M'Gillivray, and he stated that, by the joint means
of the barometric and trigonometric measurement, he had ascertained the
height of one of the peaks to be about twenty-five thousand feet, and
there were others of nearly the same height in the vicinity.
I am, dear sir, To W. Irving, Esq. Yours truly, JAMES RENWICK.
Suggestions with respect to the Indian tribes,
and the protection of our Trade.
IN the course of this work, a few general remarks have been hazarded
respecting the Indian tribes of the prairies, and the dangers to be
apprehended from them in future times to our trade beyond the Rocky
Mountains and with the Spanish frontiers. Since writing those remarks,
we have met with some excellent observations and suggestions, in
manuscript, on the same subject, written by Captain Bonneville, of the
United States army, who had lately returned from a long residence among
the tribes of the Rocky Mountains. Captain B. approves highly of
the plan recently adopted by the United States government for the
organization of a regiment of dragoons for the protection of our western
frontier, and the trade across the prairies. "No other species of
military force," he observes, "is at all competent to cope with these
restless and wandering hordes, who require to be opposed with swiftness
quite as much as with strength; and the consciousness that a troop,
uniting these qualifications, is always on the alert to avenge their
outrages upon the settlers and traders, will go very far towards
restraining them from the perpetration of those thefts and murders which
they have heretofore committed with impunity, whenever stratagem or
superiority of force has given them the advantage.
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