CHAPTER II.
GREEN RIVER RENDEZVOUS TO THREE FORKS OF MISSOURI.
The rendezvous on Green river-First meeting with the Flatheads - Makes friends also with the Snakes - Their manners and customs - Four days' rest on Green river-Sets out with the Flatheads for their country - A veteran of Napoleon's - Jackson's Little Hole- Crossing Snake river in a bag- Pierre's Hole- The home camp - Amiable Indians - Religious labors - Gratifying results - Across the mountains into Montana-The plain of the Three Forks.
(r)N the 3oth I came to the rendezvous,' where a band of Flatheads, who had been notified of my coming, 2 were already waiting for me. This happened, as I said further back, on Green river, a tributary of the Colorado: it is the place whither the beaver-hunters and the savages of different nations betake themselves every year to sell their peltries and procure such things as they need.
I will now give you a short account of the customs, characters and locations of the several mountain tribes, according to my own observations and the best information that I have been able to obtain.
The Shoshones, or Root-diggers, called also Snakes, were present at the rendezvous in great numbers. They
1 The rendezvous was one of the most interesting developments of the fur trade in the Rocky Mountains. It arose from the necessity of carrying the trade into regions remote from navigable rivers, where boats could not carry the annual merchandise nor bring back the furs. The transportation was done by annual caravans from the States, and rendezvous were appointed for each year at points convenient for the trappers and Indians to meet the traders. These meetings were great events and form one of the most picturesque features of early frontier life in the Far West.
2 By Peter Left Hand, one of the two members of the fourth " Flathead embassy," who preceded him to announce his coming, while the other envoy, Young Ignace, remained to accompany Father De Smet. [216l