第125章 Irving’s Bonneville - Chapter 44(1)

Outfit of a trapper -- Risks to which he is subjected -- Partnership of trappers -- Enmity ofIndians -- Distant smoke -- A country on fire -- Gun Creek -- Grand Rond Fine pastures --Perplexities in a smoky country -- Conflagration of forests.

IT had been the intention of Captain Bonneville, in descending along Snake River, to scatterhis

trappers upon the smaller streams. In this way a range of country is trapped by smalldetachments

from a main body. The outfit of a trapper is generally a rifle, a pound of powder, and fourpounds

of lead, with a bullet mould, seven traps, an axe, a hatchet, a knife and awl, a camp kettle, twoblankets, and, where supplies are plenty, seven pounds of flour. He has, generally, two or threehorses, to carry himself and his baggage and peltries. Two trappers commonly go together, forthe

purposes of mutual assistance and support; a larger party could not easily escape the eyes of theIndians. It is a service of peril, and even more so at present than formerly, for the Indians, sincethey

have got into the habit of trafficking peltries with the traders, have learned the value of thebeaver,

and look upon the trappers as poachers, who are filching the riches from their streams, and interfering with their market. They make no hesitation, therefore, to murder the solitarytrapper, and

thus destroy a competitor, while they possess themselves of his spoils. It is with regret we add,too,

that this hostility has in many cases been instigated by traders, desirous of injuring their rivals,but

who have themselves often reaped the fruits of the mischief they have sown.

When two trappers undertake any considerable stream, their mode of proceeding is, to hidetheir

horses in some lonely glen, where they can graze unobserved. They then build a small hut, digout

a canoe from a cotton-wood tree, and in this poke along shore silently, in the evening, and settheir

traps. These they revisit in the same silent way at daybreak. When they take any beaver theybring

it home, skin it, stretch the skins on sticks to dry, and feast upon the flesh. The body, hung upbefore

the fire, turns by its own weight, and is roasted in a superior style; the tail is the trapper s tidbit; itis cut off, put on the end of a stick, and toasted, and is considered even a greater dainty than thetongue or the marrow-bone of a buffalo.

With all their silence and caution, however, the poor trappers cannot always escape theirhawk-eyed

enemies. Their trail has been discovered, perhaps, and followed up for many a mile; or theirsmoke

has been seen curling up out of the secret glen, or has been scented by the savages, whose senseof

smell is almost as acute as that of sight. Sometimes they are pounced upon when in the act ofsetting

their traps; at other times, they are roused from their sleep by the horrid war-whoop; or, perhaps,have a bullet or an arrow whistling about their ears, in the midst of one of their beaver banquets.

In

this way they are picked off, from time to time, and nothing is known of them, until, perchance,their

bones are found bleaching in some lonely ravine, or on the banks of some nameless stream,which

from that time is called after them. Many of the small streams beyond the mountains thusperpetuate

the names of unfortunate trappers that have been murdered on their banks.

A knowledge of these dangers deterred Captain Bonneville, in the present instance, fromdetaching

small parties of trappers as he had intended; for his scouts brought him word that formidablebands

of the Banneck Indians were lying on the Boisee and Payette Rivers, at no great distance, so thatthey

would be apt to detect and cut off any stragglers. It behooved him, also, to keep his partytogether,

to guard against any predatory attack upon the main body; he continued on his way, therefore,without dividing his forces. And fortunate it was that he did so; for in a little while heencountered

one of the phenomena of the western wilds that would effectually have prevented his scatteredpeople from finding each other again. In a word, it was the season of setting fire to the prairies.

As

he advanced he began to perceive great clouds of smoke at a distance, rising by degrees, andspreading over the whole face of the country. The atmosphere became dry and surcharged withmurky vapor, parching to the skin, and irritating to the eyes. When travelling among the hills,they

could scarcely discern objects at the distance of a few paces; indeed, the least exertion of thevision

was painful. There was evidently some vast conflagration in the direction toward which theywere

proceeding; it was as yet at a great distance, and during the day they could only see the smokerising

in larger and denser volumes, and rolling forth in an immense canopy. At night the skies were allglowing with the reflection of unseen fires, hanging in an immense body of lurid light high abovethe horizon.

Having reached Gun Creek, an important stream coming from the left, Captain Bonnevilleturned