280 IN THE OLD WEST 



with furious mirth, not unmixed with graver 

 scenes ; for your mountaineer, ever quarrelsome in 

 his cups, is quick to give and take offense when 

 rifles alone can settle the difference, and much 

 blood is spilt upon the prairie in his wild and fre- 

 quent quarrels. 



Bent's Fort * is situated on the left or northern 

 bank of the river Arkansa, about one hundred 

 miles from the foot of the Rocky Mountains — on 

 a low and level bluff of the prairie which here 

 slopes gradually to the water's edge. The walls 

 are built entirely of adobes — or sun-burned 

 bricks — in the form of a hollow square, at two 

 comers of which are circular flanking towers of 

 the same material. The entrance is by a large 

 gateway into the square, round which are the 

 rooms occupied by the traders and employes of 

 the host. These are small in size, with walls col- 

 ored by a whitewash made of clay found in the 

 prairie. Their flat roofs are defended along the 

 exterior by parapets of adobe, to serve as a cover 

 to marksmen firing from the top ; and along the 

 coping grow plants of cactus of all the varieties 

 common in the plains. In the center of the square 

 is the press for packing the furs ; and there are 

 three large rooms, one used as a store and maga- 

 zine, another as a council-room, where the Indians 



* Sometimes called Fort William, from one of the two 

 Bent brothers who founded it in 1829. It was destroyed 

 in 1852. (Ed.) 



