meet them. On the second day we met, a few miles below the forks of the Rio de los Americanos: and a more forlorn and pitiable sight than they presented, cannot well be imagined. They were all on foot-each man, weak and emaciated, leading a horse or mule as weak and emaciated as themselves. They had experienced great difficulty in descending the mountains, made slippery by rains and melting snows, and many horses fell over precipices, and were killed; and with some were lost the packs they carried. Among these was a mule with the plants, which we had collected since leaving Fort Hall, along a line of 2,000 miles travel. Out of sixty-seven horses and mules with which we commenced crossing the Sierra, only thirty-three reached the valley of the Sacramento, and they only in a condition to be led along.

"Mr. Fitzpatrick and his party, travelling more slowly, had been able to make some little exertion at hunting, and had killed a few deer. The scanty supply was a great relief to them; for several had been made sick by the strange and unwholesome food which the preservation of life had compelled them to use. We stopped and encamped as soon as we met; and a repast of good beef, excellent bread, and delicious salmon, which I had brought along, were the first relief from the sufferings of the Sierra, and their first introduction to the luxuries of the Sacramento. It required all our philosophy and forbearance to prevent plenty from becoming as hurtful to us now, as scarcity had been before."

SECOND

CHAPTER VI.

EXPEDITION CONCLUDED-ENCAMPS AMONG THE DIGGER INDIANS-THEIR HABITS AND CHARACTER-MASSACRE OF TABEAU-RECOVERY OF HIS REMAINS RETURN TO UTAH LAKE-ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS OF THE EXPEDITION BY ITS COMMANDER.

AFTER refreshing himself and men, and procuring such a stock of provisions as they required, Col. Fremont resumed his journey on the 24th of March. He proposed to avail himself of the pass at the head of the San Joaquin River, about 500 miles south of Sutter's place, and thence to cross the rim of the Great Basin, so as to reach the head of the Arkansas river on the opposite side of the mountains. In the course of this journey, he had the misfortune to lose one of his best men among the Digger Indians, on the Rio de los Angeles, under circumstances peculiarly distressing. His narrative first introduced this degraded race to the acquaintance of civilized men, which is a sufficient excuse for presenting it here again at length.

'May 5.-On account of our animals, it was necessary to remain to-day at this place. Indians crowded numerously around us in the morning; and we were obliged to keep arms in hand all day, to keep them out of the camp. They began to surround the horses, which, for the convenience of grass, we were

guarding a little above, on the river. These were immediately driven in, and kept close to the camp.

แ

In the darkness of the night we had made a very bad encampment, our fires being commanded by a rocky bluff within fifty yards; but, notwithstanding, we had the river and small thickets of willows on the other side. Several times during the day the camp was insulted by the Indians; but, peace being our object, I kept simply on the defensive. Some of the Indians. were on the bottoms, and others haranguing us from the bluffs; and they were scattered in every direction over the hills. Their language being probably a dialect of the Utah, with the aid of signs some of our people could comprehend them very well. They were the same people who had murdered the Mexicans; and towards us their disposition was evidently hostile, nor were we well d'sposed towards them. They were barefooted, and nearly naked their hair gathered up into a knot behind; and with his bow, each man carried a quiver with thirty or forty arrows partially drawn out. Besides these, each held in his hand two or three arrows for instant service. Their arrows are barbed with a very clear translucent stone, a species of opal, nearly as hard as the diamond; and, shot from the long bow, are almost as effective as a gunshot. In these Indians, I was forcibly struck by an expression of countenance resembling that in a beast of prey; and all their actions are those of wild animals. Joined to the restless motion of the eye, there is a want of mind-an absence of thought--and an action wholly by impulse, strongly expressed, and which constantly recalls the similarity.

"A man who appeared to be a chief, with two or three others, forced himself into camp, bringing with him his arms, in spite of my orders to the contrary. When shown our weapons, he bored his ear with his fingers, and said he could not hear. "Why,' said he, there are none of you.' Counting the people around the camp, and including in the number a mule which was being shod, he made out 22. So many,' said he, showing the

number, and we—we are a great many;' and he pointed to the hills and mountains round about. If 6 you have your arms,' said he, twanging his bow, 'we have these.' I had some difficulty in restraining the people, particularly Carson, who felt an insult of this kind as much as if it had been given by a more responsible being. Don't say that, old man,' said he; 'don't say that-your life's in danger '-speaking in good English; and probably the old man was nearer to his end than he will be before he meets it.

"Several animals had been necessarily left behind near the camp last night; and early in the morning, before the Indians. made their appearance, several men were sent to bring them in. When I was beginning to be uneasy at their absence, they returned with information that they had been driven off from the trail by Indians; and, having followed the tracks in a short distance, they found the animals cut up and spread out u on bushes. In the evening I gave a fatigued horse to some of the Indians for a feast; and the village which carried him off refused to share with the others, who made loud complaints from the rocks of the partial distribution. Many of these Indians had long sticks, hooked at the end, which they used in hauling out lizards, and other small animals, from their holes. During the day they occasionally roasted and ate lizards at our fires. These belong to the people who are generally known under the name of Diggers; and to these I have more particularly had reference when occasionally speaking of a people whose sole occupation is to procure food sufficient to support existence. The formation here consists of fine yellow sandstone, alternating with a coarse conglomerate, in which the stones are from the size of ordinary gravel to six or eight inches in diameter. This is the formation which renders the surface of the country so rocky, and gives us now a road alternately of loose heavy sands and rolled stones, which cripple the animals in a most extraordinary manner.

"On the following morning we left the Rio de los Angeles, and continued our way through the same desolate and revolting

country, where lizards were the only animal, and the tracks of the lizard eaters the principal sign of human beings. After twenty miles' march through a road of hifls and heavy sands, we reached the most dreary river I have ever seen-a deep rapid stream, almost a torrent, passing swiftly by, and roaring against obstructions. The banks were wooded with willow, acacia, and a frequent plant of the country already mentioned (Garrya elliptica), growing in thickets, resembling willow, and bearing a small pink flower. Crossing it, we encamped on the left bank, where we found a very little grass. Our three remaining steers, being entirely given out, were killed here. By the boiling point, the elevation of the river here is 4,060 feet; and latitude, by observation, 36° 41′ 33′′. The stream was running towards the southwest, and appeared to come from a snowy mountain in the north. It proved to be the Rio Virgen-a tributary to the Colorado. Indians appeared in bands upon the hills, but did not come into camp. For several days we continued our journey up the river, the bottoms of which were thickly overgrown with various kinds of brush; and the sandy soil was actually covered with the tracks of Diggers, who followed us stealthily, like a band of wolves; and we had no opportunity to leave behind, even for a few hours, the tired animals, in order that they might be brought into camp after a little repose, a horse or mule, left behind, was taken off in a moment. On the evening of the 8th, having travelled 28 miles up the river from our first encampment on it, we encamped at a little grass plat, where a spring of cool water issued from the bluff. On the opposite side was a grove of cottonwoods at the mouth of a fork, which here enters the river. On either side the valley is bounded by ranges of mountains, everywhere high, rocky and broken. The caravan road was lost and scattered in the sandy country, and we had been following an Indian trail up the river. The hunters the next day were sent out to reconnoitre, and in the meantime we moved about a mile farther up, where we found a good little patch of grass. There being only sufficient grass for the night, the horses.