第11章 Irving’s Bonneville - Chapter 3(3)

The horses were "side lined," as it is termed: that is to say, the fore and hind foot on thesame side of the animal were tied together, so as to be within eighteen inches of eachother. A horse thus fettered is for a time sadly embarrassed, but soon becomessufficiently accustomed to the restraint to move about slowly. It prevents his wandering;and his being easily carried off at night by lurking Indians. When a horse that is "footfree" is tied to one thus secured, the latter forms, as it were, a pivot, round which theother runs and curvets, in case of alarm. The encampment of which we are speakingpresented a striking scene. The various mess-fires were surrounded by picturesquegroups, standing, sitting, and reclining; some busied in cooking, others in cleaning theirweapons: while the frequent laugh told that the rough joke or merry story was going on.

In the middle of the camp, before the principal lodge, sat the two chieftains, CaptainBonneville and White Plume, in soldier-like communion, the captain delighted with theopportunity of meeting on social terms with one of the red warriors of the wilderness,the unsophisticated children of nature. The latter was squatted on his buffalo robe, hisstrong features and red skin glaring in the broad light of a blazing fire, while herecounted astounding tales of the bloody exploits of his tribe and himself in their warswith the Pawnees; for there are no old soldiers more given to long campaigning storiesthan Indian "braves."

The feuds of White Plume, however, had not been confined to the red men; he hadmuch to say of brushes with bee hunters, a class of offenders for whom he seemed tocherish a particular abhorrence. As the species of hunting prosecuted by these worthiesis not laid down in any of the ancient books of venerie, and is, in fact, peculiar to ourwestern frontier, a word or two on the subject may not be unacceptable to the reader.

The bee hunter is generally some settler on the verge of the prairies; a long, lank fellow,of fever and ague complexion, acquired from living on new soil, and in a hut built ofgreen logs. In the autumn, when the harvest is over, these; frontier settlers form partiesof two or three, and prepare for a bee hunt. Having provided themselves with a wagon,and a number of empty casks, they sally off, armed with their rifles, into the wilderness,directing their course east, west, north, or south, without any regard to the ordinance ofthe American government, which strictly forbids all trespass upon the lands belonging tothe Indian tribes.

The belts of woodland that traverse the lower prairies and border the rivers are peopledby innumerable swarms of wild bees, which make their hives in hollow trees and fillthem with honey tolled from the rich flowers of the prairies. The bees, according topopular assertion, are migrating like the settlers, to the west. An Indian trader, wellexperienced in the country, informs us that within ten years that he has passed in theFar West, the bee has advanced westward above a hundred miles. It is said on theMissouri, that the wild turkey and the wild bee go up the river together: neither is foundin the upper regions. It is but recently that the wild turkey has been killed on theNebraska, or Platte; and his travelling competitor, the wild bee, appeared there aboutthe same time.

Be all this as it may: the course of our party of bee hunters is to make a wide circuitthrough the woody river bottoms, and the patches of forest on the prairies, marking, asthey go out, every tree in which they have detected a hive. These marks are generallyrespected by any other bee hunter that should come upon their track. When they havemarked sufficient to fill all their casks, they turn their faces homeward, cut down thetrees as they proceed, and having loaded their wagon with honey and wax, return wellpleased to the settlements.

Now it so happens that the Indians relish wild honey as highly as do the white men, andare the more delighted with this natural luxury from its having, in many instances, butrecently made its appearance in their lands. The consequence is numberless disputesand conflicts between them and the bee hunters: and often a party of the latter,returning, laden with rich spoil, from one of their forays, are apt to be waylaid by thenative lords of the soil; their honey to be seized, their harness cut to pieces, andthemselves left to find their way home the best way they can, happy to escape with nogreater personal harm than a sound rib-roasting.

Such were the marauders of whose offences the gallant White Plume made the mostbitter complaint. They were chiefly the settlers of the western part of Missouri, who arethe most famous bee hunters on the frontier, and whose favorite hunting ground lieswithin the lands of the Kansas tribe. According to the account of White Plume, however,matters were pretty fairly balanced between him and the offenders; he having as oftentreated them to a taste of the bitter, as they had robbed him of the sweets.

It is but justice to this gallant chief to say that he gave proofs of having acquired someof the lights of civilization from his proximity to the whites, as was evinced in hisknowledge of driving a bargain. He required hard cash in return for some corn withwhich he supplied the worthy captain, and left the latter at a loss which most to admire,his native chivalry as a brave, or his acquired adroitness as a trader. [Return to Contents].