147 



CHAPTER XVIIl. 



Hunting excursion. — ^Thirst more painful than hunger. — Geological observations — 

 Mournful casualty. — Sad scene of sepulture. — Melancholy night. — Voyage in an 

 empty boat.— Ruins of a Pawnee village at Cedar Bluff— Plover creek. Caen© 

 Grove. — Thousand Islands. — Abandon boat. — Exploring company. — A horrible situ- 

 ation. — Agony to torment. — Pawnee village. — Exemplary benevolence of an Indian 

 chief.—Miserable fourth ot July. — Foiu: days starvation. — Arrival at Council 

 Bluff — Proceed to Independence. 



For two days preceding we had been without eating-, and our first effort 

 was to procure a re-supply of provisions. Both crews started out with 

 their rifles in pursuit of game, though not the foot-print of any living crea- 

 ture appeared to excite even the faintest hope of success. 



Still, however, we kept on, determined not to despair so long as the use 

 of legs remained to us. 



Having travelled some fifteen miles, chance threw in our way a doe-elk 

 with her fawn, which the unerring aim of a rifle speedily laid dead before 

 us. Soon as opened, the liver disappeared at the demands of voracious ap- 

 petites, and next to it the marrow bones and kidneys. 



The process of cooking was then commenced over a fire of hois de vache, 

 which was continued till each stomach was abundantly satisfied. But, 

 here another enemy assumed the place of hunger, and one far more painful 

 in its nature. There was not a drop of water to allay our thirst short of 

 the river, fifteen miles distant, — over an open sand-prairie and beneath the 

 scorching rays of a vertical sun. 



I can endure hunger for many days in succession without experiencing 

 any very painful sensations, — I can lie down and forget it in the sweet un- 

 consciousness of sleep, or feast my imagination upon the rich-spread tables 

 of dreams ; — but not so with thirst. It cannot be forgotten, sleeping or 

 waking, while existence is retained. It will make itself known and felt ! 

 It will parch your tongue and burn your throat, despite your utmost endeavors 

 to thrust it from memory ! 



Each one shouldering his burden from the carcase, we took up our line of 

 march for the boat, where, arriving in four or five hours subsequently, we 

 quenched our burning thirst in the water of the thrice welcome stream. 



The country, travelled over during this excursion, for the first ten or 

 twelve miles, was a level plain, presenting a thin vegetable mould with a 

 luxuriant growth of grass and herbage, upon a substratum of sand and 

 gravel. 



The remainder of our route led through a ridge of hills, many of them 

 naked, others clothed with grass and ornamented with pines ; — between the 

 tiimuU were many beautiful vallojis, gorgeously decked with wild-flowers in 

 full bloom, and arrayed in mantles of living green ; while thick clusters of 

 fruit-bearing trees and shrubs attested the general fecundity and lent their 

 enchantment to the scene. 



