Rocky Mountains. 265 



and rode forward to Mr. Billingsly's, where we met a very 

 hospitable reception. As the night approached, we observed 

 that several young women and men, the sons and daughters 

 of the family disappeared, going to the cottages of the neigh- 

 bors fthe nearest of which seemed to be the one we had pas- 

 sed) to spend the night, that they might leave their beds for 

 us. 



Some feather beds having been given up by their ordinary 

 occupants, expressly for our use, we could not well avoid ac- 

 cepting the accommodation thus offered; but, instead of prov- 

 ing an indulgence, we experienced from them more inconve- 

 nience that gratification. We spent an unquiet and almost 

 sleepless night, and arose on the following morning unrefresh- 

 ed, and with a painful feeling of soreness in our bones, so great 

 a change had the hunter's life produced upon our habits. 

 Those of the party who spread their blankets, and passed the 

 night on the floor of the cabin, rested much more pleasantly. 



On the succeeding morning Capt. Ballard returned to 

 Belle Point, and we resumed our journey, accompanied by 

 one of the sons of our landlord, who undertook to guide us 

 on our way, until we should fall in with a path which we 

 might continue to follow. We passed through a hilly coun- 

 try, crossing two creeks, heretofore called the middle and 

 lower Vache Grasse. At the distance of four or five miles 

 from the Arkansa, on each side, the country is broken and 

 mountainous, several of the summits rising to an elevation 

 of near two thousand feet above the surface of the water. 

 Several trees, which stood near our path, had been in part 

 stripped of their bark, and the naked trunks were marked 

 with rude figures representing horses, men, deer, dogs, &c. 

 These imperfect paintings done with charcoal and sometimes 

 touched with a little vermillion, appeared to be historic re- 

 cords, designed to perpetuate or at least to communicate the 

 account of some exploit in hunting, a journey, or some simi- 

 lar event. 



VOL. II. 34 



