen of the Mississippi. Their glory is departed. They are no

longer the lords of our internal seas, and the great navigators of the wilderness. Some of them may still

occasionally be seen coasting the lower lakes with their frail barks, and pitching their camps and lighting

their fires upon the shores; but their range is fast contracting to those remote waters and shallow and

obstructed rivers unvisited by the steamboat. In the course of years they will gradually disappear; their songs

will die away like the echoes they once awakened, and the Canadian voyageurs will become a forgotten race,

or remembered, like their associates, the Indians, among the poetical images of past times, and as themes for

An instance of the buoyant temperament and the professional pride of these people was furnished in the gay

and braggart style in which they arrived at New York to join the enterprise. They were determined to regale

and astonish the people of the "States" with the sight of a Canadian boat and a Canadian crew. They

accordingly fitted up a large but light bark canoe, such as is used in the fur trade; transported it in a wagon

from the banks of the St. Lawrence to the shores of Lake Champlain; traversed the lake in it, from end to end;

hoisted it again in a wagon and wheeled it off to Lansingburgh, and there launched it upon the waters of the

Hudson. Down this river they plied their course merrily on a fine summer's day, making its banks resound for

the first time with their old French boat songs; passing by the villages with whoop and halloo, so as to make

the honest Dutch farmers mistake them for a crew of savages. In this way they swept, in full song and with

regular flourish of the paddle, round New York, in a still summer evening, to the wonder and admiration of

its inhabitants, who had never before witnessed on their waters, a nautical apparition of the kind.

Such was the variegated band of adventurers about to embark in the Tonquin on this ardous and doubtful

enterprise. While yet in port and on dry land, in the bustle of preparation and the excitement of novelty, all

was sunshine and promise. The Canadians, especially, who, with their constitutional vivacity, have a

considerable dash of the gascon, were buoyant and boastful, and great brag arts as to the future; while all

those who had been in the service of the Northwest Company, and engaged in the Indian trade, plumed

themselves upon their hardihood and their capacity to endure privations. If Mr. Astor ventured to hint at the

difficulties they might have to encounter, they treated them with scorn. They were "northwesters;" men

seasoned to hardships, who cared for neither wind nor weather. They could live hard, lie hard, sleep hard, eat

dogs! in a word they were ready to do and suffer anything for the good of the enterprise. With all this

profession of zeal and devotion, Mr. Astor was not overconfident of the stability and firm faith of these

mercurial beings. He had received information, also, that an armed brig from Halifax, probably at the

instigation of the Northwest Company, was hovering on the coast, watching for the Tonquin, with the

purpose of impressing the Canadians on board of her, as British subjects, and thus interrupting the voyage. It

was a time of doubt and anxiety, when the relations between the United States and Great Britain were daily

assuming a more precarious aspect and verging towards that war which shortly ensued. As a precautionary

measure, therefore, he required that the voyageurs, as they were about to enter into the service of an

American association, and to reside within the limits of the United States, should take the oaths of

naturalization as American citizens. To this they readily agreed, and shortly afterward assured him that they

had actually done so. It was not until after they had sailed that he discovered that they had entirely deceived

The confidence of Mr. Astor was abused in another quarter. Two of the partners, both of them Scotchmen,

and recently in the service of the Northwest Company, had misgivings as to an enterprise which might clash

with the interests and establishments protected by the British flag. They privately waited upon the British

minister, Mr. Jackson, then in New York, laid open to him the whole scheme of Mr. Astor, though intrusted

to them in confidence, and dependent, in a great measure, upon secrecy at the outset for its success, and

inquired whether they, as British subjects, could lawfully engage in it. The reply satisfied their scruples,

while the information they imparted excited the surprise and admiration of Mr. Jackson, that a private

individual should have conceived and set on foot at his own risk and expense so great an enterprise.

This step on the part of those gentlemen was not known to Mr. Astor until some time afterwards, or it might

To guard against any interruption to the voyage by the armed brig, said to be off the harbor, Mr. Astor

applied to Commodore Rodgers, at that time commanding at New York, to give the Tonquin safe convoy off

the coast. The commodore having received from a high official source assurance of the deep interest which

the government took in the enterprise, sent directions to Captain Hull, at that time cruising off the harbor, in

the frigate Constitution, to afford the Tonquin the required protection when she should put to sea.

Before the day of embarkation, Mr. Astor addressed a letter of instruction to the four partners who were to

sail in the ship. In this he enjoined them, in the most earnest manner, to cultivate harmony and unanimity, and

recommended that all differences of opinions on points connected with the objects and interests of the voyage

should be discussed by the whole, and decided by a majority of votes. He, moreover, gave them especial

caution as to their conduct on arriving at their destined port; exhorting them to be careful to make a favorable

impression upon the wild people among whom their lot and the fortunes of the enterprise would be cast. "If

you find them kind," said he, "as I hope you will, be so to them. If otherwise, act with caution and

With the same anxious forethought he wrote a letter of instructions to Captain Thorn, in which he urged the

strictest attention to the health of himself and his crew, and to the promotion of goodhumor and harmony on

board his ship. "To prevent any misunderstanding," added he, "will require your particular good

management." His letter closed with an injunction of wariness in his intercourse with the natives, a subject on

which Mr. Astor was justly sensible he could not be too earnest. "I must recommend you," said he, "to be

particularly careful on the coast, and not to rely too much on the friendly disposition of the natives. All

accidents which have as yet happened there arose from too much confidence in the Indians."

The reader will bear these instructions in mind, as events will prove their wisdom and importance, and the

ON the eighth of September, 1810, the Tonquin put to sea, where she was soon joined by the frigate

Constitution. The wind was fresh and fair from the southwest, and the ship was soon out of sight of land and

free from the apprehended danger of interruption. The frigate, therefore, gave her "God speed," and left her to

The harmony so earnestly enjoined by Mr. Astor on this heterogeneous crew, and which had been so

confidently promised in the buoyant moments of preparation, was doomed to meet with a check at the very

Captain Thorn was an honest, straighforward, but somewhat dry and dictatorial commander, who, having

been nurtured in the system and discipline of a ship of war, and in a sacred opinion of the supremacy of the

quarterdeck, was disposed to be absolute lord and master on board of his ship. He appears, moreover, to

have had no great opinion, from the first, of the persons embarked with him He had stood by with surly

contempt while they vaunted so bravely to Mr. Astor of all they could do and all they could undergo; how

they could face all weathers, put up with all kinds of fare, and even eat dogs with a relish, when no better

food was to be had. He had set them down as a set of landlubbers and braggadocios, and was disposed to treat

them accordingly. Mr. Astor was, in his eyes, his only real employer, being the father of the enterprise, who

furnished all funds and bore all losses. The others were mere agents and subordinates, who lived at his

expense. He evidently had but a narrow idea of the scope and nature of the enterprise, limiting his views

merely to his part of it; everything beyond the concerns of his ship was out of his sphere; and anything that

The partners, on the other hand, had been brought up in the service of the Northwest Company, and in a

profound idea of the importance, dignity, and authority of a partner. They already began to consider

themselves on a par with the M'Tavishes, the M'Gillivrays, the Frobishers, and the other magnates of the

Northwest, whom they had been accustomed to look up to as the great ones of the earth; and they were a little

disposed, perhaps, to wear their suddenlyacquired honors with some air of pretension. Mr. Astor, too, had

put them on their mettle with respect to the captain, describing him as a gunpowder fellow who would

command his ship in fine style, and, if there was any fighting to do, would "blow all out of the water."

Thus prepared to regard each other with no very cordial eye, it is not to be wondered at that the parties soon

came into collision. On the very first night Captain Thorn began his man ofwar discipline by ordering the

The pride of the partners was immediately in arms. This was an invasion of their rights and dignities not to be

borne. They were on board of their own ship, and entitled to consult their ease and enjoyment. M'Dougal was

the champion of their cause. He was an active, irritable, fuming, vainglorious little man, and elevated in his

own opinion, by being the proxy of Mr. Astor. A violent altercation ensued, in the course of which Thorn

threatened to put the partners in irons should they prove refractory; upon which M'Dougal seized a pistol and

swore to be the death of the captain should he ever offer such an indignity. It was some time before the

Such was the captain's outset with the partners. Nor did the clerks stand much higher in his good graces;

indeed, he seems to have regarded all the landsmen on board his ship as a kind of Iive lumber, continually in

the way. The poor voyageurs, too, continually irritated his spleen by their "lubberly" and unseemly habits, so

abhorrent to one accustomed to the cleanliness of a manofwar. These poor freshwater sailors, so

vainglorious on shore, and almost amphibious when on lakes and rivers, lost all heart and stomach the

moment they were at sea. For days they suffered the doleful rigors and retchings of seasickness, lurking

below in their berths in squalid state, or emerging now and then like spectres from the hatchways, in capotes

and blankets, with dirty nightcaps, grizzly beard, lantern visage and unhappy eye, shivering about the deck,

and ever and anon crawling to the sides of the vessel, and offering up their tributes to the windward, to

His letters to Mr. Astor, wherein he pours forth the bitterness of his soul, and his seamanlike impatience of

what he considers the "lubberly" character and conduct of those around him, are before us, and are amusingly

characteristic. The honest captain is full of vexation on his own account, and solicitude on account of Mr.

Astor, whose property he considers at the mercy of a most heterogeneous and wasteful crew.

As to the clerks, he pronounced them mere pretenders, not one of whom had ever been among the Indians,

nor farther to the northwest than Montreal, nor of higher rank than barkeeper of a tavern or marker of a

billiardtable, excepting one, who had been a schoolmaster, and whom he emphatically sets down for "as

Then as to the artisans and laborers who had been brought from Canada and shipped at such expense, the

three most respectable, according to the captain's account, were culprits, who had fled from Canada on

account of their misdeeds; the rest had figured in Montreal as draymen, barbers, waiters, and carriole drivers,

It may easily be imagined what a series of misunderstandings and crosspurposes would be likely to take

place between such a crew and such a commander. The captain, in his zeal for the health and cleanliness of

his ship, would make sweeping visitations to the "lubber nests" of the unlucky "voyageurs" and their

companions in misery, ferret them out of their berths, make them air and wash themselves and their

Nor did his disgust and vexation cease when all hands had recovered from seasickness, and become

accustomed to the ship, for now broke out an alarming keenness of appetite that threatened havoc to the

provisions. What especially irritated the captain was the daintiness of some of his cabin passengers. They

were loud in their complaints of the ship's fare, though their table was served with fresh pork, hams, tongues,

smoked beef, and puddings. "When thwarted in their cravings for delicacies," Said he, "they would exclaim it

was dd hard they could not live as they pleased upon their own property, being on board of their own ship,

freighted with their own merchandise. And these," added he, "are the fine fellows who made such boast that

In his indignation at what he termed their effeminacy, he would swear that he would never take them to sea

again "without having Flymarket on the forecastle, Coventgarden on the poop, and a cool spring from

As they proceeded on their voyage and got into the smooth seas and pleasant weather of the tropics, other

annoyances occurred to vex the spirit of the captain. He had been crossed by the irritable mood of one of the

partners; he was now excessively annoyed by the goodhumor of another. This was the elder Stuart, who was

an easy soul, and of a social disposition. He had seen life in Canada, and on the coast of Labrador; had been a

fur trader in the former, and a fisherman on the latter; and, in the course of his experience, had made various

expeditions with voyageurs. He was accustomed, therefore, to the familiarity which prevails between that

class and their superiors, and the gossipings which take place among them when seated round a fire at their

encampments. Stuart was never so happy as when he could seat himself on the deck with a number of these

men round him, in camping style, smoke together, passing the pipe from mouth to mouth, after the manner of

the Indians, sing old Canadian boat songs, and tell stories about their hardships and adventures, in the

course of which he rivaled Sinbad in his long tales of the sea, about his fishing exploits on the coast of

This gossiping familiarity shocked the captain's notions of rank and subordination, and nothing was so

abhorrent to him as the community of pipe between master and man, and their mingling in chorus in the

Then there was another whimsical source of annoyance to him. Some of the young clerks, who were making

their first voyage, and to whom everything was new and strange, were, very rationally, in the habit of taking

notes and keeping journals. This was a sore abomination to the honest captain, who held their literary

pretensions in great contempt. "The collecting of materials for long histories of their voyages and travels,"

said he, in his letter to Mr. Astor, "appears to engross most of their attention." We can conceive what must

have been the crusty impatience of the worthy navigator, when, on any trifling occurrence in the course of the

voyage, quite commonplace in his eyes, he saw these young landsmen running to record it in their journals;

and what indignant glances he must have cast to right and left, as he worried about the deck, giving out his

orders for the management of the ship, surrounded by singing, smoking, gossiping, scribbling groups, all, as

he thought, intent upon the amusement of the passing hour, instead of the great purposes and interests of the

It is possible the captain was in some degree right in his notions. Though some of the passengers had much to

gain by the voyage, none of them had anything positively to lose. They were mostly young men, in the

heyday of life; and having got into fine latitudes, upon smooth seas, with a wellstored ship under them, and

a fair wind in the shoulder of the sail, they seemed to have got into a holiday world, and were disposed to

enjoy it. That craving desire, natural to untravelled men of fresh and lively minds, to see strange lands, and to

visit scenes famous in history or fable, was expressed by some of the partners and clerks, with respect to

some of the storied coasts and islands that lay within their route. The captain, however, who regarded every

coast and island with a matteroffact eye, and had no more associations connected with them than those laid

down in his sea chart, considered all this curiosity as exceedingly idle and childish. "In the first part of the

voyage," says he in his letter, "they were determined to have it said they had been in Africa, and therefore

insisted on stopping at the Cape de Verdes. Next they said the ship should stop on the coast of Patagonia, for

they must see the large and uncommon inhabitants of that place. Then they must go to the island where

Robinson Crusoe had so long lived. And lastly, they were determined to see the handsome inhabitants of

To all these resolves, the captain opposed his peremptory veto, as "contrary to instructions." Then would

break forth an unavailing explosion of wrath on the part of certain of the partners, in the course of which they

did not even spare Mr. Astor for his act of supererogation in furnishing orders for the control of the ship

while they were on board, instead of leaving them to be the judges where it would be best for her to touch,

and how long to remain. The choleric M'Dougal took the lead in these railings, being, as has been observed, a

The captain, however, became only so much the more crusty and dogged in his adherence to his orders, and

touchy and harsh in his dealings with the passengers, and frequent altercations ensued. He may in some

measure have been influenced by his seamanlike impatience of the interference of landsmen, and his high

notions of naval etiquette and quarterdeck authority; but he evidently had an honest, trusty concern for the

interests of his employer. He pictured to himself the anxious projector of the enterprise, who had disbursed so

munificently in its outfit, calculating on the zeal, fidelity, and singleness of purpose of his associates and

agents; while they, on the other hand, having a good ship at their disposal and a deep pocket at home to bear

them out, seemed ready to loiter on every coast, and amuse themselves in every port.

On the fourth of December they came in sight of the Falkland Islands. Having been for some time on an

allowance of water, it was resolved to anchor here and obtain a supply. A boat was sent into a small bay to

take soundings. Mr. M'Dougal and Mr. M'Kay took this occasion to go on shore, but with a request from the

captain that they would not detain the ship. Once on shore, however, they were in no haste to obey his orders,

but rambled about in search of curiosities. The anchorage proving unsafe, and water difficult to be procured,

the captain stood out to sea, and made repeated signals for those on shore to rejoin the ship, but it was not

The wind being adverse, the boat was again sent on shore on the following morning, and the same gentlemen

again landed, but promised to come off at a moment's warning; they again forgot their promise in their eager

pursuit of wild geese and seawolves. After a time the wind hauled fair, and signals were made for the boat.

Half an hour elapsed but no boat put off. The captain reconnoitered the shore with his glass, and, to his

infinite vexation, saw the loiterers in the full enjoyment of their "wildgoosechase." Nettled to the quick, he

immediately made sail. When those on shore saw the ship actually under way, they embarked with all speed,

but had a hard pull of eight miles before they got on board, and then experienced but a grim reception,

Two days afterwards, on the seventh of December, they anchored at Fort Egmont, in the same island, where

they remained four days taking in water and making repairs. This was a joyous time for the landsmen. They

pitched a tent on shore, had a boat at their command, and passed their time merrily in rambling about the

island, and coasting along the shores, shooting sealions, seals, foxes, geese, ducks, and penguins. None were

keener in pursuit of this kind of game than M'Dougal and David Stuart; the latter was reminded of aquatic

In the meantime the captain addressed himself steadily to the business of his ship, scorning the holiday spirit

and useless pursuits of his emancipated messmates, and warning them, from time to time, not to wander away

nor be out of hail. They promised, as usual, that the ship should never experience a moment's detention on

On the morning of the 11th, the repairs being all finished, and the water casks replenished, the signal was

given to embark, and the ship began to weigh anchor. At this time several of the passengers were dispersed

about the island, amusing themselves in various ways. Some of the young men had found two inscriptions, in

English, over a place where two unfortunate mariners had been buried in this desert island. As the

inscriptions were worn out by the time and weather, they were playing the part of "Old Mortality," and

piously renewing them. The signal from the ship summoned them from their labors; they saw the sails

unfurled, and that she was getting under way. The two sporting partners, however, Mr. M'Dougal and David

Stuart, had strolled away to the south of the island in pursuit of penguins. It would never do to put off without

While this delay took place on shore, the captain was storming on board. This was the third time his orders

had been treated with contempt, and the ship wantonly detained, and it should be the last; so he spread all sail

and put to sea, swearing he would leave the laggards to shift for themselves. It was in vain that those on board

made remonstrances and entreaties, and represented the horrors of abandoning men upon a sterile and

In the meantime the penguin hunters had joined the engravers of tombstones, but not before the ship was

already out at sea. They all, to the number of eight, threw themselves into their boat, which was about twenty

feet in length, and rowed with might and main. For three hours and a half did they tug anxiously and severely

at the oar, swashed occasionally by the surging waves of the open sea, while the ship inexorably kept on her

On board the ship was the nephew of David Stuart, a young man of spirit and resolution. Seeing, as he

thought, the captain obstinately bent upon abandoning his uncle and the others, he seized a pistol, and in a

paroxysm of wrath swore he would blow out the captain's brains, unless he put about or shortened sail.

Fortunately for all parties, the wind just then came ahead, and the boat was enabled to reach the ship;

otherwise, disastrous circumstances might have ensued. We can hardly believe that the captain really

intended to carry his threat into full effect, and rather think he meant to let the laggards off for a long pull and

a hearty fright. He declared, however, in his letter to Mr. Astor, that he was serious in his threats, and there is

"Had the wind," writes he, "(unfortunately) not hauled ahead soon after leaving the harbor's mouth, I should

positively have left them; and, indeed, I cannot but think it an unfortunate circumstance for you that it so

happened, for the first loss in this instance would, in my opinion, have proved the best, as they seem to have

no idea of the value of property, nor any apparent regard for your interest, although interwoven with their

This, it must be confessed, was acting with a high hand, and carrying a regard to the owner's property to a

dangerous length. Various petty feuds occurred also between him and the partners in respect to the goods on

board ship, some articles of which they wished to distribute for clothing among the men, or for other

purposes which they deemed essential. The captain, however, kept a mastiff watch upon the cargo, and

growled and snapped if they but offered to touch box or bale. "It was contrary to orders; it would forfeit his

insurance; it was out of all rule." It was in vain they insisted upon their right to do so, as part owners, and as

acting for the good of the enterprise; the captain only stuck to his point the more stanchly. They consoled

themselves, therefore, by declaring, that as soon as they made land, they would assert their rights, and do with

Beside these feuds between the captain and the partners, there were feuds between the partners themselves,

occasioned, in some measure, by jealousy of rank. M'Dougal and M'Kay began to draw plans for the fort, and

other buildings of the intended establishment. They agreed very well as to the outline and dimensions, which

were on a sufficiently grand scale; but when they came to arrange the details, fierce disputes arose, and they

would quarrel by the hour about the distribution of the doors and windows. Many were the hard words and

hard names bandied between them on these occasions, according to the captain's account. Each accused the

other of endeavoring to assume unwarrantable power, and take the lead; upon which Mr. M'Dougal would

vauntingly lay down Mr. Astor's letter, constituting him his representative and proxy, a document not to be

These wordy contests, though violent, were brief; "and within fifteen minutes," says the captain, "they would

While all this petty anarchy was agitating the little world within the Tonquin, the good ship prosperously

pursued her course, doubled Cape Horn on the 25th of December, careered across the bosom of the Pacific,

until, on the 11th of February, the snowy peaks of Owyhee were seen brightening above the horizon.

OWYHEE, or Hawaii, as it is written by more exact orthographers, is the largest of the cluster, ten in number,

of the Sandwich Islands. It is about ninetyseven miles in length, and seventy eight in breadth, rising

gradually into three pyramidal summits or cones; the highest, Mouna Roa, being eighteen thousand feet

above the level of the sea, so as to domineer over the whole archipelago, and to be a landmark over a wide

extent of ocean. It remains a lasting monument of the enterprising and unfortunate Captain Cook, who was

The Sandwich Islanders, when first discovered, evinced a character superior to most of the savages of the

Pacific isles. They were frank and open in their deportment, friendly and liberal in their dealings, with an apt

The tragical fate of the discoverer, which, for a time, brought them under the charge of ferocity, was, in fact,

At the time of the visit of the Tonquin, the islanders had profited, in many respects, by occasional intercourse

with white men; and had shown a quickness to observe and cultivate those arts important to their mode of

living. Originally they had no means of navigating the seas by which they were surrounded, superior to light

pirogues, which were little competent to contend with the storms of the broad ocean. As the islanders are not

in sight of each other, there could, therefore, be but casual intercourse between them. The traffic with white

men had put them in possession of vessels of superior description; they had made themselves acquainted with

These improvements had been promoted, in a great measure, by the energy and sagacity of one man, the

famous Tamaahmaah. He had originally been a petty eri, or chief; but, being of an intrepid and aspiring

nature, he had risen in rank, and, availing himself of the superior advantages now afforded in navigation, had

brought the whole archipelago in subjection to his arms. At the time of the arrival of the Tonquin he had

about forty schooners, of from twenty to thirty tons burden, and one old American ship. With these he held

undisputed sway over his insular domains, and carried on intercourse with the chiefs or governors whom he

The situation of this group of islands, far in the bosom of the vast Pacific, and their abundant fertility, render

them important stoppingplaces on the highway to China, or to the northwest coast of America. Here the

vessels engaged in the fur trade touched to make repairs and procure provisions; and here they often sheltered

The British navigators were, from the first, aware of the value of these islands to the purposes of commerce;

and Tamaahmaah, not long after he had attained the sovereign sway, was persuaded by Vancouver, the

celebrated discoverer, to acknowledge, on behalf of himself, and subjects, allegiance to the king of Great

Britain. The reader cannot but call to mind the visit which the royal family and court of the Sandwich Islands

was, in late years, induced to make to the court of St. James; and the serio comic ceremonials and mock

It was a part of the wide and comprehensive plan of Mr. Astor to establish a friendly intercourse between

these islands and his intended colony, which might, for a time, have occasion to draw supplies thence; and he

even had a vague idea of, some time or other, getting possession of one of their islands as a rendezvous for

On the evening of the 12th of February, the Tonquin anchored in the bay of Karakakooa, in the island of

Owyhee. The surrounding shores were wild and broken, with overhanging cliffs and precipices of black

volcanic rock. Beyond these, however, the country was fertile and well cultivated, with inclosures of yams,

plantains, sweet potatoes, sugarcanes, and other productions of warm climates and teeming soils; and the

numerous habitations of the natives were pleasantly sheltered beneath clumps of cocoanut and breadfruit

trees, which afforded both food and shade. This mingled variety of garden and grove swept gradually up the

sides of the mountains, until succeeded by dense forests, which in turn gave place to naked and craggy rocks,

The royal residence of Tamaahmaah was at this time at another island named Woahoo. The island of Owyhee

was under the command of one of his eris, or chiefs, who resided at the village of Tocaigh, situated on a

On the morning after her arrival, the ship was surrounded by canoes and pirogues, filled with the islanders of

both sexes, bringing off supplies of fruits and vegetables, bananas, plantains, watermelons, yams, cabbages

and taro. The captain was desirous, however, of purchasing a number of hogs, but there were none to be had

The trade in pork was a royal monopoly, and no subject of the great Tamaahmaah dared to meddle with it.

Such provisions as they could furnish, however, were brought by the natives in abundance, and a lively

intercourse was kept up during the day, in which the women mingled in the kindest manner.

The islanders are a comely race, of a copper complexion. The men are tall and well made, with forms

indicating strength and activity; the women with regular and occasionally handsome features, and a lascivious

expression, characteristic of their temperament. Their style of dress was nearly the same as in the days of

Captain Cook. The men wore the maro, a band one foot in width and several feet in length, swathed round the

loins, and formed of tappa, or cloth of bark; the kihei, or mantle, about six feet square, tied in a knot over one

shoulder, passed under the opposite arm, so as to leave it bare, and falling in graceful folds before and behind,

The female dress consisted of the pau, a garment formed of a piece of tappa, several yards in length and one

in width, wrapped round the waist, and reaching like a petticoat, to the knees. Over this kihei, or mantle,

larger than that of the men, sometimes worn over both shoulders, like a shawl, sometimes over one only.

These mantles were seldom worn by either sex during the heat of the day, when the exposure of their persons

Towards evening several of the partners and clerks went on shore, where they were well received and

hospitably entertained. A dance was performed for their amusement, in which nineteen young women and

one man figured very gracefully, singing in concert, and moving to the cadence of their song.

All this, however, was nothing to the purpose in the eyes of Captain Thorn, who, being disappointed in his

hope of obtaining a supply of pork, or finding good water, was anxious to be off. This it was not so easy to

effect. The passengers, once on shore, were disposed, as usual, to profit by the occasion. The partners had

many inquiries to make relative to the island, with a view to business; while the young clerks were delighted

To add to their gratifications, an old man offered to conduct them to the spot where Captain Cook was

massacred. The proposition was eagerly accepted, and all hands set out on a pilgrimage to the place. The

veteran islander performed his promise faithfully, and pointed out the very spot where the unfortunate

discoverer fell. The rocks and cocoatrees around bore record of the fact, in the marks of the balls fired from

the boats upon the savages. The pilgrims gathered round the old man, and drew from him all the particulars

he had to relate respecting this memorable event; while the honest captain stood by and bit his nails with

impatience. To add to his vexation, they employed themselves in knocking off pieces of the rocks, and

cutting off the bark of the trees marked by the balls, which they conveyed back to the ship as precious relics.

Right glad, therefore, was he to get them and their treasures fairly on board, when he made sail from this

unprofitable place, and steered for the Bay of Tocaigh, the residence of the chief or governor of the island,

where he hoped to be more successful in obtaining supplies. On coming to anchor the captain went on shore,

accompanied by Mr. M'Dougal and Mr. M'Kay, and paid a visit to the governor. This dignitary proved to be

an old sailor, by the name of John Young; who, after being tossed about the seas like another Sinbad, had, by

one of the whimsical freaks of fortune, been elevated to the government of a savage island. He received his

visitors with more hearty familiarity than personages in his high station are apt to indulge, but soon gave

them to understand that provisions were scanty at Tocaigh, and that there was no good water, no rain having

The captain was immediately for breaking up the conference and departing, but the partners were not so

willing to part with the nautical governor, who seemed disposed to be extremely communicative, and from

whom they might be able to procure some useful information. A long conversation accordingly ensued, in the

course of which they made many inquiries about the affairs of the islands, their natural productions, and the

possibility of turning them to advantage in the way of trade; nor did they fail to inquire into the individual

history of John Young, and how he came to be governor. This he gave with great condescension, running

He was a native of Liverpool, in England, and had followed the sea from boyhood, until, by dint of good

conduct, he had risen so far in his profession as to be boatswain of an American ship called the Eleanor,

commanded by Captain Metcalf. In this vessel he had sailed in 1789, on one of those casual expeditions to

the northwest coast, in quest of furs. In the course of the voyage, the captain left a small schooner, named the

Fair American, at Nootka, with a crew of five men, commanded by his son, a youth of eighteen. She was to

In February, 1790, Captain Metcalf touched at the island of Mowee, one of the Sandwich group. While

anchored here, a boat which was astern of the Eleanor was stolen, and a seaman who was in it was killed. The

natives, generally, disclaimed the outrage, and brought the shattered remains of the boat and the dead body of

the seaman to the ship. Supposing that they had thus appeased the anger of the captain, they thronged, as

usual, in great numbers about the vessel, to trade. Captain Metcalf, however, determined on a bloody

revenge. The Eleanor mounted ten guns. All these he ordered to be loaded with musketballs, nails, and

pieces of old iron, and then fired them, and the small arms of the ship, among the natives. The havoc was

After this signal act of vengeance, Captain Metcalf sailed from Mowee, and made for the island of Owyhee,

where he was well received by Tamaahmaah. The fortunes of this warlike chief were at that time on the rise.

He had originally been of inferior rank, ruling over only one or two districts of Owyhee, but had gradually

The Eleanor remained some few days at anchor here, and an apparently friendly intercourse was kept up with

the inhabitants. On the 17th March, John Young obtained permission to pass the night on shore. On the

He went to the shore to embark, but found all the canoes hauled up on the beach and rigorously tabooed, or

interdicted. He would have launched one himself, but was informed by Tamaahmaah that if he presumed to

Young was obliged to submit, and remained all day in great perplexity to account for this mysterious taboo,

and fearful that some hostility was intended. In the evening he learned the cause of it, and his uneasiness was

increased. It appeared that the vindictive act of Captain Metcalf had recoiled upon his own head. The

schooner Fair American, commanded by his son, following in his track, had fallen into the hands of the

natives to the southward of Tocaigh Bay, and young Metcalf and four of the crew had been massacred.

On receiving intelligence of this event, Tamaahmaah had immediately tabooed all the canoes, and interdicted

all intercourse with the ship, lest the captain should learn the fate of the schooner, and take his revenge upon

the island. For the same reason he prevented Young from rejoining his countrymen. The Eleanor continued to

fire signals from time to time for two days, and then sailed; concluding, no doubt, that the boatswain had

John Young was in despair when he saw the ship make sail; and found himself abandoned among

savages;and savages, too, sanguinary in their character, and inflamed by acts of hostility. He was agreeably

disappointed, however, in experiencing nothing but kind treatment from Tamaahmaah and his people. It is

true, he was narrowly watched whenever a vessel came in sight, lest he should escape and relate what had

passed; but at other times he was treated with entire confidence and great distinction. He became a prime

favorite, cabinet counsellor, and active coadjutor of Tamaahmaah, attending him in all his excursions,

whether of business or pleasure, and aiding in his warlike and ambitious enterprises. By degrees he rose to

the rank of a chief, espoused one of the beauties of the island, and became habituated and reconciled to his

new way of life; thinking it better, perhaps, to rule among savages than serve among white men; to be a

feathered chief than a tarpaulin boatswain. His favor with Tamahmaah, never declined; and when that

sagacious, intrepid, and aspiring chieftain had made himself sovereign over the whole group of islands, and

removed his residence to Woahoo, he left his faithful adherent John Young in command of Owyhee.

Such is an outline of the history of Governor Young, as furnished by himself; and we regret that we are not

able to give any account of the state maintained by this seafaring worthy, and the manner in which he

discharged his high functions; though it is evident he had more of the hearty familiarity of the forecastle than

These long conferences were bitter trials to the patience of the captain, who had no respect either for the

governor or his island, and was anxious to push on in quest of provisions and water. As soon as he could get

his inquisitive partners once more on board, he weighed anchor, and made sail for the island of Woahoo, the

This is the most beautiful island of the Sandwich group. It is fortysix miles in length and twentythree in

breadth. A ridge of volcanic mountains extends through the centre, rising into lofty peaks, and skirted by

undulating hills and rich plains, where the cabins of the natives peep out from beneath groves of cocoanut and

On the 21st of February the Tonquin cast anchor in the beautiful bay before the village of Waititi,

(pronounced Whyteetee.) the abode of Tamaahmaah. This village contained about two hundred habitations,

composed of poles set in the ground, tied together at the ends, and thatched with grass, and was situated in an

open grove of cocoanuts. The royal palace of Tamaahmaah was a large house of two stories; the lower of

stone, the upper of wood. Round this his bodyguard kept watch, composed of twentyfour men in long blue

While at anchor at this place, much ceremonious visiting and long conferences took place between the

potentate of the islands and the partners of the company. Tamaahmaah came on board of the ship in royal

style, in his double pirogue. He was between fifty and sixty years of age, above the middle size, large and

well made, though somewhat corpulent. He was dressed in an old suit of regimentals, with a sword by his

side, and seemed somewhat embarrassed by his magnificent attire. Three of his wives accompanied him.

They were almost as tall, and quite as corpulent as himself; but by no means to be compared with him in

grandeur of habiliments, wearing no other garb than the pan. With him, also, came his great favorite and

confidential counseller, Kraimaker; who, from holding a post equivalent to that of prime minister, had been

The sovereign was received with befitting ceremonial. The American flag was displayed, four guns were

fired, and the partners appeared in scarlet coats, and conducted their illustrious guests to the cabin, where

they were regaled with wine. In this interview the partners endeavored to impress the monarch with a sense of

their importance, and of the importance of the association to which they belonged. They let him know that

they were eris, or chiefs, of a great company about to be established on the northwest coast, and talked of the

probability of opening a trade with his islands, and of sending ships there occasionally. All this was

gratifying and interesting to him, for he was aware of the advantages of trade, and desirous of promoting

frequent intercourse with white men. He encouraged Europeans and Americans to settle in his islands and

intermarry with his subjects. There were between twenty and thirty white men at that time resident in the

island, but many of them were mere vagabonds, who remained there in hopes of leading a lazy and an easy

life. For such Tamaahmaah had a great contempt; those only had his esteem and countenance who knew

On the day subsequent to the monarch's visit, the partners landed and waited upon him in return. Knowing the

effect of show and dress upon men in savage life, and wishing to make a favorable impression as the eris, or

chiefs, of the great American Fur Company, some of them appeared in Highland plaids and kilts to the great

While visits of ceremony and grand diplomatic conferences were going on between the partners and the king,

the captain, in his plain, matteroffact way, was pushing what he considered a far more important

negotiation; the purchase of a supply of hogs. He found that the king had profited in more ways than one by

his intercourse with white men. Above all other arts he had learned the art of driving a bargain. He was a

magnanimous monarch, but a shrewd pork merchant; and perhaps thought he could not do better with his

future allies, the American Fur Company, than to begin by close dealing. Several interviews were requisite,

and much bargaining, before he could be brought to part with a bristle of his bacon, and then he insisted upon

being paid in hard Spanish dollars; giving as a reason that he wanted money to purchase a frigate from his

At length the royal bargain was concluded; the necessary supply of hogs obtained, besides several goats, two

sheep, a quantity of poultry, and vegetables in abundance. The partners now urged to recruit their forces from

the natives of this island. They declared they had never seen watermen equal to them, even among the

voyageurs of the Northwest; and, indeed, they are remarkable for their skill in managing their light craft, and

can swim and dive like waterfowl. The partners were inclined, therefore, to take thirty or forty with them to

the Columbia, to be ernployed in the service of the company. The captain, however, objected that there was

not room in his vessel for the accommodation of such a number. Twelve, only, were therefore enlisted for the

company, and as many more for the service of the ship. The former engaged to serve for the term of three

years, during , which they were to be fed and clothed; and at the expiration of the time were to receive one

And now, having embarked his livestock, fruits, vegetables, and water, the captain made ready to set sail.

How much the honest man had suffered in spirit by what he considered the freaks and vagaries of his

passengers, and how little he had understood their humors and intentions, is amusingly shown in a letter

written to Mr. Astor from Woahoo, which contains his comments on the scenes we have described.

"It would be difficult," he writes, "to imagine the frantic gambols that are daily played off here; sometimes

dressing in red coats, and otherwise very fantastically, and collecting a number of ignorant natives around

them, telling them that they are the great eris of the Northwest, and making arrangements for sending three or

four vessels yearly to them from the coast with spars, while those very natives cannot even furnish a hog to

the ship. Then dressing in Highland plaids and kilts, and making similar arrangements, with presents of rum,

wine, or anything that is at hand. Then taking a number of clerks and men on shore to the very spot on which

Captain Cook was killed, and each fetching off a piece of the rock or tree that was touched by the shot. Then

sitting down with some white man or some native who can be a little understood, and collecting the history of

those islands, of Tamaahmaah's wars, the curiosities of the islands, preparatory to the histories of their

voyages; and the collection is indeed ridiculously contemptible. To enumerate the thousand instances of

ignorance, filth, or to particularize all the frantic gambols that are daily practiced, would require Volumes.

Before embarking, the great eris of the American Fur Company took leave of their illustrious ally in due

style, with many professions of lasting friendship and promises of future intercourse; while the

matteroffact captain anathematized him in his heart for a grasping, trafficking savage; as shrewd and

sordid in his dealings as a white man. As one of the vessels of the company will, in the course of events, have

to appeal to the justice and magnanimity of this island potentate, we shall see how far the honest captain was

* It appears, from the accounts of subsequent voyagers, that Tamaahmaah afterwards succeeded in his wish

of purchasing a large ship. In this he sent a cargo of sandalwood to Canton, having discovered that the

foreign merchants trading with him made large profits on this wood, shipped by them from the islands to the

Chinese markets. The ship was manned by natives, but the officers were Englishmen. She accomplished her

voyage, and returned in safety to the islands, with the Hawaiian flag floating gloriously in the breeze. The

king hastened on board, expecting to find his sandalwood converted into crapes and damasks, and other rich

stuffs of China, but found, to his astonishment, by the legerdemain of traffic, his cargo had all disappeared,

and, in place of it, remained a bill of charges amounting to three thousand dollars. It was some time before he

could be made to comprehend certain of the most important items of the bill, such as pilotage, anchorage, and

customhouse fees; but when he discovered that maritime states in other countries derived large revenues in

this manner, to the great cost of the merchant, "Well," cried he, "then I will have harbor fees also." He

established them accordingly. Pilotage a dollar a foot on the draft of each vessel. Anchorage from sixty to

seventy dollars. In this way he greatly increased the royal revenue, and turned his China speculation to

IT was on the 28th of February that the Tonquin set sail from the Sandwich Islands. For two days the wind

was contrary, and the vessel was detained in their neighborhood; at length a favorable breeze sprang up, and

in a little while the rich groves, green hills, and snowy peaks of those happy islands one after another sank

from sight, or melted into the blue distance, and the Tonquin ploughed her course towards the sterner regions

The misunderstandings between the captain and his passengers still continued; or rather, increased in gravity.

By his altercations and his moody humors, he had cut himself off from all community of thought, or freedom

of conversation with them. He disdained to ask questions as to their proceedings, and could only guess at the

meaning of their movements, and in so doing indulged in conjectures and suspicions, which produced the

Thus, in one of his disputes with them, relative to the goods on board, some of the packages of which they

wished to open, to take out articles of clothing for the men or presents for the natives, he was so harsh and

peremptory that they lost all patience, and hinted that they were the strongest party, and might reduce him to

A thought now flashed across the captain's mind that they really had a plan to depose him, and that, having

picked up some information at Owyhee, possibly of war between the United States and England, they meant

to alter the destination of the voyage; perhaps to seize upon ship and cargo for their own use.

Once having conceived this suspicion, everything went to foster it. They had distributed firearms among

some of their men, a common precaution among the fur traders when mingling with the natives. This,

however, looked like preparation. Then several of the partners and clerks and some of the men, being

Scotsmen, were acquainted with the Gaelic, and held long conversations together in that language. These

conversations were considered by the captain of a "mysterious and unwarranted nature," and related, no

doubt, to some foul conspiracy that was brewing among them. He frankly avows such suspicions, in his letter

to Mr. Astor, but intimates that he stood ready to resist any treasonous outbreak; and seems to think that the

evidence of preparation on his part had an effect in overawing the conspirators.

The fact is, as we have since been informed by one of the parties, it was a mischievous pleasure with some of

the partners and clerks, who were young men, to play upon the suspicious temper and splenetic humors of the

captain. To this we may ascribe many of their whimsical pranks and absurd propositions, and, above all, their

In this sore and irritable mood did the captain pursue his course, keeping a wary eye on every movement, and

bristling up whenever the detested sound of the Gaelic language grated upon his ear. Nothing occurred,

however, materially to disturb the residue of the voyage excepting a violent storm; and on the twentysecond

The aspect of the river and the adjacent coast was wild and dangerous. The mouth of the Columbia is

upwards of four miles wide with a peninsula and promontory on one side, and a long low spit of land on the

other; between which a sand bar and chain of breakers almost block the entrance. The interior of the country

rises into successive ranges of mountains, which, at the time of the arrival of the Tonquin, were covered with

A fresh wind from the northwest sent a rough tumbling sea upon the coast, which broke upon the bar in

furious surges, and extended a sheet of foam almost across the mouth of the river. Under these circumstances

the captain did not think it prudent to approach within three leagues, until the bar should be sounded and the

channel ascertained. Mr. Fox, the chief mate, was ordered to this service in the whaleboat, accompanied by

John Martin, an old seaman, who had formerly visited the river, and by three Canadians. Fox requested to

have regular sailors to man the boat, but the captain would not spare them from the service of the ship, and

supposed the Canadians, being expert boatmen on lakes and rivers, were competent to the service, especially

when directed and aided by Fox and Martin. Fox seems to have lost all firmness of spirit on the occasion, and

to have regarded the service with a misgiving heart. He came to the partners for sympathy, knowing their

differences with the captain, and the tears were in his eyes as he represented his case. "I am sent off," said he,

"without seamen to man my boat, in boisterous weather, and on the most dangerous part of the northwest

coast. My uncle was lost a few years ago on this same bar, and I am now going to lay my bones alongside of

his." The partners sympathized in his apprehensions, and remonstrated with the captain. The latter, however,

was not to be moved. He had been displeased with Mr. Fox in the earlier part of the voyage, considering him

indolent and inactive; and probably thought his present repugnance arose from a want of true nautical spirit.

The interference of the partners in the business of the ship, also, was not calculated to have a favorable effect

on a stickler for authority like himself, especially in his actual state of feeling towards them.

At one o'clock, P.m., therefore, Fox and his comrades set off in the whaleboat, which is represented as small

in size, and crazy in condition. All eyes were strained after the little bark as it pulled for shore, rising and

sinking with the huge rolling waves, until it entered, a mere speck, among the foaming breakers, and was

soon lost to view. Evening set in, night succeeded and passed away, and morning returned, but without the

As the wind had moderated, the ship stood near to the land, so as to command a view of the river's mouth.

Nothing was to be seen but a wild chaos of tumbling waves breaking upon the bar, and apparently forming a

foaming barrier from shore to shore. Towards night the ship again stood out to gain searoom, and a gloom

was visible in every countenance. The captain himself shared in the general anxiety, and probably repented of

his peremptory orders. Another weary and watchful night succeeded, during which the wind subsided, and

On the following day, the ship having drifted near the land, anchored in fourteen fathoms water, to the

northward of the long peninsula or promontory which forms the north side of the entrance, and is called Cape

Disappointment. The pinnace was then manned, and two of the partners, Mr. David Stuart and Mr. M'Kay,

set off in the hope of learning something of the fate of the whaleboat. The surf, however, broke with such

violence along the shore that they could find no landing place. Several of the natives appeared on the beach

and made signs to them to row round the cape, but they thought it most prudent to return to the ship.

The wind now springing up, the Tonquin got under way, and stood in to seek the channel; but was again

deterred by the frightful aspect of the breakers, from venturing within a league. Here she hove to; and Mr.

Mumford, the second mate, was despatched with four hands, in the pinnace, to sound across the channel until

he should find four fathoms depth. The pinnace entered among the breakers, but was near being lost, and with

difficulty got back to the ship. The captain insisted that Mr. Mumford had steered too much to the southward.

He now turned to Mr. Aiken, an able mariner, destined to command the schooner intended for the coasting

trade, and ordered him, together with John Coles, sail maker, Stephen Weekes, armorer, and two Sandwich

Islanders, to proceed ahead and take soundings, while the ship should follow under easy sail. In this way they

proceeded until Aiken had ascertained the channel, when signal was given from the ship for him to return on

board. He was then within pistol shot, but so furious was the current, and tumultuous the breakers, that the

boat became unmanageable, and was hurried away, the crew crying out piteously for assistance. In a few

moments she could not be seen from the ship's deck. Some of the passengers climbed to the mizzen top, and

beheld her still struggling to reach the ship; but shortly after she broached broadside to the waves, and her

case seemed desperate. The attention of those on board of the ship was now called to their own safety. They

were in shallow water; the vessel struck repeatedly, the waves broke over her, and there was danger of her

foundering. At length she got into seven fathoms water, and the wind lulling, and the night coming on, cast

anchor. With the darkness their anxieties increased. The wind whistled, the sea roared, the gloom was only

broken by the ghastly glare of the foaming breakers, the minds of the seamen were full of dreary

apprehensions, and some of them fancied they heard the cries of their lost comrades mingling with the uproar

of the elements. For a time, too, the rapidly ebbing tide threatened to sweep them from their precarious

anchorage. At length the reflux of the tide, and the springing up of the wind, enabled them to quit their

dangerous situation and take shelter in a small bay within Cape Disappointment, where they rode in safety

during the residue of a stormy night, and enjoyed a brief interval of refreshing sleep.

With the light of day returned their cares and anxieties. They looked out from the masthead over a wild

coast, and wilder sea, but could discover no trace of the two boats and their crews that were missing. Several

of the natives came on board with peltries, but there was no disposition to trade. They were interrogated by

Parties now Went on shore and scoured the neighborhood. One of these was headed by the captain. They had

not proceeded far when they beheld a person at a distance in civilized garb. As he drew near he proved to be

Weekes, the armorer. There was a burst of joy, for it was hoped his comrades were near at hand. His story,

however, was one of disaster. He and his companions had found it impossible to govern their boat, having no

rudder, and being beset by rapid and whirling currents and boisterous surges. After long struggling they had

let her go at the mercy of the waves, tossing about, sometimes with her bow, sometimes with her broadside to

the surges, threatened each instant with destruction, yet repeatedly escaping, until a huge sea broke over and

swamped her. Weekes was overwhelmed by the broiling waves, but emerging above the surface, looked

round for his companions. Aiken and Coles were not to be seen; near him were the two Sandwich Islanders,

stripping themselves of their clothing that they might swim more freely. He did the same, and the boat

floating near to him he seized hold of it. The two islanders joined him, and, uniting their forces, they

succeeded in turning the boat upon her keel; then bearing down her stern and rocking her, they forced out so

much water that she was able to bear the weight of a man without sinking. One of the islanders now got in,

and in a little while bailed out the water with his hands. The other swam about and collected the oars, and

By this time the tide had swept them beyond the breakers, and Weekes called on his companions to row for

land. They were so chilled and benumbed by the cold, however, that they lost all heart, and absolutely

refused. Weekes was equally chilled, but had superior sagacity and selfcommand. He counteracted the

tendency to drowsiness and stupor which cold produces by keeping himself in constant exercise; and seeing

that the vessel was advancing, and that everything depended upon himself, he set to work to scull the boat

Toward midnight one of the poor islanders expired; his companion threw himself on his corpse and could not

be persuaded to leave him. The dismal night wore away amidst these horrors: as the day dawned, Weekes

found himself near the land. He steered directly for it, and at length, with the aid of the surf, ran his boat high

Finding that one of the Sandwich Islanders yet gave signs of life, he aided him to leave the boat, and set out

with him towards the adjacent woods. The poor fellow, however, was too feeble to follow him, and Weekes

was soon obliged to abandon him to his fate and provide for his own safety. Falling upon a beaten path, he

pursued it, and after a few hours came to a part of the coast, where, to his surprise and joy, he beheld the ship

After Weekes had related his adventures, three parties were despatched to beat up the coast in search of the

unfortunate islander. They returned at night without success, though they had used the utmost diligence. On

the following day the search was resumed, and the poor fellow was at length discovered lying beneath a

group of rocks, his legs swollen, his feet torn and bloody from walking through bushes and briars, and

himself half dead with cold, hunger, and fatigue. Weekes and this islander were the only survivors of the

crew of the jollyboat, and no trace was ever discovered of Fox and his party. Thus eight men were lost on

the first approach to the coast; a commencement that cast a gloom over the spirits of the whole party, and was

regarded by some of the superstitious as an omen that boded no good to the enterprise.

Towards night the Sandwich Islanders went on shore, to bury the body of their unfortunate countryman who

had perished in the boat. On arriving at the place where it had been left, they dug a grave in the sand, in

which they deposited the corpse, with a biscuit under one of the arms, some lard under the chin, and a small

quantity of tobacco, as provisions for its journey in the land of spirits. Having covered the body with sand

and flints, they kneeled along the grave in a double row, with their faces turned to the east, while one who

officiated as a priest sprinkled them with water from a hat. In so doing he recited a kind of prayer or

invocation, to which, at intervals, the others made responses. Such were the simple rites performed by these

poor savages at the grave of their comrade on the shores of a strange land; and when these were done, they

THE Columbia, or Oregon, for the distance of thirty or forty miles from its entrance into the sea, is, properly

speaking, a mere estuary, indented by deep bays so as to vary from three to seven miles in width; and is

rendered extremely intricate and dangerous by shoals reaching nearly from shore to shore, on which, at times,

the winds and currents produce foaming and tumultuous breakers. The mouth of the river proper is but about

half a mile wide, formed by the contracting shores of the estuary. The entrance from the sea, as we have

already observed, is bounded on the south side by a flat sandy spit of land, stretching in to the ocean. This is

commonly called Point Adams. The opposite, or northern side, is Cape Disappointment; a kind of peninsula,

terminating in a steep knoll or promontory crowned with a forest of pinetrees, and connected with the

mainland by a low and narrow neck. Immediately within this cape is a wide, open bay, terminating at

Chinook Point, so called from a neighboring tribe of Indians. This was called Baker's Bay, and here the

The natives inhabiting the lower part of the river, and with whom the company was likely to have the most

frequent intercourse, were divided at this time into four tribes, the Chinooks, Clatsops, Wahkiacums, and

Cathlamahs. They resembled each other in person, dress, language, and manner; and were probably from the

same stock, but broken into tribes, or rather hordes, by those feuds and schisms frequent among Indians.

These people generally live by fishing. It is true they occasionally hunt the elk and deer, and ensnare the

waterfowl of their ponds and rivers, but these are casual luxuries. Their chief subsistence is derived from the

salmon and other fish which abound in the Columbia and its tributary streams, aided by roots and herbs,

As the Indians of the plains who depend upon the chase are bold and expert riders, and pride themselves upon

their horses, so these piscatory tribes of the coast excel in the management of canoes, and are never more at

home than when riding upon the waves. Their canoes vary in form and size. Some are upwards of fifty feet

long, cut out of a single tree, either fir or white cedar, and capable of carrying thirty persons. They have

thwart pieces from side to side about three inches thick, and their gunwales flare outwards, so as to cast off

the surges of the waves. The bow and stern are decorated with grotesque figures of men and animals,

In managing their canoes they kneel two and two along the bottom, sitting on their heels, and wielding

paddles from four to five feet long, while one sits on the stern and steers with a paddle of the same kind. The

women are equally expert with the men in managing the canoe, and generally take the helm.

It is surprising to see with what fearless unconcern these savages venture in their light barks upon the

roughest and most tempestuous seas. They seem to ride upon the waves like seafowl. Should a surge throw

the canoe upon its side and endanger its overturn, those to windward lean over the upper gunwale, thrust their

paddles deep into the wave, apparently catch the water and force it under the canoe, and by this action not

merely regain III an equilibrium, but give their bark a vigorous impulse forward.

The effect of different modes of life upon the human frame and human character is strikingly instanced in the

contrast between the hunting Indians of the prairies, and the piscatory Indians of the seacoast. The former,

continually on horseback scouring the plains, gaining their food by hardy exercise, and subsisting chiefly on

flesh, are generally tall, sinewy, meagre, but well formed, and of bold and fierce deportment: the latter,

lounging about the river banks, or squatting and curved up in their canoes, are generally low in stature,

illshaped, with crooked legs, thick ankles, and broad flat feet. They are inferior also in muscular power and

activity, and in game qualities and appearance, to their hardriding brethren of the prairies.

Having premised these few particulars concerning the neighboring Indians, we will return to the immediate

Further search was made for Mr. Fox and his party, but with no better success, and they were at length given

up as lost. In the meantime, the captain and some of the partners explored the river for some distance in a

large boat, to select a suitable place for the trading post. Their old jealousies and differences continued; they

never could coincide in their choice, and the captain objected altogether to any site so high up the river. They

all returned, therefore, to Baker's Bay in no very good humor. The partners proposed to examine the opposite

shore, but the captain was impatient of any further delay. His eagerness to "get on" had increased upon him.

He thought all these excursions a sheer loss of time, and was resolved to land at once, build a shelter for the

reception of that part of his cargo destined for the use of the settlement, and, having cleared his ship of it and

of his irksome shipmates, to depart upon the prosecution of his coasting voyage, according to orders.

On the following day, therefore, without troubling himself to consult the partners, he landed in Baker's Bay,

and proceeded to erect a shed for the reception of the rigging, equipments, and stores of the schooner that was

This dogged determination on the part of the sturdy captain gave high offense to Mr. M'Dougal, who now

considered himself at the head of the concern, as Mr. Astor's representative and proxy. He set off the same

day, (April 5th) accompanied by David Stuart, for the southern shore, intending to be back by the seventh.

Not having the captain to contend with, they soon pitched upon a spot which appeared to them favorable for

the intended establishment. It was on a point of land called Point George, having a very good harbor, where

vessels, not exceeding two hundred tons burden, might anchor within fifty yards of the shore.

After a day thus profitably spent, they recrossed the river, but landed on the northern shore several miles

above the anchoring ground of the Tonquin, in the neighborhood of Chinooks, and visited the village of that

tribe. Here they were received with great hospitality by the chief, who was named Comcomly, a shrewd old

savage, with but one eye, who will occasionally figure in this narrative. Each village forms a petty

sovereignty, governed by its own chief, who, however, possesses but little authority, unless he be a man of

wealth and substance; that is to say, possessed of canoe, slaves, and wives. The greater the number of these,

the greater is the chief. How many wives this oneeyed potentate maintained we are not told, but he certainly

Having mentioned slaves, we would observe that slavery exists among several of the tribes beyond the Rocky

Mountains. The slaves are well treated while in good health, but occupied in all kinds of drudgery. Should

they become useless, however, by sickness or old age, they are totally neglected, and left to perish; nor is any

A singular custom prevails, not merely among the Chinooks, but among most of the tribes about this part of

the coast, which is the flattening of the forehead. The process by which this deformity is effected commences

immediately after birth. The infant is laid in a wooden trough, by way of cradle. The end on which the head

reposes is higher than the rest. A padding is placed on the forehead of the infant, with a piece of bark above

it, and is pressed down by cords, which pass through holes on each side of the trough. As the tightening of the

padding and the pressing of the head to the board is gradual, the process is said not to be attended with much

pain. The appearance of the infant, however, while in this state of compression, is whimsically hideous, and

"its little black eyes," we are told, "being forced out by the tightness of the bandages, resemble those of a

About a year's pressure is sufficient to produce the desired effect, at the end of which time the child emerges

from its bandages a complete flathead, and continues so through life. It must be noted that this flattening of

the head has something in it of aristocratical significancy, like the crippling of the feet among the Chinese

ladies of quality. At any rate, it is a sign of freedom. No slave is permitted to bestow this enviable deformity

With this worthy tribe of Chinooks the two partners passed a part of the day very agreeably. M'Dougal, who

was somewhat vain of his official rank, had given it to be understood that they were two chiefs of a great

trading company, about to be established here, and the quicksighted, though oneeyed chief, who was

somewhat practiced in traffic with white men, immediately perceived the policy of cultivating the friendship

of two such important visitors. He regaled them, therefore, to the best of his ability, with abundance of

salmon and wappatoo. The next morning, April 7th, they prepared to return to the vessel, according to

promise. They had eleven miles of open bay to traverse; the wind was fresh, the waves ran high. Comcomly

remonstrated with them on the hazard to which they would be exposed. They were resolute, however, and

launched their boat, while the wary chieftain followed at some short distance in his canoe. Scarce had they

rowed a mile, when a wave broke over their boat and upset it. They were in imminent peril of drowning,

especially Mr. M'Dougal, who could not swim. Comcomly, however, came bounding over the waves in his

They were taken on shore and a fire made, at which they dried their clothes, after which Comcomly

conducted them back to his village. Here everything was done that could be devised for their entertainment

during three days that they were detained by bad weather. Comcomly made his people perform antics before

them; and his wives and daughters endeavored, by all the soothing and endearing arts of women, to find favor

in their eyes. Some even painted their bodies with red clay, and anointed themselves with fish oil, to give

additional lustre to their charms. Mr. M'Dougal seems to have had a heart susceptible to the influence of the

gentler sex. Whether or no it was first touched on this occasion we do not learn; but it will be found, in the

course of this work, that one of the daughters of the hospitable Comcomly eventually made a conquest of the

When the weather had moderated and the sea became tranquil, the oneeyed chief of the Chinooks manned

his state canoe, and conducted his guests in safety to the ship, where they were welcomed with joy, for

apprehensions had been felt for their safety. Comcomly and his people were then entertained on board of the

Tonquin, and liberally rewarded for their hospitality and services. They returned home highly satisfied,

FROM the report made by the two exploring partners, it was determined that Point George should be the site

of the trading house. These gentlemen, it is true, were not perfectly satisfied with the place, and were desirous

of continuing their search; but Captain Thorn was impatient to land his cargo and continue his voyage, and

Accordingly, on the 12th of April the launch was freighted with all things necessary for the purpose, and

sixteen persons departed in her to commence the establishment, leaving the Tonquin to follow as soon as the

Crossing the wide mouth of the river, the party landed, and encamped at the bottom of a small bay within

Point George. The situation chosen for the fortified post was on an elevation facing to the north, with the

wide estuary, its sand bars and tumultuous breakers spread out before it, and the promontory of Cape

Disappointment, fifteen miles distant, closing the prospect to the left. The surrounding country was in all the

freshness of spring; the trees were in the young leaf, the weather was superb, and everything looked

delightful to men just emancipated from a long confinement on shipboard. The Tonquin shortly afterwards

made her way through the intricate channel, an came to anchor in the little bay, and was saluted from the

encampment with three volleys of musketry and three cheers. She returned the salute with three cheers and

All hands now set to work cutting down trees, clearing away thickets, and marking out the place for the

residence, storehouse, and powder magazine, which were to be built of logs and covered with bark. Others

landed the timbers intended for the frame of the coasting vessel, and proceeded to put them together, while

The next thought was to give a name to the embryo metropolis: the one that naturally presented itself was that

of the projector and supporter of the whole enterprise. It was accordingly named ASTORIA.

The neighboring Indians now swarmed about the place. Some brought a few landotter and seaotter skins to

barter, but in very scanty parcels; the greater number came prying about to gratify their curiosity, for they are

said to be impertinently inquisitive; while not a few came with no other design than to pilfer; the laws of

meum and tuum being but slightly respected among them. Some of them beset the ship in their canoes,

among whom was the Chinook chief Comcomly, and his liege subjects. These were well received by Mr.

M'Dougal, who was delighted with an opportunity of entering upon his functions, and acquiring importance

in the eyes of his future neighbors. The confusion thus produced on board, and the derangement of the cargo

caused by this petty trade, stirred the spleen of the captain, who had a sovereign contempt for the oneeyed

chieftain and all his crew. He complained loudly of having his ship lumbered by a host of "Indian

ragamuffins," who had not a skin to dispose of, and at length put his positive interdict upon all trafficking on

board. Upon this Mr. M'Dougal was fain to land, and establish his quarters at the encampment, where he

The feud, however, between these rival powers still continued, but was chiefly carried on by letter. Day after

day and week after week elapsed, yet the storehouse requisite for the reception of the cargo was not

completed, and the ship was detained in port; while the captain was teased by frequent requisitions for

various articles for the use of the establishment, or the trade with the natives. An angry correspondence took

place, in which he complained bitterly of the time wasted in "smoking and sporting parties," as he termed the

reconnoitering expeditions, and in clearing and preparing meadow ground and turnip patches, instead of

despatching his ship. At length all these jarring matters were adjusted, if not to the satisfaction, at least to the

acquiescence of all parties. The part of the cargo destined for the use of Astoria was landed, and the ship left

As the Tonquin was to coast to the north, to trade for peltries at the different harbors, and to touch at Astoria

on her return in the autumn, it was unanimously determined that Mr. M'Kay should go in her as supercargo,

taking with him Mr. Lewis as ship's clerk. On the first of June the ship got under way, and dropped down to

Baker's Bay, where she was detained for a few days by a head wind; but early in the morning of the fifth

stood out to sea with a fine breeze and swelling canvas, and swept off gaily on her fatal voyage, from which

On reviewing the conduct of Captain Thorn, and examining his peevish and somewhat whimsical

correspondence, the impression left upon our mind is, upon the whole, decidedly in his favor. While we smile

at the simplicity of his heart and the narrowness of his views, which made him regard everything out of the

direct path of his daily duty, and the rigid exigencies of the service, as trivial and impertinent, which inspired

him with contempt for the swelling vanity of some of his coadjutors, and the literary exercises and curious

researches of others, we cannot but applaud that strict and conscientious devotion to the interests of his

employer, and to what he considered the true objects of the enterprise in which he was engaged. He certainly

was to blame occasionally for the asperity of his manners, and the arbitrary nature of his measures, yet much

that is exceptionable in this part of his conduct may be traced to rigid notions of duty acquired in that

tyrannical school, a ship of war, and to the construction given by his companions to the orders of Mr. Astor,

so little in conformity with his own. His mind, too, appears to have become almost diseased by the suspicions

he had formed as to the loyalty of his associates, and the nature of their ultimate designs; yet on this point

there were circumstances to, in some measure, justify him. The relations between the United States and Great

Britain were at that time in a critical state; in fact, the two countries were on the eve of a war. Several of the

partners were British subjects, and might be ready to desert the flag under which they acted, should a war

take place. Their application to the British minister at New York shows the dubious feeling with which they

had embarked in the present enterprise. They had been in the employ of the Northwest Company, and might

be disposed to rally again under that association, should events threaten the prosperity of this embryo

establishment of Mr. Astor. Besides, we have the fact, averred to us by one of the partners, that some of them,

who were young and heedless, took a mischievous and unwarrantable pleasure in playing upon the jealous

temper of the captain, and affecting mysterious consultations and sinister movements.

These circumstances are cited in palliation of the doubts and surmises of Captain Thorn, which might

otherwise appear strange and unreasonable. That most of the partners were perfectly upright and faithful in

the discharge of the trust reposed in them we are fully satisfied; still the honest captain was not invariably

wrong in his suspicions; and that he formed a pretty just opinion of the integrity of that aspiring personage,

WHILE the Astorians were busily occupied in completing their factory and fort, a report was brought to them

by an Indian from the upper part of the river, that a party of thirty white men had appeared on the banks of

the Columbia, and were actually building houses at the second rapids. This information caused much

disquiet. We have already mentioned that the Northwest Company had established posts to the west of the

Rocky Mountains, in a district called by them New Caledonia, which extended from lat. 52 to 55 deg north,

being within the British territories. It was now apprehended that they were advancing within the American

limits, and were endeavoring to seize upon the upper part of the river and forestall the American Fur

Company in the surrounding trade; in which case bloody feuds might be anticipated, such as had prevailed

A reconnoitring party was sent up the river to ascertain the truth of the report. They ascended to the foot of

the first rapid, about two hundred miles, but could hear nothing of any white men being in the neighborhood.

Not long after their return, however, further accounts were received, by two wandering Indians, which

established the fact that the Northwest Company had actually erected a trading house on the Spokane River,

What rendered this intelligence the more disquieting was the inability of the Astorians, in their present

reduced state as to numbers, and the exigencies of their new establishment, to furnish detachments to

penetrate the country in different directions, and fix the posts necessary to secure the interior trade.

It was resolved, however, at any rate, to advance a countercheck to this post on the Spokan, and one of the

partners, Mr. David Stuart, prepared to set out for the purpose with eight men and a small assortment of

goods. He was to be guided by the two Indians, who knew the country and promised to take him to a place

not far from the Spokan River, and in a neighborhood abounding with beaver. Here he was to establish

himself and to remain for a time, provided he found the situation advantageous and the natives friendly.

On the 15th of July, when Mr. Stuart was nearly ready to embark, a canoe made its appearance, standing for

the harbor, and manned by nine white men. Much speculation took place who these strangers could be, for it

was too soon to expect their own people, under Mr. Hunt, who were to cross the continent. As the canoe drew

near, the British standard was distinguished: on coming to land, one of the crew stepped on shore, and

announced himself as Mr. David Thompson, astronomer, and partner of the Northwest Company. According

to his account, he had set out in the preceding year with a tolerably strong party, and a supply of Indian

goods, to cross the Rocky Mountains. A part of his people, however, had deserted him on the eastern side,

and returned with the goods to the nearest Northwest post. He had persisted in crossing the mountains with

eight men, who remained true to him. They had traversed the higher regions, and ventured near the source of

the Columbia, where, in the spring, they had constructed a cedar canoe, the same in which they had reached

This, in fact, was the party despatched by the Northwest Company to anticipate Mr. Astor in his intention of

effecting a settlement at the mouth of the Columbia River. It appears, from information subsequently derived

from other sources, that Mr. Thompson had pushed on his course with great haste, calling at all the Indian

villages in his march, presenting them with British flags, and even planting them at the forks of the rivers,

proclaiming formally that he took possession of the country in the name of the king of Great Britain for the

Northwest Company. As his original plan was defeated by the desertion of his people, it is probable that he

descended the river simply to reconnoitre, and ascertain whether an American settlement had been

Mr. Thompson was, no doubt, the first white man who descended the northern branch of the Columbia from

so near its source. Lewis and Clarke struck the main body of the river at the forks, about four hundred miles

from its mouth. They entered it from Lewis River, its southern branch, and thence descended.

Though Mr. Thompson could be considered as little better than a spy in the camp, he was received with great

cordiality by Mr. M'Dougal, who had a lurking feeling of companionship and good will for all of the

Northwest Company. He invited him to head quarters, where he and his people were hospitably entertained.

Nay, further, being somewhat in extremity, he was furnished by Mr. M'Dougal with goods and provisions for

his journey back across the mountains, much against the wishes Of Mr. David Stuart, who did not think the

On the 23rd of July, Mr. Stuart set out upon his expedition to the interior. His party consisted of four of the

clerks, Messrs. Pillet, Ross, M'Lennon, and Montigny, two Canadian voyageurs, and two natives of the

Sandwich Islands. They had three canoes well laden with provisions, and with goods and necessities for a

Mr. Thompson and his party set out in company with them, it being his intention to proceed direct to

Montreal. The partners at Astoria forwarded by him a short letter to Mr. Astor, informing him of their safe

arrival at the mouth of the Columbia, and that they had not yet heard of Mr. Hunt. The little squadron of

canoes set sail with a favorable breeze, and soon passed Tongue Point, a long, high, and rocky promontory,

covered with trees, and stretching far into the river. Opposite to this, on the northern shore, is a deep bay,

where the Columbia anchored at the time of the discovery, and which is still called Gray's Bay, from the

From hence, the general course of the river for about seventy miles was nearly southeast; varying in breadth

according to its bays and indentations, and navigable for vessels of three hundred tons. The shores were in

some places high and rocky, with low marshy islands at their feet, subject to inundation, and covered with

willows, poplars, and other trees that love an alluvial soil. Sometimes the mountains receded, and gave place

to beautiful plains and noble forests. While the river margin was richly fringed with trees of deciduous

foliage, the rough uplands were crowned by majestic pines, and firs of gigantic size, some towering to the

height of between two and three hundred feet, with proportionate circumference. Out of these the Indians

At one part of the river, they passed, on the northern side, an isolated rock, about one hundred and fifty feet

high, rising from a low marshy soil, and totally disconnected with the adjacent mountains. This was held in

great reverence by the neighboring Indians, being one of their principal places of sepulture. The same

provident care for the deceased that prevails among the hunting tribes of the prairies is observable among the

piscatory tribes of the rivers and seacoast. Among the former, the favorite horse of the hunter is buried with

him in the same funereal mound, and his bow and arrows are laid by his side, that he may be perfectly

equipped for the "happy hunting grounds" of the land of spirits. Among the latter, the Indian is wrapped in his

mantle of skins, laid in his canoe, with his paddle, his fishing spear, and other implements beside him, and

placed aloft on some rock or other eminence overlooking the river, or bay, or lake, that he has frequented. He

is thus fitted out to launch away upon those placid streams and sunny lakes stocked with all kinds of fish and

waterfowl, which are prepared in the next world for those who have acquitted themselves as good sons, good

fathers, good husbands, and, above all, good fishermen, during their mortal sojourn.

The isolated rock in question presented a spectacle of the kind, numerous dead bodies being deposited in

canoes on its summit; while on poles around were trophies, or, rather, funeral offerings of trinkets, garments,

baskets of roots, and other articles for the use of the deceased. A reverential feeling protects these sacred

spots from robbery or insult. The friends of the deceased, especially the women, repair here at sunrise and

sunset for some time after his death, singing his funeral dirge, and uttering loud wailings and lamentations.

From the number of dead bodies in canoes observed upon this rock by the first explorers of the river, it

Beyond this rock they passed the mouth of a river on the right bank of the Columbia, which appeared to take

its rise in a distant mountain covered with snow. The Indian name of this river was the Cowleskee. Some

miles further on they came to the great Columbian Valley, so called by Lewis and Clarke. It is sixty miles in

width, and extends far to the southeast between parallel ridges of mountains, which bound it on the east and

west. Through the centre of this valley flowed a large and beautiful stream, called the Wallamot, which came

wandering for several miles, through a yet unexplored wilderness. The sheltered situation of this immense

valley had an obvious effect upon the climate. It was a region of great beauty and luxuriance, with lakes and

pools, and green meadows shaded by noble groves. Various tribes were said to reside in this valley, and along

About eight miles above the mouth of the Wallamot the little squadron arrived at Vancouver's Point, so called

in honor of that celebrated voyager by his lieutenant (Broughton) when he explored the river. This point is

said to present one of the most beautiful scenes on the Columbia; a lovely meadow, with a silver sheet of

limpid water in the center, enlivened by wildfowl, a range of hills crowned by forests, while the prospect is

closed by Mount Hood, a magnificent mountain rising into a lofty peak, and covered with snow; the ultimate

Point Vancouver is about one hundred miles from Astoria. Here the reflux of the tide ceases to be perceptible.

To this place vessels of two and three hundred tons burden may ascend. The party under the command of Mr.

Stuart had been three or four days in reaching it, though we have forborne to notice their daily progress and

From Point Vancouver the river turned towards the northeast, and became more contracted and rapid, with

occasional islands and frequent sandbanks. These islands are furnished with a number of ponds, and at

certain seasons abound with swans, geese, brandts, cranes, gulls, plover, and other wildfowl. The shores,

too, are low and closely wooded, with such an undergrowth of vines and rushes as to be almost impassable.

About thirty miles above Point Vancouver the mountains again approach on both sides of the river, which is

bordered by stupendous precipices, covered with the fir and the white cedar, and enlivened occasionally by

beautiful cascades leaping from a great height, and sending up wreaths of vapor. One of these precipices, or

cliffs, is curiously worn by time and weather so as to have the appearance of a ruined fortress, with towers

and battlements, beetling high above the river, while two small cascades, one hundred and fifty feet in height,

The turbulence and rapidity of the current continually augmenting as they advanced, gave the voyagers

intimation that they were approaching the great obstructions of the river, and at length they arrived at

Strawberry Island, so called by Lewis and Clarke, which lies at the foot of the first rapid. As this part of the

Columbia will be repeatedly mentioned in the course of this work, being the scene of some of its incidents,

The falls or rapids of the Columbia are situated about one hundred and eighty miles above the mouth of the

river. The first is a perpendicular cascade of twenty feet, after which there is a swift descent for a mile,

between islands of hard black rock, to another pitch of eight feet divided by two rocks. About two and a half

miles below this the river expands into a wide basin, seemingly dammed up by a perpendicular ridge of black

rock. A current, however, sets diagonally to the left of this rocky barrier, where there is a chasm fortyfive

yards in width. Through this the whole body of the river roars along, swelling and whirling and boiling for

some distance in the wildest confusion. Through this tremendous channel the intrepid explorers of the river,

Lewis and Clarke, passed in their boats; the danger being, not from the rocks, but from the great surges and

At the distance of a mile and a half from the foot of this narrow channel is a rapid, formed by two rocky

islands; and two miles beyond is a second great fall, over a ledge of rocks twenty feet high, extending nearly

from shore to shore. The river is again compressed into a channel from fifty to a hundred feet wide, worn

through a rough bed of hard black rock, along which it boils and roars with great fury for the distance of three

Here is the great fishing place of the Columbia. In the spring of the year, when the water is high, the salmon

ascend the river in incredible numbers. As they pass through this narrow strait, the Indians, standing on the

rocks, or on the end of wooden stages projecting from the banks, scoop them up with small nets distended on

They are then cured and packed in a peculiar manner. After having been opened and disemboweled, they are

exposed to the sun on scaffolds erected on the river banks. When sufficiently dry, they are pounded fine

between two stones, pressed into the smallest compass, and packed in baskets or bales of grass matting, about

two feet long and one in diameter, lined with the cured skin of a salmon. The top is likewise covered with fish

skins, secured by cords passing through holes in the edge of the basket. Packages are then made, each

containing twelve of these bales, seven at bottom, five at top, pressed close to each other, with the corded side

upward, wrapped in mats and corded. These are placed in dry situations, and again covered with matting.

Each of these packages contains from ninety to a hundred pounds of dried fish, which in this state will keep

We have given this process at some length, as furnished by the first explorers, because it marks a practiced

ingenuity in preparing articles of traffic for a market, seldom seen among our aboriginals. For like reason we

would make especial mention of the village of Wishram, at the head of the Long Narrows, as being a solitary

instance of an aboriginal trading mart, or emporium. Here the salmon caught in the neighboring rapids were

"warehoused," to await customers. Hither the tribes from the mouth of the Columbia repaired with the fish of

the seacoast, the roots, berries, and especially the wappatoo, gathered in the lower parts of the river, together

with goods and trinkets obtained from the ships which casually visit the coast. Hither also the tribes from the

Rocky Mountains brought down horses, beargrass, quamash, and other commodities of the interior. The

merchant fishermen at the falls acted as middlemen or factors, and passed the objects of traffic, as it were,

crosshanded; trading away part of the wares received from the mountain tribes to those of the rivers and

plains, and vice versa: their packages of pounded salmon entered largely into the system of barter, and being

carried off in opposite directions, found their way to the savage hunting camps far in the interior, and to the

We have already noticed certain contrarieties of character between the Indian tribes, produced by their diet

and mode of life; and nowhere are they more apparent than about the falls of the Columbia. The Indians of

this great fishing mart are represented by the earliest explorers as sleeker and fatter, but less hardy and active,

than the tribes of the mountains and prairies, who live by hunting, or of the upper parts of the river, where

fish is scanty, and the inhabitants must eke out their subsistence by digging roots or chasing the deer. Indeed,

whenever an Indian of the upper country is too lazy to hunt, yet is fond of good living, he repairs to the falls,

"By such worthless dogs as these," says an honest trader in his journal, which now lies before us, "by such

worthless dogs as these are these noted fishingplaces peopled, which, like our great cities, may with

The habits of trade and the avidity of gain have their corrupting effects even in the wilderness, as may be

instanced in the members of this aboriginal emporium; for the same journalist denounces them as "saucy,

impudent rascals, who will steal when they can, and pillage whenever a weak party falls in their power."

That he does not belie them will be evidenced hereafter, when we have occasion again to touch at Wishram

and navigate the rapids. In the present instance the travellers effected the laborious ascent of this part of the

river, with all its various portages, without molestation, and once more launched away in smooth water above

The two parties continued together, without material impediment, for three or four hundred miles further up

the Columbia; Mr. Thompson appearing to take great interest in the success of Mr. Stuart, and pointing out

places favorable, as he said, to the establishment of his contemplated trading post.

Mr. Stuart, who distrusted his sincerity, at length pretended to adopt his advice, and, taking leave of him,

remained as if to establish himself, while the other proceeded on his course towards the mountains. No

sooner, however, had he fairly departed than Mr. Stuart again pushed forward, under guidance of the two

Indians, nor did he stop until he had arrived within about one hundred and forty miles of the Spokan River,

which he considered near enough to keep the rival establishment in check. The place which he pitched upon

for his trading post was a point of land about three miles in length and two in breadth, formed by the junction

of the Oakinagan with the Columbia. The former is a river which has its source in a considerable lake about

one hundred and fifty miles west of the point of junction. The two rivers, about the place of their confluence,

are bordered by immense prairies covered with herbage, but destitute of trees. The point itself was

ornamented with wild flowers of every hue, in which innumerable hummingbirds were "banqueting nearly

The situation of this point appeared to be well adapted for a trading post. The climate was salubrious, the soil

fertile, the rivers well stocked with fish, the natives peaceable and friendly. There were easy communications

with the interior by the upper waters of the Columbia and the lateral stream of the Oakinagan, while the

Availing himself, therefore, of the driftwood which had collected in quantities in the neighboring bends of the

river, Mr. Stuart and his men set to work to erect a house, which in a little while was sufficiently completed

for their residence; and thus was established the first interior post of the company. We will now return to

THE sailing of the Tonquin, and the departure of Mr. David Stuart and his detachment, had produced a

striking effect on affairs at Astoria. The natives who had swarmed about the place began immediately to drop

off, until at length not an Indian was to be seen. This, at first, was attributed to the want of peltries with which

to trade; but in a little while the mystery was explained in a more alarming manner. A conspiracy was said to

be on foot among the neighboring tribes to make a combined attack upon the white men, now that they were

so reduced in number. For this purpose there had been a gathering of warriors in a neighboring bay, under

pretex of fishing for sturgeon; and fleets of canoes were expected to join them from the north and South.

Even Comcomly, the oneeyed chief, notwithstanding his professed friendship for Mr. M'Dougal, was

Alarmed at rumors of this impending danger, the Astorians suspended their regular labor, and set to work,

with all haste, to throw up temporary works for refuge and defense. In the course of a few days they

surrounded their dwellinghouse and magazines with a picket fence ninety feet square, flanked by two

bastions, on which were mounted four fourpounders. Every day they exercised themselves in the use of their

weapons, so as to qualify themselves for military duty, and at night ensconced themselves in their fortress and

posted sentinels, to guard against surprise. In this way they hoped, even in case of attack, to be able to hold

out until the arrival of the party to be conducted by Mr. Hunt across the Rocky Mountains, or until the return

of the Tonquin. The latter dependence, however, was doomed soon to be destroyed. Early in August, a

wandering band of savages from the Strait of Juan de Fuca made their appearance at the mouth of the

Columbia, where they came to fish for sturgeon. They brought disastrous accounts of the Tonquin, which

were at first treated as fables, but which were too sadly confirmed by a different tribe that arrived a few days

subsequently. We shall relate the circumstances of this melancholy affair as correctly as the casual

We have already stated that the Tonquin set sail from the mouth of the river on the fifth of June. The whole

number of persons on board amounted to twentythree. In one of the outer bays they picked up, from a

fishing canoe, an Indian named Lamazee, who had already made two voyages along the coast and knew

something of the language of the various tribes. He agreed to accompany them as interpreter.

Steering to the north, Captain Thorn arrived in a few days at Vancouver's Island, and anchored in the harbor

of Neweetee, very much against the advice of his Indian interpreter, who warned him against the perfidious

character of the natives of this part of the coast. Numbers of canoes soon came off, bringing seaotter skins

to sell. It was too late in the day to commence a traffic, but Mr. M'Kay, accompanied by a few of the men,

went on shore to a large village to visit Wicananish, the chief of the surrounding territory, six of the natives

remaining on board as hostages. He was received with great professions of friendship, entertained hospitably,

and a couch of seaotter skins prepared for him in the dwelling of the chieftain, where he was prevailed upon

In the morning, before Mr. M'Kay had returned to the ship, great numbers of the natives came off in their

canoes to trade, headed by two sons of Wicananish. As they brought abundance of seaotter skins, and there

was every appearance of a brisk trade, Captain Thorn did not wait for the return of Mr. M'Kay, but spread his

wares upon the deck, making a tempting display of blankets, cloths, knives, beads, and fishhooks, expecting

a prompt and profitable sale. The Indians, however, were not so eager and simple as he had supposed, having

learned the art of bargaining and the value of merchandise from the casual traders along the coast. They were

guided, too, by a shrewd old chief named Nookamis, who had grown gray in traffic with New England

skippers, and prided himself upon his acuteness. His opinion seemed to regulate the market. When Captain

Thorn made what he considered a liberal offer for an otterskin, the wily old Indian treated it with scorn, and

asked more than double. His comrades all took their cue from him, and not an otterskin was to be had at a

The old fellow, however, overshot his mark, and mistook the character of the man he was treating with.

Thorn was a plain, straightforward sailor, who never had two minds nor two prices in his dealings, was

deficient in patience and pliancy, and totally wanting in the chicanery of traffic. He had a vast deal of stern

but honest pride in his nature, and, moreover, held the whole savage race in sovereign contempt. Abandoning

all further attempts, therefore, to bargain with his shuffling customers, he thrust his hands into his pockets,

and paced up and down the deck in sullen silence. The cunning old Indian followed him to and fro, holding

out a seaotter skin to him at every turn, and pestering him to trade. Finding other means unavailing, he

suddenly changed his tone, and began to jeer and banter him upon the mean prices he offered. This was too

much for the patience of the captain, who was never remarkable for relishing a joke, especially when at his

own expense. Turning suddenly upon his persecutor, he snatched the proffered otterskin from his hands,

rubbed it in his face, and dismissed him over the side of the ship with no very complimentary application to

accelerate his exit. He then kicked the peltries to the right and left about the deck, and broke up the market in

the most ignominious manner. Old Nookamis made for shore in a furious passion, in which he was joined by

Shewish, one of the sons of Wicananish, who went off breathing vengeance, and the ship was soon

When Mr. M'Kay returned on board, the interpreter related what had passed, and begged him to prevail upon

the captain to make sail, as from his knowledge of the temper and pride of the people of the place, he was

sure they would resent the indignity offered to one of their chiefs. Mr. M'Kay, who himself possessed some

experience of Indian character, went to the captain, who was still pacing the deck in moody humor,

represented the danger to which his hasty act had exposed the vessel, and urged him to weigh anchor. The

captain made light of his counsels, and pointed to his cannon and firearms as sufficient safeguard against

naked savages. Further remonstrances only provoked taunting replies and sharp altercations. The day passed

away without any signs of hostility, and at night the captain retired as usual to his cabin, taking no more than

On the following morning, at daybreak, while the captain and Mr. M'Kay were yet asleep, a canoe came

alongside in which were twenty Indians, commanded by young Shewish. They were unarmed, their aspect

and demeanor friendly, and they held up otterskins, and made signs indicative of a wish to trade. The

caution enjoined by Mr. Astor, in respect to the admission of Indians on board of the ship, had been neglected

for some time past, and the officer of the watch, perceiving those in the canoe to be without weapons, and

having received no orders to the contrary, readily permitted them to mount the deck. Another canoe soon

succeeded, the crew of which was likewise admitted. In a little while other canoes came off, and Indians were

The officer of the watch now felt alarmed, and called to Captain Thorn and Mr. M'Kay. By the time they

came on deck, it was thronged with Indians. The interpreter noticed to Mr. M'Kay that many of the natives

wore short mantles of skins, and intimated a suspicion that they were secretly armed. Mr. M'Kay urged the

captain to clear the ship and get under way. He again made light of the advice; but the augmented swarm of

canoes about the ship, and the numbers still putting off from shore, at length awakened his distrust, and he

ordered some of the crew to weigh anchor, while some were sent aloft to make sail.

The Indians now offered to trade with the captain on his own terms, prompted, apparently, by the

approaching departure of the ship. Accordingly, a hurried trade was commenced. The main articles sought by

the savages in barter were knives; as fast as some were supplied they moved off, and others succeeded. By

The anchor was now nearly up, the sails were loose, and the captain, in a loud and peremptory tone, ordered

the ship to be cleared. In an instant, a signal yell was given; it was echoed on every side, knives and

warclubs were brandished in every direction, and the savages rushed upon their marked victims.

The first that fell was Mr. Lewis, the ship's clerk. He was leaning, with folded arms, over a bale of blankets,

engaged in bargaining, when he received a deadly stab in the back, and fell down the companionway.

Mr. M'Kay, who was seated on the taffrail, sprang on his feet, but was instantly knocked down with a

warclub and flung backwards into the sea, where he was despatched by the women in the canoes.

In the meantime Captain Thorn made desperate fight against fearful odds. He was a powerful as well as a

resolute man, but he had come upon deck without weapons. Shewish, the young chief singled him out as his

peculiar prey, and rushed upon him at the first outbreak. The captain had barely time to draw a claspknife

with one blow of which he laid the young savage dead at his feet. Several of the stoutest followers of Shewish

now set upon him. He defended himself vigorously, dealing crippling blows to right and left, and strewing the

quarterdeck with the slain and wounded. His object was to fight his way to the cabin, where there were

firearms; but he was hemmed in with foes, covered with wounds, and faint with loss of blood. For an instant

he leaned upon the tiller wheel, when a blow from behind, with a warclub, felled him to the deck, where he

While this was transacting upon the quarterdeck, a chancemedley fight was going on throughout the ship.

The crew fought desperately with knives, handspikes, and whatever weapon they could seize upon in the

moment of surprise. They were soon, however, overpowered by numbers, and mercilessly butchered.

As to the seven who had been sent aloft to make sail, they contemplated with horror the carnage that was

going on below. Being destitute of weapons, they let themselves down by the running rigging, in hopes of

getting between decks. One fell in the attempt, and was instantly despatched; another received a deathblow

in the back as he was descending; a third, Stephen Weekes, the armorer, was mortally wounded as he was

The remaining four made good their retreat into the cabin, where they found Mr. Lewis, still alive, though

mortally wounded. Barricading the cabin door, they broke holes through the companionway, and, with the

muskets and ammunition which were at hand, opened a brisk fire that soon cleared the deck.

Thus far the Indian interpreter, from whom these particulars are derived, had been an eyewitness to the

deadly conflict. He had taken no part in it, and had been spared by the natives as being of their race. In the

confusion of the moment he took refuge with the rest, in the canoes. The survivors of the crew now sallied

forth, and discharged some of the deckguns, which did great execution among the canoes, and drove all the

For the remainder of the day no one ventured to put off to the ship, deterred by the effects of the firearms.

The night passed away without any further attempts on the part of the natives. When the day dawned, the

Tonquin still lay at anchor in the bay, her sails all loose and flapping in the wind, and no one apparently on

board of her. After a time, some of the canoes ventured forth to reconnoitre, taking with them the interpreter.

They paddled about her, keeping cautiously at a distance, but growing more and more emboldened at seeing

her quiet and lifeless. One man at length made his appearance on the deck, and was recognized by the

interpreter as Mr. Lewis. He made friendly signs, and invited them on board. It was long before they ventured

to comply. Those who mounted the deck met with no opposition; no one was to be seen on board; for Mr.

Lewis, after inviting them, had disappeared. Other canoes now pressed forward to board the prize; the decks

were soon crowded, and the sides covered with clambering savages, all intent on plunder. In the midst of their

eagerness and exultation, the ship blew up with a tremendous explosion. Arms, legs, and mutilated bodies

were blown into the air, and dreadful havoc was made in the surrounding canoes. The interpreter was in the

mainchains at the time of the explosion, and was thrown unhurt into the water, where he succeeded in

getting into one of the canoes. According to his statement, the bay presented an awful spectacle after the

catastrophe. The ship had disappeared, but the bay was covered with fragments of the wreck, with shattered

canoes, and Indians swimming for their lives, or struggling in the agonies of death; while those who had

escaped the danger remained aghast and stupefied, or made with frantic panic for the shore. Upwards of a

hundred savages were destroyed by the explosion, many more were shockingly mutilated, and for days

The inhabitants of Neweetee were overwhelmed with consternation at this astounding calamity, which had

burst upon them in the very moment of triumph. The warriors sat mute and mournful, while the women filled

the air with loud lamentations. Their weeping and walling, however, was suddenly changed into yells of fury

at the sight of four unfortunate white men, brought captive into the village. They had been driven on shore in

The interpreter was permitted to converse with them. They proved to be the four brave fellows who had made

such desperate defense from the cabin. The interpreter gathered from them some of the particulars already

related. They told him further, that after they had beaten off the enemy and cleared the ship, Lewis advised

that they should slip the cable and endeavor to get to sea. They declined to take his advice, alleging that the

wind set too strongly into the bay and would drive them on shore. They resolved, as soon as it was dark, to

put off quietly in the ship's boat, which they would be able to do unperceived, and to coast along back to

Astoria. They put their resolution into effect; but Lewis refused to accompany them, being disabled by his

wound, hopeless of escape, and determined on a terrible revenge. On the voyage out, he had repeatedly

expressed a presentiment that he should die by his own hands; thinking it highly probable that he should be

engaged in some contest with the natives, and being resolved, in case of extremity, to commit suicide rather

than be made a prisoner. He now declared his intention to remain on board of the ship until daylight, to decoy

as many of the savages on board as possible, then to set fire to the powder magazine, and terminate his life by

a signal of vengeance. How well he succeeded has been shown. His companions bade him a melancholy

adieu, and set off on their precarious expedition. They strove with might and main to get out of the bay, but

found it impossible to weather a point of land, and were at length compelled to take shelter in a small cove,

where they hoped to remain concealed until the wind should be more favorable. Exhausted by fatigue and

watching, they fell into a sound sleep, and in that state were surprised by the savages. Better had it been for

those unfortunate men had they remained with Lewis, and shared his heroic death: as it was, they perished in

a more painful and protracted manner, being sacrificed by the natives to the manes of their friends with all the

lingering tortures of savage cruelty. Some time after their death, the interpreter, who had remained a kind of

prisoner at large, effected his escape, and brought the tragical tidings to Astoria.

Such is the melancholy story of the Tonquin, and such was the fate of her brave but headstrong commander,

and her adventurous crew. It is a catastrophe that shows the importance, in all enterprises of moment, to keep

in mind the general instructions of the sagacious heads which devise them. Mr. Astor was well aware of the

perils to which ships were exposed on this coast from quarrels with the natives, and from perfidious attempts

of the latter to surprise and capture them in unguarded moments. He had repeatedly enjoined it upon Captain

Thorn, in conversation, and at parting, in his letter of instructions, to be courteous and kind in his dealings

with the savages, but by no means to confide in their apparent friendship, nor to admit more than a few on

Had the deportment of Captain Thorn been properly regulated, the insult so wounding to savage pride would

never have been given. Had he enforced the rule to admit but a few at a time, the savages would not have

been able to get the mastery. He was too irritable, however, to practice the necessary selfcommand, and,

having been nurtured in a proud contempt of danger, thought it beneath him to manifest any fear of a crew of

With all his faults and foibles, we cannot but speak of him with esteem, and deplore his untimely fate; for we

remember him well in early life, as a companion in pleasant scenes and joyous hours. When on shore, among

his friends, he was a frank, manly, soundhearted sailor. On board ship he evidently assumed the hardness of

deportment and sternness of demeanor which many deem essential to naval service. Throughout the whole of

the expedition, however, he showed himself loyal, singleminded, straightforward, and fearless; and if the

fate of his vessel may be charged to his harshness and imprudence, we should recollect that he paid for his

The loss of the Tonquin was a grievous blow to the infant establishment of Astoria, and one that threatened to

bring after it a train of disasters. The intelligence of it did not reach Mr. Astor until many months afterwards.

He felt it in all its force, and was aware that it must cripple, if not entirely defeat, the great scheme of his

ambition. In his letters, written at the time, he speaks of it as "a calamity, the length of which he could not

foresee." He indulged, however, in no weak and vain lamentation, but sought to devise a prompt and efficient

remedy. The very same evening he appeared at the theatre with his usual serenity of countenance. A friend,

who knew the disastrous intelligence he had received, expressed his astonishment that he could have

calmness of spirit sufficient for such a scene of light amusement. "What would you have me do?" was his

characteristic reply; "would you have me stay at home and weep for what I cannot help?"

THE tidings of the loss of the Tonquin, and the massacre of her crew, struck dismay into the hearts of the

Astorians. They found themselves a mere handful of men, on a savage coast, surrounded by hostile tribes,

who would doubtless be incited and encouraged to deeds of violence by the late fearful catastrophe. In this

juncture Mr. M'Dougal, we are told, had recourse to a stratagem by which to avail himself of the ignorance

The natives of the coast, and, indeed, of all the regions west of the mountains, had an extreme dread of the

smallpox; that terrific scourge having, a few years previously, appeared among them, and almost swept off

entire tribes. Its origin and nature were wrapped in mystery, and they conceived it an evil inflicted upon them

by the Great Spirit, or brought among them by the white men. The last idea was seized upon by Mr.

M'Dougal. He assembled several of the chieftains whom he believed to be in the conspiracy. When they were

all seated around, he informed them that he had heard of the treachery of some of their northern brethren

towards the Tonquin, and was determined on vengeance. "The white men among you," said he, "are few in

number, it is true, but they are mighty in medicine. See here," continued he, drawing forth a small bottle and

holding it before their eyes, "in this bottle I hold the smallpox, safely corked up; I have but to draw the cork,

and let loose the pestilence, to sweep man, woman, and child from the face of the earth."

The chiefs were struck with horror and alarm. They implored him not to uncork the bottle, since they and all

their people were firm friends of the white men, and would always remain so; but, should the smallpox be

once let out, it would run like wildfire throughout the country, sweeping off the good as well as the bad; and

surely he would not be so unjust as to punish his friends for crimes committed by his enemies.

Mr. M'Dougal pretended to be convinced by their reasoning, and assured them that, so long as the white

people should be unmolested, and the conduct of their Indian neighbors friendly and hospitable, the phial of

wrath should remain sealed up; but, on the least hostility, the fatal cork should be drawn.

From this time, it is added, he was much dreaded by the natives, as one who held their fate in his hands, and

All this while, the labors at the infant settlement went on with unremitting assiduity, and, by the 26th of

September, a commodious mansion, spacious enough to accommodate all hands, was completed. It was built

of stone and clay, there being no calcarcous stone in the neighborhood from which lime for mortar could be

procured. The schooner was also finished, and launched, with the accustomed ceremony, on the second of

October, and took her station below the fort. She was named the Dolly, and was the first American vessel

On the 5th of October, in the evening, the little community at Astoria was enlivened by the unexpected

arrival of a detachment from Mr. David Stuart's post on the Oakinagan. It consisted of two of the clerks and

two of the privates. They brought favorable accounts of the new establishment, but reported that, as Mr.

Stuart was apprehensive there might be a difficulty of subsisting his whole party throughout the winter, he

had sent one half back to Astoria, retaining with him only Ross, Montigny, and two others. Such is the

hardihood of the Indian trader. In the heart of a savage and unknown country, seven hundred miles from the

main body of his fellowadventurers, Stuart had dismissed half of his little number, and was prepared with

the residue to brave all the perils of the wilderness, and the rigors of a long and dreary winter.

With the return party came a Canadian creole named Regis Brugiere and an Iroquois hunter, with his wife

and two children. As these two personages belong to certain classes which have derived their peculiar

characteristics from the fur trade, we deem some few particulars concerning them pertinent to the nature of

Brugiere was of a class of beaver trappers and hunters technically called "Freemen," in the language of the

traders. They are generally Canadians by birth, and of French descent, who have been employed for a term of

years by some fur company, but, their term being expired, continue to hunt and trap on their own account,

trading with the company like the Indians. Hence they derive their appellation of Freemen, to distinguish

them from the trappers who are bound for a number of years, and receive wages, or hunt on shares.

Having passed their early youth in the wilderness, separated almost entirely from civilized man, and in

frequent intercourse with the Indians, they relapse, with a facility common to human nature, into the

habitudes of savage life. Though no longer bound by engagements to continue in the interior, they have

become so accustomed to the freedom of the forest and the prairie, that they look back with repugnance upon

the restraints of civilization. Most of them intermarry with the natives, and, like the latter, have often a

plurality of wives. Wanderers of the wilderness, according to the vicissitudes of the seasons, the migrations of

animals, and the plenty or scarcity of game, they lead a precarious and unsettled existence; exposed to sun

and storm, and all kinds of hardships, until they resemble Indians in complexion as well as in tastes and

habits. From time to time, they bring the peltries they have collected to the trading houses of the company in

whose employ they have been brought up. Here they traffic them away for such articles of merchandise or

ammunition as they may stand in need of. At the time when Montreal was the great emporium of the fur

trader, one of these freemen of the wilderness would suddenly return, after an absence of many years, among

his old friends and comrades. He would be greeted as one risen from the dead; and with the greater welcome,

as he returned flush of money. A short time, however, spent in revelry, would be sufficient to drain his purse

and sate him with civilized life, and he would return with new relish to the unshackled freedom of the forest.

Numbers of men of this class were scattered throughout the northwest territories. Some of them retained a

little of the thrift and forethought of the civilized man, and became wealthy among their improvident

neighbors; their wealth being chiefly displayed in large bands of horses, which covered the prairies in the

vicinity of their abodes. Most of them, however, were prone to assimilate to the red man in their heedlessness

Such was Regis Brugiere, a freeman and rover of the wilderness. Having been brought up in the service of the

Northwest Company, he had followed in the train of one of its expeditions across the Rocky Mountains, and

undertaken to trap for the trading post established on the Spokan River. In the course of his hunting

excursions he had either accidentally, or designedly, found his way to the post of Mr. Stuart, and had been

Ignace Shonowane, the Iroquois hunter, was a specimen of a different class. He was one of those aboriginals

of Canada who had partially conformed to the habits of civilization and the doctrines of Christianity, under

the influence of the French colonists and the Catholic priests; who seem generally to have been more

successful in conciliating, taming, and converting the savages, than their English and Protestant rivals. These

half civilized Indians retained some of the good, and many of the evil qualities of their original stock. They

were firstrate hunters, and dexterous in the management of the canoe. They could undergo great privations,

and were admirable for the service of the rivers, lakes, and forests, provided they could be kept sober, and in

proper subordination; but once inflamed with liquor, to which they were madly addicted, all the dormant

passions inherent in their nature were prone to break forth, and to hurry them into the most vindictive and

Though they generally professed the Roman Catholic religion, yet it was mixed, occasionally, with some of

their ancient superstitions; and they retained much of the Indian belief in charms and omens. Numbers of

these men were employed by the Northwest Company as trappers, hunters, and canoe men, but on lower

terms than were allowed to white men. Ignace Shonowane had, in this way, followed the enterprise of the

company to the banks of the Spokan, being, probably, one of the first of his tribe that had traversed the Rocky

Such were some of the motley populace of the wilderness, incident to the fur trade, who were gradually

The month of October now began to give indications of approaching winter. Hitherto, the colonists had been

well pleased with the climate. The summer had been temperate, the mercury never rising above eighty

degrees. Westerly winds had prevailed during the spring and the early part of the summer, and been

succeeded by fresh breezes from the northwest. In the month of October the southerly winds set in, bringing

The Indians now began to quit the borders of the ocean, and to retire to their winter quarters in the sheltered

bosom of the forests, or along the small rivers and brooks. The rainy season, which commences in October,

continues, with little intermission, until April; and though the winters are generally mild, the mercury seldom

sinking below the freezing point, yet the tempests of wind and rain are terrible. The sun is sometimes

obscured for weeks, the brooks swell into roaring torrents, and the country is threatened with a deluge.

The departure of the Indians to their winter quarters gradually rendered provisions scanty, and obliged the

colonists to send out foraging expeditions in the Dolly. Still the little handful of adventurers kept up their

spirits in their lonely fort at Astoria, looking forward to the time when they should be animated and

reinforced by the party under Mr. Hunt, that was to come to them across the Rocky Mountains.

The year gradually wore way. The rain, which had poured down almost incessantly since the first of October,

cleared up towards the evening of the 31st of December, and the morning of the first of January ushered in a

The hereditary French holiday spirit of the French voyageurs is hardly to be depressed by any adversities; and

they can manage to get up a fete in the most squalid situations, and under the most untoward circumstances.

An extra allowance of rum, and a little flour to make cakes and puddings, constitute a "regale;" and they

On the present occasion, the partners endeavored to celebrate the new year with some effect. At sunrise the

drums beat to arms, the colors were hoisted, with three rounds of small arms and three discharges of cannon.

The day was devoted to games of agility and strength, and other amusements; and grog was temperately

distributed, together with bread, butter, and cheese. The best dinner their circumstances could afford was

served up at midday. At sunset the colors were lowered, with another discharge of artillery. The night was

spent in dancing; and, though there was a lack of female partners to excite their gallantry, the voyageurs kept

up the ball with true French spirit, until three o'clock in the morning. So passed the new year festival of 1812

WE have followed up the fortunes of the maritime part of this enterprise to the shores of the Pacific, and have

conducted the affairs of the embryo establishment to the opening of the new year; let us now turn back to the

adventurous band to whom was intrusted the land expedition, and who were to make their way to the mouth

of the Columbia, up vast rivers, across trackless plains, and over the rugged barriers of the Rocky Mountains.

The conduct of this expedition, as has been already mentioned, was assigned to Mr. Wilson Price Hunt, of

Trenton, New Jersey, one of the partners of the company, who was ultimately to be at the head of the

establishment at the mouth of the Columbia. He is represented as a man scrupulously upright and faithful his

dealings, amicable in his disposition, and of most accommodating manners; and his whole conduct will be

found in unison with such a character. He was not practically experienced in the Indian trade; that is to say,

he had never made any expeditions of traffic into the heart of the wilderness, but he had been engaged in

commerce at St. Louis, then a frontier settlement on the Mississippi, where the chief branch of his business

had consisted in furnishing Indian traders with goods and equipments. In this way, he had acquired much

knowledge of the trade at second hand, and of the various tribes, and the interior country over which it

Another of the partners, Mr. Donald M'Kenzie, was associated with Mr. Hunt in the expedition, and excelled

on those points in which the other was deficient; for he had been ten years in the interior, in the service of the

Northwest Company, and valued himself on his knowledge of "woodcraft," and the strategy of Indian trade

and Indian warfare. He had a frame seasoned to toils and hardships; a spirit not to be intimidated, and was

reputed to be a "remarkable shot;" which of itself was sufficient to give him renown upon the frontier.

Mr. Hunt and his coadjutor repaired, about the latter part of July, 1810, to Montreal, the ancient emporium of

the fur trade where everything requisite for the expedition could be procured. One of the first objects was to

recruit a complement of Canadian voyageurs from the disbanded herd usually to be found loitering about the

place. A degree of jockeyship, however, is required for this service, for a Canadian voyageur is as full of

latent tricks and vice as a horse; and when he makes the greatest external promise, is prone to prove the

greatest "take in." Besides, the Northwest Company, who maintained a long established control at Montreal,

and knew the qualities of every voyageur, secretly interdicted the prime hands from engaging in this new

service; so that, although liberal terms were offered, few presented themselves but such as were not worth

From these Mr. Hunt engaged a number sufficient, as he supposed, for present purposes; and, having laid in a

supply of ammunition, provisions, and Indian goods, embarked all on board one of those great canoes at that

time universally used by the fur traders for navigating the intricate and oftenobstructed rivers. The canoe

was between thirty and forty feet long, and several feet in width; constructed of birch bark, sewed with fibres

of the roots of the spruce tree, and daubed with resin of the pine, instead of tar. The cargo was made up in

packages, weighing from ninety to one hundred pounds each, for the facility of loading and unloading, and of

transportation at portages. The canoe itself, though capable of sustaining a freight of upwards of four tons,

could readily be carried on men's shoulders. Canoes of this size are generally managed by eight or ten men,

two of whom are picked veterans, who receive double wages, and are stationed, one at the bow and the other

at the stern, to keep a lookout and to steer. They are termed the foreman and the steersman. The rest, who

ply the paddles, are called middle men. When there is a favorable breeze, the canoe is occasionally navigated

The expedition took its regular departure, as usual, from St. Anne's, near the extremity of the island of

Montreal, the great startingplace of the traders to the interior. Here stood the ancient chapel of St. Anne, the

patroness of the Canadian voyageurs; where they made confession, and offered up their vows, previous to

departing on any hazardous expedition. The shrine of the saint was decorated with relics and votive offerings

hung up by these superstitious beings, either to propitiate her favor, or in gratitude for some signal

deliverance in the wilderness. It was the custom, too, of these devout vagabonds, after leaving the chapel, to

have a grand carouse, in honor of the saint and for the prosperity of the voyage. In this part of their devotions,

the crew of Mr. Hunt proved themselves by no means deficient. Indeed, he soon discovered that his recruits,

enlisted at Montreal, were fit to vie with the ragged regiment of Falstaff. Some were ablebodied, but

inexpert; others were expert, but lazy; while a third class were expert and willing, but totally worn out, being

With this inefficient crew he made his way up the Ottawa River, and by the ancient route of the fur traders,

along a succession of small lakes and rivers, to Michilimackinac. Their progress was slow and tedious. Mr.

Hunt was not accustomed to the management of "voyageurs," and he had a crew admirably disposed to play

the old soldier, and balk their work; and ever ready to come to a halt, land, make a fire, put on the great pot,

It was not until the 22d of July that they arrived at Mackinaw, situated on the island of the same name, at the

lakes Huron and Michigan. This famous old French trading post continued to be a rallying point for a

multifarious and motley population. The inhabitants were amphibious in their habits, most of them being, or

having been voyageurs or canoe men. It was the great place of arrival and departure of the southwest fur

trade. Here the Mackinaw Company had established its principal post, from whence it communicated with the

interior and with Montreal. Hence its various traders and trappers set out for their respective destinations

about Lake Superior and its tributary waters, or for the Mississippi, the Arkansas, the Missouri, and the other

regions of the west. Here, after the absence of a year, or more, they returned with their peltries, and settled

their accounts; the furs rendered in by them being transmitted in canoes from hence to Montreal. Mackinaw

was, therefore, for a great part of the year, very scantily peopled; but at certain seasons the traders arrived

from all points, with their crews of voyageurs, and the place swarmed like a hive.

Mackinaw, at that time, was a mere village, stretching along a small bay, with a fine broad beach in front of

its principal row of houses, and dominated by the old fort, which crowned an impending height. The beach

was a kind of public promenade where were displayed all the vagaries of a seaport on the arrival of a fleet

from a long cruise. Here voyageurs frolicked away their wages, fiddling and dancing in the booths and

cabins, buying all kinds of knickknacks, dressing themselves out finely, and parading up and down, like

arrant braggarts and coxcombs. Sometimes they met with rival coxcombs in the young Indians from the

opposite shore, who would appear on the beach painted and decorated in fantastic style, and would saunter up

and down, to be gazed at and admired, perfectly satisfied that they eclipsed their palefaccd competitors.

Now and then a chance party of "Northwesters" appeared at Mackinaw from the rendezvous at Fort William.

These held themselves up as the chivalry of the fur trade. They were men of iron; proof against cold weather,

hard fare, and perils of all kinds. Some would wear the Northwest button, and a formidable dirk, and assume

something of a military air. They generally wore feathers in their hats, and affected the "brave." "Je suis un

homme du nord!""I am a man of the north,"one of these swelling fellows would exclaim, sticking his arms

akimbo and ruffling by the Southwesters, whom he regarded with great contempt, as men softened by mild

climates and the luxurious fare of bread and bacon, and whom he stigmatized with the inglorious name of

pork eaters. The superiority assumed by these vainglorious swaggerers was, in general, tacitly admitted.

Indeed, some of them had acquired great notoriety for deeds of hardihood and courage; for the fur trade had

Such was Mackinaw at the time of which we are treating. It now, doubtless, presents a totally different

aspect. The fur companies no longer assemble there; the navigation of the lake is carried on by steamboats

and various shipping, and the race of traders, and trappers, and voyageurs, and Indian dandies, have vapored

out their brief hour and disappeared. Such changes does the lapse of a handful of years make in this

At this place Mr. Hunt remained for some time, to complete his assortment of Indian goods, and to increase

his number of voyageurs, as well as to engage some of a more efficient character than those enlisted at

And now commenced another game of Jockeyship. There were able and efficient men in abundance at

Mackinaw, but for several days not one presented himself. If offers were made to any, they were listened to

with a shake of the head. Should any one seem inclined to enlist, there were officious idlers and busybodies,

of that class who are ever ready to dissuade others from any enterprise in which they themselves have no

concern. These would pull him by the sleeve, take him on one side, and murmur in his ear, or would suggest

it was objected that the expedition would have to navigate unknown rivers, and pass through howling

wildernesses infested by savage tribes, who had already cut off the unfortunate voyageurs that had ventured

among them; that it was to climb the Rocky Mountains and descend into desolate and famished regions,

where the traveller was often obliged to subsist on grasshoppers and crickets, or to kill his own horse for

At length one man was hardy enough to engage, and he was used like a "stoolpigeon," to decoy others; but

several days elapsed before any more could be prevailed upon to join him. A few then came to terms. It was

desirable to engage them for five years, but some refused to engage for more than three. Then they must have

part of their pay in advance, which was readily granted. When they had pocketed the amount, and squandered

it in regales or in outfits, they began to talk of pecuniary obligations at Mackinaw, which must be discharged

before they would be free to depart; or engagements with other persons, which were only to be canceled by a

"reasonable consideration." It was in vain to argue or remonstrate. The money advanced had already been

sacked and spent, and must be lost and the recruits left behind, unless they could be freed from their debts

and engagements. Accordingly, a fine was paid for one; a judgment for another; a tavern bill for a third, and

almost all had to be bought off from some prior engagement, either real or pretended.

Mr. Hunt groaned in spirit at the incessant and unreasonable demands of these worthies upon his purse; yet

with all this outlay of funds, the number recruited was but scanty, and many of the most desirable still held

themselves aloof, and were not to be caught by a golden bait. With these he tried another temptation. Among

the recruits who had enlisted he distributed feathers and ostrich plumes. These they put in their hats, and thus

figured about Mackinaw, assuming airs of vast importance, as "voyageurs" in a new company, that was to

eclipse the Northwest. The effect was complete. A French Canadian is too vain and mercurial a being to

withstand the finery and ostentation of the feather. Numbers immediately pressed into the service. One must

have an ostrich plume; another, a white feather with a red end; a third, a bunch of cock's tails. Thus all

paraded about, in vainglorious style, more delighted with the feathers in their hats than with the money in

their pockets; and considering themselves fully equal to the boastful "men of the north."

While thus recruiting the number of rank and file, Mr. Hunt was joined by a person whom he had invited, by

letter, to engage as a partner in the expedition. This was Mr. Ramsay Crooks, a young man, a native of

Scotland, who had served under the Northwest Company, and been engaged in trading expeditions upon his

individual account, among the tribes of the Missouri. Mr. Hunt knew him personally, and had conceived a

high and merited opinion of his judgment, enterprise, and integrity; he was rejoiced, therefore, when the latter

consented to accompany him. Mr. Crooks, however, drew from experience a picture of the dangers to which

they would be subjected, and urged the importance of going with a considerable force. In ascending the upper

Missouri they would have to pass through the country of the Sioux Indians, who had manifested repeated

hostility to the white traders, and rendered their expeditions extremely perilous; firing upon them from the

river banks as they passed beneath in their boats, and attacking them in their encampments. Mr. Crooks

himself, when voyaging in company with another trader of the name of M'Lellan, had been interrupted by

these marauders, and had considered himself fortunate in escaping down the river without loss of life or

Should they be fortunate enough to pass through the country of the Sioux without molestation, they would

have another tribe still more savage and warlike beyond, and deadly foes of white men.

These were the Blackfeet Indians, who ranged over a wide extent of country which they would have to

traverse. Under all these circumstances, it was thought advisable to augment the party considerably. It already

exceeded the number of thirty, to which it had originally been limited; but it was determined, on arriving at

These matters being arranged, they prepared to embark; but the embarkation of a crew of Canadian

voyageurs, on a distant expedition, is not so easy a matter as might be imagined; especially of such a set of

vainglorious fellows with money in both pockets, and cocks' tails in their hats. Like sailors, the Canadian

voyageurs generally preface a long cruise with a carouse. They have their cronies, their brothers, their

cousins, their wives, their sweethearts, all to be entertained at their expense. They feast, they fiddle, they

drink, they sing, they dance, they frolic and fight, until they are all as mad as so many drunken Indians. The

publicans are all obedience to their commands, never hesitating to let them run up scores without limit,

knowing that, when their own money is expended, the purses of their employers must answer for the bill, or

the voyage must be delayed. Neither was it possible, at that time, to remedy the matter at Mackinaw. In that

amphibious community there was always a propensity to wrest the laws in favor of riotous or mutinous

boatmen. It was necessary, also, to keep the recruits in good humor, seeing the novelty and danger of the

service into which they were entering, and the ease with which they might at anytime escape it by jumping

Such were the scenes that beset Mr. Hunt, and gave him a foretaste of the difficulties of his command. The

little cabarets and sutlers' shops along the bay resounded with the scraping of fiddles, with snatches of old

French songs, with Indian whoops and yells, while every plumed and feathered vagabond had his troop of

loving cousins and comrades at his heels. It was with the utmost difficulty they could be extricated from the

clutches of the publicans and the embraces of their pot companions, who followed them to the water's edge

with many a hug, a kiss on each cheek, and a maudlin benediction in Canadian French.

It was about the 12th of August that they left Mackinaw, and pursued the usual route by Green Bay, Fox and

Wisconsin rivers, to Prairie du Chien, and thence down the Mississippi to St. Louis, where they landed on the

ST. LOUIS, which is situated on the right bank of the Mississippi River, a few miles below the mouth of the

Missouri, was, at that time, a frontier settlement, and the last fittingout place for the Indian trade of the

Southwest. It possessed a motley population, composed of the creole descendants of the original French

colonists; the keen traders from the Atlantic States; the backwoodsmen of Kentucky and Tennessee; the

Indians and half breeds of the prairies; together with a singular aquatic race that had grown up from the

navigation of the rivers the "boatmen of the Mississippi; who possessed habits, manners, and almost a

language, peculiarly their own, and strongly technical. They, at that time, were extremely numerous, and

conducted the chief navigation and commerce of the Ohio and the Mississippi, as the voyageurs did of the

Canadian waters; but, like them, their consequence and characteristics are rapidly vanishing before the

The old French houses engaged in the Indian trade had gathered round them a train of dependents, mongrel

Indians, and mongrel Frenchmen, who had intermarried with Indians. These they employed in their various

expeditions by land and water. Various individuals of other countries had, of late years, pushed the trade

further into the interior, to the upper waters of the Missouri, and had swelled the number of these hangerson.

Several of these traders had, two or three years previously, formed themselves into a company, composed of

twelve partners, with a capital of about forty thousand dollars, called the Missouri Fur Company; the object

of which was, to establish posts along the upper part of that river, and monopolize the trade. The leading

partner of this company was Mr. Manuel Lisa, a Spaniard by birth, and a man of bold and enterprising

character, who had ascended the Missouri almost to its source, and made himself well acquainted and popular

with several of its tribes. By his exertions, trading posts had been established, in 1808, in the Sioux country,

and among the Aricara and Mandan tribes; and a principal one, under Mr. Henry, one of the partners, at the

forks of the Missouri. This company had in its employ about two hundred and fifty men, partly American and

All these circumstances combined to produce a population at St. Louis even still more motley than that at

Mackinaw. Here were to be seen, about the river banks, the hectoring, extravagant bragging boatmen of the

Mississippi, with the gay, grimacing, singing, goodhumored Canadian voyageurs. Vagrant Indians, of

various tribes, loitered about the streets. Now and then a stark Kentucky hunter, in leathern huntingdress,

with rifle on shoulder and knife in belt, strode along. Here and there were new brick houses and shops, just

set up by bustling, driving, and eager men of traffic from the Atlantic States; while, on the other hand, the old

French mansions, with open casements, still retained the easy, indolent air of the original colonists; and now

and then the scraping of a fiddle, a strain of an ancient French song, or the sound of billiard balls, showed that

Such was St. Louis at the time of Mr. Hunt's arrival there, and the appearance of a new fur company, with

ample funds at its command, produced a strong sensation among the I traders of the place, and awakened

keen jealousy and opposition on the part of the Missouri Company. Mr. Hunt proceeded to strengthen himself

against all competition. For this purpose, he secured to the interests of the association another of those

enterprising men, who had been engaged in individual traffic with the tribes of the Missouri. This was a Mr.

Joseph Miller, a gentleman well educated and well informed, and of a respectable family of Baltimore. He

had been an officer in the army of the United States, but had resigned in disgust, on being refused a furlough,

and had taken to trapping beaver and trading among the Indians. He was easily induced by Mr. Hunt to join

as a partner, and was considered by him, on account of his education and acquirements, and his experience in

Several additional men were likewise enlisted at St. Louis, some as boatmen, and others as hunters. These last

were engaged, not merely to kill game for provisions, but also, and indeed chiefly, to trap beaver and other

animals of rich furs, valuable in the trade. They enlisted on different terms. Some were to have a fixed salary

of three hundred dollars; others were to be fitted out and maintained at the expense of the company, and were

As Mr. Hunt met with much opposition on the part of rival traders, especially the Missouri Fur Company, it

took him some weeks to complete his preparations. The delays which he had previously experienced at

Montreal, Mackinaw, and on the way, added to those at St. Louis, had thrown him much behind his original

calculations, so that it would be impossible to effect his voyage up the Missouri in the present year. This

river, flowing from high and cold latitudes, and through wide and open plains, exposed to chilling blasts,

freezes early. The winter may be dated from the first of November; there was every prospect, therefore, that it

would be closed with ice long before Mr. Hunt could reach its upper waters. To avoid, however, the expense

of wintering at St. Louis, he determined to push up the river as far as possible, to some point above the

settlements, where game was plenty, and where his whole party could be subsisted by hunting, until the

Accordingly on the twentyfirst of October he took his departure from St. Louis. His party was distributed in

three boats. One was the barge which he had brought from Mackinaw; another was of a larger size, such as

was formerly used in navigating the Mohawk River, and known by the generic name of the Schenectady

barge; the other was a large keel boat, at that time the grand conveyance on the Mississippi.

In this way they set out from St. Louis, in buoyant spirits, and soon arrived at the mouth of the Missouri. This

vast river, three thousand miles in length, and which, with its tributary streams, drains such an immense

extent of country, was as yet but casually and imperfectly navigated by the adventurous bark of the fur trader.

A steamboat had never yet stemmed its turbulent current. Sails were but of casual assistance, for it required a

strong wind to conquer the force of the stream. The main dependence was on bodily strength and manual

dexterity. The boats, in general, had to be propelled by oars and setting poles, or drawn by the hand and by

grappling hooks from one root or overhanging tree to another; or towed by the long cordelle, or towing line,

where the shores were sufficiently clear of woods and thickets to permit the men to pass along the banks.

During this slow and tedious progress the boat would be exposed to frequent danger from floating trees and

great masses of drift wood, or to be impaled upon snags and sawyers; that is to say, sunken trees, presenting

a jagged or pointed end above the surface of the water. As the channel of the river frequently shifted from

side to side according to the bends and sandbanks, the boat had, in the same way, to advance in a zigzag

course. Often a part of the crew would have to leap into the water at the shallows, and wade along with the

towing line, while their comrades on board toilfully assisted with oar and setting pole. Sometimes the boat

would seem to be retained motionless, as if spellbound, opposite some point round which the current set

On these occasions it was that the merits of the Canadian voyageurs came into full action. Patient of toil, not

to be disheartened by impediments and disappointments, fertile in expedients, and versed in every mode of

humoring and conquering the wayward current, they would ply every exertion, sometimes in the boat,

sometimes on shore, sometimes in the water, however cold; always alert, always in good humor; and, should

they at any time flag or grow weary, one of their popular songs, chanted by a veteran oarsman, and responded

By such assiduous and persevering labor they made their way about four hundred and fifty miles up the

Missouri, by the 16th of November, to the mouth of the Nodowa. As this was a good hunting country, and as

the season was rapidly advancing, they determined to establish their winter quarters at this place; and, in fact,

two days after they had come to a halt, the river closed just above their encampment.

The party had not been long at this place when they were joined by Mr. Robert M'Lellan, another trader of

the Missouri; the same who had been associated with Mr. Crooks in the unfortunate expedition in which they

had been intercepted by the Sioux Indians, and obliged to make a rapid retreat down the river.

M'Lellan was a remarkable man. He had been a partisan under General Wayne, in his Indian wars, where he

had distinguished himself by his fiery spirit and reckless daring, and marvelous stories were told of his

exploits. His appearance answered to his character. His frame was meagre, but muscular; showing strength,

activity, and iron firmness. His eyes were dark, deepset, and piercing. He was restless, fearless, but of

impetuous and sometimes ungovernable temper. He had been invited by Mr. Hunt to enroll himself as a

partner, and gladly consented; being pleased with the thoughts of passing with a powerful force through the

country of the Sioux, and perhaps having an opportunity of revenging himself upon that lawless tribe for their

Another recruit that joined the camp at Nodowa deserves equal mention. This was John Day, a hunter from

the backwoods of Virginia, who had been several years on the Missouri in the service of Mr. Crooks, and of

other traders. He was about forty years of age, six feet two inches high, straight as an Indian; with an elastic

step as if he trod on springs, and a handsome, open, manly countenance. It was his boast that, in his younger

days, nothing could hurt or daunt him; but he had "lived too fast," and injured his constitution by his

excesses. Still he was strong of hand, bold of heart, a prime woodman, and an almost unerring shot. He had

the frank spirit of a Virginian, and the rough heroism of a pioneer of the west.

The party were now brought to a halt for several months. They were in a country abounding with deer and

wild turkeys, so that there was no stint of provisions, and every one appeared cheerful and contented. Mr.

Hunt determined to avail himself of this interval to return to St. Louis and obtain a reinforcement.

He wished to procure an interpreter, acquainted with the language of the Sioux, as, from all accounts, he

apprehended difficulties in passing through the country of that nation. He felt the necessity, also, of having a

greater number of hunters, not merely to keep up a supply of provisions throughout their long and arduous

expedition, but also as a protection and defense, in case of Indian hostilities. For such service the Canadian

voyageurs were little to be depended upon, fighting not being a part of their profession. The proper kind of

men were American hunters, experienced in savage life and savage warfare, and possessed of the true game

Leaving, therefore, the encampment in charge of the other partners, Mr. Hunt set off on foot on the first of

January (1810), for St. Louis. He was accompanied by eight men as far as Fort Osage, about one hundred and

fifty miles below Nodowa. Here he procured a couple of horses, and proceeded on the remainder of his

journey with two men, sending the other six back to the encampment. He arrived at St. Louis on the 20th of

0N this his second visit to St. Louis, Mr. Hunt was again impeded in his plans by the opposition of the

Missouri Fur Company. The affairs of that company were, at this time, in a very dubious state. During the

preceding year, their principal establishment at the forks of the Missouri had been so much harassed by the

Blackfeet Indians, that its commander, Mr. Henry, one of the partners, had been compelled to abandon the

post and cross the Rocky Mountains, with the intention of fixing himself upon one of the upper branches of

the Columbia. What had become of him and his party was unknown. The most intense anxiety was felt

concerning them, and apprehensions that they might have been cut off by the savages. At the time of Mr.

Hunt's arrival at St. Louis, the Missouri Company were fitting out an expedition to go in quest of Mr. Henry.

There being thus two expeditions on foot at the same moment, an unusual demand was occasioned for

hunters and voyageurs, who accordingly profited by the circumstance, and stipulated for high terms. Mr.

Hunt found a keen and subtle competitor in Lisa, and was obliged to secure his recruits by liberal advances of

The greatest difficulty was to procure the Sioux interpreter. There was but one man to be met with at St.

Louis who was fitted for the purpose, but to secure him would require much management. The individual in

question was a halfbreed, named Pierre Dorion; and, as he figures hereafter in this narrative, and is, withal,

a striking specimen of the hybrid race on the frontier, we shall give a few particulars concerning him. Pierre

was the son of Dorion, the French interpreter, who accompanied Messrs. Lewis and Clark in their famous

exploring expedition across the Rocky Mountains. Old Dorion was one of those French creoles, descendants

of the ancient Canadian stock, who abound on the western frontier, and amalgamate or cohabit with the

savages. He had sojourned among various tribes, and perhaps left progeny among them all; but his regular, or

habitual wife, was a Sioux squaw. By her he had a hopeful brood of halfbreed sons, of whom Pierre was

one. The domestic affairs of old Dorion were conducted on the true Indian plan. Father and sons would

occasionally get drunk together, and then the cabin was a scene of ruffian brawl and fighting, in the course of

which the old Frenchman was apt to get soundly belabored by his mongrel offspring. In a furious scuffle of

the kind, one of the sons got the old man upon the ground, and was upon the point of scalping him. "Hold!

my son," cried the old fellow, in imploring accents, "you are too brave, too honorable to scalp your father!"

This last appeal touched the French side of the halfbreed's heart, so he suffered the old man to wear his

Of this hopeful stock was Pierre Dorion, the man whom it was now the desire of Mr. Hunt to engage as an

interpreter. He had been employed in that capacity by the Missouri Fur Company during the preceding year,

and conducted their traders in safety through the different tribes of the Sioux. He had proved himself faithful

and serviceable while sober; but the love of liquor, in which he had been nurtured and brought up, would

It was his love of liquor which had embroiled him with the Missouri Company. While in their service at Fort

Mandan, on the frontier, he had been seized with a whiskey mania; and, as the beverage was only to be

procured at the company's store, it had been charged in his account at the rate of ten dollars a quart. This item

had ever remained unsettled, and a matter of furious dispute, the mere mention of which was sufficient to put

The moment it was discovered by Mr. Lisa that Pierre Dorion was in treaty with the new and rival

association, he endeavored, by threats as well as promises, to prevent his engaging in their service. His

promises might, perhaps, have prevailed; but his threats, which related to the whiskey debt, only served to

drive Pierre into the opposite ranks. Still he took advantage of this competition for his services to stand out

with Mr. Hunt on the most advantageous terms, and, after a negotiation of nearly two weeks, capitulated to

serve in the expedition, as hunter and interpreter, at the rate of three hundred dollars a year, two hundred of

When Mr. Hunt had got everything ready for leaving St. Louis, new difficulties arose. Five of the American

hunters from the encampment at Nodowa, suddenly made their appearance. They alleged that they had been

ill treated by the partners at the encampment, and had come off clandestinely, in consequence of a dispute. It

was useless at the present moment, and under present circumstances, to attempt any compulsory measures

with these deserters. Two of them Mr. Hunt prevailed upon, by mild means, to return with him. The rest

refused; nay, what was worse, they spread such reports of the hardships and dangers to be apprehended in the

course of the expedition, that they struck a panic into those hunters who had recently engaged at St. Louis,

and, when the hour of departure arrived, all but one refused to embark. It was in vain to plead or remonstrate;

they shouldered their rifles and turned their backs upon the expedition, and Mr. Hunt was fain to put off from

shore with the single hunter and a number of voyageurs whom he had engaged. Even Pierre Dorion, at the

last moment, refused to enter the boat until Mr. Hunt consented to take his squaw and two children on board

also. But the tissue of perplexities, on account of this worthy individual, did not end here.

Among the various persons who were about to proceed up the Missouri with Mr. Hunt, were two scientific

gentlemen; one Mr. John Bradbury, a man of mature age, but great enterprise and personal activity, who had

been sent out by Linnaean Society of Liverpool to make a collection of American plants; the other, a Mr.

Nuttall, likewise an Englishman, younger in years, who has since made himself known as the author of

Travels in Arkansas, and a work on the Genera of American Plants. Mr. Hunt had offered them the protection

and facilities of his party, in their scientific research up the Missouri River. As they were not ready to depart

at the moment of embarkation, they put their trunks on board of the boat, but remained at St. Louis until the

next day, for the arrival of the post, intending to join the expedition at St. Charles, a short distance above the

The same evening, however, they learned that a writ had been issued against Pierre Dorion for his whiskey

debt, by Mr. Lisa, as agent of the Missouri Company, and that it was the intention to entrap the mongrel

Upon hearing this, Mr. Bradbury and Mr. Nuttall set off a little after midnight, by land, got ahead of the boat

as it was ascending the Missouri, before its arrival at St. Charles, and gave Pierre Dorion warning of the legal

The knowing Pierre immediately landed and took to the woods, followed by his squaw laden with their

papooses, and a large bundle containing their most precious effects, promising to rejoin the party some

distance above St. Charles. There seemed little dependence to be placed upon the promises of a loose

adventurer of the kind, who was at the very time playing an evasive game with his former employers; who

had already received twothirds of his year's pay, and his rifle on his shoulder, his family and worldly

fortunes at his heels, and the wild woods before him. There was no alternative, however, and it was hoped his

The party reached St. Charles in the afternoon, but the harpies of the law looked in vain for their expected

prey. The boats resumed their course on the following morning, and had not proceeded far when Pierre

Dorion made his appearance on the shore. He was gladly taken on board, but he came without his squaw.

They had quarreled in the night; Pierre had administered the Indian discipline of the cudgel, whereupon she

had taken to the woods, with their children and all their worldly goods. Pierre evidently was deeply grieved

and disconcerted at the loss of his wife and his knapsack, whereupon Mr. Hunt despatched one of the

Canadian voyageurs in search of the fugitive; and the whole party, after proceeding a few miles further,

encamped on an island to wait his return. The Canadian rejoined the party, but without the squaw; and Pierre

Dorion passed a solitary and anxious night, bitterly regretting his indiscretion in having exercised his

conjugal authority so near home. Before daybreak, however, a wellknown voice reached his ears from the

opposite shore. It was his repentant spouse, who had been wandering the woods all night in quest of the party,

and had at length descried it by its fires. A boat was despatched for her, the interesting family was once more

united, and Mr. Hunt now flattered himself that his perplexities with Pierre Dorion were at an end.

Bad weather, very heavy rains, and an unusually early rise in the Missouri, rendered the ascent of the river

toilsome, slow, and dangerous. The rise of the Missouri does not generally take place until the month of May

or June: the present swelling of the river must have been caused by a freshet in some of its more southern

branches. It could not have been the great annual flood, as the higher branches must still have been

And here we cannot but pause, to notice the admirable arrangement of nature, by which the annual swellings

of the various great rivers which empty themselves into the Mississippi, have been made to precede each

other at considerable intervals. Thus, the flood of the Red River precedes that of the Arkansas by a month.

The Arkansas, also, rising in a much more southern latitude than the Missouri, takes the lead of it in its

annual excess, and its superabundant waters are disgorged and disposed of long before the breaking up of the

icy barriers of the north; otherwise, did all these mighty streams rise simultaneously, and discharge their

vernal floods into the Mississippi, an inundation would be the consequence, that would submerge and

On the afternoon of the third day, January, 17th, the boats touched at Charette, one of the old villages

founded by the original French colonists. Here they met with Daniel Boone, the renowned patriarch of

Kentucky, who had kept in the advance of civilization, and on the borders of the wilderness, still leading a

hunter's life, though now in his eightyfifth year. He had but recently returned from a hunting and trapping

expedition, and had brought nearly sixty beaver skins as trophies of his skill. The old man was still erect in

form, strong in limb, and unflinching in spirit, and as he stood on the river bank, watching the departure of an

expedition destined to traverse the wilderness to the very shores of the Pacific, very probably felt a throb of

his old pioneer spirit, impelling him to shoulder his rifle and join the adventurous band. Boone flourished

several years after this meeting, in a vigorous old age, the Nestor of hunters and backwoodsmen; and died,

The next morning early, as the party were yet encamped at the mouth of a small stream, they were visited by

another of these heroes of the wilderness, one John Colter, who had accompanied Lewis and Clarke in their

memorable expedition. He had recently made one of those vast internal voyages so characteristic of this

fearless class of men, and of the immense regions over which they hold their lonely wanderings; having come

from the head waters of the Missouri to St. Louis in a small canoe. This distance of three thousand miles he

had accomplished in thirty days. Colter kept with the party all the morning. He had many particulars to give

them concerning the Blackfeet Indians, a restless and predatory tribe, who had conceived an implacable

hostility to the white men, in consequence of one of their warriors having been killed by Captain Lewis,

while attempting to steal horses. Through the country infested by these savages the expedition would have to

proceed, and Colter was urgent in reiterating the precautions that ought to be observed respecting them. He

had himself experienced their vindictive cruelty, and his story deserves particular citation, as showing the

hairbreadth adventures to which these solitary rovers of the wilderness are exposed.

Colter, with the hardihood of a regular trapper, had cast himself loose from the party of Lewis and Clarke in

the very heart of the wilderness, and had remained to trap beaver alone on the head waters of the Missouri.

Here he fell in with another lonely trapper, like himself, named Potts, and they agreed to keep together. They

were in the very region of the terrible Blackfeet, at that time thirsting to revenge the death of their

companion, and knew that they had to expect no mercy at their hands. They were obliged to keep concealed

all day in the woody margins of the rivers, setting their traps after nightfall and taking them up before

daybreak. It was running a fearful risk for the sake of a few beaver skins; but such is the life of the trapper.

They were on a branch of the Missouri called Jefferson Fork, and had set their traps at night, about six miles

up a small river that emptied into the fork. Early in the morning they ascended the river in a canoe, to

examine the traps. The banks on each side were high and perpendicular, and cast a shade over the stream. As

they were softly paddling along, they heard the trampling of many feet upon the banks. Colter immediately

gave the alarm of "Indians!" and was for instant retreat. Potts scoffed at him for being frightened by the

trampling of a herd of buffaloes. Colter checked his uneasiness and paddled forward. They had not gone

much further when frightful whoops and yells burst forth from each side of the river, and several hundred

Indians appeared on either bank. Signs were made to the unfortunate trappers to come on shore. They were

obliged to comply. Before they could get out of their canoe, a savage seized the rifle belonging to Potts.

Colter sprang on shore, wrestled the weapon from the hands of the Indian, and restored it to his companion,

who was still in the canoe, and immediately pushed into the stream. There was the sharp twang of a bow, and

Potts cried out that he was wounded. Colter urged him to come on shore and submit, as his only chance for

life; but the other knew there was no prospect of mercy, and determined to die game. Leveling his rifle, he

shot one of the savages dead on the spot. The next moment he fell himself, pierced with innumerable arrows.

The vengeance of the savages now turned upon Colter. He was stripped naked, and, having some knowledge

of the Blackfoot language, overheard a consultation as to the mode of despatching him, so as to derive the

greatest amusement from his death. Some were for setting him up as a mark, and having a trial of skill at his

expense. The chief, however, was for nobler sport. He seized Colter by the shoulder, and demanded if he

could run fast. The unfortunate trapper was too well acquainted with Indian customs not to comprehend the

drift of the question. He knew he was to run for his life, to furnish a kind of human hunt to his persecutors.

Though in reality he was noted among his brother hunters for swiftness of foot, he assured the chief that he

was a very bad runner. His stratagem gained him some vantage ground. He was led by the chief into the

prairie, about four hundred yards from the main body of savages, and then turned loose to save himself if he

could. A tremendous yell let him know that the whole pack of bloodhounds were off in full cry. Colter flew

rather than ran; he was astonished at his own speed; but he had six miles of prairie to traverse before he

should reach the Jefferson Fork of the Missouri; how could he hope to hold out such a distance with the

fearful odds of several hundred to one against him! The plain, too, abounded with the prickly pear, which

wounded his naked feet. Still he fled on, dreading each moment to hear the twang of a bow, and to feel an

arrow quivering at his heart. He did not even dare to look round, lest he should lose an inch of that distance

on which his life depended. He had run nearly half way across the plain when the sound of pursuit grew

somewhat fainter, and he ventured to turn his head. The main body of his pursuers were a considerable

distance behind; several of the fastest runners were scattered in the advance; while a swiftfooted warrior,

Inspired with new hope, Colter redoubled his exertions, but strained himself to such a degree, that the blood

gushed from his mouth and nostrils, and streamed down his breast. He arrived within a mile of the river. The

sound of footsteps gathered upon him. A glance behind showed his pursuer within twenty yards, and

preparing to launch his spear. Stopping short he turned round and spread out his arms. The savage,

confounded by this sudden action, attempted to stop and hurl his spear, but fell in the very act. His spear

stuck in the ground, and the shaft broke in his hand. Colter plucked up the pointed part, pinned the savage to

the earth, and continued his flight. The Indians, as they arrived at their slaughtered companion, stopped to

howl over him. Colter made the most of this precious delay, gained the skirt of cottonwood bordering the

river, dashed through it, and plunged into the stream. He swam to a neighboring island, against the upper end

of which the driftwood had lodged in such quantities as to form a natural raft; under this he dived, and swam

below water until he succeeded in getting a breathing place between the floating trunks of trees, whose

branches and bushes formed a covert several feet above the level of the water. He had scarcely drawn breath

after all his toils, when he heard his pursuers on the river bank, whooping and yelling like so many fiends.

They plunged in the river, and swam to the raft. The heart of Colter almost died within him as he saw them,

through the chinks of his concealment, passing and repassing, and seeking for him in all directions. They at

length gave up the search, and he began to rejoice in his escape, when the idea presented itself that they might

set the raft on fire. Here was a new source of horrible apprehension, in which he remained until nightfall.

Fortunately the idea did not suggest itself to the Indians. As soon as it was dark, finding by the silence around

that his pursuers had departed, Colter dived again and came up beyond the raft. He then swam silently down

the river for a considerable distance, when he landed, and kept on all night, to get as far as possible from this

By daybreak he had gained sufficient distance to relieve him from the terrors of his savage foes; but now new

sources of inquietude presented themselves. He was naked and alone, in the midst of an unbounded

wilderness; his only chance was to reach a trading post of the Missouri Company, situated on a branch of the

Yellowstone River. Even should he elude his pursuers, days must elapse before he could reach this post,

during which he must traverse immense prairies destitute of shade, his naked body exposed to the burning

heat of the sun by day, and the dews and chills of the night season, and his feet lacerated by the thorns of the

prickly pear. Though he might see game in abundance around him, he had no means of killing any for his

sustenance, and must depend for food upon the roots of the earth. In defiance of these difficulties he pushed

resolutely forward, guiding himself in his trackless course by those signs and indications known only to

Indians and backwoodsmen; and after braving dangers and hardships enough to break down any spirit but

that of a western pioneer, arrived safe at the solitary post in question. * (* Bradbury, Travels in America, p.

Such is a sample of the rugged experience which Colter had to relate of savage life; yet, with all these perils

and terrors fresh in his recollection, he could not see the present band on their way to those regions of danger

and adventure, without feeling a vehement impulse to join them. A western trapper is like a sailor; past

hazards only stimulate him to further risks. The vast prairie is to the one what the ocean is to the other, a

boundless field of enterprise and exploit. However he may have suffered in his last cruise, he is always ready

to join a new expedition; and the more adventurous its nature, the more attractive is it to his vagrant spirit.

Nothing seems to have kept Colter from continuing with the party to the shores of the Pacific but the

circumstances of his having recently married. All the morning he kept with them, balancing in his mind the

charms of his bride against those of the Rocky Mountains; the former, however, prevailed, and after a march

of several miles, he took a reluctant leave of the travellers, and turned his face homeward.

Continuing their progress up the Missouri, the party encamped on the evening of the 21st of March, in the

neighborhood of a little frontier village of French creoles. Here Pierre Dorion met with some of his old

comrades, with whom he had a long gossip, and returned to the camp with rumors of bloody feuds between

the Osages and the loways, or Ayaways, Potowatomies, Sioux, and Sawkees. Blood had already been shed,

and scalps been taken. A war party, three hundred strong, were prowling in the neighborhood; others might

be met with higher up the river; it behooved the travellers, therefore, to be upon their guard against robbery or

In consequence of this report, which was subsequently confirmed by further intelligence, a guard was kept up

at night round the encampment, and they all slept on their arms. As they were sixteen in number, and well

supplied with weapons and ammunition, they trusted to be able to give any marauding party a warm

reception. Nothing occurred, however, to molest them on their voyage, and on the 8th of April they came in

sight of Fort Osage. On their approach the flag was hoisted on the fort, and they saluted it by a discharge of

firearms. Within a short distance of the fort was an Osage village, the inhabitants of which, men, women,

and children, thronged down to the water side to witness their landing. One of the first persons they met on

the river bank was Mr. Crooks, who had come down in a boat, with nine men, from their winter encampment

They remained at Fort Osage a part of three days, during which they were hospitably entertained at the

garrison by Lieutenant Brownson, who held a temporary command. They were regaled also with a warfeast

at the village; the Osage warriors having returned from a successful foray against the loways, in which they

had taken seven scalps. They were paraded on poles about the village, followed by the warriors decked out in

By the Osage warriors, Mr. Hunt and his companions were again warned to be on their guard in ascending the

On the 10th of April they again embarked their party, being now augmented to twentysix, by the addition of

Mr. Crooks and his boat's crew. They had not proceeded far, however, when there was a great outcry from

one of the boats; it was occasioned by a little domestic discipline in the Dorion family. The squaw of the

worthy interpreter, it appeared, had been so delighted with the scalpdance, and other festivities of the Osage

village, that she had taken a strong inclination to remain there. This had been as strongly opposed by her liege

lord, who had compelled her to embark. The good dame had remained sulky ever since, whereupon Pierre,

seeing no other mode of exorcising the evil spirit out of her, and being, perhaps, a little inspired by whiskey,

had resorted to the Indian remedy of the cudgel, and before his neighbors could interfere, had belabored her

so soundly, that there is no record of her having shown any refractory symptoms throughout the remainder of

For a week they continued their voyage, exposed to almost incessant rains. The bodies of drowned buffaloes

floated past them in vast numbers; many had drifted upon the shore, or against the upper ends of the rafts and

islands. These had attracted great flights of turkeybuzzards; some were banqueting on the carcasses, others

were soaring far aloft in the sky, and others were perched on the trees, with their backs to the sun, and their

wings stretched out to dry, like so many vessels in harbor, spreading their sails after a shower.

The turkeybuzzard (vultur aura, or golden vulture), when on the wing, is one of the most specious and

imposing of birds. Its flight in the upper regions of the air is really sublime, extending its immense wings, and

wheeling slowly and majestically to and fro, seemingly without exerting a muscle or fluttering a feather, but

moving by mere volition, and sailing on the bosom of the air, as a ship upon the ocean. Usurping the

empyreal realm of the eagle, he assumes for a time the port and dignity of that majestic bird, and often is

mistaken for him by ignorant crawlers upon the earth. It is only when he descends from the clouds to pounce

upon carrion that he betrays his low propensities, and reveals his caitiff character. Near at hand he is a

On the 17th of April Mr. Hunt arrived with his party at the station near the Nodowa River, where the main

THE weather continued rainy and ungenial for some days after Mr. Hunt's return to Nodowa; yet spring was

rapidly advancing and vegetation was putting forth with all its early freshness and beauty. The snakes began

to recover from their torpor and crawl forth into day; and the neighborhood of the wintering house seems to

have been much infested with them. Mr. Bradbury, in the course of his botanical researches, found a

surprising number in a half torpid state, under flat stones upon the banks which overhung the cantonment, and

narrowly escaped being struck by a rattlesnake, which darted at him from a cleft in the rock, but fortunately

The pigeons, too, were filling the woods in vast migratory flocks. It is almost incredible to describe the

prodigious flights of these birds in the western wildernesses. They appear absolutely in clouds, and move

with astonishing velocity, their wings making a whistling sound as they fly. The rapid evolutions of these

flocks wheeling and shifting suddenly as if with one mind and one impulse; the flashing changes of color

they present, as their backs' their breasts, or the under part of their wings are turned to the spectator, are

singularly pleasing. When they alight, if on the ground, they cover whole acres at a time; if upon trees, the

branches often break beneath their weight. If suddenly startled while feeding in the midst of a forest, the

noise they make in getting on the wing is like the roar of a cataract or the sound of distant thunder.

A flight of this kind, like an Egyptian flight of locusts, devours everything that serves for its food as it passes

along. So great were the numbers in the vicinity of the camp that Mr. Bradbury, in the course of a morning's

excursion, shot nearly three hundred with a fowlingpiece. He gives a curious, though apparently a faithful,

account of the kind of discipline observed in these immense flocks, so that each may have a chance of

picking up food. As the front ranks must meet with the greatest abundance, and the rear ranks must have

scanty pickings, the instant a rank finds itself the hindmost, it rises in the air, flies over the whole flock and

takes its place in the advance. The next rank follows in its course, and thus the last is continually becoming

The rains having at length subsided, Mr. Hunt broke up the encampment and resumed his course up the

The party now consisted of nearly sixty persons, of whom five were partners, one, John Reed, was a clerk;

forty were Canadian "voyageurs," or "engages," and there were several hunters. They embarked in four boats,

one of which was of a large size, mounting a swivel, and two howitzers. All were furnished with masts and

sails, to be used when the wind was sufficiently favorable and strong to overpower the current of the river.

Such was the case for the first four or five days, when they were wafted steadily up the stream by a strong

Their encampments at night were often pleasant and picturesque: on some beautiful bank, beneath spreading

trees, which afforded them shelter and fuel. The tents were pitched, the fires made, and the meals prepared by

the voyageurs, and many a story was told, and joke passed, and song sung round the evening fire. All,

however, were asleep at an early hour. Some under the tents, others wrapped in blankets before the fire, or

On the 28th, they breakfasted on one of the islands which lie at the mouth of the Nebraska or Platte River

the largest tributary of the Missouri, and about six hundred miles above its confluence with the Mississippi.

This broad but shallow stream flows for an immense distance through a wide and verdant valley scooped out

of boundless prairies. It draws its main supplies, by several forks or branches, from the Rocky Mountains.

The mouth of this river is established as the dividing point between the upper and lower Missouri; and the

earlier voyagers, in their toilsome ascent, before the introduction of steamboats, considered onehalf of their

labors accomplished when they reached this place. The passing of the mouth of the Nebraska, therefore, was

equivalent among boatmen to the crossing of the line among sailors, and was celebrated with like ceremonials

of a rough and waggish nature, practiced upon the uninitiated; among which was the old nautical joke of

shaving. The river deities, however, like those of the sea, were to be propitiated by a bribe, and the infliction

At the mouth of the Nebraska new signs were met with of war parties which had recently been in the vicinity.

There was the frame of a skin canoe, in which the warriors had traversed the river. At night, also, the lurid

reflection of immense fires hung in the sky, showing the conflagration of great tracts of the prairies. Such

fires not being made by hunters so late in the season, it was supposed they were caused by some wandering

war parties. These often take the precaution to set the prairies on fire behind them to conceal their traces from

their enemies. This is chiefly done when the party has been unsuccessful, and is on the retreat and

apprehensive of pursuit. At such time it is not safe even for friends to fall in with them, as they are apt to be

in savage humor, and disposed to vent their spleen in capricious outrage. These signs, therefore, of a band of

marauders on the prowl, called for some degree of vigilance on the part of the travellers.

After passing the Nebraska, the party halted for part of two days on the bank of the river, a little above

Papillion Creek, to supply themselves with a stock of oars and poles from the tough wood of the ash, which is

not met with higher up the Missouri. While the voyagers were thus occupied, the naturalists rambled over the

adjacent country to collect plants. From the summit of a range of bluffs on the opposite side of the river,

about two hundred and fifty feet high, they had one of those vast and magnificent prospects which sometimes

unfold themselves in those boundless regions. Below them was the Valley of the Missouri, about seven miles

in breadth, clad in the fresh verdure of spring; enameled with flowers and interspersed with clumps and

groves of noble trees, between which the mighty river poured its turbulent and turbid stream. The interior of

the country presented a singular scene; the immense waste being broken up by innumerable green hills, not

above eight feet in height, but extremely steep, and actually pointed at their summits. A long line of bluffs

extended for upwards of thirty miles parallel to the Missouri, with a shallow lake stretching along their base,

which had evidently once formed a bed of the river. The surface of this lake was covered with aquatic plants,

on the broad leaves of which numbers of watersnakes, drawn forth by the genial warmth of spring, were

On the 2d day of May, at the usual hour of embarking, the camp was thrown into some confusion by two of

the hunters, named Harrington, expressing their intention to abandon the expedition and return home. One of

these had joined the party in the preceding autumn, having been hunting for two years on the Missouri; the

other had engaged at St. Louis, in the following March, and had come up from thence with Mr. Hunt. He now

declared that he had enlisted merely for the purpose of following his brother, and persuading him to return;

having been enjoined to do so by his mother, whose anxiety had been awakened by the idea of his going on

The loss of two stark hunters and prime riflemen was a serious affair to the party, for they were approaching

the region where they might expect hostilities from the Sioux; indeed, throughout the whole of their perilous

journey, the services of such men would be all important, for little reliance was to be placed upon the valor of

the Canadians in case of attack. Mr. Hunt endeavored by arguments, expostulations, and entreaties, to shake

the determination of the two brothers. He represented to them that they were between six and seven hundred

miles above the mouth of the Missouri; that they would have four hundred miles to go before they could

reach the habitation of a white man, throughout which they would be exposed to all kinds of risks; since, he

declared, if they persisted in abandoning him and breaking their faith, he would not furnish them with a

single round of ammunition. All was in vain; they obstinately persisted in their resolution; whereupon, Mr.

Hunt, partly incited by indignation, partly by the policy of deterring others from desertion, put his threat into

execution, and left them to find their way back to the settlements without, as he supposed, a single bullet or

The boats now continued their slow and toilsome course for several days, against the current of the river. The

late signs of roaming war parties caused a vigilant watch to be kept up at night when the crews encamped on

shore; nor was this vigilance superfluous; for on the night of the seventh instant, there was a wild and fearful

yell, and eleven Sioux warriors, stark naked, with tomahawks in their hands, rushed into the camp. They were

instantly surrounded and seized, whereupon their leader called out to his followers to desist from any

violence, and pretended to be perfectly pacific in his intentions. It proved, however, that they were a part of

the war party, the skeleton of whose canoe had been seen at the mouth of the river Platte, and the reflection of

whose fires had been descried in the air. They had been disappointed or defeated in the foray, and in their

rage and mortification these eleven warriors had "devoted their clothes to the medicine." This is a desperate

act of Indian braves when foiled in war, and in dread of scoffs and sneers. In such case they sometimes threw

off their clothes and ornaments, devote themselves to the Great Spirit, and attempt some reckless exploit with

which to cover their disgrace. Woe to any defenseless party of white men that may then fall in their way!

Such was the explanation given by Pierre Dorion, the halfbreed interpreter, of this wild intrusion into the

camp; and the party were so exasperated when appraised of the sanguinary intentions of the prisoners, that

they were for shooting them on the spot. Mr. Hunt, however, exerted his usual moderation and humanity, and

ordered that they should be conveyed across the river in one of the boats, threatening them however, with

On the 10th of May the party arrived at the Omaha (pronounced Omawhaw) village, about eight hundred and

thirty miles above the mouth of the Missouri, and encamped in its neighborhood. The village was situated

under a hill on the bank of the river, and consisted of about eighty lodges. These were of a circular and

conical form, and about sixteen feet in diameter; being mere tents of dressed buffalo skins, sewed together

and stretched on long poles, inclined towards each other so as to cross at about half their height. Thus the

naked tops of the poles diverge in such a manner that, if they were covered with skins like the lower ends, the

tent would be shaped like an hourglass, and present the appearance of one cone inverted on the apex of

The forms of Indian lodges are worthy of attention, each tribe having a different mode of shaping and

arranging them, so that it is easy to tell, on seeing a lodge or an encampment at a distance, to what tribe the

inhabitants belong. The exterior of the Omaha lodges have often a gay and fanciful appearance, being painted

with undulating bands of red or yellow, or decorated with rude figures of horses, deer, and buffaloes, and

The Omahas were once one of the numerous and powerful tribes of the prairies, vying in warlike might and

prowess with the Sioux, the Pawnees, the Sauks, the Konsas, and the Iatans. Their wars with the Sioux,

however, had thinned their ranks, and the small pox in 1802 had swept off two thirds of their number. At the

time of Mr. Hunt's visit they still boasted about two hundred warriors and hunters, but they are now fast

melting away, and before long, will be numbered among those extinguished nations of the west that exist but

In his correspondence with Mr. Astor, from this point of his journey, Mr. Hunt gives a sad account of the

Indian tribes bordering on the river. They were in continual war with each other, and their wars were of the

most harassing kind; consisting, not merely of main conflicts and expeditions of moment, involving the

sackings, burnings, and massacres of towns and villages, but of individual acts of treachery, murder, and

coldblooded cruelty; or of vaunting and foolhardy exploits of single warriors, either to avenge some

personal wrong, or gain the vainglorious trophy of a scalp. The lonely hunter, the wandering wayfarer, the

poor squaw cutting wood or gathering corn, was liable to be surprised and slaughtered. In this way tribes

were either swept away at once, or gradually thinned out, and savage life was surrounded with constant

horrors and alarms. That the race of red men should diminish from year to year, and so few should survive of

the numerous nations which evidently once peopled the vast regions of the west, is nothing surprising; it is

rather matter of surprise that so many should survive; for the existence of a savage in these parts seems little

better than a prolonged and allbesetting death. It is, in fact, a caricature of the boasted romance of feudal

times; chivalry in its native and uncultured state, and knighterrantry run wild.

In their most prosperous days, the Omahas looked upon themselves as the most powerful and perfect of

human beings, and considered all created things as made for their peculiar use and benefit. It is this tribe of

whose chief, the famous Washingguhsahba, or Blackbird, such savage and romantic stories are told. He

had died about ten years previous to the arrival of Mr. Hunt's party, but his name was still mentioned with

awe by his people. He was one of the first among the Indian chiefs on the Missouri to deal with the white

traders, and showed great sagacity in levying his royal dues. When a trader arrived in his village, he caused

all his goods to be brought into his lodge and opened. From these he selected whatever suited his sovereign

pleasure; blankets, tobacco, whiskey, powder, ball, beads, and red paint; and laid the articles on one side,

without deigning to give any compensation. Then calling to him his herald or crier, he would order him to

mount on top of the lodge and summon all the tribe to bring in their peltries, and trade with the white man.

The lodge would soon be crowded with Indians bringing bear, beaver, otter, and other skins. No one was

allowed to dispute the prices fixed by the white trader upon his articles; who took care to indemnify himself

five times over for the goods set apart by the chief. In this way the Blackbird enriched himself, and enriched

the white men, and became exceedingly popular among the traders of the Missouri. His people, however,

were not equally satisfied by a regulation of trade which worked so manifestly against them, and began to

show signs of discontent. Upon this a crafty and unprincipled trader revealed a secret to the Blackbird, by

which he might acquire unbounded sway over his ignorant and superstitious subjects. He instructed him in

the poisonous qualities of arsenic, and furnished him with an ample supply of that baneful drug. From this

time the Blackbird seemed endowed with supernatural powers, to possess the gift of prophecy, and to hold

the disposal of life and death within his hands. Woe to any one who questioned his authority or dared to

dispute his commands! The Blackbird prophesied his death within a certain time, and he had the secret means

of verifying his prophecy. Within the fated period the offender was smitten with strange and sudden disease,

and perished from the face of the earth. Every one stood aghast at these multiplied examples of his

superhuman might, and dreaded to displease so omnipotent and vindictive a being; and the Blackbird enjoyed

It was not, however, by terror alone that he ruled his people; he was a warrior of the first order, and his

exploits in arms were the theme of young and old. His career had begun by hardships, having been taken

prisoner by the Sioux, in early youth. Under his command, the Omahas obtained great character for military

prowess, nor did he permit an insult or an injury to one of his tribe to pass unrevenged. The Pawnee

republicans had inflicted a gross indignity on a favorite and distinguished Omaha brave. The Blackbird

assembled his warriors, led them against the Pawnee town, attacked it with irresistible fury, slaughtered a

great number of its inhabitants, and burnt it to the ground. He waged fierce and bloody war against the Ottoes

for many years, until peace was effected between them by the mediation of the whites. Fearless in battle, and

fond of signalizing himself, he dazzled his followers by daring acts. In attacking a Kanza village, he rode

singly round it, loading and discharging his rifle at the inhabitants as he galloped past them. He kept up in

war the same idea of mysterious and supernatural power. At one time, when pursuing a war party by their

tracks across the prairies, he repeatedly discharged his rifle into the prints made by their feet and by the hoofs

of their horses, assuring his followers that he would thereby cripple the fugitives, so that they would easily be

overtaken. He in fact did overtake them, and destroyed them almost to a man; and his victory was considered

miraculous, both by friends and foe. By these and similar exploits, he made himself the pride and boast of his

people, and became popular among them, notwithstanding his deathdenouncing fiat.

With all his savage and terrific qualities, he was sensible of the power of female beauty, and capable of love.

A war party of the Poncas had made a foray into the lands of the Omahas, and carried off a number of women

and horses. The Blackbird was roused to fury, and took the field with all his braves, swearing to "eat up the

Ponca nation" the Indian threat of exterminating war. The Poncas, sorely pressed, took refuge behind a rude

bulwark of earth; but the Blackbird kept up so galling a fire, that he seemed likely to execute his menace. In

their extremity they sent forth a herald, bearing the calumet or pipe of peace, but he was shot down by order

of the Blackbird. Another herald was sent forth in similar guise, but he shared a like fate. The Ponca chief

then, as a last hope, arrayed his beautiful daughter in her finest ornaments, and sent her forth with a calumet,

to sue for peace. The charms of the Indian maid touched the stern heart of the Blackbird; he accepted the pipe

at her hand, smoked it, and from that time a peace took place between the Poncas and the Omahas.

This beautiful damsel, in all probability, was the favorite wife whose fate makes so tragic an incident in the

story of the Blackbird. Her youth and beauty had gained an absolute sway over his rugged heart, so that he

distinguished her above all of his other wives. The habitual gratification of his vindictive impulses, however,

had taken away from him all mastery over his passions, and rendered him liable to the most furious transports

of rage. In one of these his beautiful wife had the misfortune to offend him, when suddenly drawing his knife,

In an instant his frenzy was at an end. He gazed for a time in mute bewilderment upon his victim; then

drawing his buffalo robe over his head, he sat down beside the corpse, and remained brooding over his crime

and his loss. Three days elapsed, yet the chief continued silent and motionless; tasting no food, and

apparently sleepless. It was apprehended that he intended to starve himself to death; his people approached

him in trembling awe, and entreated him once more to uncover his face and be comforted; but he remained

unmoved. At length one of his warriors brought in a small child, and laying it on the ground, placed the foot

of the Blackbird upon its neck. The heart of the gloomy savage was touched by this appeal; he threw aside his

robe; made an harangue upon what he had done; and from that time forward seemed to have thrown the load

He still retained his fatal and mysterious secret, and with it his terrific power; but, though able to deal death

to his enemies, he could not avert it from himself or his friends. In 1802 the smallpox, that dreadful

pestilence, which swept over the land like a fire over the prairie, made its appearance in the village of the

Omahas. The poor savages saw with dismay the ravages of a malady, loathsome and agonizing in its details,

and which set the skill and experience of their conjurors and medicine men at defiance. In a little while, two

thirds of the population were swept from the face of the earth, and the doom of the rest seemed sealed. The

stoicism of the warriors was at an end; they became wild and desperate; some set fire to the village as a last

means of checking the pestilence; others, in a frenzy of despair, put their wives and children to death, that

they might be spared the agonies of an inevitable disease, and that they might all go to some better country.

When the general horror and dismay was at its height, the Blackbird himself was struck down with the

malady. The poor savages, when they saw their chief in danger, forgot their own miseries, and surrounded his

dying bed. His dominant spirit, and his love for the white men, were evinced in his latest breath, with which

he designated his place of sepulture. It was to be on a hill or promontory, upwards of four hundred feet in

height, overlooking a great extent of the Missouri, from whence he had been accustomed to watch for the

barks of the white men. The Missouri washes the base of the promontory, and after winding and doubling in

many links and mazes in the plain below, returns to within nine hundred yards of its startingplace; so that

for thirty miles navigating with sail and oar the voyager finds himself continually near to this singular

It was the dying command of the Blackbird that his tomb should be on the summit of this hill, in which he

should be interred, seated on his favorite horse, that he might overlook his ancient domain, and behold the

His dying orders were faithfully obeyed. His corpse was placed astride of his warsteed and a mound raised

over them on the summit of the hill. On top of the mound was erected a staff, from which fluttered the banner

of the chieftain, and the scalps that he had taken in battle. When the expedition under Mr. Hunt visited that

part of the country, the staff still remained, with the fragments of the banner; and the superstitious rite of

placing food from time to time on the mound, for the use of the deceased, was still observed by the Omahas.

That rite has since fallen into disuse, for the tribe itself is almost extinct. Yet the hill of the Blackbird

continues an object of veneration to the wandering savage, and a landmark to the voyager of the Missouri;

and as the civilized traveller comes within sight of its spellbound crest, the mound is pointed out to him

from afar, which still incloses the grim skeletons of the Indian warrior and his horse.

WHILE Mr. Hunt and his party were sojourning at the village of the Omahas, three Sioux Indians of the

Yankton Alma tribe arrived, bringing unpleasant intelligence. They reported that certain bands of the Sioux

Tetons, who inhabited a region many leagues further up the Missouri, were near at hand, awaiting the

The Sioux Tetons were at that time a sort of pirates of the Missouri, who considered the well freighted bark

of the American trader fair game. They had their own traffic with the British merchants of the Northwest,

who brought them regular supplies of merchandise by way of the river St. Peter. Being thus independent of

the Missouri traders for their supplies, they kept no terms with them, but plundered them whenever they had

an opportunity. It has been insinuated that they were prompted to these outrages by the British merchants,

who wished to keep off all rivals in the Indian trade; but others allege another motive, and one savoring of a

deeper policy. The Sioux, by their intercourse with the British traders, had acquired the use of firearms,

which had given them vast superiority over other tribes higher up the Missouri. They had made themselves

also, in a manner, factors for the upper tribes, supplying them at second hand, and at greatly advanced prices,

with goods derived from the white men. The Sioux, therefore, saw with jealousy the American traders

pushing their way up the Missouri; foreseeing that the upper tribes would thus be relieved from all

dependence on them for supplies; nay, what was worse, would be furnished with firearms, and elevated into

We have already alluded to a case in which Mr. Crooks and Mr. M'Lellan had been interrupted in a trading

voyage by these ruffians of the river, and, as it is in some degree connected with circumstances hereafter to

About two years before the time of which we are treating, Crooks and M'Lellan were ascending the river in

boats with a party of about forty men, bound on one of their trading expeditions to the upper tribes. In one of

the bends of the river, where the channel made a deep curve under impending banks, they suddenly heard

yells and shouts above them, and beheld the cliffs overhead covered with armed savages. It was a band of

Sioux warriors, upwards of six hundred strong. They brandished their weapons in a menacing manner, and

ordered the boats to turn back and land lower down the river. There was no disputing these commands, for

they had the power to shower destruction upon the white men, without risk to themselves. Crooks and

M'Lellan, therefore, turned back with feigned alacrity, and, landing, had an interview with the Sioux. The

latter forbade them, under pain of exterminating hostility, from attempting to proceed up the river, but offered

to trade peacefully with them if they would halt where they were. The party, being principally composed of

voyageurs, was too weak to contend with so superior a force, and one so easily augmented; they pretended,

therefore, to comply cheerfully with their arbitrary dictation, and immediately proceeded to cut down trees

and erect a trading house. The warrior band departed for their village, which was about twenty miles distant,

to collect objects of traffic; they left six or eight of their number, however, to keep watch upon the white men,

Mr. Crooks saw that it would be impossible to prosecute his voyage without the danger of having his boats

plundered, and a great part of his men massacred; he determined, however, not to be entirely frustrated in the

objects of his expedition. While he continued, therefore, with great apparent earnestness and assiduity, the

construction of the trading house, he despatched the hunters and trappers of his party in a canoe, to make their

way up the river to the original place of destination, there to busy themselves in trapping and collecting

As soon as the detachment had had sufficient time to ascend beyond the hostile country of the Sioux, Mr.

Crooks suddenly broke up his feigned trading establishment, embarked his men and effects, and, after giving

the astonished rearguard of savages a galling and indignant message to take to their countrymen, pushed

down the river with all speed, sparing neither oar nor paddle, day nor night, until fairly beyond the swoop of

What increased the irritation of Messrs. Crooks and M'Lellan, at this mortifying check to their gainful

enterprise, was the information that a rival trader was at the bottom of it; the Sioux, it is said, having been

instigated to this outrage by Mr. Manuel Lisa, the leading partner and agent of the Missouri Fur Company,

already mentioned. This intelligence, whether true or false, so roused the fiery temper of M'Lellan, that he

swore, if ever he fell in with Lisa in the Indian country, he would shoot him on the spot; a mode of redress

perfectly in unison with the character of the man, and the code of honor prevalent beyond the frontier.

If Crooks and M'Lellan had been exasperated by the insolent conduct of the Sioux Tetons, and the loss which

it had occasioned, those freebooters had been no less indignant at being outwitted by the white men, and

disappointed of their anticipated gains, and it was apprehended they would be particularly hostile against the

present expedition, when they should learn that these gentlemen were engaged in it.

All these causes of uneasiness were concealed as much as possible from the Canadian voyageurs, lest they

should become intimidated; it was impossible, however, to prevent the rumors brought by the Indians from

leaking out, and they became subjects of gossiping and exaggeration. The chief of the Omahas, too, on

returning from a hunting excursion, reported that two men had been killed some distance above, by a band of

Sioux. This added to the fears that already began to be excited. The voyageurs pictured to themselves bands

of fierce warriors stationed along each bank of the river, by whom they would be exposed to be shot down in

their boats: or lurking hordes, who would set on them at night, and massacre them in their encampments.

Some lost heart, and proposed to return, rather than fight their way, and, in a manner, run the gauntlet through

the country of these piratical marauders. In fact, three men deserted while at this village. Luckily, their place

was supplied by three others who happened to be there, and who were prevailed on to join the expedition by

promises of liberal pay, and by being fitted out and equipped in complete style.

The irresolution and discontent visible among some of his people, arising at times almost to mutiny, and the

occasional desertions which took place while thus among friendly tribes, and within reach of the frontiers,

added greatly to the anxieties of Mr. Hunt, and rendered him eager to press forward and leave a hostile tract

behind him, so that it would be as perilous to return as to keep on, and no one would dare to desert.

Accordingly, on the 15th of May he departed from the village of the Omahas, and set forward towards the

country of the formidable Sioux Tetons. For the first five days they had a fair and fresh breeze, and the boats

made good progress. The wind then came ahead, and the river beginning to rise, and to increase in rapidity,

betokened the commencement of the annual flood, caused by the melting of the snow on the Rocky

As they were now entering a region where foes might be lying in wait on either bank, it was determined, in

hunting for game, to confine themselves principally to the islands, which sometimes extend to considerable

length, and are beautifully wooded, affording abundant pasturage and shade. On one of these they killed three

buffaloes and two elks, and halting on the edge of a beautiful prairie, made a sumptuous hunter's repast. They

had not long resumed their boats and pulled along the river banks when they descried a canoe approaching,

navigated by two men, whom, to their surprise, they ascertained to be white men. They proved to be two of

those strange and fearless wanderers of the wilderness, the trappers. Their names were Benjamin Jones and

Alexander Carson. They had been for two years past hunting and trapping near the head of the Missouri, and

were thus floating for thousands of miles in a cockleshell, down a turbulent stream, through regions infested

by savage tribes, yet apparently as easy and unconcerned as if navigating securely in the midst of civilization.

The acquisition of two such hardy, experienced, and dauntless hunters was peculiarly desirable at the present

moment. They needed but little persuasion. The wilderness is the home of the trapper; like the sailor, he cares

but little to which point of the compass he steers; and Jones and Carson readily abandoned their voyage to St.

The two naturalists, Mr. Bradbury and Mr. Nuttall, who had joined the expedition at St. Louis, still

accompanied it, and pursued their researches on all occasions. Mr. Nuttall seems to have been exclusively

devoted to his scientific pursuits. He was a zealous botanist, and all his enthusiasm was awakened at

beholding a new world, as it were, opening upon him in the boundless prairies, clad in the vernal and

variegated robe of unknown flowers. Whenever the boats landed at meal times, or for any temporary purpose,

he would spring on shore, and set out on a hunt for new specimens. Every plant or flower of a rare or

unknown species was eagerly seized as a prize. Delighted with the treasures spreading themselves out before

him, he went groping and stumbling along among the wilderness of sweets, forgetful of everything but his

immediate pursuit, and had often to be sought after when the boats were about to resume their course. At such

times he would be found far off in the prairies, or up the course of some petty stream, laden with plants of all

The Canadian voyageurs, who are a class of people that know nothing out of their immediate line, and with

constitutional levity make a jest of anything they cannot understand, were extremely puzzled by this passion

for collecting what they considered mere useless weeds. When they saw the worthy botanist coming back

heavy laden with his specimens, and treasuring them up as carefully as a miser would his hoard, they used to

make merry among themselves at his expense, regarding him as some whimsical kind of madman.

Mr. Bradbury was less exclusive in his tastes and habits, and combined the hunter and sportsman with the

naturalist. He took his rifle or his fowlingpiece with him in his geological researches, conformed to the

hardy and rugged habits of the men around him, and of course gained favor in their eyes. He had a strong

relish for incident and adventure, was curious in observing savage manners, and savage life, and ready to join

any hunting or other excursion. Even now, that the expedition was proceeding through a dangerous

neighborhood, he could not check his propensity to ramble. Having observed, on the evening of the 22d of

May, that the river ahead made a great bend which would take up the navigation of the following day, he

determined to profit by the circumstance. On the morning of the 23d, therefore, instead of embarking, he

filled his shotpouch with parched corn, for provisions, and set off to cross the neck on foot and meet the

boats in the afternoon at the opposite side of the bend. Mr. Hunt felt uneasy at his venturing thus alone, and

reminded him that he was in an enemy's country; but Mr. Bradbury made light of the danger, and started off

cheerily upon his ramble. His day was passed pleasantly in traversing a beautiful tract, making botanical and

geological researches, and observing the habits of an extensive village of prairie dogs, at which he made

several ineffectual shots, without considering the risk he ran of attracting the attention of any savages that

might be lurking in the neighborhood. In fact he had totally forgotten the Sioux Tetons, and all the other

perils of the country, when, about the middle of the afternoon, as he stood near the river bank, and was

looking out for the boat, he suddenly felt a hand laid on his shoulder. Starting and turning round, he beheld a

naked savage with a bow bent, and the arrow pointed at his breast. In an instant his gun was leveled and his

hand upon the lock. The Indian drew his bow still further, but forbore to launch the shaft. Mr. Bradbury, with

admirable presence of mind, reflected that the savage, if hostile in his intents, would have shot him without

giving him a chance of defense; he paused, therefore, and held out his hand. The other took it in sign of

friendship, and demanded in the Osage language whether he was a Big Knife, or American. He answered in

the affirmative, and inquired whether the other were a Sioux. To his great relief he found that he was a Ponca.

By his time two other Indians came running up, and all three laid hold of Mr. Bradbury and seemed disposed

to compel him to go off with them among the hills. He resisted, and sitting down on a sand hill contrived to

amuse them with a pocket compass. When the novelty of this was exhausted they again seized him, but he

now produced a small microscope. This new wonder again fixed the attention of the savages, who have more

curiosity than it has been the custom to allow them. While thus engaged, one of them suddenly leaped up and

gave a warwhoop. The hand of the hardy naturalist was again on his gun, and he was prepared to make

battle, when the Indian pointed down the river and revealed the true cause of his yell. It was the mast of one

of the boats appearing above the low willows which bordered the stream. Mr. Bradbury felt infinitely relieved

by the sight. The Indians on their part now showed signs of apprehension, and were disposed to run away; but

he assured them of good treatment and something to drink if they would accompany him on board of the

On the following morning they appeared at camp accompanied by several of their tribe. With them came also

a white man, who announced himself as a messenger bearing missives for Mr. Hunt. In fact he brought a

letter from Mr. Manuel Lisa, partner and agent of the Missouri Fur Company. As has already been

mentioned, this gentleman was going in search of Mr. Henry and his party, who had been dislodged from the

forks of the Missouri by the Blackfeet Indians, and had shifted his post somewhere beyond the Rocky

Mountains. Mr. Lisa had left St. Louis three weeks after Mr. Hunt, and having heard of the hostile intentions

of the Sioux, had made the greatest exertions to overtake him, that they might pass through the dangerous

part of the river together. He had twenty stout oarsmen in his service and they plied their oars so vigorously,

that he had reached the Omaha village just four days after the departure of Mr. Hunt. From this place he

despatched the messenger in question, trusting to his overtaking the barges as they toiled up against the

stream, and were delayed by the windings of the river. The purport of his letter was to entreat Mr. Hunt to

wait until he could come up with him, that they might unite their forces and be a protection to each other in

their perilous course through the country of the Sioux. In fact, as it was afterwards ascertained, Lisa was

apprehensive that Mr. Hunt would do him some ill office with the Sioux band, securing his own passage

through their country by pretending that he, with whom they were accustomed to trade, was on his way to

them with a plentiful supply of goods. He feared, too, that Crooks and M'Lellan would take this opportunity

to retort upon him the perfidy which they accused him of having used, two years previously, among these

very Sioux. In this respect, however, he did them signal injustice. There was no such thing as court design or

treachery in their thought; but M'Lellan, when he heard that Lisa was on his way up the river, renewed his

The representations made by Crooks and M'Lellan of the treachery they had experienced, or fancied, on the

part of Lisa, had great weight with Mr. Hunt, especially when he recollected the obstacles that had been

thrown in his way by that gentleman at St. Louis. He doubted, therefore, the fair dealing of Lisa, and feared

that, should they enter the Sioux country together, the latter might make use of his influence with that tribe,

as he had in the case of Crooks and M'Lellan, and instigate them to oppose his progress up the river.

He sent back, therefore, an answer calculated to beguile Lisa, assuring him that he would wait for him at the

Poncas village, which was but a little distance in advance; but, no sooner had the messenger departed, than he

pushed forward with all diligence, barely stopping at the village to procure a supply of dried buffalo meat,

and hastened to leave the other party as far behind as possible, thinking there was less to be apprehended

from the open hostility of Indian foes than from the quiet strategy of an Indian trader.