Commerce of the Prairies: Or, The Journal of a Santa Fé Trader, During Eight Expeditions Across the Great Western Prairies, and a Residence of Nearly Nine Years in Northern Mexico ...

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H. G. Langley, 1844
Dr. Josiah Gregg joined with the traders on this Trail and spent the next ten years in the same territory. This is his account of those years and of those intrepid American traders who made the hazardous journeys across the Trail that spanned from Independence, Missouri, into country that eventually became Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico.

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Página 64 - He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune ; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief. Certainly the best works, and of greatest merit for the public, have proceeded from the unmarried or childless men, which both in affection and means have married and endowed the public.
Página 265 - The examination of this subject requires that it should be stript of all those accessory topics which adhere to it in the common opinion of men. The existence of a God, and a future state of rewards and punishments, are totally foreign to the subject.
Página 281 - the most mysterious thing in the world. The scepters of our kings are not so much respected, for the Indians have such a reverence for it that one may call it the God of peace and war, and the arbiter of life and death." . . . "One with this Calumet may venture among his enemies and in the hottest battles they lay down their arms before this sacred pipe.
Página 41 - ... supply their place ; the spirit of class does not descend to him, or rather, he is far above it ; his altered state suggests comparatively few enjoyments or comforts in which his old associates cannot participate ; and thus the Connors...
Página 219 - ... and step about as though he neither felt nor feared anything ! If left undisturbed, however, he begins to stagger, and in a few moments expires : but if provoked, he might run for miles before he would fall. I have seen a party of hunters around a wounded and enraged bull, fire, at a few paces distance, a dozen or two shots, aimed at his very heart, without their seeming to have any effect till his anger cooled, when in an instant he would lie lifeless upon the ground. In such cases, the inexperienced...
Página 54 - Comancheros are usually composed of the indigent and rude classes of the frontier villages, who collect together, several times a year, and launch upon the plains with a few trinkets and trumperies of all kinds, and perhaps a bag of bread and may-be another of pinole, which they barter away to the savages for horses and mules. The entire stock of an individual trader very seldom exceeds the value of twenty dollars, with which he is content to wander about for several months, and glad to return home...
Página 53 - Among those who were abandoned to their fate, and left to perish thus miserably, was a Mr. Schenck, the same individual who had been shot in the thigh; a gentleman of talent and excellent family connections, who was a brother, as I am informed, of the Hon. Mr. Schenck, at present a member of Congress from Ohio.
Página 44 - ... and that she would be more unhappy by returning to her father under these circumstances than by remaining where she was. My attention was next attracted by a sprightly lad, ten or twelve years old, whose nationality could scarcely be detected under his Indian guise. But, though quite 'Indianized,' he was exceedingly polite. I inquired of him in Spanish, "Are you not a Mexican?" "Yes, sir,—I once was." "What is your name?" "Bernardino Saenz, sir, at your service.
Página 125 - The altercation was at first conducted solely in Spanish; but the princely senor growing weary of hearing so many unpalatable truths told of himself in the vernacular of his own humble and astounded menials, he stepped out from among the crowd, and addressed me in English, — a language in which he had acquired some proficiency in the course of his travels. The change of language by no means altered his views, nor abated his pertinacity. At last, finding there was nothing to be gained by this war...
Página 19 - Yet, notwithstanding the road, this stretch gave us more trouble — presented more rugged passes, miry ravines and steep ascents — than all the rest of our journey put together. We had not been long at the Fort, before we received a visit from a party of Comanches, who having heard of our approach came to greet us a welcome, on the supposition that it was their friend Chouteau returning to the fort with fresh supplies of merchandise.

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