LIFE IN THE FAR WEST 269 



first day the start is all that is effected ; and nearly the 

 whole morning is taken up in getting fairly under 

 WLMLrh. The loose stock had been sent off earlier, for 

 they had been collected and corralled the previous 

 n i-- lit ; and, after a twelve hours' fast, it was necessary 

 they should reach the end of the day's journey betimes. 

 They found the herd grazing in the bottom of the 

 Arkanxi, at a point previously fixed upon for their 

 first camp. Here the oxen were unyoked, and the 

 wantons drawn up so as to form the three sides of a 

 small square. The women then descended from their 

 a, and prepared the evening meal. A huge fire was 

 kindle 1 before the waggons, and round this the whole 

 I >aity collected ; whilst large kettles of coffee boiled on 

 it, and hoe-cakes baked upon the embers. 



Tin* women were sadly downhearted, as well they 

 mini it In.', with the dreary prospect before them; and 

 poor Mary, when she saw the Mormon encampment 

 shut out from her sight by the rolling bluffs, and 

 nothing before her but the bleak barren prairie, could 

 not divest herself of the idea that she had looked for 

 the last time on civilised fellow-creatures, and fairly 

 burst into tears. 



In the morning the heavy waggons rolled on again 

 across the upland prairies, to strike the trail used by 

 the traders in passing from the south fork of the Platte 

 to the Arkansa. They had for guide a Canadian 

 voyageur, who had been in the service of the Indian 

 traders, and knew the route well, and who had agreed 

 to pilot them to Fort Lancaster, on the north fork of 



