As we were neither hunters nor trappers, we had no fears of Osage hostility; for this was, in a measure, the just retribution of that tribe for an intrusion on their lands, and the destruction of its game, which constituted its chief value to them. Nor did we anticipate encountering them at all, at this season, as they must have withdrawn, long ere this, to their villages on the river Osage.
Dec. 14th. There appears no other way to induce the hunters to go with us, but to aid them in completing their cottages and improvements. This we resolved to do. Holt then agreed to accompany us as a guide and huntsman, with the further stipulation that he was to have the horse which had been left at M'Garey's, and a small sum of money, with liberty also to undertake a journey to the settlements below for corn. Hereupon, Fisher also consented to accompany us.
Dec. 15th. This obstacle to our movements being overcome, we busied ourselves in rendering to the hunters all the assistance in our power, and made it an object to show them that we could do this effectively. We began by taking hold of the frow and axe, and aiding Holt to split boards for covering a portion of the roof of his house. I doubt whether my companion had ever done the like work before; I am sure I never had; but having thrown myself on this adventure, I most cheerfully submitted to all its adverse incidents.
Dec. 16th. This morning, Holt and Fisher—the latter accompanied by his son, with three horses—set out on their journey to purchase corn, leaving us, in the interim, to provide fuel for their families; a labor by no means light, as the cold was now severe, and was daily growing more intense. To-day, for the first time, we observed floating ice in the river; and, even within the cabins, water exposed in vessels for a few moments, acquired a thin coating of ice.
Dec. 17th. At daybreak we built a substantial, rousing fire in the cabin, of logs several feet long; we then pounded the quantity of corn necessary for the family's daily use. This process brings the article into the condition of coarse grits, which are boiled soft, and it then bears the name of homony. Of this nutritious dish our meals generally consist, with boiled or fried bear's bacon, and a decoction of sassafras tea. The fat of the bear is very white and delicate, and appears to be more digestible than fresh pork, which is apt to cloy in the stomach. After breakfast, wishing to give the hunters evidence of our capacity of being useful, we took our axes and sallied out into the adjoining wood, and began to fell the trees, cut them into proper lengths for firewood, and pile the brush. About five o'clock, we were summoned to our second meal, which is made to serve as dinner and supper. We then carried up the quantity of firewood necessary for the night. This consumed the remainder of the short December day; and, before lying down for the night, we replenished the ample fire. This sketch may serve as an outline of our daily industry, during the eleven days we tarried with the hunters.
Dec. 18th. I have mentioned the fondness of my companion for tea. This afternoon he thought to produce an agreeable surprise in our hostess's mind, by preparing a dish of young hyson. But she sipped it as she would have done the decoction of some bitter herb, and frankly confessed that she did not like it as well as the forest substitutes, namely, sassafras, dittany, and spicewood. And the manner in which she alluded to it as "store tea," plainly denoted the article not to be numbered among the wants of a hunter's life.
Dec. 19th. The river having been closed with ice within the last two days, we crossed it this afternoon to visit the two pyramidal monuments of geological denudation which mark the limestone range of the opposite shore. I determined, if possible, to ascend one of them. The ascent lies through a defile of rocks. By means of projections, which could sometimes be reached by cedar roots, and now and then a leap or a scramble, I succeeded in ascending one of them to near its apex, which gave me a fine view of the windings of the river. The monuments consist of stratified limestone, which has, all but these existing peaks, crumbled under the effects of disintegration. I observed no traces of organic remains. It appeared to be of the same general character with the metalliferous beds of Missouri, and is, viewed in extenso, like that, based on grey or cream-colored sand-rock. I found this limestone rock cavernous, about seven miles below.
In crossing the river, I was impressed with the extreme purity of the water. The ice near the cliffs having been formed during a calm night, presented the crystalline purity of glass, through which every inequality, pebble, and stone in its bed, could be plainly perceived. The surface on which we stood was about an inch thick, bending as we walked. The depth of water appeared to be five or six feet; but I was told that it was fully twenty. The pebbles at this place are often a small, pear-shaped, opaque, yellow jasper. They appear to have been disengaged from some mineral bed at a higher point on the stream.
Dec. 20th. Observed as a day of rest, it being the Sabbath. The atmosphere is sensibly milder, and attended with haziness, which appears to betoken rain.
Dec. 21st. We employed ourselves till three o'clock in hewing and splitting planks for Holt's cabin floor, when rain compelled us to desist.