Stone battle-axe
Continuing our voyage, we saw the buffaloes hasten away, and moored our vessel at twilight to some trees on the north bank. All over the plain there were deeply trodden paths of the buffaloes. On the morning following, the 21st, the river had risen considerably, and brought down trunks of trees, branches, &c., which covered the surface, and gave our vessel some violent shocks: strips of wood, and desolate hills, without any vegetation, appeared. On the southern bank we came to a green spot at the mouth of the Little Missouri,[344] which is reckoned to be 1670 miles from the mouth of the Great Missouri. The chain of blue hills, with the same singular forms as we had seen before, appeared on the other side of this river. In the forests roses in full blossom formed a thick underwood, which was traversed by the path of the buffaloes. Before noon we reached the territory of the Assiniboins, and were, at this time, at Wild Onion Creek.[345] Kiasax (l'ours gauche—left-handed or awkward bear) had permitted Mr. Bodmer to take his portrait, without making any objection, whereas Matsokui (beautiful hair) was not to be persuaded to do so, affirming that he must then infallibly die. It turned out in the sequel that he was to die, and Kiasax to return, unhurt by the enemy. The latter had adopted the costume of the Manitaries, but at the same time wrapped himself in a Spanish blanket, striped blue, white and black, which, as well as a metal cross, which he wore suspended round his neck, was a proof of the intercourse between the Blackfoot Indians and the Spaniards near the Rocky Mountains. These two Indians appeared to be very quiet, obliging men. Thus, for instance, they never 183 returned from an excursion on shore, without bringing me some handfulls of plants, often, it is true, only common grass, because they had observed that we always brought plants home with us.
We lay to about three miles below Goose Egg Lake. A white wolf accompanied the steam-boat as it proceeded. We came to the canal which joins Goose Egg Lake to the Missouri, which I was unable to examine, as the steamer did not stop. Here the river makes a great bend, which, as well as that near Fort Lookout, is called by some Canadians Le Grand Détour.[346] Early on the following morning, the 22nd, we saw wild animals of various kinds, such as buffaloes, elks, and Virginian deer. The wild geese with their young suffered us to approach pretty closely, because, at this season, they moult their long wing feathers. About ten o'clock we had an alarm of fire on board: the upper deck had been set on fire by the iron pipe of the chimney of the great cabin. We immediately lay to, and, by breaking up the deck, the danger was soon over, which, however, was not inconsiderable, as we had many barrels of powder on board. We had scarcely got over this trouble, when another arose; the current of the swollen river was so strong, that we long contended against it to no purpose, in order to turn a certain point of land, while, at the same time, the high west wind was against us, and both together threw the vessel back three times on the south coast. The first shock was so violent, that the lower deck gallery was broken to pieces. Our second attempt succeeded no better; part of the paddle-box was broken, and carried away by the current. We were now obliged to land forty men to tow the vessel, for which purpose all on board voluntarily offered their services, even the two Blackfeet overcame their natural laziness. Beyond this dangerous place, we took on board the hunters whom we had sent out. They were covered from head to foot with blood, and hung about with game, having killed two elks. The effect of the current and the wind upon our vessel continued for a long time. It was often thrown against the alluvial bank, so that the deck was covered with earth, and the track of our vessel clearly marked along the clayey sand bank. After four o'clock we stopped at a narrow verdant prairie in front of the hills, to fell wood: several pretty plants, among which was a juniper with the berries still green, were found here. The cat bird, the wren and blackbird animated the thickets, and we observed also the great curlew (Numenius longirostris). A very large elk horn of twelve antlers had been found; a number of them lie about in all the forests and prairies, of which no use is made. In the afternoon we saw in the prairie of the north bank a large grizzly bear, and immediately sent Ortubize and another hunter in pursuit of him, but to no purpose. Soon after we saw two other bears, one of a whitish, the other of a dark colour, and our hunters, when they returned, affirmed that they had wounded the largest. Harvey had shot an elk, and brought the best part of it from a great distance, and with considerable exertion, to the river. From this place upwards, the grey bear became more and more common; further down the river it is still rare. Brackenridge says, it is not found below the 184 Mandan villages, but this is not quite correct. Near the prairie where we saw the bears, is the mouth of White Earth River, called by Lewis and Clarke, Goat-pen River.[347] Here we crossed the Missouri, and lay to for the night on the south coast, where some of our people landed to set traps for the beavers. Harvey had the good fortune to catch, during the night, a young beaver, which he brought on board alive, on the following morning, the 23rd. The iron trap had broken one of the legs of the little beaver, and with all our care we could not keep it alive. The surrounding country on the banks of the Missouri, which is here very broad, again showed the singularly formed angular hills flattened at the top like tables: several pretty prairies, in which the white artemisia and other beautiful plants grew, extended at the foot of the eminences, on the declivity of which the buffalo berry and the creeping juniper were common; henceforward the clay cones were partly burnt as red as bricks, which was a clear proof of their origin. Many of them had parallel horizontal stripes, projecting a little, of harder sandstone strata, which had resisted the influence of the elements more than the intermediate strata of clay and sand.
The vessel laying to, about eleven o'clock, near a wood on the south bank, we suddenly perceived on the north bank some Indians, who immediately called to us. They were the first Assiniboins that we had met with; they sat upon the bank waiting for the boat which Mr. Mc Kenzie sent to them. After a short pause they came on board the steamer, and proved to be Stassága (le brecheux), who was well known to Mr. Mc Kenzie, with seven of his people of the branch called by the French, Gens des Filles.[348] The chief, a robust, thick-set man, rather above the middle size, wore his hair tied behind in a thick queue, and cut short in front; he had bound across the crown a slip of whitish skin; in his ears he had strings of blue and white glass beads; round his neck a collar of bears' claws; the upper part of his body was wrapped in a red woollen shirt; his legs were quite bare, but he had a pair of handsomely embroidered leggins which he put on when his people left the vessel. He was wrapped in a buffalo robe, and had in his hand a musket, and an eagle's wing for a fan. Another robust man had smeared his face, about the eyes, with white clay. The rest of these Indians were neither well formed nor well dressed, but dirty and slovenly. Their hair hung in disorder about their heads; some of them had made it up into three plaits; their legs were mostly bare; only a couple of them had leggins. One of them, with a Jewish physiognomy, wore a white wolf skin cap. Some of them were marked with two parallel tattooed black stripes from the neck down the breast; the upper parts of their bodies were naked, but they were wrapped in buffalo robes. Most of them had guns, and all, without distinction, bows and arrows, the latter in a quiver or bag made of skin, to which also the case for the bow is attached, as shown in the [woodcut].[349]
As the Assiniboins are a branch of the Sioux, Ortubize was able to act as interpreter. They were made to sit down round the great cabin, and the pipe circulated; they likewise 185 received abundance of food, which seemed to please them much. They said that since they came to these parts in the spring, they had suffered much from want of food, buffaloes being scarce. They intended shortly to leave this part of the country, but the chief wished to go with us to Fort Union, which we allowed him to do. After they had been shown about the vessel, the steam-engine of which greatly excited their attention, though they suppressed any mark of surprise, they were landed in a lofty poplar grove on the north bank.
After dinner, we proceeded along the side of a prairie, where we heard the note of the great curlew. The valley of the river was bounded on both sides by very remarkable whitish-grey, obliquely stratified ridges, with singular spots of red clay, and bushes in the ravines; at their feet was the prairie, covered with pale green artemisia; and on the tongues of land, at the windings of the Missouri, there were fine poplar groves, with an undergrowth of roses in full bloom, buffalo-berry bushes, and many species of plants. On the mountains we again saw naked rounded cones of earth, as if they had been thrown up by moles, and, on the tops of some of them, a little turret, or cone, while their sides were rounded by the rain water, or marked with parallel perpendicular furrows.
On our further progress up the river, we saw, for the first time, the animal known by the name of the bighorn, or the Rocky Mountain sheep, the Ovis montana of the zoologists. A ram and two sheep of this species stood on the summit of the highest hill, and, after looking at our steamer, slowly retired. These animals are not frequent hereabouts, but we afterwards met with them in great numbers. We here took on board some cord wood, which the different trading posts had employed their engagés to get ready for the steamboat.
On the 24th, in the morning, we found the banks wooded, and beyond the thickets were the chain of hills, in the middle of which were strata of the colour of red bricks. Cones of that colour, and sometimes detached grey figures, with a red base, crowned the heights. Many varied colours showed that these eminences must have undergone the action of fire. About eight o'clock we came to the mouth of Muddy River (the White Earth River of Lewis and Clarke), which issues from a thicket on the north bank.[350] In this part we saw smoke on the bank, and, soon afterwards, some Assiniboins, one of whom fired three shots to attract our attention: others soon came up, and we took them on board. They were robust men, with high cheek-bones, well dressed, all in leather shirts, their legs mostly bare, and their hair hanging smooth about their heads; one of them took off the leather case of his bow, and wrapped it round his head like a turban, so that a little tuft of feathers, at one end of it, stood upright. Following the numerous windings of the Missouri, from one chain of hills to another, we reached, at seven o'clock in the evening, the mouth of the Yellow Stone, a fine river, hardly inferior in breadth to the Missouri at this part. It issues below the high grey chain of hills, and its mouth is bordered with a fine wood of tall poplars, with willow thickets. The two rivers unite in an obtuse angle; and there 186 is a sudden turn of the Missouri to the north-west; it is not wooded at the junction, but flows between prairies thirty or more miles in extent. Herds of buffaloes are often seen here; at this time they had left these parts: we saw, however, many antelopes. At the next turn of the river, towards the right hand, we had a fine prospect. Gentle eminences, with various rounded or flat tops, covered with bright verdure, formed the back-ground; before them, tall poplar groves, and willow thickets on the bank of the river, whose dark blue waters, splendidly illumined by the setting sun, flowed, with many windings, through the prairie. A little further on lay Fort Union, on a verdant plain, with the handsome American flag, gilded by the last rays of evening, floating in the azure sky, while a herd of horses grazing animated the peaceful scene.[351]
As the steamer approached, the cannon of Fort Union fired a salute, with a running fire of musketry, to bid us welcome, which was answered in a similar manner by our vessel. When we reached the fort, we were received by Mr. Hamilton, an Englishman, who, during the absence of Mr. Mc Kenzie, had performed the functions of director,[352] as well as by several clerks of the Company, and a number of their servants (engagés or voyageurs), of many different nations, Americans, Englishmen, Germans, Frenchmen, Russians, Spaniards, and Italians, about 100 in number, with many Indians, and half-breed women and children. It was the seventy-fifth day since our departure from St. Louis, when the Assiniboin cast anchor at Fort Union.
The Yellow Stone, being one of the principal affluents of the Missouri, receives several considerable streams, of which the following are the chief:—