23 



CHAPTER III. 



The Pottowatomies.— Crossiiig the Wakarousha.— Adventure at the Springs.— Tlie 

 Caw chief.— Kansas river and Indians.— Pleading for whiskey. — Hickory timber. 

 — Prairie tea. — Scenes at the N. Fork of Blue. — Wild honey.— Return party.— 

 Mountaineers in California. — Adventure wilh a bufTalo.— Indian atrocilies.— 

 Liquor and the Fur Trade. — Strict guard. — High prices. 



Continuing our course, we bore to tlie r'glit, and struck the northern 

 or Platte trail, and, after travelling eight or ten miles, made camp upon a 

 small creek skirted with heavy timber, called Black Jack. An early start 

 the next morning brought us to the Wakarousha, a considerable tributary 

 of the Kansas, where a junction was formed with our advance party. The 

 territory lying upon this stream as far south as Council Grove, (a noted 

 place on tlie Mexican trail, 144 miles west from Independence,) belongs 

 to the Pottowatomies. These Indians are very wealthy and are partially 

 civihzed, — the most of them being tillers of the ground. Their dwellings 

 are of very simple construction, — large strips of bark firmly tied to a 

 frame-work of poles with small apertures to admit light, furnishing the ex- 

 terior, while the interior is finished by the suspension of two or three 

 blankets between the apartments, as partitions, and erecting a few scafiblds 

 for bedsteads. The fire-place in warm weather is out of doors, but in 

 the winter it occupies the centre of the building, from wliich the smoke — 

 unaided by jamb or chimney — is left to find its way through an opening 

 in the roof. Some, however, are beginning to improve in their style of 

 architecture, and now and then we fiiid a tolerably spacious and comforta- 

 ble house among them. 



The Catholics have several missionaries with this tribe, and are using 

 great exertions, if not to ameliorate their condition, at least, to proselyte 

 them to their own peculiar faith. The missionaries of other christian 

 denominations are also devoting themselves for their benefit, and not un- 

 frequently with gratifying success. 



The remainder of the day was occupied in crossing the creek — a task 

 by no means easy, — its banks being so precipitous w^e were compelled to 

 lower our waggons by means of ropes. In so doing it required the utmost 

 caution to prevent them from oversetting or becoming broken in the ab- 

 rupt descent. 



The night following was passed upon the opposite bank. After travel- 

 ling some twelve miles the next day, w^e encamped a short distance to the 

 right of the trail, at a place known as the Springs. Scarcely had we 

 halted when two footmen appeared from an opposite direction — one of 

 them leading a horse — whom a nearer advance proved to be a white man 

 and an Indian. The former was immediately recognized by our engages 

 as an old acquaintance, by the name of Brow'n, who had been their recent 

 compagnon de voyage from the mountains. His story was soon told. A 

 few days subsequent to his arrival in the States, a difficulty had occurred 



