the river Arkansas, where they were
at least certain to find abundance of water. By this time their beasts
of burden were so tired and broken down that they had become of no use.
They were therefore obliged to conceal their goods, and arrived without
any more trouble at Santa Fe, when, procuring other mules, they returned
to their cachette.

Many readers are probably unaware of the process employed by the traders
to conceal their cargo, their arms, and even their provisions. It is
nothing more than a large excavation In the earth, in the shape of a
jar, in which the objects are stored; the bottom of the cachette having
been first covered with wood and canvas, so as to prevent anything being
spoiled by the damp. The important science of cachaye (Canadian
expression) consists in leaving no trace which might betray it to the
Indians; to prevent this, the earth taken from the excavation is put
into blankets and carried to a great distance.

The place generally selected for a cachette is a swell in the prairie,
sufficiently elevated to be protected from any kind of inundation, and
the arrangement is so excellent, that it is very seldom that the traders
lose anything in their cachette, either by the Indians, the changes of
the climate, or the natural dampness of the earth.

In the spring of 1820, a company from Franklin, in the west of Missouri,
had already proceeded to Santa Fe, with twelve mules loaded with goods.
They crossed prairies where no white man had ever penetrated, having no
guides but the stars of Heaven, the morning breeze from the mountains,
and perhaps a pocket compass. Daily they had to pass through hostile
nations; but spite of many other difficulties, such as ignorance of the
passes and want of water, they arrived at Santa Fe.

The adventurers returned to Missouri during the fall; their profit had
been immense, although the capital they had employed had been very
small. Their favourable reports produced a deep sensation, and in the
spring of the next year, Colonel Cooper and some associates, to the
number of twenty-two, started with fourteen mules well loaded. This time
the trip was a prompt and a fortunate one; and the merchants of St.
Louis getting bolder and bolder, formed, in 1822, a caravan of seventy
men, who carried with them goods to the amount of forty
thousand dollars.

Thus began the Santa Fe trade, which assumed a more regular character.
Companies started in the spring to return in the fal