Over the Continental Divide
Sept. 15, 1845
No. IX.
A. M. D. G.
Foot of the Cross of Peace,
September 15th, 1845.
" - Here
Poplars and birch trees ever quivering played,
And nodding cedars formed a vagrant shade;
On whose high branches, waving with the storm,
The birds of broadest wings their mansion form;
The jay, the magpie, the loquacious crow,
And soar aloft and skim the deeps below.
Here limpid fountains from the clefts distil,
And every fountain forms a noisy rill,
In mazy windings wand'ring down the hill."
MONSEIGNEUR, - We bade adieu to the Morigeau family on the 9th, and to their companions of the chase, the Sioushwaps. We quitted the upper valley of the Columbia by a small footpath, which soon conducted us to a narrow mountain defile, where the light of day vanished from view, amidst the huge, bold barriers of colossal rocks. The grand, the sublime, the beautiful, here form the most singular and fantastic combinations. Though gray is the prevailing color, we find an immense rock of porphyry, or white-veined granite. Here and there, from the fissures of the rock, or wherever there is a handful of dust, the heavy and immortal pine enroots itself, adding its gloomy verdure to the variegated hues of the torpid rocks. These circuitous paths often present the most ravishing and picturesque vistas; surrounded by colossal walls, the greatest diversity and most beautiful scenery in nature is spread out before the eye, where the plush and cedar rise majestically in these venerable woods, the graceful poplar waves on high its emerald plumes, and fights its battles with the howling storm, whilst over the precipitous and jagged rocks, the scarcely-waving pine fills the brown shade with religious awe. The birch springs from an earth carpetted with moss, and shines like magnificent silver columns, supporting diadems of golden autumnal leaves, amidst the redolent purple berried juniper and azure turpentines, of these humid dells and forests.
After a day's journey through these primeval scenes, we reached the banks of the river Arcs
a-plats, where innumerable torrents rush head long, with a thousand mazes from the mountain's brow, and in their union form this noble river. From afar is heard the deafening and continuous sound of its own dashes, as it traverses a rocky bed with extraordinary rapidity. We crossed the river in order to attempt the passage of another defile, still more wonderful, where the waters of the Vermillion have forced an opening. Here, everything strikes the eye; all is wild sublimity, in this profound but turbulent solitude. Projecting mountains rise like holy towers where man might commune with the sky; - terrible precipices hang in fragments overhead - the astounding noise of the deep-tongued waves, in their unconfined. flow, resembles that of the angry tempest, sweeping wild and free, like the spirit of liberty. Now the breaking waves play low upon the rock-ribbed beach, and madly plunge into an abyss - anon it returns foaming to its sedgy bed, apparently sporting with the sedges for diversion – falling from slope to slope, from cascade to cascade, passing in its course a long train of rapids - now concealing itself under the tufted foliage of cedar and pine - again pouring its brilliant and crystalline waters into a capacious basin, as if to take breath before quitting the ravine, and finally precipitating its wandering course with renovated vigor.
From this almost impenetrable forest issues a harmonious sound. 'T is the whistling or lowing of the noble stag, calling its companion. The moose, the most vigilant. of animals, gives the signal of alarm. He has heard the cracking branch - he has inhaled the hunter's deadly breath; a confused noise is heard from the mountain; the sportsman raises his eager eye to its summit, and scans a flock of rein-deer perched upon the snow; they are started at the approach of man; in a instant they are lost among the inaccessible pinnacles, the
"Palaces where Nature thrones
Sublimity in icy halls."
We often catch a glimpse of the graceful forms and nimble feats of the roe-bucks, as they caper and gallop, or tarry an instant to look around, with their lancet ears distended to catch every sound; these wild, forest stragglers resume their course, and finally penetrate into the sombre forest. Flocks of wild goats gambol carelessly and tranquilly beside herds of mountain sheep above overhanging precipices and peaked rocks, chequered by patches of snow, far beyond the reach of human footsteps.
A monstrous animal, the grey bear, which replaces on our mountains the African lion, is not content with growling and menacing the intrepid venturer, who dares infringe on his cavernous dominions, but grinds his teeth, expressive of his rage. Suddenly, a well-aimed gun-shot forces him to make a lowly reference; the formidable beast rolls in the dust, biting the sand saturated with his blood, and expires.
The ordinary music of the desert is,. the shrill cry of the panther, and the howling of the wolf. The diminutive mountain hare, six inches high; and whose biography has not yet found a place in natural history, amuses itself amidst the stony rubbish, and exhibits wonderful activity; whilst. his neighbor, the lubberly porcupine, clambers up, seats himself. upon a branching cypress and gnaws the bark. He views the eager huntsman with a careless and indifferent air, unconscious that his tender flesh is regarded as a most delicious morsel. The industrious beaver, like a wary sentinel, warns his family of man's approach by striking the water with his tail. The muskrat, or musquash, plunges immediately into the water. The otter quits his sports and slides upon his belly among the reeds - the timid squirrel leaps from bough to bough, until it reaches the topmost shade, of the cypress; the marten jumps from tree to tree, and, buries itself in the foliage - the whistler and weasel repair to their respective domicils : - a precipitous flight alone saves the fox his rich silvery pelisse - the badger, or the ground-hog, too remote from his dwelling, digs the sandy soil, and buries himself alive; to avoid pursuit his magnificent skin is destined to adorn the loins of an Indian - it requires the joint efforts of two men to force him from his hiding place, and to kill him.
The evening previous to our egression from, the blind mazes of this tangled wood, our eyes were recreated by a ravishing scene. When it presents itself after. a disastrous combat. the spectacle consoles the afflicted heart of the savage warrior. From the mountain's top we contemplated the "dance of the manitous or spirits, and the glorious entrance of departed champions into the country of souls." Vast columns of light varying in splendor, appeared to divert and balance themselves in the heavens: -some of perpendicular form; others resembling undultatory waves; now concealing, now exhibiting themselves under diversified aspects until the entire hemisphere seemed brilliantly illuminated. All these masses united at the zenith, and then separated under a. variety of forms.
Mysterious, solemn, cold and clear,
Their steps majestic rise,
Like barriers round this earthly sphere,
Like' gates of Paradise.
Well may imagination faint
Before ,your sacred blaze,.
And baffled science fail to paint
The source of heaven-lit rays.
The aurora borealis, is a phenomenon which I always contemplate with mingled admiration and pleasure. All that is seen, all that is heard in this unfathomable solitude, is both agreeable
and instructive. It strikes, captivates, and elevates the mind towards the Author of nature.
Mirabilia opera Domini !
After much fatigue, labor, and admiration, on the 15th we traversed the high lands separating the waters of Oregon from those of the south branch of the Sascatshawin, or the ancient Bourbon river; so called before the Canadian conquest by the British. It is the largest tributary of the Winnepeg, which flows into Hudson's Bay by the River Nelson, 58 deg. north latitude.
The Christian's standard, the cross, has been reared at the source of these two rivers: may it be a sign of salvation and peace to all the scattered and itinerant tribes east and west of these gigantic and lurid mountains.
On the cypress which serves for constructing the cross, the eagle, emblem of the Indian
warrior, perches himself. The huntsman aims -the noble bird lies prostrate, and even in his fall, seems to retain his kingly pride. It so forcibly recalls to memory the beautiful lines of the illustrious Campbell, that I quote them in full : -
Fallen as he is, the king of birds still seems
Like royalty in ruin.. Though his eyes
Are shut, that looked undazzled on the sun,
He was the sultan of the sky, and earth
Paid tribute to his eyrie. It was perched
Higher than human 'conqueror ever built
His bannered fort. * * * *
* * He cloved the adverse storm
And cuffed it with his wings.
He stopped his flight As easily as the Arab reins his steed,
And stood at pleasure 'neath heaven's zenith, like
A lamp suspended from its azure dome;
Whilst underneath him the world's mountains lay
Like mole-hills, and her streams like lucid threads.
We breakfasted on the bank of a limpid lake' at the base of the "Cross of Peace," from whence I have the honor of dating my letter, and of giving you the renewed assurance of my profound respect and veneration; recommending to your fervent prayers, in a special manner, this vast desert, which contains so many precious souls still buried in the shades of death.
Monseigneur, your very humble and devoted servant in Jesus Christ,
P. .J. DESMET, S. .J.