No pains nor expense were spared in fitting out the party, of forty men, which he was to command.  They had complete supplies for a year, and were to meet Captain Bonneville in the ensuing summer, in the valley of Bear River, the largest tributary of the Salt Lake, which was to be his point of general rendezvous.

The next care of Captain Bonneville was to arrange for the safe transportation of the peltries which he had collected to the Atlantic States.  Mr. Robert Campbell, the partner of Sublette, was at this time in the rendezvous of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, having brought up their supplies.  He was about to set off on his return, with the peltries collected during the year, and intended to proceed through the Crow country, to the head of navigation on the Bighorn River, and to descend in boats down that river, the Missouri, and the Yellowstone, to St. Louis.

Captain Bonneville determined to forward his peltries by the same route, under the especial care of Mr. Cerre.  By way of escort, he would accompany Cerre to the point of embarkation, and then make an autumnal hunt in the Crow country.

22.

The Crow country—­A Crow paradise Habits of the Crows—­ Anecdotes of Rose, the renegade white man—­His fights with the Blackfeet—­His elevation—­His death—­Arapooish, the Crow chief—­His eagle Adventure of Robert Campbell—­Honor among Crows

Before we accompany Captain Bonneville into the Crow country, we will impart a few facts about this wild region, and the wild people who inhabit it.  We are not aware of the precise boundaries, if there are any, of the country claimed by the Crows; it appears to extend from the Black Hills to the Rocky Mountains, including a part of their lofty ranges, and embracing many of the plains and valleys watered by the Wind River, the Yellowstone, the Powder River, the Little Missouri, and the Nebraska.  The country varies in soil and climate; there are vast plains of sand and clay, studded with large red sand-hills; other parts are mountainous and picturesque; it possesses warm springs, and coal mines, and abounds with game.

But let us give the account of the country as rendered by Arapooish, a Crow chief, to Mr. Robert Campbell, of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company.

“The Crow country,” said he, “is a good country.  The Great Spirit has put it exactly in the right place; while you-are in it you fare well; whenever you go out of it, whichever way you travel, you fare worse.

“If you go to the south, you have to wander over great barren plains; the water is warm and bad, and you meet the fever and ague.

“To the north it is cold; the winters are long and bitter, with no grass; you cannot keep horses there, but must travel with dogs.  What is a country without horses?

“On the Columbia they are poor and dirty, paddle about in canoes, and eat fish.  Their teeth are worn out; they are always taking fish-bones out of their mouths.  Fish is poor food.