On this day, at noon, we reached, on the south bank, an Indian fort, an expression which I shall often have occasion to use in the sequel; it is a kind of breastwork, which Indian war-parties construct in haste of dry trunks of trees. When such parties intend to stop for the night, they erect a breastwork, sufficiently large, according to their number, composed of trunks of trees, or thick branches, laid one on the other, generally either square or triangular. In this bulwark they lie down to sleep, after having placed sentinels, and are there able to repel an attack. This fort consisted of a fence, and several angles, enclosing a rather small space, with the open side towards the river. In the centre of the space there was a conical hut, composed of wood. Near this fort, on the same bank of the river, there was a beaver's den made of a heap of brushwood.
After our hunters had returned, with the flesh of a buffalo, we had a favourable wind, which allowed us to use our sail. At a turn of the river we suddenly saw a couple of bears running backwards and forwards on a sand bank before the willow thickets. One of them at length went away, and the other ran along the strand, and fell on the dead body of a buffalo cow, which was half buried in the mud. While the keel-boat sailed against the stream in the middle of the river, a boat was put out, into which Messrs. Mitchell and Bodmer, and the hunters, Dechamp and Dreidoppel, threw themselves, and rowed along the bank towards the ravenous animal. The sight of this first bear chase was interesting, and we that remained as spectators on deck awaited the result with impatience. Dechamp, a bold and experienced hunter, and an excellent marksman, was put on shore, and crept unperceived along the strand, till he got to the branch of a tree, about eighty paces from the bear, in order, in case of need, to intercept his retreat to the thickets. The {217} ravenous bear sometimes raised his colossal head, looked around him, and then greedily returned to his repast; doubtless, because the wind was in our favour, and these animals are not remarkably quick-sighted. The boat had got to within fifty paces, when the pieces were levelled. Mr. Mitchell fired the first mortal shot, behind the shoulder blade. The other shots followed in quick succession, on which the bear rolled over, uttered fearful cries, tumbled about ten steps forwards, scratched the wounded places furiously with his paws, and turned several times completely over. At this moment Dechamp came up, and put an end to his misery by shooting him through the head. The huge beast lay stretched out: it was fastened by ropes to the boat, and conveyed in triumph to the ship, where it was measured, and a drawing made of it. I much regretted that I had not taken part in the sport; but I had not believed that it was possible, in such an open, unprotected spot, to get so near the bear.
This grizzly bear was a male, about three years old, and, therefore, not of the largest size: he was six feet two inches and two lines in length, from the nose to the tip of the tail; the latter being eight inches. His colour was dark brown, with the point of the hair of a rusty colour, but new hair already appeared of a lighter grey, with yellow tips. This bear is known to be a very dangerous beast of prey, and is willingly avoided by the hunters: if fired at, he very frequently attacks, even if not wounded, when they suddenly come too near him. If he perceives a man in time, he generally gets out of the way, especially when he has the wind. Almost all the hunters of the prairie relate their adventures with the bears, and whole volumes might be filled with such stories. It is certain that many white men and Indians have been torn to pieces by these dangerous animals, especially in former times, when they were very numerous, and lived to a great age, as may be seen in Lewis and Clarke's Travels. Even last year, five of Mr. Mitchell's hunters, who had wounded one of these animals, were so quickly pursued by him, that they were obliged to take refuge in the Missouri. This species of bear cannot climb, and therefore a tree is a good means to escape their attacks. The true country of these animals on the Missouri, where they are at present the most numerous, is the tract about Milk River. Here there is no wood of any extent in which they are not found, but they are likewise seen everywhere in a north-westerly direction. In these solitudes, the long claws of this bear serve to dig up many kinds of roots in the prairie, on which he chiefly subsists, but he is especially fond of animal food, particularly the flesh of dead animals. There is no other species of bear on the Upper Missouri, for the black bear is not found so high up. At the place where we had killed the bear, it would have been easy to shoot many of these animals, by posting ourselves near the dead buffalo cow: the whole sand bank was covered with the prints of bears' footsteps, and trodden down like a threshing-floor; but our time was too short and too precious: we, therefore, proceeded on our voyage till a violent thunder-storm threatened us, and we lay to, by the high bank of the prairie, {218} where our bear was skinned. During the night, torrents of rain fell, which wetted our books and plants in the cabin.
On the following day, the 19th, we had another chase after a colossal bear, which swam through the Missouri to a dead buffalo; but our young hunters were this time too eager, and fired too soon, so that the animal escaped, though probably wounded, as fifteen rifles were discharged at him. Afterwards we saw several beaver lodges. The people towed the steamer in the afternoon, making their way along the bank, through a dense willow thicket. All of a sudden they cried that there were bears close to them; on which the hunters immediately leaped on shore. Mr. Mitchell had scarcely arrived at the head of the towers, when he perceived a she bear with two cubs. Dechamp came to his aid, and in a few minutes the three animals were in our power. Mr. Mitchell had killed the mother, which was of a pale yellowish-red colour; one of the cubs, which was brought alive on board, was whitish about the head and neck, and brownish grey on the body; the other was dark brown. The females of these animals are generally of a lighter colour than the males, which is the case with many beasts of prey, particularly the European fox. The live cub was in a great rage, and growled terribly; it was impossible for me to save his life.
After this successful chase we were detained by a high contrary wind, and it was, therefore, late when we reached the mouth of Milk River, on the north bank.[26] This river comes down in many windings, and constitutes the western frontier of the territory of the Assiniboins. Its waters are generally muddy and mixed with sand, whence it has its name. It contributes to thicken the waters of the Missouri, though Lewis and Clarke affirm that it is Maria River which chiefly contributes to dull their clearness; this, however, is not well founded, for most travellers, and we ourselves, found the waters of the Upper Missouri perfectly clear and transparent as far as Muscleshell River. Even the Maria is at times quite clear and pure. The Moose Deer or Orignal (Cervus alces Amer.) is said to be common towards the upper part of Milk River, and Dechamp himself had killed several of these animals on the Missouri, in the vicinity of this river. A little further up we lay to, for the night, on the south bank, where our hunters killed a bear and a very large buffalo. Mr. Bodmer made a drawing of the head of the latter magnificent animal, whose thick, coal-black, wavy frontal hair was eighteen inches long. Some of our engagés came up, cut up the whole animal, and ate the liver without cooking it. During the night we had again much wind, and were glad that we were able to remain in a safe channel of the river.
Early on the morning of the 20th we reached the place where the Missouri makes a great bend of fifteen miles, the distance across by land being only 400 or 500 paces. At this place the ice drives in spring over the flat land, or sandy point, and the tall poplars at the end of it were rubbed smooth, on the lower part, to half the thickness of their trunks. This bend is called {219} Le Grand Détour, and there are several such in this river. The wind, in many of these bends, being too strong for the efforts of the towers, and the masses falling from the bank, often endangering our vessel, we lay to under the protection of the hills on the north bank of a narrow prairie covered with bushes, where I found the blue-grey butcher-bird, the magpie, and several common birds, many of which we shot; we also caught a great many butterflies, which were hovering about the flowers in the burning rays of the sun. Henry Morrin, our pilot, a very good marksman, brought in a large male antelope. The other hunters had killed, on the opposite bank, twelve buffaloes, viz., four bulls, five cows, and three calves, but brought away only the flesh of the cows, leaving all the rest to the wolves, the bears, and the vultures: they had missed a large bear. Towards evening we left our anchorage, but made so little progress, that, when night came, we were not above a couple of miles from Milk River.
On the 21st we came to the place where the buffaloes were killed the day before: part of the flesh of the animals, which had not been touched, was taken away, and a full grown young bald eagle was shot down from the nest. It was now the dry season, which, in these parts, continues from the middle of July to the end of autumn. The whole prairie was dry and yellow; the least motion, even of a wolf crossing it, raised the dust. We could recognise the vicinity of the herds of buffaloes at a distance, from the clouds of dust which they occasioned. All the small rivers were completely dried up. Even the Missouri was very shallow, which it always is in summer and autumn. The prairie hills were now of a pale grey-green colour, with some bushes in the ravines, but all had a withered, sterile appearance. Soon after mid-day we saw a large buffalo bull standing on the bank, which seemed to challenge us, lowering his head and pawing the ground with his fore feet, so that the dust flew to a great distance around him. We landed the hunters, who got sight of a bear, but soon lay to, at the end of a prairie, near the mouth of Big Dry River, which joins the Missouri on the south side. Its channel, in winter, is several hundred paces in breadth, and in it was another narrow channel, in which, at this time, the water was only two feet deep.[27] The right bank of the stream is steep, and consists of grey clay; the left is covered with low willows; the whole surrounding country has a bare, desolate appearance.
Continuing our way but very slowly, we perceived, on one of the hills of the bank, some elks, and, by the aid of our telescopes, saw that they were large males with immense horns; and at this same moment, a black bear came from the thicket on the north bank, and began to swim across the river. The hunters immediately divided into two parties; the one, including Messrs. Mitchell and Bodmer, going by land along the bank of the river; the other in the boat, rowing after the bear. Unluckily our boat got aground, by which the bear got the start, and came too near to the hunters, who were posted behind the bank. As soon as he set foot on land, he was killed by several shot. He was not so large as the one lately killed, of a dark brown colour, and we contented ourselves with carrying off as trophies only his head and fore paws. On account of the {220} high wind we did not leave this spot to-day, and the chase gave us much employment. Scarcely was the bear killed, when buffalo bulls came into the river in several places, which we should certainly have killed, if our young men had known how to restrain their ardour. In the artemisia bushes of the prairie, a porcupine was caught alive, which was not killed till it was on board the keel-boat, our engagés declaring that it was a great delicacy. This animal is of great importance to the Indians, on account of its quills, which they dye, and use to embroider their clothing, and for other ornamental purposes.
On the 22nd of July we again saw clay hills, of strange forms, of friable, blackish-grey clay, with angular or small roundish cones set upon them. It was only in the clefts and ravines between them, that there was any vegetation; otherwise, not a blade of grass was to be seen on them. On the south there was a couple of clay hills resembling the ruins of an ancient castle, of which Mr. Bodmer made a drawing. They appeared to us to have some resemblance to what are called "The Two Brothers," near Bornhofen, on the Rhine. The river makes here a very considerable bend. Buffaloes were grazing in the prairies, and the cries of the wild geese were heard on all sides. The hills, with their singular forms, which were almost always the same, now came near to the river; most of the conical tops were of a greyish-brown colour; others, blackish-grey; and many had a top of a burnt-red colour. Even from our vessel we could distinguish, on all these hills, bright points, which sparkled in the sunshine, which proved, on examination, to be caused by the brilliant selenite, which has been mentioned before, and which occurs everywhere in these clay hills, either in layers or in nests. On our excursion to-day, we brought back large pieces of this fossil. We lay to for the night by a sand bank, the clay of which, where it had been wetted by the water, was cracked and cleft in all directions. This clay might certainly be used for pottery; on the surface there were prints of the footsteps of all kinds of wild animals, but we saw no living creatures but myriads of tormenting mosquitoes. We had made considerable progress to-day, because a favourable wind had allowed us to use our sails.
On the 23rd, we passed a dried-up stream, of which we had seen many on the preceding days, and all of which are among the numerous streams mentioned by Lewis and Clarke under the name of Dry River. Our hunters had killed a couple of deer, and several buffalo bulls; and Papin had roused a covey of the beautiful large prairie, or mountain cock, but could not get a shot at them. These fine birds live in the prairie, on the Upper Yellow Stone and the Missouri, and we frequently met with them in the sequel. In the middle of the day our towers had great trouble in keeping their footing on the steep, clay hills, in the barren and crumbling mass of which they sank above their ankles, and were obliged to assist each other.