His Boat Was Made Of
Three Buffalo Skins, Stretched On A Light Frame, Stitched
Together, And The Seams Paid With Elk Tallow And Ashes.
It was
eighteen feet long, and about five feet six inches wide, sharp at
each end, with a round bottom, and drew about a foot and a half
of water-a depth too great for these upper rivers, which abound
with shallows and sand-bars.
The crew consisted of two
half-breeds, who claimed to be white men, though a mixture of the
French creole and the Shawnee and Potawattomie. They claimed,
moreover, to be thorough mountaineers, and first-rate hunters -
the common boast of these vagabonds of the wilderness. Besides
these, there was a Nez Perce lad of eighteen years of age, a kind
of servant of all work, whose great aim, like all Indian
servants, was to do as little work as possible; there was,
moreover, a half-breed boy, of thirteen, named Baptiste, son of a
Hudson's Bay trader by a Flathead beauty; who was travelling with
Wyeth to see the world and complete his education. Add to these,
Mr. Milton Sublette, who went as passenger, and we have the crew
of the little bull boat complete.
It certainly was a slight armament with which to run the gauntlet
through countries swarming with hostile hordes, and a slight bark
to navigate these endless rivers, tossing and pitching down
rapids, running on snags and bumping on sand-bars; such, however,
are the cockle-shells with which these hardy rovers of the
wilderness will attempt the wildest streams; and it is surprising
what rough shocks and thumps these boats will endure, and what
vicissitudes they will live through.
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