d away
before Kit Carson's little band was reunited with the larger company of
Messrs. Fitzpatrick and Bridger. A rendezvous had been appointed at a spot
on Green river, which afforded great attractions for an encampment.

In some unexplained way intelligence had been conveyed, through the
wilderness, to the widely dispersed trappers, that a Fair for trading,
would be held at a very commodious and well-known spot on the
above-mentioned stream. There was here a green, smooth, expanded meadow;
the pasturage was rich; a clear mountain stream rippled through it,
fringed by noble forest trees. The vicinity afforded an abundance of game.
Here they reared their camps and built their roaring fires. Band after
band of trappers and traders came in with loud huzzas. Within a few days
between two and three hundred men were assembled there, with five or six
hundred horses or mules.

On one of the gorgeous days of the Indian summer, the encampment presented
a spectacle of beauty which even to these rude men was enchanting. There
was the distant, encircling outline of the Rocky mountains, many of the
snow-capped peaks piercing the clouds. Scattered through the groves, which
were free from underbrush, and whose surface was carpeted with the tufted
grass, were seen the huts of the mountaineers in every variety of the
picturesque, and even of the grotesque. Some were formed of the well
tanned robes of the buffalo; some of boughs, twigs and bark; some of
massive logs. Before all these huts, fires were burning at all times of
the day, and food was being cooked and devoured by these ever-hungry men.
Haunches of venison, prairie chickens, and trout from the stream, were
emitting their savory odors, as they were turned on their spits before
the glowing embers.

The cattle, not even tethered, were grazing over the fertile plain. It was
indeed a wild, weird-like, semi-barbaric Fair which was thus held in the
very heart of the wilderness. Men of many nationalities were present, in
every variety of grotesque costume; and not a few Indians were there, with
scarcely any costume at all. For nearly two months the Fair continued,
with comings and goings, while hill and plain often resounded with
revelry.

At length the festival was dissolved, and the mountaineers, breaking up
into smaller bands, separated. The traders, with their horses loaded down
with the furs, returned to the marts of civilization. The trappers again
directed their steps to the