Wild Sports In The Far West

After running about a mile, they barked louder and louder. We hurried on as fast as we could, and found the wolf at his last gasp under the furious attack of the dogs. They were immediately called off, and appeared to have suffered considerably, particularly one, whose ear the wolf, a great black beast, had bitten quite away.

These traps are set with a bait, but not fastened, for if the wolf is caught, and the trap should be immovable, he would bite off his own leg sooner than let himself be taken. So the trap is only fastened by a chain to an iron clog with four hooks; as soon as the wolf finds himself caught, he attempts to hurry away with the trap, but is detained every moment by the hooks catching in the roots and bushes; yet he manages to get clear again, and has been known to take the iron clog in his mouth – but the trap still remains a hindrance, and he is easily traced.

By this time I had enjoyed Indian life long enough, and wished myself back again in more civilized society; yet I remained another day with them, during which we shot at a mark with bows and arrows, and I caused many a smile among the Indians, as I shot a foot wide of the mark, which they seldom missed. We next threw tomahawks at a tree, and in this practice I was rather more successful.

On the following morning I resumed my journey to the east, provided with venison and coarse salt, and as I saw the last Indians disappear behind the trees, it seemed as if I was now for the first time alone in the forest; but I soon became reaccustomed to my former life, and slept again this night, as well as a man can sleep, on grass and fragrant moss.

Next day I came to the Sabine, seeking in vain for a ford; and as the river was considerably swelled, and seemed wider and deeper further south, there was nothing for it but a swim. I made a small raft, which I bound together with creepers, and securing my gun, game-bag, knife, tomahawk, and powder-horn on the top of it, I pushed it before me to the opposite bank.

On the 30th of January, as I arrived at the Great Red river, I saw a farm-house, and the crow of a cock broke on my ear as the music of the spheres. But the house was on the other side of the broad and swollen stream, which rolled along its dirty red waves at a fearful rate. In vain I shouted and roared myself hoarse; a shot had no better effect. I had made up my mind to hide my gun and other things in the bush, and swim over, when a second shot roused the farmer’s attention. He came to the bank, and seeing some one calling and beckoning on the opposite side, he cast off his canoe, and coming across, was not a little astonished at finding me alone.

I received a hearty welcome from his family, who were exceedingly amused at the appetite with which I made the bread disappear, and at my enjoyment of the coffee.

As I did not wish to remain here long, I soon came to an agreement with the farmer about the sale of his canoe; he let me have it for four dollars, throwing a smoked leg of venison, a roast turkey, and some loaves of maize bread into the bargain.

I was soon afloat in this hollowed trunk, drifting rapidly down the stream, which carried gigantic trees along with it. The light craft dashed forward like an arrow under the strokes of my paddle, so that, according to a reckoning made afterwards, I must have gone about 400 miles in five days. It was not till late in the night that I ran in among the reeds, and slept quietly in my own property.

On the day after my departure, I fell in with a number of planks; they had probably been washed away from some village on the banks. They had floated against a tree, that was stuck fast in the bed of the river. Intending to take them with me, in the hope of making something by their sale, I paddled to the tree, and in attempting to secure the planks I overreached myself; the current carried away the canoe from under me, and in an instant I was in the water, holding on to the bough of the tree, and close to an alligator. Luckily the beast was as much afraid of me as I of him, and he disappeared under the water. I quickly swung myself on the bough to reach my canoe, but too late, it was already in the full strength of the current, leaving me hanging on the waving bough, with canoe, gun, powder, and all that I possessed, a prey to the waves. I saw perfectly well at once that I must either regain my canoe or perish miserably of starvation, so I let go the bough, and swam with all my might towards the fugitive. It cost a quarter of an hour’s desperate exertion before I reached it, and then I had to push her to the bank, in order to get on board, for any attempt to do so in the middle of the stream would have upset her. In regaining the canoe I had saved my life.

When my store of provisions was exhausted I shot wild-fowl, and got them cooked at the nearest plantation, for now, as I approached Louisiana, the land was more occupied.

Several hundred miles above its junction with the Mississippi, the Great Red river is blocked up by numbers of trees that have been carried down and become fixed, and although the United States Government has caused a passage for steamers to be cut through them, yet I was advised not to attempt it with my canoe, because the current ran through it with such force, that the least obstacle I might encounter would infallibly overset the canoe. I was therefore obliged to traverse two lakes, called Clear Lake and Soda Lake, which are connected with the river above and below the Raft, as the collection of matted trees is called.

I saw a great number of alligators sunning themselves on the warm sands. I shot ten or eleven of them, but could never prevail on myself to touch them. They were from three to twelve feet long, and sometimes even eighteen feet. Not far from the mouth of the river, on the fifth day, just about dusk, seeing something white in the water ahead of me, I paddled to it, and laid hold of it, but drew my hand back with a shudder, and the blood ran cold in my veins; it was a corpse – the naked white back alone floated above the surface, head, arms, and legs hanging down; a wound several inches long was visible on the left side, just under the ribs. I paddled hastily away in sickening disgust, and left the horrid object behind me.

On the following morning I entered the Mississippi, the excessively dirty “Father of Waters.” The scenery assumed a more tropical character, and the long waving moss hanging from the gigantic trees gave it a peculiarly strange aspect. After entering this magnificent river I took on board fresh provender, not far from the junction, and directed my course towards that “New Orleans,” now some 240 miles distant, about which I had heard so much. But on the second day, when I was still some hundred miles from it, a little above Baton Rouge, it came on to blow fresh, and the wind caused such a swell in the river, that I could no longer keep my little craft free of water; indeed it was not without great effort and difficulty that I was able to reach the shore.

There was a farm near the place where I landed, whose owner had a quantity of wood for sale, ready cut, and piled up for the use of steamers. A steamer, bound for New Orleans, was in the act of wooding at the time. It would have been folly to have attempted to continue the voyage in such a swell in so frail a craft as mine, and as I found the farmer willing to buy her we soon agreed as to terms. I transferred my effects to the steamer, and late on the same evening arrived at New Orleans.

For the night I slept on board, but early the next morning went to a German tavern to refresh myself after all the hardships I had undergone, and to sleep in a regular bed. Oh, how comfortably I stretched myself on the soft mattress! I got up very early to have a look at the place, having no wish to show myself in the costume of a savage when the streets were thronged. For nine months my hair had been uncut, and during five no razor had approached my chin; then what with my old woollen hunting-shirt, my embroidered belt, and the high waterproof boots, which had faithfully held out to the last, people would have thought me more like a scarecrow than a human being: my first visit was to a barber.

I had heard too much boasting and bragging about New Orleans, not to be disappointed in my expectations. I found it by no means so splendidly or so tastefully built as was asserted, and as I walked along the narrow streets my thoughts wandered to the far more agreeable Cincinnati. The only handsome building in New Orleans, and one without a parallel, is the St. Charles’ Hotel, which certainly is very magnificent.

It is no wonder that the air of New Orleans should be generally so unhealthy, and in autumn quite pestilential, for the town is built in a complete swamp, and required to be protected by a dam from being submerged by the river. It certainly was never intended by nature for the abode of man; at most it is fitted for alligators, frogs, and mosquitoes. It is the churchyard of the United States.

CHAPTER V

CINCINNATI – A FARMER’S LIFE IN THE WOODS

Scenery around New Orleans – Arrangements of American steamers – Cincinnati and its reputation – Number of German inhabitants – Situation of the town – Religious absurdities; the girl “possessed with a devil” – Dangers of American steam navigation – The “Mississippi” – Rambles in the woods – Crawfish – Mosquitoes – Picnic in the woods – Poisonous plants – Residence with a backwoodsman, and farming operations – Wild honey – Cattle keeping – Turkeys’ eggs – A Methodist meeting – Attack of ague – Our farming operations.

I found letters and money awaiting me here, which came very opportunely, as I had expended nearly all I had gained. I now looked out for a passage to Cincinnati; the steamer “Chillicothe” was to start for that place at ten the next day. I paid five dollars for 1,500 miles. A cheaper voyage is almost impossible. We did not start till evening.

On ascending the river from New Orleans, the scenery is quite enchanting. There is a succession of plantations, with country-houses embosomed in orange and pomegranate trees, &c., while the regular rows of negro cottages give a peculiar character to the whole.

The Mississippi steamers are light and sharp, built to make their passages as quick as possible, and to enrich their owners in five or six years, – then they may burst or sink. The boilers are in the forepart of the vessel, the stokers working under them in the open air. They reach nearly to the centre, some steamers having as many as eight; the “Chillicothe” had seven. The machinery, also on deck, comes next, and then a place for steerage-passengers, where there is no want of fresh air; it is provided with three rows of bed places. Mounting a flight of steps you find the officers’ cabins forward, and generally a bar for the sale of various drinks, excepting in the “Temperance” boats. The saloon is in the centre, having sleeping cabins with glass doors, for gentlemen, on each side; and near the stern, the most secure place in case of disaster, is the ladies’ cabin. Some of the boats have a third story, but most are satisfied with the arrangement described above. The station for the helmsman is placed high up between the two chimneys, covered over and glazed, so that he can look out in all directions. The tiller ropes have lately been made of wire, so that in case of fire, the vessel might remain under command of the helm till the last moment.

We had a great number of passengers, amongst them a young woman of about two or three and twenty, who came on board a little below Natchez with a very young man. The young people seemed to have been only lately married, to judge by their hugging and kissing. When we arrived at Louisville, in Kentucky, the steamer had to discharge cargo, and remained the greater part of the day. I was standing on the bowsprit watching the proceedings, when an elderly gentleman very well dressed, accosted me, and, describing the couple, inquired if they were on board. I replied in the affirmative, and accompanied him to the lower cabin. The lady was sitting on a trunk and reading; her companion had gone into the town. I suspected that all was not right, and that the old gentleman had good reasons for coming; but the quiet unconcerned manner of both parties soon did away with my suspicions. In the first moment indeed her color seemed to change slightly, but she rose quietly, laid aside her book, and offering her hand to the gentleman, said, civilly, “How do you do, sir?” After a short time they retired into a corner, and spoke very earnestly together. Meantime, I took no more notice of them, but at bedtime I was not a little astonished to see the old gentleman take the husband’s place, while the young man, as pale as death, stood by the stove heedless of its burning the tails of his coat. The lady was the wife of the gentleman who came on board at Louisville, and had run away with the young man. The husband had obtained information, and followed them, but would hardly have overtaken them, if the vessel had not stopped to discharge cargo. The cool self-possession exhibited by both parties, in order to avoid observation, was really astonishing; on his part, in not giving way to his just displeasure, but remaining composed and serious; on her part, in allowing no shock or trace of alarm to be visible, which would have been so natural, when her deeply injured husband, whom she supposed to be 1,400 miles distant, stood suddenly before her. They all three left the boat next morning.

On the 20th of February I arrived again at Cincinnati, and was kindly received by all my old acquaintances after my long absence and adventures.

Cincinnati, the queen of the West, the El Dorado of the German emigrant! Ask a German, who is travelling into the interior from one of the seaports, Where are you going? and the answer will invariably be – to Cincinnati. And what will he find there? On my arrival every house was full of people looking out for work, and who would willingly have taken any wages that were offered them, though only enough to keep body and soul together. Among others, I met with a man who had written to his brother to come over to him, as this was the land where roasted pigeons flew into men’s mouths. And as a proof of it, he referred to himself: a few years ago he had emigrated without a farthing, and now kept an hotel and coffee-house. In point of fact, it was true; he had indeed, an hotel and coffee-house; but what does that mean in America? Every hovel with one room large enough for five or six double beds, where a dozen people are fed three times a day for from two-and-a-quarter to two-and-a-half dollars a week each, is called an hotel. Coffee-house is a name for any place where two or three bottles are stuck in the window, while the name of the owner is proudly painted over the door as coffee-house keeper. The poor German, deceived by these exalted titles, came over to his brother, and found him, in spite of hotel and coffee-house, in a miserable condition, and hardly able to maintain himself. Several similar cases occurred during the time of my residence.

There are a great number of Germans in Cincinnati, particularly in the upper town across the canal, which, on that account, is often called Little Germany by the Americans. Unfortunately, my beloved countrymen are not celebrated for cleanliness and good conduct, and the degree of estimation in which they are everywhere held does not at all accord with the accounts I had read in a number of works on America concerning the way in which they were treated there; and although the well-behaved are respected there as elsewhere, yet it is painful to hear the word Dutchman, as the Americans always call us, used as a term of reproach, even when you yourself are excepted. Everywhere in America, and particularly in Cincinnati, there are people who, having gained a few dollars, look down with contempt on their poorer countrymen, and even join the Americans in abusing them, showing how little they care about the esteem in which the German is held; these, however, were exceptions, and I was heartily ashamed of them.

Although the situation of Cincinnati is very healthy, yet it abounds in doctors and apothecaries. Numbers of the former are Germans; how they all manage to live is quite a mystery.

I was much amused with some of the religious absurdities which are carried on at Cincinnati, and in which my countrymen also distinguish themselves. The Methodists, under the guidance of a Pennsylvanian of the name of N – h, carry these practices to the greatest excess; on every Sunday evening they meet to howl, and jump, and beat their breasts, and then pronounce themselves perfectly happy.

This party supports a paper called the “Christian Apology.” Its bitterest opponent is the Roman Catholic “Friend of Truth,” which only discontinues its thunder against the heretical folly of the “Christian Apology” when it hurls a whole volley of abuse and execration against the “Friend of Light,” which advocates rational religion, and holds up the two others to ridicule.

During my present residence, I heard that a German girl was lying sick, and said to be possessed of a devil, in “Little Germany.” At first I would not believe that any thing of the sort could occur in the present day; – but a young Oldenburgher, with whom I had become acquainted, assured me by all that was holy, that it was so, that he had seen it, and that having expressed his opinion rather too freely, the bigoted people, Roman Catholic Alsatians, fell upon him, and drove him out of the house.

I decided on witnessing the proceedings, and, in company with a friend, set off one evening to the house in Little Germany. We had no difficulty in finding our way to the “sick maiden,” for the whole of that part of the town was full of the extraordinary circumstance, as they called it. It was dark when we entered a little room in a frame house: a lamp on the chimney-piece was nearly burnt out, the space was almost filled by about thirty people all on their knees in silent prayer; not a word was spoken: the lamp flickered, flashed up again, and went out. It remained perfectly dark, and nothing was audible but the breathing of those who were repeating their prayers; then a low murmuring, rustling sound struck the ear, and for some time I did not know what to make of it. Suddenly a door opened, light streamed into the room, and with it the murmurs of numerous voices. People came through the doorway, and those who had been praying on their knees rose up, and moved towards the light: we followed the stream. An extraordinary sight presented itself: we entered a tolerably sized room, oppressively hot, and full of people on their knees, both men and women. It was lighted by two candles on a table, at which three men were seated, with open books, reading aloud the Roman Catholic prayer, “Blessed art thou, Maria,” which all the people repeated after them; when it was ended, they began again.

Although it was only May, the heat was so great from the number of people that I felt half-boiled; but it seemed much warmer to the poor creature, who was being made a sacrifice to the demon of absurdity. She was lying in a wide bed in the corner opposite to the table, and was said to be seventeen years old; I should have guessed her nearer thirty-seven. She appeared to be very weak and ailing, and no wonder, considering that the praying went on night and day without intermission: her mother leant over her, wiping away from her brow the perspiration arising from the heat of the room.

It may have been about seven o’clock when we entered this sepulchre of reason and common sense, and it was ten before we succeeded in making our way out; and the whole time was occupied with a monotonous repetition of the same prayer, offered up, as a little Alsatian lightly whispered to me, “To drive out the devil in order that she may recover.” The devil in question must certainly have been one of the most obstinate that ever existed, for had I been in his place, such proceedings would have driven me out long ago. It was a real luxury to inhale the pure night air, after escaping from such a pestilential hole. I have never heard since what became of the poor woman.

As I learned, after a long stay in Cincinnati, that I had been deceived by those I had trusted in New York, and that not only all my money but my clothes also were gone, there was nothing left for it but to endeavor to get work. I had already made a few voyages as sailor and stoker on board a steamer, which affected my health, and laid me up for several weeks. Besides, human life did not seem to be particularly safe on board American steamers, especially on the western waters, disasters frequently happening through the rashness and carelessness of the officers in charge; for example, while I was in one of them, the “Moselle,” a very fast boat, was blown up near Cincinnati, through the obstinacy of the captain in racing with another boat, and stopping the safety-valve, by which 130 persons, whose names were on the passengers’ list, lost their lives, besides a number of steerage passengers, whose names are not inscribed. Thirty carts were employed in carrying their mutilated remains to the burial-places; for weeks afterwards, bodies were frequently washed on shore. The force of the steam was so great, that one man was thrown over to the Kentucky shore, and another came down, head foremost, through a shingle roof.

In preference to such a life, I sought for work in Cincinnati, and obtained it at a silversmith’s. Though at first without any knowledge of the business, I soon acquired it, and was treated by the master and his family, good kind Americans, as if I had been one of their own relations. This was the quietest time of my existence. I worked hard and lived moderately. But this sort of life did not suit me; I longed for the free woods and nature, and was only detained by the hopes of acquiring a sufficiency, and then buying a portion of land and settling, together with the fulfilment of other long-cherished plans. But plans they remained, and in May I cast off my self-imposed yoke; having exchanged my shot gun for a double-barrelled rifle, got all my shooting gear in order, packed up a zither, which I had bought and learnt to play in Cincinnati, I bade a hearty farewell to all the kind friends I had made, and set off again with a young German, named Uhl, by the steamer “Commerce,” to seek fresh adventures and encounter new dangers.

The steamer foamed and hissed through the waves, which rose high upon her bows, the land receding on both sides, as if impelled by a magician’s wand. I felt as if new born, and flying to some strange, wild land. At first starting, the ideas awakened by the passing scenes were rather confused, but, as we rushed on, they became clearer, and at last I might have nodded to each gigantic tree that adorned the beautiful banks of the Ohio, and asked if it did not remember me.

My companion, a young Berliner, with whom I had become acquainted and struck up a friendship in Cincinnati, and who was as fond of field sports as myself, did not participate in my feelings, but sat himself down comfortably with no trifling appetite to a symposium, which he had provided for himself, in the shape of a smoked tongue, with bread and whiskey. We had not proceeded far when it grew dark; and, fatigued with all the labors and excitement of the day, I was soon ensconced on my soft, warm buffalo skin.

On the 17th May, 1839, we entered the Mississippi, whom I saluted as an old, long lost, and long wished-for friend; a change in the color shows where the Ohio joins the “Father of Waters,” for the first is clear and bright, while the latter is dull and muddy. They run together for some distance, quite distinct, the Mississippi becoming more and more intrusive, the other shyly withdrawing, as if vexed that its clear waves should be contaminated by all the dirt which its companion derives from the Missouri.

On the 18th, at five in the afternoon, the “Commerce” stopped at Memphis, in Tennessee. We immediately crossed to the opposite side, and sprang joyfully ashore in the long-desired Arkansas. We greatly enjoyed the mild balsamic air that blew towards us from the green forest, after our four days’ voyage, and we should have enjoyed it still more but for the load we had to carry. Besides my game-bag, which was filled with all possible sorts of things, I had a large buffalo skin, and Uhl a heavy blanket, with our store of powder and ball. But we were fresh and in good condition, and resolved, although it was already dusk, to commence our march the same evening, taking advantage of the cool night air, the mid-day sun of Arkansas being rather too kindly disposed. We walked on for about five miles in the brightest moonlight, and then lay down to repose, but were obliged to get up again and make a fire, on account of the mosquitoes, which were very troublesome.