12 be Conservative.
took to that trade as naturally as a duck
takes to water. There were thousands
of her people who engaged in the "sum
of all vallainies , " as John Wesley denominated -
'
nominated the slave trade , but not the
ownership of slaves. Massachusetts
money and Massachusetts ships invaded
the barracoons and the coasts of the
African mainland , and thousands of
"boys and girls from twelve to fourteen
years of age , " were brought to Now
England for use there , or for sale to the
fathers of the present rebels in the
South.
New England people were the "man-
stealers" for the colonies of Britain ,
and for the states which now comprise
rebellious Dixie.
There was money in the business
there was gain , there was pelf ; and , up
to the year 1808 , when the vile trade
was abolished , no one ever heard of a
Massachusetts man denouncing this
trade in human beings. When her old
slave ships were worn out , and she could
turn an honest penny at some other
traffic , she became suddenly conscien
tious , and lias continued to kick up a
fuss generally with those who own the
negroes which she sold to them.
Her conscience ( which seems to be an
India rubber one ) has been drawn into
many shapes on this vastly mischievous
subject.
Captain Ellery seems to have a sharp
eye to business , and he gives the grati
fying announcement that "all the slaves
have had the smallpox. " To show the
vast philanthropy of Massachusetts
she , always full of religious sentiment
he proposed to take New England rum
as pay. This rum he would sell or trade
on his next voyage , to pay for a new
batch of darkies , adding to his profits
on both species of properly. It was a
sharp dicker , to be sure , and eminently
worthy of some people who don't live
quite a thousand miles from Boston.
Massachusetts fetters were placed upon
the limbs of the slave , and "New
England rum" debased the soul of the
captive.
Lord save the world from hypocrisy
and ransom those who deserve the con
tempt of man and the dire judgments
of Heaven !
A SUGGESTION OFFERED.
"At dusk , much to our surprise ,
struck the eastern fork of the Kanses ,
or la Fourche de la cote Boxioaniore , "
says Lieutenant Z. M. Pike in his jour
nal , under the date of October 12,1806.
This is the rendering of the Denver edi
tion of 1889 , supervised by Mr. W. M.
Maguire. The notes to this edition are
few and ancient , being simply those of
Pike himself , with here and there one
added by his London editor of 1811 ; no
explanation is offered of the "Fourcho
de la cote Boucaniere. "
Dr. Cones , in his magnificent 1895
edition of Pike , renders this passage :
"Struck the east ( Smoky Hill ) fork of
the Kans , or La Touohe de la Cote
Bucanieus. " The explanation that the
stream meant was the Smoky Hill , is
Dr. Coues' own ; the variation in the
spelling of the French-like title comes
from his original. He followed the
American edition of 1810 , the first issued
and the only one that passed under the
author's own hand , while the Denver
edition followed the second , which ap
peared across the Atlantic. This Eng
lish edition , however , had the benefit
of careful and competent editing at the
hands of Dr. Thomas Rees ; an advan
tage which that of the author himself
did not enjoy ; for Captain or Lieuten
ant or General Pike was a soldier , and
no scholar. His French , of which he
was quite lavish throughout his travels ,
was not of the best , though lie had
with him a grammar of the language ,
in the study of which lie passed the
time while he waited for the Spanish to
come and catch him on their territory
in 1807 ; so that it is quite possible
either that he mis-spelled the expression
that he had in mind , or that he over
looked the printer's misinterpretation of
his MS , supposing that he went over
the proof sheets of the 1810 edition.
Dr. Rees' emendation , which was prob
ably purely conjectural , since the
Atlantic lay between him and his
author , has the merit of being good
French , but seems not to have made the
puzzle any clearer to Dr. Coues , nor to
have obtained his approval. He offers
an explanation of his own : "the name
in the text , 'La Touche de la Cote Bu
canieus , ' possibly stands , " he says" for
La Fourche do la Cote du Kansas , i. e. ,
that fork of the Kansas which runs
along the dividing ridge or coteau ,
which is perfectly true of the Smoky
Hill fork. "
This is a most reasonable guess ; but
one which would account for the
modern name of the stream , while at
the same time adhering as closely to
the text as either of these , would be a
still better one ; and I have one to offer ,
which , if it be not passable as a final
explanation , seems to me at any rate
too singular a coincidence to be over
looked.
In Keating's account of Major Long's
expedition up the Mississippi in 1828 ,
the following passage occurs , on page
194 of the first volume : "Our guide in
formed us that the hill marked on the
maps as the Smoky-hill ( Montague qui
bouccane of the French ) , lay at a long
day's march ( about 80 miles ) , in a
north-easterly course from our noon
encampment. This hill has received
from the Indians the appellation of Mu-
cho-wa-ku-min ( Smoky Mountain ) ,
from the circumstance of its summit
being generally enveloped with a cloud
or fog , and , as we are told , not from
any tradition of smoke having ever
issued from it. "
If a misty hill in Iowa county , Wis
consin , was called the Montagne qui
boncane , it is reasonable to imagine
that a similar hill or range of hills in
Kansas may have received the same
name from the same Canadian voyageurs -
geurs , and that a river may have taken
its name from such a hill ; and thus we
would have both our Smoky Hill Fork
and ( malting allowances for Lieutenant
Pike's French ) our Fonrcho de la Cote
Bucanieus or Boucaniere.
It is hard to understand why just this
word should have been used in this con
nection , for according to the diction
aries boucaner ' c ' '
means to smoke' merely
in the sense of smoking hams or fish ,
and it is not the modern word for even
this ; but that is a matter that concerns
only Mr. Keating and his Canadian in
formants.
A. T. RICHARDSON.
FLOYD'S MONUMENT.
A few weeks ago THE CONSERVATIVE
told how Charles W. Pierce , the veteran
surveyor , came , in 1858 , to the grave
of Sergeant Floyd : how he found
there a wooden cross instead of the
cedar post which Captains Lewis and
Clark said they erected in August , 1804 ;
and how he repaired it and left it again
in solitude.
Mr. Pierce was not the first to pay
this attention to the soldier. J. F.
Nioollet , who passed the spot in 1839 ,
says this of it in his journal :
"We stopped at the foot of the bluff
on which is Floyd's grave : my men re
placed the signal , blown down by the
winds , which marks the spot and
hallows the memory of the brave
sergeant. "
It will be noticed that the professor's
word "signal" throws no light on the
curious point raised by Mr. Pierce's
narrative as to the form of the memor
ial which marked the place for so long.
The loquacious Catlin , in his dateless
travels , passed this way , probably in
1888 ; he climbed the hill and wept freely
over the grave , "where , " he says , "now
stands a cedar post , bearing the initials
of his name. " Catlin 's plate 118 repre
sents the hill , and shows , on its summit ,
a slender object which may be a cedar
post , leaning dangerously out of the per
pendicular. We may believe this to been
on accurate picture of the spot , which
the artist says he visited several times :
moreover , he takes it very seriously.
"Stranger ! adieu , " says he , addressing
the sergeant. "With streaming eyes I
leave thee again , and thy fairyland , to
peaceful solitude. My pencil has faith
fully traced thy beautiful habitation :
and long shall live in the world , and
familiar , the name of 'Floyd's Grave. ' "
A. T. R.
. * .jMf W , r
