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.
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