FOkESt AND STREAM. 
Trails of the Pathfinders.-XXV, 
Townshend Across the Continent. 
In the spring of 1834 John K. Townshend and Thomas 
Nuttall set out on an overland journey toward the 
Pacific coast, in company with Captain Nathaniel J. 
Wyeth, who was in charge of a large party of traders 
and, trappers. The expedition's purpose was to trade 
with the Indians, and to establish trading posts at 
various points in and beyond the Rocky Mountains. 
Townshend was an ornithologist, of Philadelphia, Pa., 
whose name is frequently found in the natural history 
writings of the earlier half of the last century. 
He is best known perhaps from the work that 
he did on this expedition, where he discovered a 
number of new species of birds and mammals, 
some of which were described by Mr. Audubon 
• in his ornithological biographies, while others, 
Townshend himself described in an early volume (1837) 
of the Journal of the Philadelphia Academy. Audubon's 
appreciation of Townshend's work was generous, as is 
indicated by the fact that the older man dedicated no 
fewer than seven species to Townshend. 
Thomas Nuttal, of course, was an ornithologist, but 
he was also a botanist. His well-known "Manual of the 
Ornithology of the United States and of Canada" con- 
sists of two volumes. The Land Birds, and The Water 
Birds. It was published in 1840. Within a few years 
a Boston firm has printed a new edition, edited and 
brought down to that date by Mr. Montague Chamber- 
lin, of Cambridge, whose eminent qualifications for this 
work are so well known. This last edition had in it 
some colored plates. 
Townshend wrote also a popular narrative of his 
journey, entitled "Sporting Excursions in the Rocky 
Mountains, including A Journey to the Columbia River, 
and a Visit tothe Sandwich Islands, Chili, etc." It con- 
sists of two modest octavo volumes of 300 pages each, 
of which the first is devoted to the journey across the 
continent, and the second to a short stay on the coast, 
together with the journey to the Sandwich Islands, the 
return to the North American Continent, a journey up 
the Columbia, the return to the Sandwich Islands, and 
the passage to Chili, whence the author embarked for 
Philadelphia, his home. Of the last volume, something 
over sixty pages are devoted to an appendix, in which 
are noted the mammals and birds seen. There are 
about seventy mammals and 208 species of birds men- 
tioned. Of the latter, twenty-four are given as new 
species, but all of them have been previously described 
in the papers mentioned above. 
Townshend and Nuttall set out on foot from St. 
Louis, toward the "upper settlements," a distance of 
about three hundred miles. They intended to pursue 
their way in a leisurely manner, collecting as they went; 
and Captain Wyeth and his company were to follow 
them later, and to overtake them before they reached 
the limits of civilization. 
The two started, with shotguns and botanical cases, 
and we may imagine that they found much to see and 
to enjoy as they journeyed along. On the second day 
out the author notes that, "This morning we observed 
large flocks of wild pigeons passing over; and on the 
bare prairies were thousands of golden plovers; the 
ground was often literally covered with them for acres. 
I killed a considerable number. They were very fat, 
and we made an excellent meal of them in the evening. 
The prairie hen, or pinnated grouse, is also very, numer- 
ous, but in these situations is shy, and difficult to be 
procured." As they passed along, deer and turkeys 
were frequently seen, and some were killed. The 
travelers commonly spent the night at the houses of the 
. settlers, where they were always most kindly and 
hospitably received; but when -they had occasion to 
stop at what they called hotels, fortune was much less 
kind to them, for they suffered many things from dirt 
and insects. As they passed northward along the 
Missouri River, Townshend notes the great abundance 
of the common gray squirrel, and says, ."On last Christ- 
mas Day, at a squirrel hunt in the ^neighborhood, about 
thirty persons killed the astonishifig number of twelve 
hundred, between the rising and setting of the sun!" 
This destruction, he notes, "is justified by the con- 
sideration that all the crops of corn in the country are 
frequently destroyed by these animals. This extensive 
extermination is carried on every year, and yet, Jt is 
said, their numbers do not appear to be much dimin- 
ished." 
At Boonville, Mo., a bird, now almost extinct, was 
seen in great abundance. "We saw here vast num- 
bers of the beautiful parrot of this country (the 
Psittacus cm'olinensis.) They flew around us in flocks, 
keeping up a constant and loud screaming, as though 
they would chide us for invading their territory; and the 
splendid green and red of their plumage glancing in 
the sunshine, as they whirled and circled within a few 
feet of us, had a most magnificent appearance. They 
seemed entirely unsuspicious of danger, and after being 
fired at, only huddled closer together, as if to obtain 
protection from each other; and as their conipanions 
a:re falling around them, they cur^e down their necks 
and look at them fluttering upon the ground, as. though' 
perfectly at a loss to account for so unusual an oc- 
currence. It is a most inglorious sort of shooting-— 
down-right, clod-blooded murder." 
The day after they reached Boonville a steamboat, 
bound up the river, arrived there, and on board of it 
the two naturalists were delighted to find Captain 
Wyeth, and all their possessions. They at once em- 
barked, and continued up the river, finally reaching the 
town of Independence, from which their westward 
journey was to begin. The novel surroundings were 
interesting, but not always agreeable to the eastern 
naturalists; and the freedom of talk, and questions of 
the trappers and prairie men, at first gave serious an- 
noyance to the young fellow from the Quaker city, 
whose ideas of his own dignity, and of how strangers 
should treat him were often shocked. 
At Independence the members of the txpedition had 
begun to assemble. Milton Sublette was one of the 
arrivals, and he brought with him about twenty trained 
hunters. A party of five missionaries, bound for , 
Oregon, were also here. Note is made of the tact and 
judgment with which Wyeth and Sublette handled the 
rough and mdependent prairie and mountain men whom 
they had ni their company, and of the popularity of each 
with his followers. 
A few weeks before the arrival of the travelers at 
Independence, the town had been the scene of a brawl 
beteen the Mormons and the other inhabitants of the 
town, in which finally the Mormons were ejected from 
the community. When they left it they took refuge 
in the town of Liberty, on the opposite side ©f the 
river, and the people of Independence believed that 
the Mormons were now preparing to attack the town 
and "put the inhabitants to the sword." All the mili- 
tary spirit of Independence was aroused, troops were 
drilling every day, and sentries were stationed each night, 
to ward off the threatened danger, which it is hardly 
necessary to say never came. 
It was at 10 o'clock on the 28th of April that Captain 
Wyeth's caravan left Independence. It consisted of 
seventy men, with two hundred and fifty horses. One 
of the early experiences of the party was the stamped- 
ing of their horses by a hail storm. 
The party had not been out long when they met a 
small body of wandering Kaws, to a description of 
whom the author gives several pages. At the Kaw 
village, corn, moccasins and leggings were purchased; 
and attention is called to the permanent houses of the 
Indians. Soon after this Milton Sublette, who had 
long been ailing, was obliged to leave them and re- 
turn to the settlements. It was found necessary not 
long after this to amputate his leg, and a few years 
later he died. His brother, William, who was then on 
the Plains, will be mentionedl later. 
Not long after this a small party of Otoes came into 
the camp, and as the author was sitting smoking with 
the Indians, he noticed that one of the white hunters 
of the party was looking at one of the Indians with 
glances of ferocious, hatred, and on later inquiring the 
cause from Richardson, the hunter, he was told the 
following story: 
"Why," said he, "that Injen that sat opposite to you, 
is my bitterest enemy. I was once going down alone 
from the rendez-vous with letters for St. Louis, and 
when I arrived on the lower part of the Platte River 
(just a short distance beyond us here), I fell in with 
about a dozen Otoes. They were known to be a friendly 
tribe, and I, therefore, felt no fear of them. I dis- 
mounted from my horse and sat with them upon the 
ground. It was in, the depth of winter; the ground was 
covered with snow, and the river was frozen solid. 
While I was thinking of nothing but my dinner, which 
I was then about preparing, four or five of the cow- 
ards jumped on me, mastered my rifle, and held my 
arms fast, while they took from me my knife and 
tomahawk, my flint and steel, and all my ammunition. 
They then loosed me, and told me to be off. I begged 
them, for the love of God, to give me my rifle and a 
few loads of ammunition, or I should starve before I 
could reach the settlements. No, I should have nothing, 
and if I did not start off immediately, they would throw 
me ^ under the ice of the river. And," continued the 
excited hunter — while he ground his teeth with bitter 
and uncontrollable rage — "that man that sat opposite 
to you was the chief of them. He recognized me, and 
knew very well the reason why I would not smoke with 
him. I tell you, sir, if ever I meet that man in any 
other situation than that in which I saw him this 
morning, I'll shoot him with as little hesitation as I 
would shoot a deer. Several years have passed since 
the perpetration of this outrage, but it is still as fresh 
in my memory as ever, and I again declare, that if 
ever an opportunity offers, I will kill that man." 
"But, Richardson, did they take your horse also?" 
"To be sure they did, and my blankets, and everything 
I had, except my clothes." 
"But how did you subsist until you reached the settle- 
ments? You had a long journey before you." 
"Why, I set to trappin' prairie squirrels with little 
nooses made out of the hairs of my head." I should re- 
mark that his hair was so long, that it fell in heavy 
masses on his shoulders. 
"But squirrels in winter, Richardson; I never heard 
of squirrels in winter." 
"Well, but there was plenty of them, though; little 
white ones, that lived among the snow." 
"Well, really, this was an unpleasant sort of ad- 
venture enough, but let me suggest that you do very 
wrong to remember it with such blood-thirsty feelings." 
On the i8th of May Townshend reached the Platte 
River. Here, wolves and antelopes were very abundant, 
and many of the latter were killed by the hunters. The 
party were nearing the buffalo range, and the old hands 
were discussing the approaching event, and telling 
stories about the different methods of hunting buffalo, 
and their ways, until the greenhorns had been worked 
up to a state of great excitement. Here, too, they met 
the Pawnees — first a delegation of Indians from the 
Grand Pawnees, now known as the Chaui band; and 
here, too, a day or two later, they saw their first buffalo. 
Like all other authors, Townshend was very much im- 
pressed by the buffalo, individually, and in their mass. 
He tells of how the Indians hunt them by running, by 
approaching and by disguising themselves in the skins 
of wolves or of buffalo calves and creeping into the 
herds, where they kill the animals with arrows. 
Of the numbers of the buffalo, even here on the 
border of their range, he says : "Toward evening, on 
rising a hill, we were suddenly greeted by a sight which 
seemed to astonish even the oldest among us. The 
whole plain, as far as the eye could discern, was covered 
by one enormous mass of buffalo. Our vision, at the 
very least computation, would certainly extend ten 
miles, and in the whole of this great space, including 
about eight miles in width fr®m the bluffs to the river 
bank, there was apparently no vista in the incalculable 
multitude. It was truly a sight that would have excited 
even the dullest mind to enthusiasm. Our party rode 
up to within a few hundred yards of the edge of the 
herd, befors any alarm was communicated; then the 
bulls — which are always stationed around as sentinels — 
began pawing the ground and throwing the earth over their 
heads; in a few moments they started in a slow, clumsy 
canter; but as we neared them, they quickened their 
pace to an astonishingly rapid gallop, and in a few 
minutes were entirely beyond the reach of our guns, 
but were still so near that their enormous horns, and 
long shaggy beards, were very distinctly seen." 
It was here and at this time that the author, by his 
timidity and hasty action, came near making trouble 
that would have been irreparable. "On walking into 
our tent last night at 11 o'clock, aft&r the expiration of 
the hrst watch, in which I had served as supernumerary, 
to prevent the desertion nf the men, and stooping to 
lay my gun in its usual situation near the head of my 
pallet, I was startled by seeing a pair of eyes, wild and 
bright as those of a tiger, gleaming from a dark corner 
ot the lodge, and evidently directed upon me. My 
hrst impression was, that a wolf had been lurking 
around the camp, and had entered the tent in the 
prospect of finding meat. My gun was at my shoulder 
instinctively, my aim was directed between the eyes, 
and my finger pressed the trigger. At that moment a 
tall Indian sprang before me with a loud wah! seized 
the gun, and elevated the muzzle above my he^f in 
another instant, a second Indian was by my side, and 
i saw his keen knife glitter as it left the scabbard. I 
had not time for thought, and was struggling with all 
my might with the first savage for the recovery of my 
weapon, when Captain W., and the other inmates of the 
tent were aroused, and the whole matter was explained, 
and set at rest in a moment. The Indians were chiefs 
of the tribe of Pawnee Loups, who had come with their 
young men to shoot buffalo; they had paid an evening 
visit to the captain, and as an act of courtesy had been 
invited to sleep m the tent. I had not known of their 
arrival, nor did I even suspect that Indians were in our 
neighborhood, so could not control the alarm which 
their sudden appearance occasioned me." 
Next morning the Indian, whose escape the night 
before had been so narrow, showed no ill-will over 
the occurrence, but instead made a joke of it. He and 
Townshend became friends, and exchanged knives. 
Here the buffalo were, as Townshend says, "im- 
mensely numerous in every direction around, and our 
men kill great numbers, so that we are in truth living 
upon the fat of the land, and better feeding nfeed no 
man wish." But the very next day all had disappeared 
from the immediate neighborhood of the camp,~aad it 
was not until some search had been made by Townshend 
and the hunter Richardson, that they were discovered 
a few miles away on the bluffs. Here on an arid plain, 
where hardly any grass grew, vast clouds of dust were 
seen rising and circling in the air, as though a tornado 
or whirlwind were sweeping over the earth, and it was 
here, by getting to the windward of them, that the 
travelers were able to witness the play of the buffalo. 
"We went around to the leeward, and, upon approach- 
ing nearer, saw the huge animals rolling over and over 
in the- sand with astonishing agility, enveloping them- 
selves by the exercise in a perfect atmosphere of dust; 
occasionally two of the bulls would spring from the 
ground and attack each other with amazing address and 
fury, retreating for ten or twelve feet, and then rushing 
suddenly forward, and dashing their enormous fronts 
together with a shock that seemed annihilating. In 
these rencontres, one of the combatants was often 
thrown back upon his haunches and tumbled sprawling 
upon the ground; in which case, the victor, with true 
prize-fighting generosity, refrained from persecuting his 
fallen adversary, contenting himself with a hearty re- 
sumption of his rolling fit, and kicking up the dust with 
more than his former vigor, as if to celebrate his 
victory." 
After watching the buffalo for some time, the hunters 
separated and set out to kill some meat. Townshend 
had never killed a buffalo, but having seen it done a 
number of times, thought it must be an easy matter. He 
says: "I had several times heard the guns of the hunt- 
ers, and felt satisfied that we should not go to camp 
without meat, and was on the point of altering my 
course to join them, when, as I wound around the base 
of the little hill, I saw about twenty buffalo lying quietly 
on the ground within thirty yards of me. Now was my 
time, I took my picket from my saddle, and fastened 
my horse to the ground as quietly as possible, but with 
hands that almost failed to do their office, from my ex- 
cessive eagerness and trembling anxiety. When this 
was completed, I crawled around the hill again, almost 
suspending my breath from fear of alarming my in- 
tended victims, until I came again in full view of the 
unsuspecting herd. There were so many fine animals 
that I was at a loss which to select; those nearest to 
me appeared small and poor, and I, therefore, settled 
my aim upon a huge bull on the outside. Just then I 
was attacked with the 'bull fever' so dreadfully, that 
for several minutes I could not shoot. 
"At length, however, I became firm and steady, and 
pulled my trigger at exactly the right instant. Up 
sprang the herd like lightning, and away they scoured, 
and my bull with them. I was vexed, angry and dis- 
contented; I concluded that I could never kill a buffalo, 
and was about to mount my horse and ride off in dis- 
pair, when I observed that one of the animals had 
stopped in the midst of his career. I rode toward him, 
and sure enough, there was my great bull trembling 
and swaying from side to side, and the clotted gore 
hanging like icicles from his nostrils. In a few minutes 
after, he fell heavily upon his side, and I dismounted 
and surveyed .the unwieldy brute, as he panted and 
struggled in the death agony. 
"When the first ebullition of my triumph had sub- 
sided, I perceived that my prize was so excessively lean 
as to be worth nothing, and while I was exerting my 
whole strength in a vain endeavor to raise the head 
from the ground for the purpose of removing the 
tongue, the two hunters joined me, and laughed heartily 
at my achievement. Like all inexperienced hunters, I 
had been particular to select the largest bull in the 
gang, supposing it to be the best^ and it proved, as 
usual, the poorest, while more than a dozen fat cows 
were nearer me, either of which I might have killed 
with as little trouble." 
.When this took place the men were many miles from 
water._ The day was was well advanced, and they were 
sufJering . severely from thirst. As they went further 
they becarne more and more thirsty, and finally, when a 
bull was killed, its paunch was opened, and some of the 
water strained from its contents. The two plain^inf W 
