Journal of a Tour into the Interior of Missouri and Arkansaw | Page 2

we before knew nothing, and in which we had not any experience, such is the art of hobbling a horse properly, with safety to ourselves, and without injury to him-the best method of building a camp fire-how to cook a piece of venison, or boil a pot of coffee, etc. Such are now the objects which will engross our daily attention, and to excel in which becomes a point of ambitious exertion. An instance of our inexperience in these particulars occurred this morning. Our horse, owing to a defect in hobbling, went astray during the night, and we consumed the day until 10 o'clock, in hunting him up, when we repacked our baggage, and continued our way in a south-west direction toward the Fourche ? Courtois. After travelling fourteen miles, the day being nearly spent, we arrived at an inhabited cabin, and obtained permission to remain for the night. Our path this day has lain across an elevated ridge of land, covered with yellow pine, and strewed with fragments of sandstone, quartz, and a species of coarse flinty jasper, the soil being sterile, and the vegetation scanty. The weather has been mild, and very pleasant for the season, with an unclouded sky, and light breeze from the south-west. General course of travelling west-south-west. Distance, fourteen miles.
Sunday, Nov. 8th
In travelling two miles this morning, we found ourselves on the banks of the Fourche ? Courtois, a considerable stream, and one of the principal tributaries of the Merrimack river.ê The Fourche ? Courtois originates in high lands near the head of the river St. Francis, and after running in a serpentine course for sixty miles, through a sterile country, unites with the Merrimack 100 miles from its mouth. Its banks, at the lace we crossed, afford some very rich lands, but they do not extend far, consisting merely of a strip of alluvion running parallel with the river, and bordered by hills, whose stony aspect forbids the approach of the fanner. On this stream are settled several persons, who divide their time between hunting and farming. The district of tillable land is much more extensive, however, than has generally been supposed, and is capable of supporting a considerable population, which will, eventually enhance the agricultural character and importance of that part of Washington county. We had proceeded but a short distance beyond the Fourche ? Courtois, when the barking of dogs in a contiguous forest, announced our approach to a hunter's cabin, where we halted to inquire respecting the Indian trace to the country of the Osages, which we were informed ran in the direction we were travelling, and might be pursued for sixty or seventy miles with advantage. The owner of the cabin was not himself in when we first arrived, but his wife very readily gave us every information respecting the direction of the trace, the streams we were to cross, the game we might expect to find for our subsistence, and other particulars, evincing a perfect acquaintance with the subject, adding, that it was dangerous travelling in that quarter on account of the Osages, who never failed to rob and plunder those who fell in their way, and often carried them in captivity to their villages, on the Grand Osage river. She said her husband had contemplated going out on a hunt into that quarter for several days, but was fearful of going alone lest he should fall in with a party of those Indians; but she thought he would be willing to accompany us a part of the way, and advised us to await his return from the woods, as he had only gone a short distance to kill some turkey. While we were waiting his return, she continued to repeat several incidents of robberies and murders committed by the Osages, and unusual hardships which had been encountered in the woods by her husband and others. She told us, also, that our guns were not well adapted to our journey; that we should have rifles; and pointed out some other errors in our dress, equipments, and mode of travelling, while we stood in astonishment to hear a woman direct us in matters which we had before thought the peculiar and exclusive province of men. While thus engaged the husband entered, and readily agreed to our proposal, to accompany us toward White River, where he represented the game to exist in great abundance. In a few moments he was ready. Putting three or four large cakes of corn-bread in a sack, and shouldering a rifle, he mounted his horse, and we all set forward together, mutually pleased with the reciprocal benefits expected from travelling in company. Our path, for the first four miles, lay across a succession of sterile ridges, thinly covered with oaks, when we suddenly descended into