LIFEINTHEFARWEST. 65 



changed his own piece, which was of very small bore, for a regu- 

 lar mountain rifle. This was of very heavy metal, carrying about 

 thirty-two balls to the pound, stocked to the muzzle, and mounted 

 with brass, its only ornament being a buffalo bull, looking exceed- 

 ingly ferocious, which was not very artistically engraved upon the 

 trap in the stock. Here, too, he laid in a few pounds of powder 

 and lead, and all the necessaries for a long hunt. 



His next visit was to a smith's store, which smith was black 

 by trade and black by nature, for he was a nigger, and, moreover, 

 celebrated as being the best maker of beaver-traps in St. Louis, 

 and of him he purchased six new traps, paying for the same 

 twenty dollars ; procuring, at the same time, an old trap-sack, 

 made of stout buffalo skin, in which to carry them. 



We next find La Bonte and his companion — one Luke, better 

 known as Gray-Eye, one of his eyes having been "gouged" in a 

 mountain fray — at Independence, a little town situated on the 

 Missouri, several hundred miles above St. Louis, and within a 

 short distance of the Indian frontier. 



Independence may be termed the " prairie port" of the western 

 country. Here the caravans destined for Santa Fe, and the in- 

 terior of Mexico, assemble to complete their necessary equipment. 

 Mules and oxen are purchased, teamsters hired, and all stores and* 

 outfit laid in here for the long journey over the wide expanse of 

 prairie ocean. Here, too, the Indian traders and the Pwocky 

 Mountain trappers rendezvous, collecting in sufficient force to 

 insure their safe passage through the Indian country. At the 

 seasons of departure and arrival of these bands, the little town 

 presents a lively scene of bustle and confusion. The wild and 

 dissipated mountaineers get rid of their last dollars in furious 

 orgies, treating all comers to galore of drink, and pledging each 

 other, in horns of potent whisky, to successful hunts, and " heaps 

 of beaver." When every cent has disappeared from their pouches, 

 the free trapper often makes away with rifle, traps, and animals, 



