uated as they were, beyond the
reach of the mighty arm of the law, find it absolutely necessary to
legislate for themselves. It is not within our province to advocate
either the right or wrong of duelling; for, with the best of
reasoning, there will always exist a difference of opinion on the
subject. In the case of these mountaineers, when any serious offence
was given, the man receiving the injury to body or fame held the right
of demanding satisfaction. The interests of the entire band required
an immediate settlement of difficulties, so that their future plans
could be carried out in concert. In their dealings with each other
they were strictly honorable; and when by any mischance a rogue crept
into their ranks, if detected in any rascality, he was summarily and
severely dealt with. Their duels were serious events; for, oftentimes
both men were killed. In fact, the case could hardly be otherwise.
They were men of unflinching courage, and their weapons were generally
rifles, which, from long practice, they held with a certain and deadly
aim. We cannot better close this passage in the life of Kit Carson
than to quote the language held in 1846 by the Biographer[8] of the
great explorer, JOHN CHARLES FREMONT:

"He" (Christopher Carson) "is a remarkably peaceable and quiet man,
temperate in his habits, and strictly moral in his deportment. In a
letter written from California, in 1847, introducing Carson as the
bearer of dispatches to the government, Col. Fremont says: 'with me,
Carson and truth mean the same thing. He is always the same--gallant
and disinterested.' He is kind-hearted, and averse to all quarrelsome
and turbulent scenes, and has never been engaged in any mere personal
broils or encounters, except on one single occasion, which he
sometimes modestly describes to his friends. The narrative is fully
confirmed by an eye-witness, of whose presence at the time he was not
aware, and whose account he has probably never seen or heard of. I
shall tell the story as it is gathered from them both.[9]

[Footnote 8: Charles Wentworth Upham.]

[Footnote 9: The reader will easily correct the few discrepancies
of facts contained in this statement, by the narrative which is from
Carson himself, and given with a view to publication.]

"In the year 1835, the Rev. Samuel Parker made an exploring and
missionary tour, under the auspices of the American Board of
Commissioners for Foreign Missions, beyond the Rocky Mountains, an