第111章 Irving’s Bonneville - Chapter 39(2)

A wild bull, of the fiercest kind, which has been caught and exasperated in the samemanner, is now produced; and both animals are turned loose in the arena of a smallamphitheatre. The mortal fight begins instantly; and always, at first, to the disadvantageof Bruin; fatigued, as he is, by his previous rough riding. Roused, at length, by therepeated goring of the bull, he seizes his muzzle with his sharp claws, and clinging tothis most sensitive part, causes him to bellow with rage and agony. In his heat and fury,the bull lolls out his tongue; this is instantly clutched by the bear; with a desperate efforthe overturns his huge antagonist; and then dispatches him without difficulty.

Beside this diversion, the travellers were likewise regaled with bull-fights, in the genuinestyle of Old Spain; the Californians being considered the best bull-fighters in theMexican dominions.

After a considerable sojourn at Monterey, spent in these very edifying, but not veryprofitable amusements, the leader of this vagabond party set out with his comrades, onhis return journey. Instead of retracing their steps through the mountains, they passedround their southern extremity, and, crossing a range of low hills, found themselves inthe sandy plains south of Ogden's River; in traversing which, they again suffered,grievously, for want of water.

In the course of their journey, they encountered a party of Mexicans in pursuit of a gangof natives, who had been stealing horses. The savages of this part of California arerepresented as extremely poor, and armed only with stone-pointed arrows; it being thewise policy of the Spaniards not to furnish them with firearms. As they find it difficult,with their blunt shafts, to kill the wild game of the mountains, they occasionally supplythemselves with food, by entrapping the Spanish horses. Driving them stealthily intofastnesses and ravines, they slaughter them without difficulty, and dry their flesh forprovisions. Some they carry off to trade with distant tribes; and in this way, the Spanishhorses pass from hand to hand among the Indians, until they even find their way acrossthe Rocky Mountains.

The Mexicans are continually on the alert, to intercept these marauders; but the Indiansare apt to outwit them, and force them to make long and wild expeditions in pursuit oftheir stolen horses.

Two of the Mexican party just mentioned joined the band of trappers, and provedthemselves worthy companions. In the course of their journey through the countryfrequented by the poor Root Diggers, there seems to have been an emulation betweenthem, which could inflict the greatest outrages upon the natives. The trappers stillconsidered them in the light of dangerous foes; and the Mexicans, very probably,charged them with the sin of horse-stealing; we have no other mode of accounting forthe infamous barbarities of which, according to their own story, they were guilty; huntingthe poor Indians like wild beasts, and killing them without mercy. The Mexicans excelledat this savage sport; chasing their unfortunate victims at full speed; noosing them roundthe neck with their lasos, and then dragging them to death!

Such are the scanty details of this most disgraceful expedition; at least, such are all thatCaptain Bonneville had the patience to collect; for he was so deeply grieved by thefailure of his plans, and so indignant at the atrocities related to him, that he turned, withdisgust and horror, from the narrators. Had he exerted a little of the Lynch law of thewilderness, and hanged those dexterous horsemen in their own lasos, it would but havebeen a well-merited and salutary act of retributive justice. The failure of this expeditionwas a blow to his pride, and a still greater blow to his purse. The Great Salt Lake stillremained unexplored; at the same time, the means which had been furnished soliberally to fit out this favorite expedition, had all been squandered at Monterey; and thepeltries, also, which had been collected on the way. He would have but scanty returns,therefore, to make this year, to his associates in the United States; and there was greatdanger of their becoming disheartened, and abandoning the enterprise. [Return to Contents].