LIFE IN THE FAR WEST. 67 



countenance, his long matted hair hanging in unkempt masses 

 over his face, begrimed with the dirt of a week, and palhd with 

 the eflects of ardent drink — was suffering from the usual conse- 

 quences of having " kept it up" beyond the usual point, paying the 

 penalty in a fit of " horrors" — as deliriimi tremens is most aptly 

 tenned by sailors and the unprofessional. 



In another part, the merchants of the caravan and the Indian 

 traders superintended the lading of the wagons, or mule packs. 

 They were dressed in civilized attire, and some were even be- 

 dizened in St. Louis or Eastern City dandyism, to the infinite dis- 

 gust of the mountain men, who look upon a burge-way (bourgeois) 

 with most undisguised contempt, despising the very simplest forms 

 of civilization. The picturesque appearance of the encampment 

 was not a little heightened by the addition of several Indians from 

 the neighboring Shawnee settlement, who, mounted on their small 

 active horses, on which they reclined, rather than sat, in negligent 

 attitudes, quietly looked on at the novel scene, indifferent to the 

 "chaff" in which the thoughtless teamsters indulged at their ex- 

 pense. Numbers of mules and horses were picketed at hand, 

 while a large lierd of noble oxen were being driven toward the 

 camp — the wo-ha of the teamsters sounding far and near, as they 

 collected the scattered beasts in order to yoke up. 



As most of the mountain men were utterly unable to move from 

 camp, Luke and La Bonte, with three or four of the most sober, 

 Started in company, intending to wait on " Blue," a stream which 

 runs into the Caw or Kanzas River, until the "balance" of the 

 band came up. Mounting their mules, and leading the loose 

 animals, they struck at once into the park-like prairie, and were 

 speedily out of sight of civilization. 



It was the latter end of May, toward the close of the season of 

 heavy rains, which in early spring render the chmate of this coun- 

 try almost intolerable, at the same time that they fertilize and 

 thaw the soil, so long bound up by the winter's frosts. The grass 



