They
are of the same kind of people that Captain Bonneville found upon Snake
River, and whom he found so mild and inoffensive.
The trappers, however, had persuaded themselves that they were making
their way through a hostile country, and that implacable foes hung round
their camp or beset their path, watching for an opportunity to surprise
them. At length, one day they came to the banks of a stream emptying
into Ogden's River, which they were obliged to ford. Here a great number
of Shoshokoes were posted on the opposite bank. Persuaded they were
there with hostile intent, they advanced upon them, levelled their
rifles, and killed twenty five of them upon the spot. The rest fled to
a short distance, then halted and turned about, howling and whining like
wolves, and uttering the most piteous wailings. The trappers chased them
in every direction; the poor wretches made no defence, but fled with
terror; neither does it appear from the accounts of the boasted victors,
that a weapon had been wielded or a weapon launched by the Indians
throughout the affair. We feel perfectly convinced that the poor savages
had no hostile intention, but had merely gathered together through
motives of curiosity, as others of their tribe had done when Captain
Bonneville and his companions passed along Snake River.
The trappers continued down Ogden's River, until they ascertained that
it lost itself in a great swampy lake, to which there was no apparent
discharge.
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