The Travels and Adventures of Monsieur Violet in California, Sonora, and Western Texas | Page 8

nunc anima anceps; sitque tibi Deus
misericors."
The Prince Seravalle did not, however, abandon his plans; having failed
in persuading the Shoshones, at the suggestion of my father, it was
resolved that an attempt should be made to procure a few Mexicans and
Canadians to carry on the agricultural labours; for I may here as well
observe, that both the Prince and my father had long made up their
minds to live and die among the Indians.
This expedition was to be undertaken by me. My trip was to be a long
one. In case I should not succeed in Monterey in enlisting the parties
required, I was to proceed on to Santa Fé, either with a party of
Apaches Indians, who were always at peace with the Shoshones, or else
with one of the Mexican caravans.
In Santa Fé there were always a great number of French and Canadians,
who came every year from St. Louis, hired by the Fur Companies; so
that we had some chance of procuring them. If, however, my
endeavours should prove fruitless, as I should already have proceeded
too far to return alone, I was to continue on from Santa Fé with the fur

traders, returning to St. Louis, on the Mississippi, where I was to
dispose of some valuable jewels, hire men to form a strong caravan,
and return to the settlement by the Astoria trail.
As my adventures may be said but to commence at my departure upon
this commission, I will, before I enter upon my narrative, give the
reader some insight into the history and records of the Shoshones, or
Snake Indians, with whom I was domiciled, and over whom, although
so young, I held authority and command.

CHAPTER IV
.
The Shoshones, or Snake Indians, are a brave and numerous people,
occupying a large and beautiful tract of country, 540 miles from east to
west, and nearly 300 miles from north to south. It lies betwixt 38° and
43° north latitude, and from longitude 116° west of Greenwich to the
shores of the Pacific Ocean, which there extend themselves to nearly
the parallel of 125° west longitude. The land is rich and fertile,
especially by the sides of numerous streams, where the soil is
sometimes of a deep red colour, and at others entirely black. The aspect
of this region is well diversified, and though the greatest part of it must
be classified under the denomination of rolling prairies, yet woods are
very abundant, principally near the rivers and in the low flat bottoms:
while the general landscape is agreeably relieved from the monotony of
too great uniformity by numerous mountains of fantastical shapes and
appearance, entirely unconnected with each other, and all varying in the
primitive matter of their conformation.
Masses of native copper are found at almost every step, and betwixt
two mountains which spread from east to west in the parallel of the
rivers Buona Ventura and Calumet, there are rich beds of galena, even
at two or three feet under ground; sulphur and magnesia appear
plentiful in the northern districts; while in the sand, of the creeks to the
south gold dust is occasionally collected by the Indians. The land is
admirably watered by three noble streams--the Buona Ventura, the
Calumet, and the Nú elejé sha wako, or River of the Strangers, while
twenty rivers of inferior size rush with noise and impetuosity from the
mountains, until they enter the prairies, where they glide smoothly in

long serpentine courses between banks covered with flowers and
shaded by the thick foliage of the western magnolia. The plains, as I
have said, are gently undulating, and are covered with excellent natural
pastures of moskito-grass, blue grass, and clover, in which innumerable
herds of buffaloes, and mustangs, or wild horses, graze, except during
the hunting season, in undisturbed security.
The Shoshones[6] are indubitably a very ancient people. It would be
impossible to say how long they may have been settled on this portion
of the continent. Their cast of features proves them to be of Asiatic
origin, and their phraseology, elegant and full of metaphors, assumes
all the graceful variety of the brightest pages of Saadi.
[Footnote 6: The American travellers (even Mr. Catlin, who is
generally correct) have entirely mistaken the country inhabited by the
Shoshones. One of them represents this tribe as "the Indians who
inhabit that part of the Rocky Mountains which lies on the Grand and
Green River branches of the Colorado of the West, the valley of Great
Bear River, and the hospitable shores of the Great Salt Lakes." It is a
great error. That the Shoshones may have been seen in the
above-mentioned places is likely enough, as they are a great nation, and
often send expeditions very far from their homes; but