James's Account of S. H. Long's Expedition, 1819-1820, part 3

by Edwin James; Stephen H. Long; Thomas Say

September 2d. The morning was fair, and we had commenced our journey by sunrise. At a little distance below our encampment, we passed the mouth of a large tributary from the south. It was about sixty yards wide, and appeared to contain a considerable quantity of water, which was absorbed in the sands immediately at its junction with the larger stream.[78] About the mouth of this creek we saw the remains of several gar-fish (esox osseus); this fish is protected by a skin so flinty and incorruptible, as to be invulnerable to the attacks of birds and beasts of prey; and even when the internal soft parts have been dissolved and removed by the progress of putrefaction, the bony cuticle retains its original shape, like that of the trunk and limbs of the canoe birch, after the wood has rotted away. The gar is usually found in deep water, lying concealed in the places where small fish resort, and seizing them between his elongated jaws, which are armed with numerous small and sharp teeth. This fish, though not held in high estimation as an article of food, is little inferior, as we have often found by experiment, to the boasted sturgeon of the Hudson. Its unsightly aspect produces a prejudice against it; and in countries of such abundance as those watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries, a creature so disgusting in appearance and of so unpromising a name is rarely eaten. We had passed the creek above mentioned about a mile, when we discovered a little column of smoke ascending among some scattered oaks on the right hand bank of the river; approaching the spot, we perceived our lost interpreter, who had parted from us five days previous, sitting a few feet in advance of his fire. When we discovered him, his appearance was peculiarly striking, and indicative of the deepest despondency. [18] He had kindled a fire upon a little rocky eminence projecting to the verge of the river, and seated himself near it on the ground, with his face turned up the river, as if in expectation of relief from that quarter. His elbows rested upon his knees, and his hands supported his head. Having sat in long expectation of seeing us, he had fallen asleep; and on being waked, it was some minutes before he recovered entire self-possession and consciousness. His long sunburnt hair hung loosely about a face it could scarcely be said to shade, and on which famine and terror had imprinted a frightful expression of ghastliness. Perhaps some consciousness of having acted an imprudent and reprehensible part, prevented any demonstrations of joy he might otherwise have shown at sight of us. Under the apprehension that accidents of this kind might occur, it had repeatedly been enjoined upon all of the party, never to lose sight of the main body when on the march. But on this occasion no regard was paid to this necessary regulation.

From his statement we learned, that after separating from us, on the morning of the 29th August, he had returned a mile or two to search for his canteen; but not finding it, in his hurry to rejoin the party, he had missed the trail, and presently found himself bewildered. Taking the bed of the river as his guide, he urged on his mule, without allowing it time to rest or to feed, till, on the third day, it refused to proceed, and was left. He then took his baggage, musket, &c. and pushed forward on foot, evidently with the hope of arriving at the Pawnee village, but by the end of the day found his strength so exhausted that he could go no farther, and was compelled to encamp. Having expended his ammunition in unsuccessful attempts to shoot turkies, he had been trying to make a substitute for fish-hooks by bending up some needles; but this project he had not brought to perfection, and assured us he had not tasted food since the breakfast of the 29th, a period of more than five days.

[19] The small-leaved and the white elm,[79] the nettle-tree or hackberry, the cotton-wood, mulberry, black walnut, pecan, ash, sycamore, and indeed most of the trees common to the low grounds of the Mississippi, are intermixed here to form the dense forests of the river valley, while, in the more scattered woods of the highlands, the prevailing growth is oak, with some species of nyssa, the dyospiros, and a few other small trees. At evening a large flock of white pelicans passed us on their way up the river.

On the morning of the 3d, not having been able to select a suitable place for a Sunday encampment, we moved on, searching for a supply of grass, that we might halt for the day. The hunters preceded the party, and meeting with a herd of bisons and good pasturage in the same place, they killed a bull of a most gigantic stature, and waited until the remainder of the party came up, and encamped near the carcass. We have often regretted that we had not taken the dimensions of this animal, as it appeared to surpass in size any we had before killed, and greatly to exceed the ordinary stature of the bison.

Having arranged our camp, and done in the way of washing, dressing, &c. the little in our power to do, we made an excursion into the adjoining forest to collect plants, and to search for honey, which, from the great number of bees we had seen, we were conscious must be abundant. Since leaving the open country, we had remarked a very great change in the vegetation. The dense shade, and perhaps the somewhat confined air of the forest, are unfavourable to the growth of many of those grasses, and those robust perennials, which seem to delight in the arid soils and the scorching winds of the sandy deserts. The sensitive (cassia nictitans), the favourite food of the bees, some species of hedysarum, and a few [20] other legumina, are, however, common to both regions.

Our search for bee-trees was unsuccessful; but in our way we saw great numbers of gray squirrels, and killed a fat buck, one of whose quarters we found a heavy load to carry a mile or two to our camp.

A considerable part of the day we spent in unavailing contest with the ticks. The torment of their stings increased upon us if we were a moment idle, or attempted to rest ourselves under the shadow of a tree. We considered ourselves peculiarly fortunate when we could find the shade of a tree extending some distance on to the naked sands of the river-bed, for then the ticks were less numerous. In the middle of the day the mercury again rose to 97°, and the blowing flies swarmed in such numbers about our blankets and clothing as to allow us no rest.

About the pools near our camp we saw the little white egret; the snowy heron had been common for some days. Great numbers of cranes, ducks, pelicans, and other aquatic birds, induced us to believe that larger bodies of water than we had recently seen must be near.

Bears and wolves were still frequent; among the latter we observed a black one of a small size, which we believed to be specifically different from any one of those we had seen above. All our attempts to capture this watchful animal were without success. Since entering the region of forests, we had found the number of small animals, birds, and insects considerably increased. An enormous black hairy spider, resembling the mygale avicularia of South America, was often seen; and it was not without shuddering that we sometimes perceived this formidable insect looking out from his hole within a few feet of the spot on which we had thrown ourselves down to rest.

[21] On the 4th we met with nothing interesting except the appearance of running water in the bed of the river. Since the 13th of the preceding month, we had travelled constantly along the river, and in all the distance passed in that time, which could not have been less than five hundred miles, we had seen running water in the river in one or two instances only, and in those it had evidently been occasioned by recent rains, and had extended but a mile or two, when it disappeared.