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THE MISSOURI RIVER JOURNALS 



195 



front of the buildings is about a hundred feet square ; from 

 the centre rises a flag-staft' fifty feet high; from this wave 

 the glorious folds of the starry banner of our native land, 

 made more beautiful by its situation in the dreary wilder- 

 ness around it. The wanderer, as he sees the bright folds 

 from afar, hails them with gladness, as it means for him a 

 place of safety. No sight is more welcome to the voya- 

 geur, the hunter, or the trapper. That flag cheers all 

 who claim it as theirs, and it protects all, white men or 

 red. Here in the wilderness all fly to it for refuge, and 

 depend on it for security. Upon the arrival or departure 

 of the Bourgeois, men of note, or arrival and departure of 

 the boats, the flag is raised, and salutes fired. Here, 

 where but few are gathered together, undying attachments 

 are formed, a unanimity of feeling exists, to be found per- 

 haps only in similar situations. When the hour of parting 

 comes it is with regret, for amid the common dangers, so 

 well known, none know when the meeting again will be, 

 and when the hour of meeting comes, the joy is honest 

 and unfeigned that the dangers are safely surmounted. 

 Such is Fort McKenzie, such are its inmates. Removed 

 as they are from civilization and its pleasures, home and 

 friends, they find in each other friends and brothers: 

 friends that forsake not in the hour of danger, but cling 

 through all changes; brothers in feeling and action, and 

 'though there be many, in heart they are one.'" 



