protect them from the vigorous climate. This, with the assistance of their trusty rifles, they are generally able to effect, but sometimes at the expense of great peril and hardship. When engaged in their avocation, the natural instinct of primitive men is ever alive to guard against danger and provide food.

Keen observers of nature, they rival the beasts of prey in discovering the haunts and habits of game, aud in their skill and cunning in capturing it. Constantly exposed to perils of all kinds, they become callous to any feeling of danger, and destroy human, as well as animal life, with as little scruple, and as freely as they expose their own. Of laws, human or divine, they neither know nor care to know. Their wish is their law, and to attain it, they do not scruple as to ways and means. Firm friends and bitter enemies, with them it is "a word and blow," and the blow often first. They may have good qualities, but they are those of the animal; and people fond of giving hard names, call them revengeful, blood-thirsty, drunkards-when the wherewithal is hadgamblers, regardless of the laws of meum and tuum-in fact, white Indians." However, there are exceptions, and we have met honest mountain men. Their animal qualities, nevertheless, are undeniable. Strong, active, hardy as bears, daring, expert in the use of weapons, they are just what uncivilized white men might be supposed to be in a brute state, depending upon his instinct for the support of life. The majority of the trappers and mountain hunters are French Canadians and St. Louis French Creoles.

Not a hole, or a corner of the "Far West," but has been ransacked by these hardy men. From the Mississippi to the mouth of the Colorado of the West, from the frozen regions of the North to the Gila in Mexico, the beaver trapper has set his traps in every stream. Most of this vast country, but for their daring enterprise, would be, even now, a terra incognita to geographers. The mountains and the streams still retain the names assigned to them by the rude hunters; and these alone, are the hardy pioneers who braved the way for the settlement of the western country.

Trappers are of two kinds-the "hired hand," and the "free trapper;" the former is hired for the hunt by the fur companies; the latter supplied with animals and traps by the company is paid a certain price for his furs and peltries. There is, also, the trapper "on his own hook;" but this class is very small. He has his own animals and traps, hunts where he chooses, and sells his peltries to whom he pleases.

On starting for a hunt, the trapper fits himself out with the necessary equipment, either from the Indian trading forts, or from some of the petty traders-coureurs des bois-who frequent the western country. This equipment consists usually of two or three horses or mules-one for saddle, the others for packs-and six traps, which are carried in a bag of leather, called a trap-sack. Ammunition, a few pounds of tobacco, dressed deer-skins for

moccasins, etc., are carried in a wallet of dressed buffalo-skin, called a possible pack. His "possibles" and "trap-sack," are generally carried on the saddle mule while hunting, the others being packed with the furs. The costume of the trappers is a hunting-shirt of dressed buck-skin, ornamented with long fringes; pantaloons of the same material, and decorated with porcupine quills and long fringes down the outside of the leg. A flexible felt hat and moccasins clothe his extremities. Over his left shoulder and under his right arm, hang his powder-horn and bullet-pouch, in which he carries his balls, flint, steel, and odds and ends of all kinds. Round the waist is a belt, in which is stuck a large butcherknife in a sheath of buffalo-hide, made fast to the belt by a chain or guard of steel, which, also, supports a little buck-skin case containing a whetstone. A tomahawk is often also added; and, of course, a long heavy rifle is part and parcel of his equipment. Around his neck hangs his pipe holder, and is generally a "gage d'amour," and a triumph of squaw workmanship, in shape of a heart garnished with beads and porcupine quills.

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Thus provided, and having determined the locality of his trapping-ground, he starts to the mountains, sometimes alone, sometimes three or four in company, as soon as the breaking up ice allows him to commence operations. Arrived on his huntingground, he follows the creeks and streams, keeping a sharp lookout for "sign." If he sees a prostrate cotton-wood tree, he examines it to discover if it be the work of beaver-whether "thrown" for the purpose of food, or to dam the stream. The track of the beaver on the mud or sand under the bank, is also examined; and, if the "sign" be fresh, he sets his trap in the run of the animal, hiding it under water, and attaching it by a stout chain to a picket driven in the bank, or to a bush or tree. Afloat stick" is

made fast to the trap by a cord a few feet long, which, if the animal carry away the trap, floats on the water, and points out its position. The trap is baited with "medicine," an oily substance obtained from a gland in the scrotum of the beaver, but distinct from the testes. A stick is dipped into this, and planted over the trap; and the beaver, attracted by the smell, and wishing a close inspection, very foolishly puts his leg into the trap, and is a "gone beaver."

When a lodge is discovered, the trap is set at the edge of the dam, at the point where the animal passes from deep to shoal water, and always under water. Early in the morning, the hunter always mounts his mule and examines the traps. The captured animals are skinned, and the tails, which are a great dainty, carefully packed into camp. The skin is then stretched over a hoop, or frame-work of osier twigs, and is allowed to dry; the flesh and fatty substance being carefully scraped (grained). When dry, it is folded into a square sheet, the fur turned inward, and the bundle, containing about ten to twenty skins, lightly pressed and corded, is ready for transportation.

During the hunt, regardless of Indian vicinity, the fearless trapper wanders far and near in search of "sign.' His nerves must ever be in a state of tension, and his mind ever present at his call. His eagle-eye sweeps around the country, and in an instant, detects any foreign appearance. A turned leaf, a blade of grass pressed down, the uneasiness of wild animals, the flight of birds, are all paragraphs to him, written in Nature's legible hand and plainest language. All the wits of the subtile savage are called into play to gain an advantage over the wily woodsman; but with the instinct of primitive man, the white hunter has the advantage of a civilized mind, and thus provided, seldom fails to outwit, under equal advantage, the cunning savage.

Sometimes following on his trail, the Indian watches him set his traps on a shrub-belted stream, and passing up the bed, like Bruce of old, so that he may leave no track, he lies in wait in the bushes until the hunter comes to examine his carefully-set traps. Then waiting until he approaches his ambush within a few feet, whiz, flies the home-drawn arrow, never failing at such close quarters to bring the victim to the ground. For one white scalp, however, that dangles in the smoke of an Indian lodge, a dozen black ones, at the end of the hunt, ornament the camp-fire of the rendezvous.

At a certain time, when the hunt is over, or they have loaded their pack animals, the trappers proceed to their "rendezvous," the locality of which has been previously agreed upon; and here the traders and agents of the fur companies await them with such assortment of goods as their hardy customers may require, including generally a fair supply of alcohol. The trappers drop in singly and in small bands, bringing their packs of beaver to this mountain market, not unfrequently to the value of a thousand dollars each, the produce of one hunt. The dissipation of the "rendezvous," however, soon turns the trapper's pocket inside out. The goods bought by the traders, although of the most inferior quality, are sold at enormous prices-coffee twenty and thirty shillings a pint cup, which is the usual measure; tobacco fetches ten and fifseen shillings a plug; alcohol from twenty to fifty shillings a pint; gunpowder sixteen shillings a pint cup; and all other articles at proportionably exorbitant prices.

The "beaver" is purchased at from two to eight dollars per pound; the Hudson's Bay Company alone buying it by the pluie or "pluew," that is, the whole skin, giving a certain price for skins, whether of old beaver or "kittens."

The rendezvous is one continued scene of drunkenness, gambling, brawling, and fighting, so long as the money and credit of the trappers last. Seated Indian fashion around the fires, with a blanket spread before them, groups are seen with their "decks" of cards playing at "eucre," "poker," and "seven up," the regular mountain games. The stakes are "beaver," which is here current coin; and when the fur is gone, their horses, mules, rifles, and

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shirts, hunting packs, and breeches are staked. Daring gamblers make the rounds of the camp, challenging each other to play for the trapper's highest stake-his horse, his squaw (if he have one), and as once happened, his scalp. A trapper often squanders the produce of his hunt, amounting to hundreds of dollars, in a couple of hours; and supplied on credit with another equipment, leaves the rendezvous for another expedition, which has the same result, time after time, although one tolerably successful hunt would enable him to return to the settlements and civilized life with an ample sum to purchase and stock a farm, and enjoy himself in ease and comfort the remainder of his days.

These annual gatherings are often the scene of bloody duels, for over their cups and cards, no men are more quarrelsome than your mountaineers. Rifles, at twenty paces, settle all differences, and as may be imagined, the fall of one or other of the combatants is certain, or as sometimes happens, both fall at the word "fire!"

OGILVIE'S ADVENTURE.

MR. OGILVIE, once well known in Virginia as a supporter of the Godwenian philosophy, conceiving a vehement desire to see the western country, at that time newly settled, set off from Richmond for Lexington, in Kentucky. It was in the month of October, after a most lonely and wearisome day's ride, that a little before sunset he came to a small cabin on the road, and fearing he should find no other opportunity of procuring refreshment for himself and his jaded horse, he stopped and inquired if he could be accommodated for the night. An old woman, the only person he saw, civilly answering him in the affirmative, he gladly alighted, and going in to a tolerable fire, enjoyed the luxury of rest, while his hostess was discharging the duties of hostler and cook. In no long time she set before him a supper of comfortable but homely fare, of which having liberally partaken, and given divers significant nods, the old woman remarked, she "expected" he "chose bed," and pointing to one which stood in the corner of the room, immediately went into the yard a while to give him an opportunity of undressing.

Before he had been long in bed, and while he was congratulating himself on his good fortune, the latch of the door was drawn, and there entered a dark looking man of gigantic stature and form, with stiff black hair, eyebrows and beard. He was apparently about eight and twenty, was dressed in a hunting-shirt, which partly concealed a pair of dirty buck-skin overalls, and he wore moccasins of the same material. Mr. Ogilvie thought he had never seen anything half so ferocious. As soon as this man entered the room, his mother, for so she proved to be, pointing to the

alarm which they could hardly express. The untasted food before them, lost its savor, while they heard these strange people call upon them, standing themselves in the posture of statues, and uttering only the words, "Praise God! repent! fast! pray!" Small children, waggish and profane as most of the children are, were seen to shed tears, and ask their parents if it would not be fasting enough to leave off one meal a day.

Two of their most distinguished members escaped from them at New Madrid, not without great difficulty, and having been both of them, confined to prevent their escape. One of them, an amiable and accomplished woman, whose over-wrought imagination had been carried away by their imposing rites, died soon after, worn down by the austerities and privations which she had endured. The husband had an emaciated look, like the Shakers, a sweet voice for music, and was preaching in union with the Methodists. At Pilgrim Island, thirty miles below, and opposite the Little Prairie, they staid a long time.

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There dissensions began to spring up among them. Emaciated with hunger and feverish from filth and the climate, many of them left their bones. They were ordered by the prophet, from some direct revelation which he received, to lie unburied; and their bones were bleaching on the island when we were there. escaped from them at this place, and the sheriff of the county of New Madrid, indignant at the starvation imposed as a discipline upon the little children, carried to them a pirogue of provisions, keeping off with his sword the leaders, who would have fain prevented those innocents from satiating their appetites. While on that island, a great number of boatmen are said to have joined, to take them at their profession of having no regard for the world or the things of it, and robbed them of all their money, differently stated to be from five to ten thousand dollars. From that place, reduced in number by desertion and death, in their descent to the mouth of the Arkansas, there were only the numbers surviving which I saw.

This history of the delusion and destruction of between thirty and forty people, most of them honest and sincere, left a deep and melancholy impression of the universal empire of bigotry, and its fatal influence in all ages and countries. To this narrative, I shall only add, that I heard an aged man, with a long beard, preaching, as they called it, at New Madrid. He descended the Mississippi a year after these unfortunate people, and he also called himself a Pilgrim. He was as wild and visionary as they were, and talked and acted like a maniac. He was descending the Mississippi, as he said to the real Jerusalem in Asia. He appeared deeply impressed that by going in that direction, he should finally reach that city. There was a numerous audience, and I heard many of them express their admiration of his preaching.