TAKING AND BEING TAKEN.TAKING AND BEING TAKEN.
Exploration gives us a past history of the plains which is interesting in the extreme. Our party spent some weeks in exploring for fossils beyond Sheridan, and were richly rewarded. In the great ocean which once covered the land, the wonderful reptiles of the cretaceous age swarmed in prodigious numbers, and their fierce struggles upon and under its surface made "the deep to boil like a pot." The mysterious Leviathan, described in the forty-first chapter of Job, had its prototype in more than one of the monsters of that period:
"Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about.
"Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out.
"Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron.
"His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth.
"The flakes of his flesh are joined together: they are firm in themselves; they can not be moved.
"He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood.
"He maketh a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be hoary."
The fossil remains of these reptiles are numerous, constituting a rich mine of scientific wealth, which has been but very lightly worked. Enough fossils can be obtained by future exploration to fill to overflowing all the museums of the land.
We have no means of computing how long the cretaceous sea existed, but we know that it passedaway and was replaced by large fresh-water lakes, those of the plains being bounded on the west by the Rocky Mountains. Then succeeded an age of which we can catch but occasional glimpses, and our longing becomes intense that we could know more. We see a land fertile as the garden of Eden, surrounding beautiful lakes. The climate is delightful, and earth, air, and water, are full of life. Grand forests and flower-covered prairies nod and blossom under the kind caresses of Nature. Water fowls numberless plunge under and skim over the surface, and the songsters of the air warble forth their hymns of praise. Over the pastures and through the forests roam an animal multitude of which we can have but faint conception, but among the number we recognize the lion with his royal mane, and the tiger with his spots; and there also are the elephant, the mastodon, the rhinoceros, the wild horse, and the great elk.
After our return, the eminent naturalist, Prof. Edward D. Cope, A. M., visited the plains, and spent some time in careful exploration there. As he had previously received several fossils from us for examination, I communicated with him not long since, asking a record of his trip. This he very kindly consented to furnish, and, did space permit, I would gladly publish entire the matter which he has placed at my disposal. No apology can be necessary, however, for yielding to the temptation of devoting two or three chapters to a chat by Prof. Cope with my readers.
The manuscript, as it lies before me, is entitled: "On the Geology and Vertebrate Palæontology ofthe Cretaceous Strata of Kansas." Let us begin with "Part I—A General Sketch of the Ancient Life."
That vast level tract of our territory lying between Missouri and the Rocky Mountains represents a condition of the earth's surface which has preceded, in most instances, the mountainous or hilly type so prevalent elsewhere, and may be called, in so far, incompletely developed. It does not present the variety of conditions, either of surface for the support of a very varied life, or of opportunities for access to its interior treasures, so beneficial to a high civilization.
It is, in fact, the old bed of seas and lakes, which has been so gradually elevated as to have suffered little disturbance. Consistently with its level surface, its soils have not been carried away by rain and flood, but rather cover it with a deep and widespread mantle. This is the great source of its wealth in Nature's creations of vegetable and animal life, and from it will be drawn the wealth of its future inhabitants. On this account its products have a character of uniformity; but viewed from the stand-point of the political philosopher, so long as peace and steam bind the natural sections of our country together, so long will the plains be an important element in a varied economy of continental extent.
But they are not entirely uninterrupted. The natural drainage has worn channels, and the streams flow below the general level. The ancient sea and lake deposits have neither been pressed into very hard rock beneath piles of later sediment, nor havethey been roasted and crystallized by internal heat. Although limestone rock, they easily yield to the action of water, and so the side drainage into the creeks and rivers has removed their high banks to from many rods to many miles from their original positions. In many cases these banks or bluffs have retained their original steepness, and have increased in elevation as the breaking-down of the rock encroached on higher land. In other cases the rain-channels have cut in without removing the intervening rocks at once, and formed deep gorges or canyons, which sometimes extend to great distances. They frequently communicate in every direction, forming curious labyrinths, and when the intervening masses are cut away at various levels, or left standing like monuments, we have the characteristic peculiarities of "bad lands" ormauvaises terres.
In portions of Kansas tracts of this kind are scattered over the country along the margins of the river and creek valleys and ravines. The upper stratum of the rock is a yellow chalk; the lower, bluish, and the brilliancy of the color increases the picturesque effect. From elevated points the plains appear to be dotted with ruined villages and towns, whose avenues are lined with painted walls of fortifications, churches, and towers, while side alleys pass beneath natural bridges or expand into small pockets and caverns, smoothed by the action of the wind, carrying hard mineral particles.
But this is the least interesting of the peculiarities presented by these rocks. On the level surfaces, denuded of soil, lie huge oyster-shells, some opened andothers with both valves together, like remnants of a half-finished meal of some titanic race, who had been frightened from the board, never to return. These shells are not thickened like most of those of past periods, but contained an animal which would have served as a meal for a large party of men. One of them measured twenty-six inches across.
If the explorer searches the bottoms of the rain-washes and ravines, he will doubtless come upon the fragment of a tooth or jaw, and will generally find a line of such pieces leading to an elevated position on the bank or bluff, where lies the skeleton of some monster of the ancient sea. He may find the vertebral column running far into the limestone that locks him in his last prison; or a paddle extended on the slope, as though entreating aid; or a pair of jaws lined with horrid teeth which grin despair on enemies they are helpless to resist. Or he may find a conic mound, on whose apex glisten in the sun the bleached bones of one whose last office has been to preserve from destruction the friendly soil on which he reposed. Sometimes a pile of huge remains will be discovered, which the dissolution of the rock has deposited on the lower level, the force of rain and wash having been insufficient to carry them away.
But the reader inquires, What is the nature of these creatures thus left stranded a thousand miles from either ocean? How came they in the limestones of Kansas, and were they denizens of land or sea? It may be replied that our knowledge of this chapter of ancient history is only about five years old, and has been brought to light by geological explorations seton foot by Dr. Turner, Prof. Mudge, Prof. Marsh, W. E. Webb, and the writer. Careful examinations of the remains discovered show that they are all to be referred to the reptiles and fishes. We find that they lived in the period called Cretaceous, at the time when the chalk of England and the green sand marl of New Jersey were being deposited, and when many other huge reptiles and fishes peopled both sea and land in those quarters of the globe. The twenty-six species of reptiles found in Kansas, up to the present time, varied from ten to eighty feet in length, and represented six orders, the same that occur in the other regions mentioned. Two only of the number were terrestrial in their habits, and three were flyers; the remainder were inhabitants of the salt ocean. When they swam over what are now the plains, the coast-line extended from Arkansas to near Fort Riley, on the Kansas River, and, passing a little eastward, traversed Minnesota to the British Possessions, near the head of Lake Superior. The extent of sea to the westward was vast, and geology has not yet laid down its boundary; it was probably a shore now submerged beneath the waters of the North Pacific Ocean.
Far out on its expanse might have been seen in those ancient days, a huge snake-like form which rose above the surface and stood erect, with tapering throat and arrow-shaped head; or swayed about, describing a circle of twenty feet radius above the water. Then it would dive into the depths, and naught would be visible but the foam caused by the disappearing mass of life. Should several have appearedtogether, we can easily imagine tall twining forms, rising to the height of the masts of a fishing fleet, or like snakes twisting and knotting themselves together. This extraordinary neck, for such it was, rose from a body of elephantine proportions; and a tail of the serpent pattern balanced it behind. The limbs were probably two pairs of paddles, like those ofPlesiosaurus, from which this diver chiefly differed in the arrangement of the bones of the breast. In the best known species, twenty-two feet represent the neck, in a total length of fifty feet.
This is theElasmosaurus platyurus(Cope), a carnivorous sea reptile, no doubt adapted for deeper waters than many of the others. Like the snake-bird of Florida, it probably often swam many feet below the surface, raising the head to the distant air for a breath, then withdrawing it and exploring the depths forty feet below, without altering the position of its body. From the localities in which the bones have been found in Kansas, it must have wandered far from land, and that many kinds of fishes formed its food, is shown by the teeth and scales found in the position of its stomach.
A second species, of somewhat similar character and habits, differed very much in some points of structure. The neck was drawn out to a wonderful degree of attenuation, while the tail was relatively very stout, more so, indeed, than in theElasmosaurus, as though to balance the anterior regions while occupied in various actions,e. g., while capturing its food. This was a powerful swimmer, its paddles measuring four feet in length, with an expanse, therefore, of abouteleven feet. It is known asPolycotylus latipinnis(Cope).
The two species just described formed a small representation, in our great interior sea, of an order which swarmed at the same time, or near it, over the gulfs and bays of old Europe. There they abounded twenty to one. Perhaps one reason for this was the almost entire absence of the real rulers of the waters of Ancient America, viz: thePythonomorphs. These sea-serpents, for such they were, embrace more than half the species found in the limestone rocks in Kansas, and abound in those of New Jersey and Alabama. Only four have been seen as yet in Europe.
Researches into their structure have shown that they were of wonderful elongation of form, especially of tail; that their heads were large, flat, and conic, with eyes directed partly upwards; that they were furnished with two pairs of paddles like the flippers of a whale, but with short or no portion representing the arm. With these flippers and the eel-like strokes of their flattened tail they swam—some with less, others with greater speed. They were furnished, like snakes, with four rows of formidable teeth on the roof of the mouth. Though these were not designed for mastication, and without paws for grasping could have been little used for cutting, as weapons for seizing their prey they were very formidable. And here we have to consider a peculiarity of these creatures in which they are unique among animals. Swallowing their prey entire, like snakes, they were without that wonderful expansibility of throat, due in the latter to an arrangement of levers supportingthe lower jaw. Instead of this each half of that jaw was articulated or jointed at a point nearly midway between the ear and the chin. This was of the ball and socket type, and enabled the jaw to make an angle outward, and so widen, by much, the space inclosed between it and its fellow. The arrangement may be easily imitated by directing the arms forward, with the elbows turned outward and the hands placed near together. The ends of these bones were in the Pythonomorphs as independent as in the serpents, being only bound by flexible ligaments. By turning the elbows outward, and bending them, the space between the arms becomes diamond-shaped, and represents exactly the expansion seen in these reptiles, to permit the passage of a large fish or other body. The arms, too, will represent the size of jaws attained by some of the smaller species. The outward movement of the basal half of the jaw necessarily twists in the same direction the column-like bone to which it is suspended. The peculiar shape of the joint by which the last bone is attached to the skull, depends on the degree of twist to be permitted, and, therefore, to the degree of expansion of which the jaws were capable. As this differs much in the different species, they are readily distinguished by the column or "quadrate" bone when found. There are some curious consequences of this structure, and they are here explained as an instance of the mode of reconstruction of extinct animals from slight materials. The habit of swallowing large bodies between the branches of the under-jaw necessitates the prolongation forward of the mouthof the gullet; hence the throat in the Pythonomorphs must have been loose and almost as baggy as a pelican's. Next, the same habit must have compelled the forward position of the glottis or opening of the windpipe, which is always in front of the gullet. Hence these creatures must have uttered no other sound than a hiss, as do animals of the present day which have a similar structure, as for instance, the snakes. Thirdly, the tongue must have been long and forked and for this reason: its position was still anterior to the glottis, so that there was no space for it except it were inclosed in a sheath beneath the windpipe when at rest, or thrown out beyond the jaws when in motion. Such is the arrangement in the nearest living forms, and it is always, in these cases, cylindric and forked.
The flying saurians of the cretaceous sea of Kansas, though not numerous in species, were of remarkable size. Though their remains are generally flattened by the pressure of the overlying rocks, two species have left a complete record of their form and dimensions. One of them (Ornithochirus Tarpyia) spread eighteen feet between the tips of the wings, while theO. umbrosuscovered nearly twenty-five feet with his expanse. These strange creatures flapped their leathery wings over the waves, and, often plunging, drew many a fish from its companions of the shoal; or, soaring at a safe distance, viewed the sports and combats of the more powerful saurians of the sea; or, trooping to the shore at nightfall, suspended themselves to the cliffs by the claw-bearing fingers of their wing-limbs.
DEVELOPINGDEVELOPING—ONE OF THE FIRST FAMILIES.
In connection with the subject of the old lakes and their fertile shores, where human beings, it might reasonably be expected, once lived so comfortably, the editor of this volume begs to lay before the reader (in a sort of parenthesis, for which Professor Cope is in no way responsible) an effort of Sachem's. He dedicated it to Darwin, and was pleased to call it, notwithstanding it smells more of the fossil-bone caves than the fields,
THE PRIMEVAL MAN'S PASTORAL.
My grandfather Jock was an ape,His grandfather Twist was a worm;Each age has developed in shape,And ours has got rid of the squirm;If the law of selection will work in our case,We'll develop, in time, to a wonderful race.My sweetheart has claws, and her faceIs covered with bristles and hair;She's feline in nature and grace,She's apt to get out on a tear,She's cursed with a passion to sing after night;But these she'll evolve, and develop all right.One race has evolved in the sea,And partly got rid of their scales;Though cousin by faces to me,They're cousin to fishes by tails;But they'll ever remain simply mer-men and women,For selection won't work, in the world that they swim in.'T is said that Gorilla the Great,Who rules as the chief of our clan,Has found in the annals of fate,We're soon to evolve into man;Furthermore, that our children will doubt whence they came,Till a fellow named Darwin shall put them to shame.
CONTINUED BY COPE—THE GIANTS OF THE SEAS—TAKING OUT FOSSILS IN A GALE—INTERESTING DISCOVERIES—THE GEOLOGY OF THE PLAINS.
CONTINUED BY COPE—THE GIANTS OF THE SEAS—TAKING OUT FOSSILS IN A GALE—INTERESTING DISCOVERIES—THE GEOLOGY OF THE PLAINS.
The giants of the Pythonomorphs of Kansas have been calledLiodon proriger(Cope) andLiodon dyspelor(Cope). The first must have been abundant, and its length could not have been far from sixty feet, certainly not less. Its physiognomy was rendered peculiar by a long projecting muzzle, reminding one of that of the blunt-nosed sturgeon of our coast, but the resemblance was destroyed by the correspondingly massive end of the branches of the lower jaw. Though clumsy in appearance, such an arrangement must have been effective as a ram, and dangerous to his enemies in case of collision. The writer once found the wreck of an individual of this species strewn around a sunny knoll beside a bluff, and his conic snout, pointing to the heavens, formed a fitting monument, as at once his favorite weapon, and the mark distinguishing all his race.
Very different was theLiodon dyspelor, a still larger animal than the last, with a formidable armature. It was indeed the longest of known reptiles, and probably equal to the great finner whale of modern oceans. The circumstances attending thediscovery of one of these, will always be a pleasant recollection to the writer. A part of the face, with teeth, was observed projecting from the side of a bluff by a companion in exploration, (Lieut. Jas. H. Whitten, U. S. A.), and we at once proceeded to follow up the indication with knives and picks. Soon the lower jaws were uncovered, with their glistening teeth, and then the vertebræ and ribs. Our delight was at its height when the bones of the pelvis and part of the hind limb were laid bare, for they had never been seen before in the species and scarcely in the order. While lying on the bottom of the cretaceous sea, the carcass had been dragged hither and thither by the sharks and other rapacious animals, and the parts of the skeleton were displaced and gathered into a small area. The massive tail stretched away into the bluff, and after much laborious excavation we left a portion of it to more persevering explorers. The species ofClidastesdid not reach such a size as some of theLiodons, and were of elegant and flexible build. To prevent their habits of coiling from dislocating the vertebral column, these had an additional pair of articulations at each end, while their muscular strength is attested by the elegant striæ and other sculptures which appear on all their bones. Three species of this genus occur in the Kansas strata, the largest (Clidastes cineriarum, Cope) reaching forty feet in length. The discovery of a related species (Holcodus coryphæus, Cope) was made by the writer under circumstances of difficulty peculiar to the plains. After examining the bluffs for half a day without result, a few bone fragmentswere found in a wash above their base. Others led the way to a ledge forty or fifty feet from both summit and foot, where, stretched along in the yellow chalk, lay the projecting portions of the whole monster. A considerable number of vertebræ were found preserved by the protective embrace of the roots of a small bush, and, when they were secured, the pick and knife were brought into requisition to remove the remainder. About this time one of the gales, so common in that region, sprang up, and, striking the bluff fairly, reflected itself upwards. So soon as the pick pulverized the rock, the limestone dust was carried into eyes, nose, and every available opening in the clothing. I was speedily blinded, and my aid disappeared into the canyon, and was seen no more while the work lasted. Only the enthusiasm of the student could have endured the discomfort, but to him it appeared a most unnecessary "conversion of force" that a geologist should be driven from the field by his own dust. A handkerchief tied over the face, and pierced by minute holes opposite the eyes, kept me from total blindness, though dirt in abundance penetrated the mask. But a fine relic of creative genius was extricated from its ancient bed, and one that leads its genus in size and explains its structure.
On another occasion, riding along a spur of a yellow chalk bluff, some vertebræ lying at its foot met my eye. An examination showed that the series entered the rock, and, on passing round to the opposite side the jaws and muzzle were seen projecting from it, as though laid bare for the convenience of the geologist.The spur was small and of soft material, and we speedily removed it in blocks, to the level of the reptile, and took out the remains, as they laid across the base from side to side. A genus related to the last isEdestosaurus. A species of thirty feet in length, and of elegant proportions has been calledE. tortor(Cope.) Its slenderness of body was remarkable, and the large head was long and lance-shaped. Its flippers tapered elegantly, and the whole animal was more of a serpent than any other of its tribe. Its lithe movements brought many a fish to its knife-shaped teeth, which are more efficient and numerous than in any of its relatives. It was found coiled up beneath a ledge of rock, with its skull lying undisturbed in the center. A species distinguished for its small size and elegance isClidastes pumilus(Marsh). This little fellow was only twelve feet in length, and was probably unable to avoid occasionally furnishing a meal for some of the rapacious fishes which abounded in the same ocean.
Tortoises were the boatmen of the cretaceous waters of the eastern coast, but none had been known from the deposits of Kansas until very recently. One species now on record (Protostega gigas, Cope), is of large size, and strange enough to excite the attention of naturalists. It is well known that the house or boat of the tortoise or turtle is formed by the expansion of the usual bones of the skeleton till they meet and unite, and thus become continuous. Thus the lower shell is formed of united ribs of the breast and breast-bone, with bone deposited in the skin. In the same way the roof is formedby the union of the ribs with bone deposited in the skin. In the very young tortoise the ribs are separate as in other animals; as they grow older they begin to expand at the upper side of the upper end, and, with increased age, the expansion extends throughout the length. The ribs first come in contact where the process commences, and in the land-tortoise they are united to the end. In the sea-turtle, the union ceases a little above the ends. The fragments of theProtostegawere seen by one of the men projecting from a ledge of a low bluff. Their thinness and the distance to which they were traced excited my curiosity, and I straightway attacked the bank with the pick. After several square feet of rock had been removed, we cleared up one floor, and found ourselves well repaid. Many long slender pieces, of two inches in width, lay upon the ledge. They were evidently ribs, with the usual heads, but behind each head was a plate like the flattened bowl of a huge spoon placed crosswise. Beneath these stretched two broad plates two feet in width, and no thicker than binders' board. The edges were fingered, and the surface hard and smooth. All this was quite new among fully grown animals, and we at once determined that more ground must be explored, for further light. After picking away the bank and carving the soft rock, new masses of strange bones were disclosed. Some bones of a large paddle were recognized, and a leg bone. The shoulder-blade of a huge tortoise came next, and further examination showed that we had stumbled on the burial-place of one of the largest species of sea-turtle yet known. The singlebones of the paddle were eight inches long, giving the spread of the expanded flippers as considerably over twenty feet. But the ribs were those of an ordinary turtle just born, and the great plates represented the bony deposit in the skin, which, commencing independently in modern turtles, united with the expanded ribs below, at an early day. But it was incredible that the largest of known turtles should be but just hatched, and for this and other reasons it has been concluded that this "ancient mariner" is one of those forms not uncommon in old days, whose incompleteness in some respects points to the truth of the belief, that animals have assumed their modern perfection, by a process of growth from more simple beginnings.
The cretaceous ocean of the West was no less remarkable for its fishes than for its reptiles. Sharks do not seem to have been so common as in the old Atlantic, but it swarmed with large predaceous forms related to the salmon and saury.
THE SEA WHICH ONCE COVERED THE PLAINS.THE SEA WHICH ONCE COVERED THE PLAINS.Elasmosaurus platyurus. 2. Liodon proriger. 3, 4, 5. Ornithochirus umbrosus. 6. Ornithochirus harpyia. 7. Protostega. 8. Polycotylus latipinnis.
Vertebræ and other fragments of these species project from the worn limestone in many places. I will call attention to, perhaps, the most formidable, as well as the most abundant of these. It is the one whose bones most frequently crowned knobs of shale, which had been left standing amid surrounding destruction. The density and hardness of the bones shed the rain off on either side, so that the radiating gutters and ravines finally isolated the rock mass from that surrounding. The head was some inches longer than that of a fully grown grizzly bear, and the jaws were deeper in proportion to their length.The muzzle was shorter and deeper than that of a bull-dog. The teeth were all sharp cylindric fangs, smooth and glistening, and of irregular size. At certain distances in each jaw they projected three inches above the gum, and were sunk one inch into the bony support, being thus as long as the fangs of a tiger, but more slender. Two such fangs crossed each other on each side of the middle of the front. This fish is known asPortheus molossus(Cope). Besides the smaller fishes, the reptiles no doubt supplied the demands of his appetite.
The ocean in which flourished this abundant and vigorous life, was at last completely inclosed on the west, by elevation of sea-bottom, so that it only communicated with the Atlantic and Pacific at the Gulf of Mexico and the Arctic Sea. The continued elevation of both eastern and western shores contracted its area, and when ridges of the sea-bottom reached the surface, forming long low bars, parts of the water area were inclosed and connection with salt water prevented. Thus were the living beings imprisoned and subjected to many new risks to life. The stronger could more readily capture the weaker, while the fishes would gradually perish through the constant freshening of the water. With the death of any considerable class the balance of food supply would be lost, and many larger species would disappear from the scene. The most omnivorous and enduring would longest resist the approach of starvation, but would finally yield to inexorable fate; the last one caught by the rising bottom among shallowpools from which his exhausted energies could not extricate him.
PART II—GEOLOGY.
The geology of this region has been very partially explored, but appears to be quite simple. The following description of the section along the line of the Kansas Pacific Railroad, will probably apply to similar sections north and south of it. The formations referable to the cretaceous period on this line, are those called by Messrs. Meek and Hayden the Dakota, Benton, and Niobrara groups, as Nos. 1, 2 and 3. According to Leconte,[3]at Salina, one hundred and eighty-five miles west of the State line of Missouri, the rocks of the Dakota group constitute the bluffs, and continue to do so as far as Fort Harker, thirty-three miles farther west. They are a "coarse brown sand-stone, containing irregular concretions of oxide of iron," and numerous molluscs of marine origin. Near Fort Harker, certain strata contain large quantities of the remains (leaves chiefly) of dicotyledonous and other forms of land vegetation. Near this point, according to the same authority, the sand-stone beds are covered with clay and limestone. These he does not identify, but portions of it from Bunker Hill, thirty-four miles west, have been identified by Dr. Hayden, as belonging to the Benton or second group. The specimen consisted of a block of dark, bluish-gray clay rock, which bore theremains of the fishApsopelix sauriformis(Cope). That the eastern boundary of this bed is very sinuous is rendered probable by its occurrence at Brookville, eighteen miles to the eastward of Fort Harker, on the railroad. In sinking a well at this point, the same soft, bluish clay rock was traversed, and at a depth of about thirty feet a skeleton of a saurian of the crocodilian order was encountered, theHyposaurus vebbii(Cope).
The boundary line, or first appearance of the beds of the Niobrara division, has not been pointed out, but at Fort Hays, seventy miles west of Fort Harker, its rocks form the bluffs and outcrops every-where. From Fort Hays to Fort Wallace, near the western boundary of the state, one hundred and thirty-four miles beyond, the strata present a tolerably uniform appearance. They consist of two portions; a lower, of dark-bluish calcareo-argillaceous character, often thin-bedded; and a superior, of yellow and whitish chalk, much more heavily bedded. Near Fort Hays the best section may be seen, at a point eighteen miles north, on the Saline river. Here the bluffs rise to a height of two hundred feet, the yellow strata constituting the upper half. No fossils were observed in the blue bed, but some moderate-sizedOstreæ, frequently broken, were not rare in the yellow. Half-way between this point and the Fort, my friend, N. Daniels, of Hays, guided me to a denuded tract, covered with the remains of huge oysters, some of which measured twenty-seven inches in diameter. They exhibited concentric obtuse ridges on the interior side, and a large basin-shaped area behind the hinge.Fragments of fish vertebræ ofAnogmiustype were also found here by Dr. Janeway. These were exposed in the yellow bed. Several miles east of the post, Dr. J. H. Janeway, Post Surgeon, pointed out to me an immense accumulation ofInoceramus problematicusin the blue stratum. This species also occurred in abundance in the bluffs west of the Fort, which were composed of the blue bed, capped by a thinner layer of the yellow. Large globular or compound globular argillaceous concretions, coated with gypsum, were abundant at this point.
Along the Smoky Hill River, thirty miles east of Fort Wallace, the south bank descends gradually, while the north bank is bluffy. This, with other indications, points to a gentle dip of the strata to the north-west. The yellow bed is thin or wanting on the north bank of the Smoky, and is not observable on the north fork of that river for twenty miles northward or to beyond Sheridan Station, on the Kansas Pacific Railroad. Two isolated hills, "The Twin Buttes," at the latter point are composed of the blue bed, here very shaly to their summits. This is the general character of the rock along and north of the railroad between this point and Fort Wallace.
South of the river the yellow strata are more distinctly developed. Butte Creek Valley, fifteen to eighteen miles to the south, is margined by bluffs of from twenty to one hundred and fifty feet in height on its southern side, while the northern rises gradually into the prairie. These bluffs are of yellow chalk, except from ten to forty feet of blue rock atthe base, although many of the canyons are excavated in the yellow rock exclusively. The bluffs of the upper portion of Butte Creek, Fox, and Fossil Spring (five miles south) canyons, are of yellow chalk, and reports of several persons stated that those of Beaver Creek, eight miles south of Fossil Spring, are exclusively of this material. Those near the mouth of Beaver Creek, on the Smoky, are of considerable height, and appear at a distance to be of the same yellow chalk.
I found these two strata to be about equally fossilliferous, and I am unable to establish any palæontological difference between them. They pass into each other by gradations in some places, and occasionally present slight laminar alternations at their line of junction. I have specimens ofCimolichthys semianceps(Cope), from both the blue and yellow beds, and vertebrae of theLiodon glandiferus(Cope) were found in both. The large fossil ofLiodon dyspelor(Cope) was found at the junction of the bed, and the caudal portion was excavated from the blue stratum exclusively. Portions of it were brought East in blocks of this material, and these have become yellow and yellowish on many of the exposed surfaces. The matrix adherent to all the bones has become yellow. A second incomplete specimen, undistinguishable from this species, was taken from the yellow bed.
As to mineral contents, the yellow stratum is remarkably uniform in its character. The blue shale, on the contrary, frequently contains numerous concretions, and great abundance of thin layers of gypsum and crystals of the same. Near Sheridanconcretions and septaria are abundant. In some places the latter are of great size and, being embedded in the stratum, have suffered denudation of their contents, and, the septa standing out, form a huge honey-comb. This region and the neighborhood of Eagle Tail, Colorado, are noted for the beauty of their gypsum-crystals, the first abundantly found in the cretaceous formation. These are hexagonal-radiate, each division being a pinnate or feather-shaped lamina of twin rows of crystals. The clearness of the mineral, and the regular leaf and feather forms of the crystals give them much beauty. The bones of vertebrate fossils preserved in this bed are often much injured by the gypsum formation which covers their surface and often penetrates them in every direction.
The yellow bed of the Niobrara group disappears to the south-west, west, and north-west of Fort Wallace, beneath a sandy conglomerate of uncertain age. Its color is light, sometimes white, and the component pebbles are small and mostly of white quartz. The rock wears irregularly into holes and fissures, and the soil covering it generally thin and poor. It is readily detached in large masses, which roll down the bluffs. No traces of life were observed in it, but it is probably the eastern margin of the southern extension of the White River Miocene Tertiary stratum. This is at least indicated by Dr. Hayden, in his geological preface to Leidy's extinct mammals of Dakota and Nebraska.
Commercially, the beds of the Niobrara formation possess little value, except when burned for manure.The yellow chalk is too soft in many places for buildings of large size, but will answer well for those of moderate size. It is rather harder at Fort Hays, as I had occasion to observe at their quarry. That quarried at Fort Wallace does not appear to harden by exposure; the walls of the hospital, noted by Leconte on his visit, remained in 1871 as soft as they were in 1867. A few worthless beds of bituminous shale were observed in Eastern Colorado.
The only traces of Glacial Action in the line explored were seen near Topeka. South of the town are several large, erratic masses of pink and bloody quartz, whose surfaces are so polished as to appear as though vitrified. They were transported, perhaps, from the Azoic area near Lake Superior.
A SAVAGE OUTBREAK—THE BATTLE OF THE FORTY SCOUTS—THE SURPRISE—PACK-MULES STAMPEDED—DEATH ON THE ARICKEREE—THE MEDICINE MAN—A DISMAL NIGHT—MESSENGERS SENT TO WALLACE—MORNING ATTACK—WHOSE FUNERAL?—RELIEF AT LAST—THE OLD SCOUTS' DEVOTION TO THE BLUE.
A SAVAGE OUTBREAK—THE BATTLE OF THE FORTY SCOUTS—THE SURPRISE—PACK-MULES STAMPEDED—DEATH ON THE ARICKEREE—THE MEDICINE MAN—A DISMAL NIGHT—MESSENGERS SENT TO WALLACE—MORNING ATTACK—WHOSE FUNERAL?—RELIEF AT LAST—THE OLD SCOUTS' DEVOTION TO THE BLUE.
On our return to Sheridan we were deeply pained to hear of the sad death of Doctor Moore and Lieutenant Beecher, whose acquaintance we had formed at Fort Hays, and the former of whom we had learned to esteem most highly as a personal friend. A scouting party, not long before, had left the post just named, under the command of General Forsythe, of Sheridan's staff, and composed principally of those citizens who had seen frontier service. Dr. Moore accompanied it as surgeon, and Lieut. Beecher—a nephew of Henry Ward Beecher, and an officer of the regular army—held the position of chief of scouts, which he had filled for some time previously with much credit. The savages of the plains being again upon the war-path, that brave and well-organized little party of fifty were dispatched to pursue a band of Indians, which had appeared before Sheridan and run off a lot of stock.
Some of the scouts were now in the town, and fromone of them we obtained an account of the expedition. Fresh from the mouth of that sandy hell in the river's head, which had sucked out the life-blood of so many of his companions, I wish my readers could have heard the story told with the rude eloquence in which he clothed it. As it is, how nearly they will come to doing so, must perforce depend on how nearly I can remember his language.
"You see, captain," he began (it is considered impolite among this class ever to address one without using some title), "we had the nicest little forty lot o' scouts that ever followed the plains fur a living, and trails fur an Injun. Thar wur ingineers, doctors, counter-jumpers, and a few deadbeats, but every one of 'em had lots of fight, and not the least bit of scare. Ther talents run ter fightin', an' ther bodies never run away from it.
"It wur kinder curious, though, to see the chaps that wur not bred ter ther business git along. They wur the profession folks. Some had a little compass, not much bigger 'n a button, that they carried on the sly. Good scouts don't need no such fixin's. These uns 'ud reach inter ther pockets, as if they was going ter take a chaw o' terbaccer, and gettin' a sly wink at ther needle, would cry out ter ther neighbors, 'I say, hoss, we 're goin' a little too much east of north!' or, 'I tell yer what, fel, we 're at least two p'ints off our course.' And all ther time they couldn't have told south from west, without them needles. But ther warn't a coward in the whole pack. Every one had a back as stiff fur a fight as a cat.
"We struck a large Injun trail the fourth day out,and kept it till evenin', but no other sign showed itself over ther wide reach that would have told a livin' bein' had ever bin thar before us. Next mornin', early, ther was a sudden fuss among our horses, and a cry from the guard, and, afore we knew it, eight pack-mules had been stampeded, and driven off. It wur a narrow call fur ther whole herd.
"The fellers had come down a ravine until they got close enough, and, then suddenly rushin' along in the grayness, set the mules inter a crazy run, and gathered 'em up, out of gun-shot. You may lick a pack-mule along all day, and be afraid he 'll drop down dead, and yet give him a fair chance to stampede, and he 'll outrun an elk, and grow fat on it.
"Stock and Injuns was both out of sight in a jiffy, and the order was given to saddle, and recapture. We were just raisin' inter ther stirrups, when some of the boys called out, and we saw the whole valley ahead of us filled with Injuns comin' down. Ther warn't no mules lost just then, and we kinder fell back onto a sort of high-water island in the Arickeree. That, yer know, is the dry fork of the Republican. Bein' low water then, as it is most of the time thar, nothin' but a dry bed of sand was on each side.
"It seemed as if the whole Injun nation was coming down on us. Such a crowd o' lank ponies, and painted heathen astride, yer never see. I expected seein' of 'em would preventmyever seein' of my family agin. 'Jim,' says I to my chum, and 'Bill,' says he to me, and then we didn't say nothin' more, but as the heathen come a chargin', we both put a hand in our pockets, just as if the brains had been inone head, and then both of us took a chaw o' terbaccer.
"For the next few hours ther wur an awful scrimmage, and a shootin', and a hollerin', and a whizzin' of bullets, which made that the hottest little island ever stranded on sand. The boys had all dug out, with their hands, sort o' little rifle-pits, and fit behind 'em. We had good Spencers, with a few Henrys, and the way those patents spit lead at the devils' hearts wur a caution. The first charge, they cum close up to us, and for a hull minnit, that stretched out awfully, we were afraid they'd ride us down. It was reg'lar coffee-mill work then, grindin' away at the levers, and we flung bullets among 'em astonishin'. As fast as one Injun keeled, another'd pick him up, and nary dead was left on the field.
"They follered up the charge game by a siege one, and peppered away at us from the neighborin' ravines and hills. Ther number wur about eight hundred, and some had carbines, and others old rifles and pistols. A few would sneak along in the bottom grass, and get behind trees, and then thur would be a flash, and a crack, and the ball would come tearin' in among us, sometimes burrowin' in a human skull, or elsewise knockin' down a horse. And all around, on the ridges, the squaws were a dancin' and shoutin', and the braves, whenever any of 'em got tired of shootin', would join their ugly she's, and help 'em in kickin' up a hullabaloo.
"I reckon, arter they'd killed the last hoss, they must ha' had a separate scalp-dance fur each one on us. Plain sailin' then, ther red fellows thought—lessthan fifty white men down in the sand, and most a thousan' Injuns roun' 'em, and more 'n a hundred miles to the nearest fort; the weaker party bein' afoot, too, and the other mounted.
"But we soon made 'em pitch another tune, beside ther juberlatin' one. We had took notice of a big Injun, with lots o' fixins on him, cavortin' all round ther island, and a spurrin' up the braves. We made certain it wur the medicine man, and found out arterward that he'd been tellin' on 'em ther pale-faces' bullets would melt before reachin' an Injun. Six on us got our rifles together, and as ther old copper-colored Pillgarlic cum dancin' round, we let fly. If Injun carcasses go along with ther spirits, I reckon ther bullets we put into the old sinner, got melted, sure enough. And what a howlin' thur was, as his pony scampered in among the squaws, empty saddled!
"It wur an awful sight to look roun' among our little sand-works—twenty killed and wounded men, covered with blood and grit. Our leader, Col. Forsythe, was shot in both legs, a ball passin' through the thigh part of one, and a second breakin' the bones of the other below the knee. He wur a knowin' and cool officer.
"Lieut. Beecher, a nephew of the big preacher, was shot through the small o' the back, and lay thar beggin' us to kill him. He too wur a brave man, and didn't flinch, never, from duty nor danger. They say that his two sisters were drowned from a sailboat on the Hudson, two years ago, and that the old parents are left now all alone. Doc. Moore was shotthrough the head, and sat thar noddin', and not knowin' no one. I spoke to him once, and he kinder started back, as if he see the Injun which shot him, still thar. He wur a good surgeon, and all the boys liked him. I hev got his gun down at my tent, all full o' sand, whar it got tramped arter he fell.[4]
"Culver lay dead on one side of our little island, shot by an Injun that crawled up in the grass. Lots o' others was wounded, and our chances looked as dark as ther night which wur coming down on us. But we was glad ter see daylight burn out, as it kinder gin us a chance to rest and think.
"That night was awful dismal. The little spot o' sand, down thar in the river's bed, seemed ther only piece o' earth friendly to us, and we were clingin' to it like sailors ter a raft at sea. The darkness all around was a gapin' ter swaller us, and a hidin' its blood-hounds, to set 'em on with ther sun. Night, without any thin' in it more 'n grave-stones, is terrifyin' to most people, but just you fill it full of pantin's for blood in front, and Death sittin' behind, among the corpses, and watchin' the wounded, and a feller's blood falls right down to January. It kinder thickens, like water freezin' round the edges, and your hands and feet get powerful cold, and you feel as if you wouldn't ever be thawed out, this side of the very place you don't want ter go to.
"Toward midnight, Stillwell and Trudell crawled out o' camp, to go for relief. They were to creep and sneak through the Injun lines, and get beyond'em by daylight. Then they would lay by, and push on ag'in, when dark cum, toward Wallace. That little spot of barracks, a hundred and twenty-five miles off, kept up our hope mightily. It was our light-house, like. We were shipwrecked among savages, and had sent a couple of yawls off, to tell the keeper thar of danger. We knew if the news reached, blue coats would flash out to us, like spots of light, and our foes go before 'em as mist.
"But footin' it nights, and layin' by days, fur over a hundred miles, through Injun country, is slow work, and we didn't, most on us, expect much; and our hearts follered the little black spots, showin' us our two companions a creepin' off into darkness, like a couple of wolves. It took good men, too, from our little party, and fur awhile I was faint-hearted. In our shipwreck, it seemed like takin' bottles which might ha' helped to hold out, and flingin' 'em into ther waves, with messages tellin' how and whar we went down.
"About two o'clock Lieut. Beecher died, havin' for some time begged the men to end his sufferin's by shootin' of him.
"We all kept perfect quiet that night—no fire, nor wur ther a sound heard, from our little island, by the heathen on the bluffs. An just that quietness gave 'em the worst foolin' they ever had. It seems the road down river had been left open by 'em, hopin' we would steal out and run for it durin' the night. We bein' all on foot, they could overtake us in the mornin', and worry on us out easy. Durin' the dark we waited quiet, and watched, and passed water toour wounded, and sprinkled it over some of 'em who couldn't drink.
"It wer just kinder palin' like way up in the sky, and we could see that off down East, somewhar, ther mornin' was commencin' ter climb, when Jim nudged me, and says, 'Chum, what's that?' We both stuck our ears right up, like two jackass-rabbits, and listened. It wur all dark near the ground, but we could hear a steady, gallopin' sound, comin' in toward us from up the ravines, and over the hills. It wur like a beatin' of ther earth with flails by threshers you couldn't see.
"The sound came a creepin' along the sod so quick we soon knew it wur the Injuns, on ther ponies, comin' down ter pick up the trail. And now we could see 'em a bobbin' along toward us in ther gloom, the rows er ugly heads goin' up and down, like jumpin'-jacks. It just seemed as ther side er ther night had been painted all full o' gapin' red devils, and ther sun wur jest revealin' on 'em. 'Lay still!' wer the word, and each man hugged his sand bank, just a skinnin' one eye, like a lizard over a log. They 'd no idee we were thar, not bein' able to understand the grit of that little forty, and they cum gallopin' along, careless-like, happy as so many ghosts goin' ter a fun'ral. But it warn'tourfun'ral just then. When they 'd got so close we could smell 'em, colonel guv the word ter fire, and we let 'em have it. Stranger, you ain't no idee what a gettin' up bluffs, and general absentin' of 'emselves ther wur. Arter the fust crack, yer couldn't see an Injun at all, but jest a lot er ponies, diggin' it on ther back track, andyou knowed painted cusses wer glued ter ther opposite side on 'em.
"We had fightin' until night ag'in, but no men were killed arter the fust day. The savages were cautious-like, and took long range fur it. We now commenced cuttin' off the hind quarters of our dead hosses, and boilin' small pieces in a empty pickle-jar belongin' ter ther colonel. Burke, he 'd dug a shallow well, too, which gave us plenty of water. Hoss meat isn't relishin' at fust. One kin eat it, but, as ther feller said about crow, he don't hanker arter it. Ther gases had got all through ther carcasses, and we had ter sprinkle lots o' gunpowder inter the pot, to kill the taste.
"The fust hoss cut up was my old sorrel. He didn't go well while livin', and couldn't be expected to when dead. Instead of takin' a straight course, and givin' some satisfaction, he jumped across all the turns inside o' me, and brought up bump agin my hide, as if he wer comin' through. He had that same trick o' cuttin' corners when livin', and I perceded ter give him up as a uncontrollable piece of hoss flesh.
"When night come on agin, Pliley and Whitney attempted ter get through ther Injun lines and make fur Wallace, but were driven back. Fur ther next few days we kept eatin' hoss flesh, and fightin' occasionally. The third night Pliley and Donovan succeeded in gettin' away.
"On the fourth day, Doctor Moore died. After the fifth, no Injuns was visible, and we gathered prickly pears and eat 'em, boilin' some down inter syrup.Our mouths were all full of ther little needles, and it wer mighty hard keepin' a stiff upper lip. We were eatin' away on our forty-eight horses, and watchin' and hopin'. We couldn't move, and leave our wounded, or the Injuns would be on 'em right off. The poor fellows had no surgeon, and were sufferin' terrible as 't was.
"Ther mornin' of ther ninth day broke with a cry of 'Injuns!' Now, human natur' can't stand fitin' allers. To carry out my shipwreck idee, fellers on a raft kin cling an' swaller water fur awhile, but they can't fight a hull grist o' hurricanes. Hoss meat an' prickly pears ain't jest ther thing, either, to slap grit inter a man. Ther were a big crowd comin', sure enough, way off on ther hills. We were kinder beginnin' ter despond, when a familiar sort o' motion on the fur dark line spelt in air the word, 'Friend!' It wer the advanced guard o' relief, approachin' on ther jump. Why, boy"—and the old scout seized hold of Semi, and shook him in excitement—"talk of Lucknow and ther camels a comin', they warn't nowhar. The blessed old blue cloth! If yer want ter love a color, jest get saved by it once. When I get holed in ther earth, I 'll take back ter dust on a blue blanket, an' if I get married afore, gal an' I'll wear blue, an' the preacher'll hev ter swar a blue streak in jinin' us!"
We afterward met others of the scouts—intelligent, clear-headed fellows, with much more of cultivation than our rough friend possessed—and they corroborated his story in every particular. I have let him tell it in his own way, not only becausevastly more graphic than any words of mine could be, but also to the end that the reader might become acquainted with a genuine frontiersman—one of that class which is wheeling into line with the immense multitudes of Indians and buffalo that time and civilization are bearing swiftly onward to hide among the memories of the past.
That the savages suffered very severely in their several attacks upon that little band of heroes on the Arickeree, was evident from the number of bodies found by the relief, as it hastened forward from Fort Wallace. The corpses were resting on hastily-constructed scaffolds, and some had evidently been placed there while dying, as the ground underneath was yet wet with blood.
THE STAGE DRIVERS OF THE PLAINS—OLD BOB—"JAMAICA AND GINGER"—AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE—BEADS OF THE PAST—ROBBING THE DEAD—A LEAF FROM THE LOST HISTORY OF THE MOUND BUILDERS—INDIAN TRADITIONS—SPECULATIONS—ADOBE HOUSES IN A RAIN—CHEAP LIVING—WATCH TOWERS.
THE STAGE DRIVERS OF THE PLAINS—OLD BOB—"JAMAICA AND GINGER"—AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE—BEADS OF THE PAST—ROBBING THE DEAD—A LEAF FROM THE LOST HISTORY OF THE MOUND BUILDERS—INDIAN TRADITIONS—SPECULATIONS—ADOBE HOUSES IN A RAIN—CHEAP LIVING—WATCH TOWERS.
The stage drivers of the plains are rapidly becoming another inheritance of the past, pushed out of existence by the locomotive, whose cow-catcher is continually tossing them from their high seats into the arms of History. What a rare set they are, though! No two that I ever saw were nearly alike, and they resemble not one distinctive class, but a number. The Jehus who crack their whips over the buffalo grass region, and turn their leaders artistically around sharp corners in rude towns, are made up on a variety of patterns. Some are loquacious and others silent, and while a portion are given to profanity, another though smaller number are men of very proper grammar. Some with whom I have ridden would discount truth for the mere love of the exercise, while others I have found so particular that they could not be induced to lie, except when it was for their interest to do so.
In a village on the shores of Lake Champlain, in the frozen regions of northern New York, where mercurybecomes solid in November, and remains so until May, I got on intimate terms, when a boy, with a stage driver. During the long winters the coaches were placed on sleds, and well do I remember the style in which "Old Bob," as he was universally called, would come dashing into the town on frosty mornings, winding uncertain tunes out of a brass horn, given him years before by a General Somebody, of the State Militia. In front of the long-porched tavern, the leaders would push out to the left, in order to give due magnificence to the right hand circle, which deposited the coach at the bar room door. Bearish in fur, and sour in face, Bob would then roll from the seat, rush up to the bar, and for the first time open his mouth, to ejaculate, "Jamaica and ginger!" The fiery draught would thaw out his tongue, as hot water does a pump, and after that it was easy work to pump him dry of any and all news on the line above.
That was many years ago, and in a spot half a continent away. One morning, while at Sheridan, I heard the blast of a horn up the street, whose notes awakened echoes which had long lain dead and buried in boyhood's memory. A moment more, and out from an avenue of saloons the overland stage rattled, and on its box sat the friend of my childhood, "Old Bob." He had the identical horn, and it was the identical tune, which I had so often heard in the by-gone years, the only difference being that both were cracked, and the lungs behind the mouth-piece, touched by the winters of sixty-odd, wheezed a little. As the coach came to the door, Ijumped up by the "boot," and grasping the old fellow's hand, introduced myself. Old Bob rubbed his eyes, which were weak and watery, and scanned me closely.
"Well, well, lad," he said, "your face takes me now, sure enough. I mind your father and mother well, and you're the little rascal that stole my whip once, when I was thawing out with Jamaica and ginger. Did you tell me by the old tune? You did, eh? Well, truth is, lad, the horn won't blow any other. It's got to running in that groove, and when I try to coax any thing new out, it sets off so that it frightens the horses."
The coach was now ready for starting, and, as he gathered up the reins, my friend of auld lang syne called out to me, "When you get back to York State, if you see any Rouse's Point people that ask for Old Bob, tell them he doesn't take any Jamaica and ginger now. Tell them he's out on the plains, tryin' to get back some of the life the cussed stuff burnt out of him." And away the stage coach rattled, and soon was out of hearing.
Next day's down stage brought intelligence that Bob's coach had been attacked by Indians, but the old fellow had handled his lines right skillfully, and brought mails and passengers through in safety.
Our last day at Sheridan, for the Professor, was marked by two important events, namely: a communication from the living present, and another from the dead past. The first came, as the postmark showed, by way of Lindsey, on the Solomon river. The Professor said it was simply an answer to some scientificinquiries, but, to our intense amusement, he blushed like a school-girl when Sachem bluntly remarked that the handwriting was feminine, and that the scientific information in question must certainly be contraband, as it was not offered for our benefit at all.
A geologist in love is a phenomenon. The dusty museum is no place for Cupid. In his flights, the mischievous boy is apt to hit his head against fossil lizards, and his darts are intercepted by skulls which were petrified before he ever wandered through Paradise and tried his first barb on poor Adam. The atmosphere which inwraps the geologist comes from an unlovable age, in which monstrosities existed only by virtue of their expertness in devouring other monstrosities. No stray spark of love-light flickered, even for an instant, over that waste of waters and gigantic ferns.
It was apparent that science would suffer, unless the Solomon river was included in our homeward route. We had examined the heart of Buffalo Land, having traversed its center from east to west, and our party was disposed to oblige the Professor by returning along the northern border. Southward two hundred miles was the Arkansas, flowing near the southern limit of the buffalo region. While there were some reasons why we desired to visit it, and though it was, perhaps, equally rich in game, it promised nothing of greater interest, upon the whole, than the district we now proposed traversing. But of this more in the next chapter.
Toward evening came our introduction to what we were pleased to imagine was a beauty of the past,which happened thus: As we were wandering among the Mexican teamsters loafing around the depot, an urchin, with half a shirt and very crooked legs, ran up to us, and exclaimed, over a half masticated morsel of cheese, "Mister, there's a bufferler!" His crumby fingers pointed in a direction midway between the horizon and a Mexican donkey, which its owner was trying to drag across the valley, and there, true enough, on the side of a brown ridge, not a mile off, we saw the game, feeding as usual.
Here was a chance for horseback hunting again, which we had not attempted for several days. And what a splendid opportunity of showing the natives how well we could do the thing! Our wagons had groaned under the burden of pelts and meats with which we had loaded them, and we were suffering just then from that dangerous confidence which first success is so apt to inspire.
Half the pleasure of hunting, if sportsmen would but confess it, consists in showing one's trophies to others. It was not at all surprising, therefore, that the send-off found two-thirds of our force in the field. The day was warm, and, though the hunters ran far and fast, the bison went still further and faster, and escaped. He led us, however, to greater spoil than his own tough carcass; for underneath the sod which his hoofs spurned, lay a treasure which glittered as temptingly to geological eyes as gold to the miner, when first struck by his prospecting pick.
The Professor trotted out of town with becoming dignity, following the hunters merely to avail himselfof their protection, while examining the ridges around. A mile out, the heat and his rough-paced nag proved too much for him, and he threw himself upon the ground for a rest. Lying there, watching idly the little insects wandering about, his attention was attracted to a colony of burrowing ants, who, with a hole in the earth half an inch in diameter, were continually coming up, rolling before them small grains of sand and pebbles, the latter obtained far below, and a small mound of them already showing the extent of their patient labors. The Professor began to mark more closely the tiny builders, imagining that he could distinguish one of the citizens going down, and recognize him again as he came up again with his burden from below.
Occasionally, it seemed to the observant savan, something blue was brought out, which glittered more than sand. Looking closer, he discovered that the shining particles were beads of some bright substance, and resembling exactly those worn by the Indians of to-day. It thrilled him, as if he had been brought face to face with the far-off ages, when the world was young. Beneath, evidently, lay the dead of some forgotten tribe, and horse and man were resting upon a place of sepulcher. There was no mound to mark the spot, and if any ever existed, the seasons of ages had obliterated it. The savage races which now roam the plains never bury their dead, but lay the bodies on scaffolds, or hang them in trees. And so these little ants, robbing the graves far beneath us, were bringing to our gaze, on a bright summer day in the Nineteenth Century, the mysteriesof ages already hoary with antiquity when Columbus first saw our shores.
We found ourselves wondering to what race the hidden dead belonged, and whether the unpictured maidens of those days were pleasant to look upon, or true ancestors of the hideous and unromantic creatures who, with their savage lords, now roam the plains. Thinking of the tribes of the past brought those of the present to mind, and, not wishing to have our hair presented as tribute to some maiden wooed by treacherous Cheyenne, we turned our horses' heads homeward, bringing the beads with us, safely deposited in one of our entomologist's pocket-cases. They remain among the trophies of our expedition, and Mr. Colon has lately written me that he will have an excavation made, during the present year, at the spot where they were found.
These beads, I can not but think, form one link in a chain connecting an ancient people, perhaps the mound-builders, with the savage tribes of the present. There is a tradition among some of the Western Indians that, centuries ago, a people, different in language and form from the red men, came from over the seas to trade beads for ponies. The buffaloes were then larger, and the climate warmer, than now. Dissensions finally arose, in which the strangers were killed. Is there not reason to believe that this tradition gives us a glimpse of the time when some of the large mammals still existed on the plains, and the genial sun looked down upon pastures clothed in rich vegetation—a time and region, probably, of perennial summer?
Once, during our stay in Kansas, we were directed by a hunter to a spot where he had seen portions of an immense skeleton, and there found one vertebra only remaining of a mastodon. It afterward transpired that, shortly before our trip, some Indians had passed Fort Dodge with the large bones lashed on their ponies, taking them to a medicine-lodge on the Arkansas, to be ground up into good medicine. They stated that the bones belonged to one of the big buffaloes which roamed over the plains during the times of their fathers. At that period, the Happy Hunting Ground was on earth, but was afterward removed beyond the clouds by the Great Spirit, to punish his children for bad conduct.
Many reasons, besides dim traditions, exist for the belief that those mysterious nations whose paths we have been able to trace from the Atlantic west, and from the Pacific east, pushed inward until they met in the middle of the continent. The numerous mounds in the Western States, with the curious weapons and vessels which they contain, show that the nations then existing, and migrating toward the interior, were not only powerful but essentially unlike our modern Indians. To instance but one illustration of this, there are near Titusville, Pa., ancient oil wells, which bear unmistakable evidences of having been dug and worked by the mound-builders. Thus they speculated in oil, which of itself is a token of high civilization.
Coming east from the Pacific coast, we find existing on the very edge of the desolate interior extensive ruins of ancient cities, of whose builders eventradition gives no account. By these and other remains which the gnawing tooth of Time has still spared to us, the people of those days tell us that they were full of commercial energy; and who knows but they may have been as determined as our nation has ever been, to push trade across from ocean to ocean? It is highly probable also that the Indians of the interior were then far superior to the present tribes, as seems very fairly determined by many of the traditions and customs which obtain among the latter.
In view of the foregoing considerations, it is not remarkable that the beads, denoting, as they did, a place and manner of burial unlike that of the savages of the plains, interested us so much. It was a leaf, we could not but think, from the lost history of the mound-builders.
A noticeable feature of life on the plains is the sod-house, there called an adobe, from some resemblance to the Mexican structures of sun-dried brick. The walls of these primitive habitations are composed of squares of buffalo-grass sod, laid tier upon tier, roots uppermost. A few poles give support for a roof, and on these some hay or small brush is laid. Then comes a foot of earth, and the covering is complete. When well-constructed, these houses are water-proof, very warm in winter, and cool in summer; but when the eaves have been made too short to protect the walls, the latter are liable to dissolve under a heavy shower. During a sudden rain at Sheridan, being obliged to turn out early one morning to protect some goods, we discovered that theneighboring habitation had resolved itself into a mound of dirt, resembling somewhat a tropical ant-hill. We were still gazing at the ruins, when the owner, clad in the brief garment of night-wear, came spluttering through the roof, like a very dirty gnome discharged by a mud-volcano. While he stood there in the rain, letting the falling flood cleanse him off, he remarked, in a manner that for such an occasion was certainly rather dry—"Lucky that houses are dirt-cheap here, stranger, for I reckon this one 's sort o' washed!"
A person of small capital, as may readily be inferred, can live very comfortably on the plains. His house may be built without nail or board, and his meat may be obtained at no other expense than the trouble of shooting it.
We saw many wooden buildings at the different stage stations, which had subterranean communications with little sod watch-towers, rising a couple of feet above the ground, at a distance of forty or fifty yards from the main building. Loop-holes through their walls afforded opportunities for firing, and if the wooden stations were burned, the occupants could find a secure retreat. We heard of but one occasion in which the tower was ever used, but then it was most effectively, the savages, gathered close around the main building, being surprised and put to sudden flight, by the murderous fire which seemed to spring out of the ground at their rear.