" As in the case
of the soldier who went out to battle, there was great probability
that he might never return.
The band of which Walter Cameron was the chief had, many months
before, started from one of the distant posts of Oregon on a hunting
expedition into the then totally unknown lands of the Snake Indians.
It consisted of about sixty men, thirty women, and as many children
of various ages--about a hundred and twenty souls in all. Many of the
boys were capable of using the gun and setting a beaver-trap. The men
were a most motley set. There were Canadians, half-breeds, Iroquois,
and Scotchmen. Most of the women had Indian blood in their veins, and
a few were pure Indians.
The equipment of this strange band consisted of upwards of two
hundred beaver-traps--which are similar to our rat-traps, with this
difference, that they have two springs and no teeth--seventy guns, a
few articles for trade with the Indians, and a large supply of powder
and ball; the whole--men, women, children, goods, and chattels--being
carried on the backs of nearly four hundred horses.
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