 | CHAPTER XV. Travels in the interior of North America. |  |
CHAPTER XV.
DESCRIPTION OF FORT UNION AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.
Description of the Fort and its Vicinity—Its Inhabitants, and the Fur Trade on the Upper Missouri—The Indian Branch
of the Assiniboins, the original Possessors of this Spot.
The erection of Fort Union was commenced in the autumn of 1829, by Mr. Mc Kenzie, and
is now completed, except that some of the edifices which were erected in haste are under repair.
The fort is situated on an alluvial eminence, on the northern bank of the Missouri, in a prairie,
which extends about 1,500 paces to a chain of hills, on whose summit there are other widespreading
plains. The river runs at a distance of scarcely fifty or sixty feet from the fort, in the
direction from west to east; it is here rather broad, and the opposite bank is wooded. The fort
itself forms a quadrangle, the sides of which measure about eighty paces in length, on the exterior.
The ramparts consist of strong pickets, sixteen or seventeen feet high, squared, and placed close to
each other, and surmounted by a chevaux-de-frise. On the south-west and north-east ends, there
are block-houses, with pointed roofs, two stories high, with embrasures and some cannon, which,
though small, are fit for service. In the front of the enclosure, and towards the river, is the
well-defended principal entrance, with a large folding gate. Opposite the entrance, on the
other side of the quadrangle, is the house of the commandant; it is one story high, and has four
handsome glass windows on each side of the door. The roof is spacious, and contains a large,
light loft. This house is very commodious, and, like all the buildings of the inner quadrangle, constructed
of poplar wood, the staple wood for building in this neighbourhood. In the inner quadrangle
are the residences of the clerks, the interpreters, and the engagés, the powder magazine,
the stores, or supplies of goods and bartered skins, various workshops for the handicraftsmen,
smiths, carpenters, &c., stables for the horses and cattle, rooms for receiving and entertaining the
Indians; and in the centre is the flag-staff, around which several half-breed Indian hunters had
erected their leathern tents. A cannon was also placed here, with its mouth towards the principal
of cattle, swine, goats, fowls, and domestic animals. The cattle are very fine, and the cows
yield abundance of milk. The horses are driven, in the day-time, into the prairie, guarded and
exercised by armed men, and, in the evening, brought back into the quadrangle of the fort, where
the greater part of them pass the night in the open air. Mr. Mc Kenzie has, however, lately had
a separate place, or park, provided for them.
Fort Union is one of the principal posts of the Fur Company, because it is the central point
of the two other trading stations, still higher up, towards the Rocky Mountains, and having the
superintendence of the whole of the trade in the interior, and in the vicinity of the mountains.
One of these two trading stations, called Fort Cass, is 200 miles up the Yellow Stone River, and
is confined to the trade with the Crow tribe; the other, Fort Piekann, or, as it is now called,
Fort Mc Kenzie, is 850[1]
miles up the Missouri, or about a day's journey from the falls of this river,
and carries on the fur trade with the three tribes of the Blackfoot Indians. The latter station
has been established about two years, and, as the steamers cannot often go up to Fort Union,
they despatch keel-boats, to supply the various trading posts with goods for barter with the
Indians. They then pass the winter at these stations, and in the spring carry the furs to Fort
Union, whence they are transported, in the course of the summer, to St. Louis, by the steamers.
The Company maintains a number of agents at these different stations; during their stay
they marry Indian women, but leave them, without scruple, when they are removed to another
station, or are recalled to the United States. The lower class of these agents, who are called
engagés, or voyageurs, have to act as steersmen, rowers, hunters, traders, &c., according to their
several capabilities. They are often sent great distances, employed in perilous undertakings
among the Indians, and are obliged to fight against the enemy, and many of them are killed every
year by the arms with which the Whites themselves have furnished the Indians. Some of the
agents of the Fur Company winter every year in the Rocky Mountains.[2]
The proprietors of the American Fur Company were Messrs. Astor, at New York, General
Pratte, Chouteau, Cabanné, Mc Kenzie, Laidlow, and Lamont; the three latter had a share
are valuable in the fur trade, have already diminished greatly in number along this river, and it
is said that, in another ten years, the fur trade will be very inconsiderable. As the supplies
along the banks of the Missouri decreased, the Company gradually extended the circle of
their trading posts, as well as enterprises, and thus increased their income. Above 500 of their
agents are in the forts of the Upper Missouri, and at their various trading posts; and, besides
these individuals, who receive considerable salaries (for it is said that the Company yearly expend
150,000 dollars in salaries), there are in these prairies, and the forests of the Rocky Mountains,
beaver and fur trappers, who live at their own cost; but whose present wants, such as horses,
guns, powder, ball, woollen cloths, articles of clothing, tobacco, &c. &c., are supplied by the
Company, and the scores settled, after the hunting season is over, by the furs which they
deliver at the different trading posts. Many of these, when not employed in hunting, live at
the Company's forts. They are, for the most part, enterprising, robust men, capital riflemen,
and, from their rude course of life, are able to endure the greatest hardships.
During the summer, the Company send out, under the direction of an experienced clerk,
a number of strong, well-armed, mounted men, who convey the necessary goods and supplies,
on pack-horses, to the trading stations, at a distance from the river; they always observe and
enforce the required conditions of the Indians, and not unfrequently come to blows with them.
These expeditions have to support themselves by the chase, consequently the men must be
good hunters, as they subsist almost exclusively on what they procure by their guns. Besides
the forts which I have so often named, the Company has also small winter posts, called log-houses,
or block-houses, among the Indians, quickly erected, and as quickly abandoned: to these
the Indians bring their furs, which are purchased, and sent, in the spring, to the trading posts.
The American Fur Company has, at present, about twenty-three, large and small, trading posts.
In the autumn and winter the Indian tribes generally approach nearer to these posts, to
barter their skins; while in the spring and summer they devote themselves especially to catching
beavers, for which they receive every encouragement from the merchants, who lend or
advance them iron traps for the purpose.
The animals, whose skins are objects of this trade, and the annual average of the income
derived from skins, may be pretty well ascertained from the following statement:
1. Beavers: about 25,000 skins. They are sold in packs of 100 lbs. weight each, put up
separately, and tied together. There are, generally, about sixty large skins in a pack; if they
are smaller, of course there are more skins. A large beaver skin weighs about two pounds—
sometimes more. The usual price is four dollars a pound.[3]2. Otters: 200 to 300 skins.
3. Buffalo cow skins: 40,000 to 50,000. Ten buffalo hides go to the pack.
4. Canadian weasel (Musetela Canadensis): 500 to 600.
5. Martin (pine or beech martin): about the same quantity.
6. Lynx; the northern lynx (Felis Canadensis): 1,000 to 2,000.
7. Lynx; the southern or wild cat (Felis rufa): 1,000 to 2,000.
8. Red foxes (Canis fulvus): 2,000.
9. Cross foxes: 200 to 300.
10. Silver foxes: twenty to thirty. Sixty dollars are often paid for a single skin.
11. Minks (Mustela vison): 2,000.
12. Musk-rats (Ondathra): from 1,000 to 100,000.[4] According to Captain Back, half a
million of these skins are annually imported into London, as this animal is found in equal
abundance as far as the coasts of the Frozen Ocean.13. Deer (Cervus Virginianus and macrotis): from 20,000 to 30,000.
Beyond Council Bluffs, scarcely any articles are bartered by the Indians—especially the
Joways, Konzas, and the Osages—except the skins of the Cervus Virginianus, which is found in
great abundance, but is said to have fallen off there likewise very considerably.
The elk (Cervus Canadensis, or major), is not properly comprehended in the trade, as its
skin is too thick and heavy, and is, therefore, used for home consumption. The buffalo skin
is taken, as before observed, from the cows only, as the leather of the bulls is too heavy.
The wolf skins are not at all sought by the Company, that is to say, they do not send out any
hunters to procure them; but, if the Indians bring any, they are bought not to create any dissatisfaction,
and then they are sold at about a dollar a-piece. The Indians, however, have
frequently nothing to offer for barter but their dresses, and painted buffalo robes.
The support of so large an establishment as that at Fort Union requires frequent hunting
excursions into the prairie; and Mr. Mc Kenzie, therefore, maintained here several experienced
hunters of a mixed race, who made weekly excursions to the distance of twenty or more miles
into the prairie, sought the buffalo herds, and, after they had killed a sufficient number, returned
home with their mules well laden. The flesh of the cows is very good, especially the tongues,
which are smoked in great numbers, and then sent down to St. Louis. The colossal marrowbones
are considered quite a delicacy by the hunters and by the Indians. The consumption of
is to the Laplanders, and the seal to the Esquimaux. It is difficult to obtain an exact
estimate of the consumption of this animal, which is yearly decreasing and driven further inland.
In a recent year, the Fur Company sent 42,000 of these hides down the river, which were sold, in
the United States, at four dollars a-piece. Fort Union alone consumes about 600 to 800 buffaloes
annually, and the other forts in proportion. The numerous Indian tribes subsist almost entirely on
these animals, sell their skins after retaining a sufficient supply for their clothing, tents, &c., and
the agents of the Company recklessly shoot down these noble animals for their own pleasure,
often not making the least use of them, except taking out the tongue. Whole herds of them are
often drowned in the Missouri; nay, I have been assured that, in some rivers, 1,800 and more of
their dead bodies were found in one place. Complete dams are formed of the bodies of these
animals in some of the morasses of the rivers; from this we may form some idea of the decrease
of the buffaloes, which are now found on the other side of the Rocky Mountains, where they
were not originally met with, but whither they have been driven.
Besides the buffalo, the hunters also shoot the elk, the deer, and, occasionally, the bighorn.
The former especially are very numerous on the Yellow Stone River. All other provisions, such
as pork, hams, flour, sugar, coffee, wine, and other articles of luxury for the tables of the chief
officers and the clerks, are sent from St. Louis by the steamer. The maize is procured from the
neighbouring Indian nations. Vegetables do not thrive at Fort Union, which Mr. Mc Kenzie
ascribes to the long-continued drought and high winds.
The neighbourhood around Fort Union is, as I have observed, a wide, extended prairie,
intersected, in a northerly direction, by a chain of rather high, round, clay-slate, and sand-stone
hills, from the summits of which we had a wide-spreading view over the country on the other side
of the Missouri, and of its junction with the Yellow Stone, of which Mr. Bodmer made a very
faithful drawing. (Plate XXIX.) We observed on the highest points, and at certain intervals of
this mountain chain, singular stone signals, set up by the Assiniboins, of blocks of granite, or other
large stones, on the top of which is placed a buffalo skull (see Vignette XV.), which we were told
the Indians place there to attract the herds of buffaloes, and thereby to ensure a successful hunt.
The strata of sand-stone occurring in the above-mentioned hills are filled, at least in part, with
impressions of the leaves of phanerogamic plants, resembling the species still growing in the
country.[5]
A whitish-grey and reddish-yellow sand-stone are found here. In all these prairies
of North America, as well as in the plains of northern Europe, those remarkable blocks or
fragments of red granite, are everywhere scattered, which have afforded the geologist subject
for many hypotheses. Major Long's Expedition to St. Peter's River mentions blocks of
granite in the prairies of Illinois; they are found in abundance in the north, about St. Peter's
formed by water, are found everywhere in the prairies. The hills were partly bare, and
very few flowers were in blossom; the whole country was covered with short, dry grass,
among which there were numerous round spots with tufts of Cactus ferox, which was only
partly in flower. Another cactus, resembling mammillaris, with dark red flowers, yellow
on the inner side, was likewise abundant. Of the first kind it seems that two exactly similar
varieties, probably species, are found everywhere here; both have fine, large, bright yellow
flowers, sometimes a greenish-yellow, and, on their first expanding, are often whitish, and the
outerside of the petals, with a reddish tinge; but in one species, the staminæ are bright yellow,
like the flower itself, and, in the other, of a brownish blood red, with yellow anthers. The true
flowering time of these plants begins at the end of June.
The scene of destruction, which has often been mentioned, namely, the whitening bones of
buffaloes and stags, recurs everywhere in the prairie, and the great dogs of the fort frequently
seek for such animal remains. Between the hills, there are, sometimes, in the ravines, little
thickets of oak, ash, negundo maple, elm, bird-cherry, and some others, in which many kinds of
birds, particularly the starling, blackbird, &c., build their nests. The king-bird and the red thrush
are likewise found. Of mammalia, besides those in the river, namely, the beaver, the otter, and
the musk-rat, there are, about Fort Union, in the prairie, great numbers of the pretty little
squirrel, the skin of which is marked with long stripes, and regular spots between them (Spermophilus
Hoodii, Sab.), which have been represented by Richardson and Cuvier. The Anglo-Americans
of these parts call it the ground squirrel; and the Canadians, l'écureuil Suisse. From its
figure and agility, it is a genuine squirrel, and, therefore, rather different from the true marmot
arctomys. The burrows, in which these animals live, are often carried to a great extent underground.
The entrance is not much larger than a mouse hole, and has no mound of earth thrown
up, like those of the prairie dogs. Besides these, there are several kinds of mice, particularly
Mus leucopus. The flat hills of the goffer are likewise seen; this is a kind of large
sand rat, living underground, of which I did not now obtain a specimen.
Not far above and below the fort there were woods on the banks of the Missouri, consisting
of poplars, willows, ash, elm, negundo maple, &c., with a thick underwood of hazel, roses, which
were now in flower, and dog-berry, rendered almost impassable by blackberry bushes and the burdock
(Xanthium strumarium), the thorny fruit of which stuck to the clothes. In these thickets, where
we collected many plants, the mosquitos were extremely troublesome. In such places we frequently
heard the deep base note of the frogs; and in those places which were not damp, there
were patches of two kinds of solidago; likewise Gaura coccinea (Pursh.), and Cristaria coccinea,
two extremely beautiful plants; and, on the banks of the river, the white-flowering Bartonia ornata
(Pursh.), and the Helianthus petiolaris (Nutt.), which were everywhere in flower, &c. &c.
In the forest, a pretty small mouse was frequent, as well as the large wood rat, already mentioned.
Of birds, there are some species of woodpeckers, the Carolina pigeon, numerous blackbirds
(Quiscalus ferrugineus), thrushes, several smaller birds, the beautiful bluefinch, first described
by Say, the American fly-catcher, and several others. The whip-poor-will is not found so high up
the Missouri. The river does not abound in fish; it produces, however, two species of cat-fish,
and soft shell turtles, but which are not often caught.
The climate about Fort Union is very changeable. We had often 76° Farenheit, and storms of
thunder and lightning alternating with heavy rains. Other days in the month of June were cold, the
thermometer falling to 56°. Winds prevail here the greater part of the year, and therefore the
temperature is usually dry. The weather, while we were there, was uncommonly rainy. Spring
is generally the wettest season; the summer is dry; autumn the finest time of the year; the
winter is severe, and often of long continuance. The snow is often three, four, or six feet deep
in many places, and then dog sledges are used, and the Indians wear snow shoes. The winter
of 1831—1832 had been remarkably mild in these parts. The Missouri had scarcely been frozen
for three days together; but the spring, however, set in very late. On the 30th of May, 1832,
the forests were still without verdure; and there was, in that month, such dreadful weather, that
an Indian was frozen to death in the prairie: a snow storm overtook him and a girl, who escaped
with one of her feet frozen. In general, however, the climate is said to be very healthy. There
are no endemic disorders, and the fine water of the Missouri, which, notwithstanding the sand
mixed with it, is light and cold, does not a little contribute to make the inhabitants attain an
advanced age. There are no physicians here, and the people affirm they have no need of them.
Persons, whom we questioned on the subject, said, "We don't want doctors; we have no diseases."
In the preceding spring, however, there had been more sickness than usual on the Missouri, and
at the time of our visit, the approach of the cholera was feared. Colds are, probably, the most
frequent complaints, the changes in the temperature being sudden, the dwellings slight and ill
built, and the people exposing themselves without any precaution.
Fort Union is built in the territory of the Assiniboins, of whom a certain number generally
live there. At this time they had left, because the herds of buffaloes were gone to a distant part
of the country. The Assiniboins are real Dacotas, or Sioux, and form a branch which separated
from the rest a considerable time ago, in consequence of a quarrel among them. They still call
themselves by that name, though they seem generally to pronounce it Nacota. They parted
from the rest of the tribe, after a battle which they had with each other on Devil's Lake, and
removed further to the north. The tribe is said to consist of 28,000 souls, of whom 7,000 are
warriors. They live in 3,000 tents; the territory which they claim as theirs, is between the
Missouri and the Saskatschawan, bounded by lake Winipick on the north, extending, on the
east, to Assiniboin River, and, on the west, to Milk River. The English and Americans sometimes
branch.
The Assiniboins are divided into the following branches or bands:
1. Itscheabiné (les gens des filles).
2. Jatonabinè (les gens des roches). The Stone Indians of the English. Captain Franklin,
in his first journey to the Frozen Ocean, speaks of these Indians, and observes that they are little
to be depended upon (page 104). He says that they call themselves Eascab, a name with which,
however, I have not met with.3. Otopachgnato (les gens du large).
4. Otaopabinè (les gens des canots).
5. Tschantoga (les gens des bois). They live near the Fort des Prairies, not far from Saskatschawan
River.6. Watópachnato (les gens de l'age).
7. Tanintauei (les gens des osayes).[6]
8. Chábin (les gens des montagnes).
In their personal appearance the Assiniboins differ little from the true Sioux; those whom
we saw were, perhaps, on the whole, not so tall and slender as the Sioux. Their faces are broad,
with high cheeks, and broad maxillary bones. They frequently do not wear their hair so long
as the Sioux; many of them have it scarcely hanging down to the shoulders; some, however, let
it grow to a great length, and braid it in two or three tails; nay, some let it hang like a lion's
mane over their faces and about their heads. Several wore round white leather caps, others
feathers in their hair, or a narrow strip of skin fastened over the crown. A remarkable head-dress
is that with two horns, of which I shall have to speak in the sequel. They paint their faces red,
or reddish-brown, and, when they have killed an enemy, quite black; the hair in front is often
daubed with clay; the upper part of the body is seldom naked in winter time, when they wear
leather shirts, with a large round rosette on the breast, which is embroidered with dyed porcupine
quills, of the most vivid colours; and they have often another exactly similar ornament
on their back. The sleeves of these leather shirts are adorned with tufts of their enemies' hair.
The outer seam of the leggins, as among all the other tribes, has an embroidered stripe of
coloured porcupine quills, and trimmed in the same manner with human or dyed horsehair.
In the summer time the upper part of the body is often naked, and the feet bare, but they are
never without the large buffalo robe, which is often curiously painted. Their necklaces and
other ornaments are similar to those of the other nations which have already been described.
They, however, very frequently wear the collar of bears' claws, but not the long strings of beads
the stocks of which they ornament with bright yellow nails, and with small pieces of red
cloth on the ferrels for the ramrod. Like all the Indians, they carry, besides, a separate ramrod
in their hand, a large powder-horn, which they obtain from the Fur Company, and a leather
pouch for the balls, which is made by themselves, and often neatly ornamented, or hung with
rattling pieces of lead, and trimmed with coloured cloth. All have bows and arrows; many have
these only, and no gun. The case for the bow and the quiver are of the skin of some animal,
often of the otter, fastened to each other; and to the latter the tail of the animal, at full length,
is appended. The bow is partly covered with elk horn, has a very strong string of twisted
sinews of animals, and is wound round in different places with the same, to strengthen it. The
bow is often adorned with coloured cloth, porcupine quills, and white strips of ermine, but, on the
whole, this weapon does not differ from that of the Sioux. Most of them carry clubs in their
hands, of various shapes, and the fan of eagles' or swans' wings is indispensable to an elegant
dandy.
The Assiniboins being hunters, live in movable leather tents, with which they roam about,
and never cultivate the ground. Their chief subsistence they derive from the herds of buffaloes,
which they follow in the summer, generally from the rivers, to a distance in the prairie; in
the winter, to the woods on the banks of the rivers, because these herds, at that time, seek for
shelter and food among the thickets. They are particularly dexterous in making what are called
buffalo parks, when a tract is surrounded with scarecrows, made of stones, branches of trees, &c., and
the terrified animals are driven into a narrow gorge, in which the hunters lie concealed, as represented
and described by Franklin, in his first journey to the Frozen Ocean (page 112). There
was such a park ten miles from Fort Union, where I was told there were great numbers of the
bones of those animals. On such occasions the Indians sometimes kill 700 or 800 buffaloes. Of
the dried and powdered flesh, mixed with tallow, the women prepare the well-known pemmican,
which is an important article of food for these people in their wanderings. These Indians frequently
suffer hunger, when the chase or other circumstances are unfavourable; this is particularly
the case of the northern nations, the Crees, the Assiniboins, the Chippeways, and others, as may
be seen in Tanner, Captain Franklin, and other writers, when they consider dead dogs as a
delicacy. In the north, entire families perish from hunger. They eat every kind of animals,
except serpents: horses and dogs are very frequently killed for food, which is the reason why
they keep so many, particularly of the latter.
In comparison with the other nations, the Assiniboins have not many horses; their bridles
and saddles are like those of the Manitaries. The rope of buffalo hair, which is fastened to the
Many have large parchment stirrups in the shape of shoes, and all carry a short whip in their
hand, generally made of the end of an elk's horn, and gaily ornamented. Their dogs are of great
help to the women in their heavy work; and they are loaded with the baggage in the same
manner as among the Manitaries.
In general, the Assiniboins have the customs as well as the superstitious notions of the Sioux;
for an account of which, Major Long's "Expedition to St. Peter's River," may be consulted.
They keep on good terms with the Fur Company, for their own interest; they are, however,
horse-stealers, and not to be trusted; and when one meets them alone in the prairie, there is
great danger of being robbed. Smoking is a favourite enjoyment with them, but, as they live at
a distance from the red pipe clay, the bowls of their pipes are generally made of a blackish stone,
or black clay, and are different in shape from those of the Dacotas. The pipe tube is ornamented
like those of the other tribes.[8]
bear-berry (Arbutus uva ursi), mixed with genuine tobacco. To clean their pipes they make use
of a painted stick, bound round with quills, dyed of various colours, and with a neat tassel at the
end of it (Plate XLVIII. Fig. 11), which is generally stuck in their hair.
Many games are in use among these Indians; one of these is a round game, in which one
holds in his hand some small stones, of which the others must guess the number, or pay a forfeit.
This game is known also to the Blackfeet. Another is that in which they play with four small
bones and four yellow nails, to which one of each sort is added; they are laid upon a flat
lose, according as they lie together on one side, and the stake is often very high.
Among the amusements and festivities are their eating feasts, when the guests must eat
everything set before them, if they will not give offence. If one of the guests is not able to eat
any more, he gives his neighbour a small wooden stick, and the plate with food, the meaning of
which is that he will make him a present of a horse, on the next day, if he will undertake to empty
the plate; and the young men do this in order to gain reputation. The Assiniboins are brave in
battle, and often very daring. They frequently steal into the villages of the Mandans and Manitaries,
shoot the inhabitants in or near their huts, or steal their horses.
They believe in a creator, or lord of life (Unkan-Tange), and also in an evil spirit (Unkan-Schidja),
who torments people with various disorders, against which their sorcerers or physicians
(medicine men) use the drum and the rattle to expel the evil spirit. Like the Crees and several
other tribes, they believe that thunder is produced by an enormous bird, which some of them
pretend to have seen. Some ascribe lightning to the Great Spirit, and believe that he is angry
when the storm is violent. They believe that the dead go to a country in the south, where the
good and brave find women and buffaloes, while the wicked or cowardly are confined to an
island, where they are destitute of all the pleasures of life. Those who, during their lives, have
conducted themselves bravely, are not to be deposited in trees when they die, but their corpses
are to be laid on the ground, it being taken for granted that, in case of need, they will help
themselves. Of course they are then generally devoured by the wolves, to secure them from
which, however, they are covered with wood and stones. Other corpses are usually placed on
trees, as among the Sioux, and sometimes on scaffolds. They are tied up in buffalo hides, and
three or four are sometimes laid in one tree.
The language of the Assiniboins is, on the whole, the same as that of the Sioux, altered by
their long separation, and the influence of time and circumstances. Like them, they have many
gutturals and nasal tones; in general, however, it is an harmonious language, which a German
pronounces without difficulty.
On this subject see "Astoria," and "Adventures of Captain Bonneville," also "Ross Cox's Adventures on the Columbia
River," p. 198. The dress of the white agents of the Company is made of cloth, like our own; but the hunters often
wear a leather dress, ornamented, for the most part, in the Indian fashion, while the common engagés wear white blanket
coats, such as I have described when speaking of the inhabitants of Indiana, on the Wabash. They are mostly shod in
Indian mocassins, a dozen pair of which may be purchased from the Indian women for one dollar, when they are not
ornamented. The hunters, here, maintain that these Indian shoes are better adapted to the prairies than our European
ones, as they do not become so slippery. They are frequently soled with elk hide, or parchment. The worst is, that
they are easily penetrated by the prickles of the cactus, and on this account we greatly preferred our European shoes.
At Fort Union, artisans of almost every description are to be met with, such as smiths, masons, carpenters, joiners,
coopers, tailors, shoemakers, hatters, &c.
Some idea may be formed of the enormous quantity of beavers killed every year, from the circumstance that the
Hudson's Bay Company sends to London alone 50,000, this animal being found as far as the coasts of the Frozen Ocean.
At Rock River, which falls into the Mississippi, the Indians caught, in 1825, about 130,000 musk-rats; in the
following year, about half the number; and, in about two years after, these animals were scarcely to be met with. Previous
to this time, an Indian caught, in thirty days, as many as 1,600 of them. In South America, there is only one species
of wild animal, known to me, whose skins are collected in large quantities. According to D'Orbigny, in the first six
months of 1828, above 150,000 dozen Quiyaa were sold, in Corrientes, at from fifteen to eighteen francs the dozen.
The Indians hunt this animal, which lives in the morasses, with dogs, and shoot it with arrows.
Unfortunately, all these interesting specimens were destroyed in the fire on board the steam-boat.
The word osayes is one of the many Canadian terms which are mixed with the French of that country, and
means bones.
The common Mackinaw guns, which the Fur Company obtain from England at the rate of eight dollars a-piece, and
which are sold to the Indians for the value of thirty dollars.
The Indians on the Upper Missouri have another kind of tobacco pipe, the bowl of which is in the same line as
the tube, and which they use only on their warlike expeditions. As the aperture of the pipe is more inclined downwards
than usual, the fire can never be seen, so as to betray the smoker, who lies on the ground, and holds the pipe on one side.
| CHAPTER XV. Travels in the interior of North America. | |