of proceeding next morning to the chase, to hunt up some wild hogs which were roaming at large in the woods; and were, as we were well informed afterwards, seen by Kasiascall and his party as they were making their approaches {168} to the fort. They, supposing from the armed array that their own atrocious designs had been discovered, immediately took to flight, leaving, in the hurry, a gun, a quiver full of arrows, and some other things behind; so that, in all probability, to this circumstance alone the place owed its preservation, and the whites their lives. How precarious is the life of an Indian trader, if we take into consideration the habits of the country and the spirit of the people he has to live among—a people who feel no remorse in using the instruments of death—a people who delight in perfidy! Perfidy is the system of savages, treachery and cunning the instruments of their power, and cruelty and bloodshed the policy of their country.
{169} CHAPTER X[55]
Land expedition—Hunt and M'Kenzie—Montreal
recruits—La Chine—Devout farewell—Mackina in
1810—Fur traders of the South—Frolic parties—Comparison
between the South and North—Arrival
at St. Louis—Recruiting service—Yankees—Canoe-*men—Delays
at St. Louis—Difficulties—Mr. Miller—The
Missouri—Canadian voyageurs—Winter
quarters—Mr. Hunt revisits St. Louis—M'Kenzie—Mr.
Astor's policy—The Yankees desert—Winter
quarters broken up—Rocky Mountains—Pilot knobs—New
scenes—Columbia River—The horses
