274

AN UNPLEASANT SLEEPING COMPANION. [1859. which would have hanged him before any intelligent jury.

But

he was the very pink of courtesy offering hospitality in bastard Spanish with unceasing genuflections of welcome

'Washing his hands with invisible soap,
In imperceptible water'-

clearly the only soap and water with which his person was familiar. I tied Liliput in a ruinous out-building and gladdened his faithful heart with corn. The dwelling had a rough dirt-floor and was pierced with holes in lieu of doors and windows. Through great gaps in the roof I saw the deep blue sky and the twinkling stars. But a cheerful blaze glowed in the spacious fire-place, and mine host of the rueful countenance prepared a capital supper of broiled venison, biscuit, and coffee. Obsequiously declining my invitation to join me at the meal, and vowing that he would ne'er consent, he not only consented but did ample justice to his own cooking.

Spreading my blankets in one corner and directing him to make his bed in another, I lay down with one hand ostentatiously resting upon the revolver under my pillow. My clothing had become ludicrously ragged. I had carefully concealed my watch; and marvelous indeed must have been the cupidity which that wardrobe, steed, or equipments could excite. But I had been told again and again that an ignorant Mexican would kill a man any day for ten dollars; and if this peon was not a cut-throat his face would have justified a suit against Nature for libel. Studying it drowsily by the flickering light of the log fire I fell asleep.

VI. Gibbon records that during the reign of a bloody tyrant a young Persian nobleman was wont to say:

'I never leave the sultan's presence without first ascertaining whether my head still rests upon my shoulders.'

Waking at three o'clock I instinctively imitated his example. But the jugular veins still continued perfect and the Mexican slept soundly under his sheep skin, until aroused to cook breakfast and feed Liliput for a hard day's journey.

Overwhelming me with thanks for a pecuniary acknowledgment of his hospitality, he uttered a vehement 'Adios, Senor;' and I was on the road while the stars were yet shining.

1859.]

A HERD OF SPOTTED ANTELOPES.

275

Upon a mountainous desert I crossed the imaginary line which then bounded New Mexico on the north. Later, when Colorado Territory was organized it took a slice from the northern border, and also included portions of Kansas, Nebraska, and Utah.

Before noon I descended into the broad rich valley of the Arkansas. Here the stream is a hundred yards wide, shaded with a narrow belt of tall cottonwoods, and its banks covered with waving grass. The river was like an old friend. I had journeyed sixteen hundred miles since leaving it at Fort Smith, eight hundred miles nearer the Mississippi, many weeks before.

Turning out Liliput for a grassy feast, I dined with the conductor of a Mexican flour train for Denver, a Maine Yankee who for twenty years had been roaming over the world by sea and land. Soon after, I struck the Fontaine qui Bouille creek, and followed up its bank during the whole afternoon.

Spent the night at a pleasant ranch kept by an intelligent Ameri can family. It was homelike once more to be under a civilized roof and to encounter, for the first time during a journey of a thousand miles, women who spoke English. One of the ladies had been my neighbor in Kansas; but long roving had disguised me so effectually that for the first half hour she failed to recognize me. Day's travel forty-four miles.

VII. Journeyed up the Fontaine qui Bouille directly toward Pike's Peak, which, with its dark, wooded sides, and irregular turreted summit, towers far above all adjacent mountains.

Plump antelopes abounded, so tame that when I stopped my pony a long herd of one hundred and twenty-seven in single file crossed the path before me, within a stone's throw. Some were beautifully spotted and all exquisitely graceful.

Just before dark in the gigantic shadow of Pike's Peak, I reached a little sign-board labeled in bold capitals COLORADO AVENUE.' I had not seen a human being since morning, and the idea of a city in these solitudes savored of the ludicrous; but there it stood, unmistakable evidence of civilization and speculation.

A mile beyond, passing around an intervening hill, I reached Colorado City, founded a few weeks before, and containing fifteen or twenty log-cabins. In front of one stood an old Kansas friend, who came inquiringly forward and at last penetrating my panoply

276

OFFERINGS TO AN INVISIBLE DEITY.

[1859.

of dirt and rags gave me heartiest greeting. Day's travel thirtyfive miles.

VIII. A morning visit to the curious Fontaine qui Bouille,

seems to rise from the midst of a great rock which it has incrusted with soda to the thickness of several inches. A column of water nearly as large as the body of a man gushes up with great force. The supplying channel must be far under ground; for between this and one of the other fountains runs a fresh water creek twenty feet below their level.

The Indians regard these springs with awe and reverence. They believe that an angel or rather a spirit troubles the waters and causes the bubbling by breathing in them. Before going on war expeditions the Arapahoes formerly threw beads and knives into the fountain, and hung the adjacent trees with deer-skins and quivers as propitiatory offerings to the invisible deity. The Coloradoans mixed their flour in this water without adding soda or saleratus, and it made the lightest and best of bread. Mingled with tartaric acid and lemon-juice, the water foams like champagne, and is more palatable than that from any artificial soda fountain. It is said to possess rare medicinal qualites. The railroad will make the springs a popular summer resort. The vicinity combines more objects of interest and grandeur than any other spot on the continent: Pike's Peak, the great South Park, the Garden of the Gods and the Fontaine qui Bouille.

1859.]

ANOTHER OLD FRIEND.

277

Pressing onward toward Denver, I found still another old Kansas friend lunching upon the prairie under the shade of his

wagon. After he

identified me, we

broke bread together and then fought our battles o'er again.

In the afternoon I crossed the high divide between the shining waters of the Arkansas and those of the Platte -an ascent SO gentle that with the exception of two or three short hills, it is hardly perceptible. At night I

came to a road-side

fered me lodg

ings; for hospitality is preeminently

a

fire beside an ample tent whose solitary sleeper rubbing his eyes, cordially offrontier virtue, and every stranger is tendered food and shelter. My host was of a hunting party, and his two companions were seeking their stray horses. I turned Liliput-now foot-sore from his long journey-out to graze; and, thanks to the kindness of Colorado friends, who had stuffed my pockets with venison, was able to prepare an ample supper by the roaring fire. Then stretching upon the ground with saddle for a pillow, slept soundly after a day's journey of fifty miles.

IX. At sunrise I was again upon the road. Soon after, from the summit of a hill I could see Denver distinctly, though it was more than twenty miles distant. A lady upon a spirited horse overtook me and accompanied me into the city. From visiting a sister at a saw-mill in the deep pineries she was returning home, a

278 CLIMATE AND PULMONARY COMPLAINTS. [1859.

morning ride of twenty-five miles. Ruddy cheeks and a symmetrical form had rewarded her fondness for this health-inspiring exercise.

Descending easy hills over a sand soil we reached the Platte valley, for miles trenched and gullied by miners, some still hard at work, and realizing five dollars per day to the man.

Passing many rude shanties for the sale of whisky and tobacco, along the well-trodden road, soon after noon we galloped into Denver. Here ended my mountain journey, the most enjoyable trip I had ever made. It removed the last vestiges of my Fort Smith illness. The whole desert and mountain region from the British Possessions to New Mexico, and westward to the Pacific, is one of the healthiest in the world. Rains fall only from July to September; the air is so dry that fresh meat cut in strips in summer, and quarters in winter, and hung up, will cure without smoking or salting, so that it may be carried to any part of the globe. In such an air lung and throat complaints have no chance. I have known persons supposed to be hopelessly consumptive, and only able to travel lying upon feather beds in ox wagons, who after crossing the plains and sleeping in the open air, enjoyed for years a comfortable degree of health. Recent experience shows the folly of sending consumptive patients to the tropics. Dry regions, as far as possible from the salt water, and an invigorating air, are precisely what is needed. Probably the most favorable climate on all our continent is the interior of California, and the next, Minnesota. Nebraska, Kansas and the Indian Territory are also excellent, as indeed is every State between the Mississippi and the Pacific.

Along the entire route I had now followed-in Missouri, Arkansas, the Indian Territory, Texas, and even New Mexicooccurred frequent battles or skirmishes a few years later, during the great rebellion. How vast was the war, which along the wide. track between the Susquehanna and the Gulf of Mexico, swept from the Atlantic seaboard to the base of the Rocky mountains!

Dismounting in Denver I encountered my old comrade Lewis N. Tappan, who supplemented his cordial greeting with the remark: 'I have met a good many rough-looking customers on the plains and among the mountains, but you eclipse them all, and would tempt any 'old clo's' man to carry you off bodily.'