o* 
CALIBRE OF OUR PARTY. 15 
pass. Here were the representatives of seven 
distinct nations, each speaking his own na- 
tive language, which produced at times a very 
respectable jumble of discordant sounds. 
There was one Frenchman whose volubility 
of tongue and curious gesticulations, con- 
trasted very strangely with the frigidity of 
two phlegmatic wanderers from Germany ; 
while the calm eccentricity of two Polish exiles, 
the stoical look of two sons of the desert (the 
Creek already spoken of and a Chickasaw), 
and the pantomimic gestures of sundry loqua- 
cious Mexicans, ebhtvibuted in no small de- 
gree to heighten the effects of the picture. 
The Americans were mostly backwoodsmen, 
who could handle the rifle far better than the 
pina but who nevertheless officiated as wag- 
"We had fourteen road wagons, half drawn 
by mules, the others by oxen (eight of each 
to the team); besides a carriage and a Jersey 
wagon. Then we had two swivels mounted 
upon one pair of wheels; but one of them 
was attached to a movable truckle, so that, 
upon stopping, it could be transferred to the 
other side of the wagons. One of these was 
a long brass piece made to order, with a cali- 
bre of but an inch and a quarter, yet of suffi- 
cient metal to throw a leaden ball to the dis- 
tance of a mile with surprising accuracy. 
The other was of iron, and a little larger. 
Besides these, our party was well supplied 
with small arms. The Americans mostly had 
their rifles and a musket in addition, which 
