their horses; what more was required? The very first night, however, they discovered that more was needed. They went supperless, game having failed during the day; and they could not but look on with a little envy and self-commiseration at the various campfires where the immigrants were despatching fried bacon and mountain biscuit and drinking coffee. Mr. Matthieu says, however, that the immigrants could not be blamed or called inhospitable for neglecting to entertain them, as they knew as yet nothing of the trappers who had joined their caravan, and every head of a family felt obliged to guard his little store of provisions, scant at the best.
The incidents of the journey are vividly recalled by Mr. Matthieu, though now after a lapse of fifty-eight years. These should be mentioned here, some being serious and some being laughable, whether recorded elsewhere or not, as they afford light upon the individuality of this important member of the group of Oregon pioneers, of the era of the provisional government.
One of the first serious affairs after leaving Laramie occurred at Independence Rock. This was the incident of the capture of Hastings and Lovejoy by the Sioux Indians. At this point, a noted rock, or high ledge, with a perpendicular front, about the space of a mile (F. X. M.) from the Sweetwater River, the immigrant train was delayed in order to bury a man, one of a company of Germans, who, in drawing his gun from a wagon accidentally caused the discharge of the piece with the result that he was fatally shot in the groin.
Taking advantage of this delay, Matthieu and his comrades went buffalo hunting. From the actions of the buffaloes that were at length discovered, he was suspicious that there were Indians in the neighborhood. The buffalo herds were constantly in motion, as was the
