cil, and probably the decision was to withdraw without an
attack. Perhaps they remembered their former friendship for Carson;
perhaps they were intimidated by his military prowess. At all events, he
was not again molested. The remainder of the journey to Razado was
accomplished in safety, though the vigilance of this distinguished leader
was not intermitted in the slightest degree for a single mile of the way.

CHAPTER XV.

Recollections of Mountain Life.

Character of the Native Indian.--The Caravan.--Interesting
Incident.--Effects of Cholera.--Commission of Joe Smith.--Snow on
the Mountains.--Government Appointment.--Adventure with three
Bears.--Journey to Los Angelos.--Mt. St. Bernardino.--The
Spring.--Character of Men.--Insubordination Quelled.--Suffering
for Water and Relief.--A Talk with Indians.

In writing the life of Kit Carson, my object has been, as has been
mentioned, not merely to record those remarkable traits of character which
Mr. Carson developed, but also to portray and perpetuate the great
features of that wild and wondrous mountaineer life, which the discovery
of this continent ushered in, but even the memory of which is now rapidly
passing to oblivion.

It so happens that I have an intimate friend who passed ten years of his
early manhood roving through these solitudes. I have spent many an evening
hour, listening to his recital of the adventures which he encountered
there. This friend, Mr. William E. Goodyear, is a man of unusual native
strength of mind, of marvellous powers of memory, and I repose implicit
confidence in his veracity. At my earnest solicitation, he has furnished
me with the following graphic narrative of the scenes which he witnessed
nearly a score of years ago, when these regions were rarely visited save
by the wild beast and the Indian.

In the year 1852 I, then a young man, in all the vigor of early youth, and
of unusual health and strength, when the wildest adventures were a
pleasure, was led by peculiar circumstances to undertake a trip across the
continent. Our journey from Independence, Missouri, to Salt Lake was
accomplished without any incident worthy of especial record. Along the
route we were accompanied by almost an incessant caravan of wagons,
horsemen and footmen, some bound to the Mormon city, some flocking to the
recently discovered gold mines in California, and some on hunting and
trapping excursions, to the vast prairies and m