3. Had ceased to brag, and ten score martial clowns

Why “clowns”? See Introduction.

6. A withering blast the arid South still blew,

What is “South”? Why capitalized? Did Homer and Vergil personify the winds?

9. Southward before the Great White Hunter’s face:

Who is the Great White Hunter? What is the time of year?

13. With eighty trappers up the dwindling Grand,

Why “dwindling”?

14. Bound through the weird, unfriending barren-land

“Unfriending” whom?