The Hickman courier., 1869-03-13

| cd my person slowly and mi!s,sly. They
then held consultation, Considering, as
l supposed, .whaadispositioi..<hey shoups
make Of me- ,consultatiQn ove1Ee1Ss: :
signs, l was mao 20 undersisnd to i5s
low them. TheH moved of, l beinf
placed in the midst of them. / way
never permitted to be in advance oil
behind Our position Centrally wag
two of the natives in 'front.' and the
other three. in my rear. We Travelled
in this manner for six days halting at
night, when scant repast of jerked
meat, and roots which they gathered
as they went along during the day On
the evening of the sixth day, we came
Pin view of mighty river, sui isan one as
| had never seen before. Oakapproach-
ing it, discovered it was to- be cross
ed. One of my captors stopping up
the bank, moved something Ike raft
towards us, on which we soonfbund our
selves, and three men, using sheir hands
for paddles propelled the craftacross the
stream BY the time we had reached
the far shore it was dark, an& climbing
up the bank, | saw, at shsu distance
from us, great many lightstf1 felt as
sured that my captors hadsfhched one
of their towns, or sestlspfts, but it
turned out to be only azpntipg and
lfshing party Upon reackifg III eSnssr
FIRE, | discovered a molly group Of men,
dressed similarly to those who had me
in charge. My fellow travellers were
saluted with grunts, anS rubbing of
each others shins, and on seeing that
was mo- one Of their tribe, fell back scream
ing with fright. Their fears were soon
dispelled by one of ny party addressing
the crowd, in language which bore no
resemblance to any had ever heard.
They all then approached me and made
a similar minute examination Of my per-
son as l had received from those who
had taken me captive, six days before
eWhether these strange people were car
| nivorous' inclined towards me | was vet
to ascertain. Ihad my doubts and fears,
/ bat they were somewhat abated upon be-
4 ing presented with a curious sort of bowl
or cup filed with what is now called
hominy, piece of fish, jerked meat and
roots. My mpanions were then served
in the same manner-and we all fell to
eating. The fact of my being waited
upon first, gave NE favorable opinien
of their poIiteneSn and it might be Il y
looked on me asa dSperior being 81 !
meal over, lon rrsco3versation, in AZ
villianous gibbefish ensued-at times y.
was loud, and then would die away In
/ low grunts and jesticplations of ludi-
crous. character Like all things the
/ pow WOW came TO an end-when prepare
/ tions were made for sleep. Some skins
were brought and spread 90 the ground.
| was directed by signs to lie down,
which l willingly did, as | was very
much overcome, by my long travel from
the land of the Esquimaux. NJ FIVE
companions lay around me, and four
men, belonging to the e:mpers, took
their stand as sentinels us. | was
soon buried in sleep, and awoke not till
near sun rise next morning. Most OF
the campers were astir, some preparing
brea'-srst, others arranging traps and
! nets. The breakfast canssted of the
..ssTlta-aEtii.th of food hss ley had
- tifenls !. ;siss ss;; 1 - a. 3
through the sshin rubbir sFxe
moved away, following tbesrive. i
distance, when we left it, ent.s ring de nse
forest, almost impenetrabIe. on account
OF the tangled undergrowth& We made
slow progress. The sceherya became
monotonous-thes same interminable for.
est presented itself On the third dav
We came in view of very high hill
now known as Iron Mountain. On a
near approach to the mountain or knob.
| saw, about halt way up it, vast mum
Der of people engaged at something. We
soon reached them. They were like nv
masters, and felt sure they belonged to
the same tribe. They greeted each other
cordially by rubbing shins, and on be-
holding me behaved pretty much as1.L,e
fishing party ~ done The NJ
however, THESE fe the first l had
were more cnrid :. Feeling of me Ey
Ininu:elys to assMe themselves. as I s6p.
posed, for certain that was not ghost
or shadow. The women we're dressed
somewhat differently from the present
styles-the least possible amount of
goods used, being the most fashion
able. and the cut was like that same.
which NJ. Talleyrand said "com-
menced too late and ended too soon.
The head gear of the women was curl
Gus affair, made from the tails of coons
and foxes interviewer with each other. | |
observed, too, that manyof them, espe
cially the younger wonleu, had coon or
fox tails hanging at full length down |
their backs. Upon further acquaintance
with these strange people | learned the
motive of this difference in "head fxins.
Those wearing the elongated tails were
candidates for matrioiony, and as soon
as a girl found her .aafinity y her
tail was taken up and irterwoven with
theones to which it was fastened The
men on the mountain ven dressed simi-
lar to my captors-e They were engaeaa
in getting out and carryiug away very
peculiar kind of clay, to make these
bowls which / had seen at the camping
ground. 1t was not the clay of the
presentday, the earth was Younger then
in fact ibswas before the.age of iron
Now it has been great puzzle to chem
lists to fad out what iron, as well as all
other metals, are posed of and if /
only one of those bowls, or jars or jugs,
OF whatever it is they most semble, can
be found, a great discovery in chemical
science will be assured. For has not
this great mountain of clay turned to |
iron since my day.. But am no chem
island can only hope for the finding of
a bowl. And / advise ali diggers for |
bowls to persevere.
But am wandering-indeed / am a
by trade. My party ascended
to the top of the mountain. They seemed