Travels in the Interior of North America, in the Years 1832, 1833, and 1834 (part 2)

St. Louis is a rapidly increasing town, with 6,000 or 8,000 inhabitants, on the western bank of the Mississippi, about 1,200 miles from New Orleans, and 1,134 miles from Pittsburg. It is built on a rather bare, gently rising, and not very elevated part of the banks; forms two streets parallel to the river, besides many houses lying on the summit in the prairie, where building seemed to be proceeding rapidly. On this upper part there are churches and other considerable buildings, of which the town has many of different kinds; and the highly favourable situation, in the centre of the trade of the Mississippi, Ohio, and Missouri, will soon make it one of the most important places in the west. St. Louis was originally founded by the French; at first there was only a fort, and it was not till 1764 that the building of the town commenced, which in 1816 contained about 2,000 inhabitants. Persons were still living—for instance, M. Chouteau—who had the wood felled on the spot where the buildings of the town now stand. The principal streets are full of handsome shops; numerous steam-boats come and go, daily, to and from New Orleans, Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Louisville, Prairie du Chien, &c.; and a very brisk trade employs the motley population of many nations. Most of the merchants have their warehouses, which are mostly built of solid stone, on the bank of the Mississippi. The greater part of the workmen in the port, and all the servants in St. Louis, are negroes, and their descendants, who, as in the State 102 of Missouri, are all slaves. They are very numerous here; and though modern travellers represent in very favourable colours the situation of this oppressed race, the negro slaves are no better off here than in other countries. Everywhere they are a demoralized race, little to be depended upon; and the manner in which they are treated is generally not so good as has been represented. We were witnesses of deplorable punishments of these people. One of our neighbours at St. Louis, for instance, flogged one of his slaves in the public streets, with untiring arm. Sometimes he stopped a moment to rest, and then began anew.

St. Louis was the more interesting to us, at this moment, because we had, here, the first opportunity of becoming acquainted with the North American Indians in all their originality; for the office for all the Indian affairs of the west is at St. Louis, under the direction of General Clarke, celebrated for his journey with Captain Lewis to the Rocky Mountains and Columbia River, who has the title of superintendent of Indian affairs. He manages all these matters; and all strangers who wish to visit the interior of the western territory are obliged to have a passport from him, and all Indian agents and sub-agents are under him. It happened that, during our stay at St. Louis, a deputation came down the Mississippi from two Indian tribes, the Saukies (Sacs) and the Foxes or Outagamis, to intercede for the Black Hawk, who was a prisoner in Jefferson barracks. A Saukie chief, named Kiokuck, was at the head of this numerous deputation, and he was the very same person who had delivered the unfortunate Black Hawk into the hands of the Americans. General Clarke, to whom I was introduced by the kindness of Duke Bernhard of Saxe Weimar, had very obligingly informed me of the meetings or councils which he held with the Indians, and we had the pleasure of being able thoroughly to observe and study these remarkable people. Quarters were assigned them in a large magazine near the harbour, to which we immediately repaired. We saw already on the beach a collection of the populace, and amidst the crowd of curious spectators, distinguished the strange dark brown figures, enveloped in red, white, or green blankets. We did not come up to them till they were in the house, and the first sight of them, which did not a little surprise me, convinced me at once of their great affinity to the Brazilians, so that I cannot hesitate to consider them as belonging to the same race. They are stout, well formed men, many of them above the middle size, broad shouldered, muscular and brawny. The features of the men are expressive, and strongly marked; the cheek bones prominent, the lower jaw broad and angular; the dark brown eyes animated and fiery, and especially in youth, the inner corner rather drawn down, but not so much so as in the Brazilians. The outer corner of the eye is not elevated either in the North or South Americans, at least I have seen it 103 in very few instances. The forehead appears to me not to recede so much in the North Americans as has been generally assumed, which is also the case with the Brazilians. Meyen confirms this with respect to the people west of the Cordilleras. The teeth are strong, firm, and white, and generally perfectly sound, even at an advanced age. The nose is large and prominent, often much arched, but not always, a trait which occurs much more rarely among the Brazilians. The lips are usually rather thick; the hair straight, smooth, and black, as in all the Americans. The colour of the skin a darker or lighter brown, often deeper than in the Brazilians, but, on the whole, perfectly the same. Some of these Indians resemble the Chinese, which Bossu, too, affirms of the now extirpated race of the Natchez. The features of others strongly reminded me of the Botocudos.

It may be observed here, with Von Humboldt and Meyen, that, notwithstanding a certain general affinity and resemblance of the race, there are, however, very great diversities among the people of American descent. Thus, for instance, the large aquiline nose of several northern nations may be mentioned, which must have been very remarkable among the ancient tribes of Mexico, as is proved by the old monuments of that, historically, most interesting country. Though this similarity appears to indicate an affinity of the Mexicans with more northern nations, a similar conformation was found here and there in South America also; as Duperrey represents the Peruvians, and as Dr. Meyen also states. I am, however, of opinion that the notion of the last-named learned travellers is untenable, viz., that on account of the different form of their skulls, the Puris and the Botocudos, who live so near to each other, are distinct races. I have compared numbers of Mandan skulls with each other, which were all genuine, and found great diversity in them, especially with respect to the receding of the forehead and the flattening of the head. In the same manner the brown colour of the American is of different shades. Mr. Von Humboldt found the Mexicans darker than many South Americans; and many of the North American nations which I have seen, were likewise of a darker complexion than many Brazilians. My observations with respect to this point coincide so perfectly with the views of that distinguished traveller, that I might copy the passages in his works which treat of the Americans, and confirm them by many additional proofs. Among the Botocudos I met with individuals who were nearly white; Volney was certainly deceived by Michichinakua (the little tortoise), who wanted to raise himself to the dignity of a white man, for the North Americans are not of a lighter colour on 104 those parts of their bodies which are clothed, than on those which are exposed to the air and sun. Pike, and some other travellers, pretend to have found the Mongol physiognomy among the North American Indians, especially the Pawnees and the Sioux; but I can affirm that I met with no such physiognomy, though I saw a few instances of it in Brazil. Mr. Von Humboldt very justly observes, on this head, that not merely the bodily conformation, but likewise the mode of living, of the two races, are entirely different. The great contrast between the American and Mongol races is immediately apparent, when we consider that the former have no breed of cattle, and do not subsist on milk, without which the latter cannot live. The Tartar features, which are very handsome, did not occur to me in North America. Warden, in his work on American antiquities, gives a drawing of a vessel found near the river Cany, which is adorned with three human heads. These heads have not the Tartar physiognomy, as the author believes, but precisely that of the North American Indians.

From this digression on the general conformation of the North Americans, we return to our narrative.

The Saukies and Foxes had shaved their hair off the whole head except a small tuft behind, the greater part of which was cut short, like a brush, and which terminated in a thin braid, to which was fastened the chief ornament of the head, the deer's tail, which is a tuft of hair from the tail of the Virginian stag, white, with some black hair, the white part being dyed red with vermilion. It is fastened in an ingenious manner, with some strings and pegs of wood, to the tuft of hair at the back of the head; and in the middle of it, concealed between the hair, is a small piece of carved wood, to which a small bone box is affixed, into which a large eagle's feather is fastened, projecting horizontally behind; this feather is often dyed with vermilion, and is the characteristic distinction of a brave warrior. He who has become renowned for horse-stealing, which, according to their notions, is a heroic exploit, fastens to the tip of this feather the rattle of a rattlesnake. The whole deer's tail, when it is not worn, is rolled up in the form of a thick ball, fastened with leather straps, and kept in this manner, that the hair may remain smooth, and in the proper position. Mr. Bodmer took an admirable likeness of Watapinat (eagle's nest), a handsome Fox Indian, wearing this head-dress. The North Americans pluck out their eyebrows, beard, &c., like the Brazilians, and, at present, employ in this operation a spiral wire, between the windings of which they take hold of the hair. These nations adorn their ears in a very original manner; three large holes, one above the other, are made at the outer rim, in which short strings of blue and white wampum shells are hung, like tassels. Some of the men had even cut through 105 the whole outer rim, which remained attached only above and below, and was adorned with strings of wampum and metal rings; similar strings, and pieces of blue and white shells, are worn in many rows around the neck.

The women are small and thickset; most of them have large round heads, and broad, flat, round faces. They let their hair grow naturally, part it on the forehead, and tie it together, at the back of the head, in a short, thick bunch, which is bound round with red and green ribbon. A few old men had not shaved their heads; but in winter it is said that these Indians let their hair grow, to protect them against the cold. Both sexes had their faces more or less painted red: the Saukies mostly red, in different designs; the Foxes, red and yellow, or red, white, and black. The manner of painting depends on the taste of the individual; nearly all of them had red circles round the eyes and ears, and red stripes down the cheeks, the rest of the face being left of the natural colour. They use, for this purpose, vermilion, which they obtain from the merchants. The Fox Indians had often the whole head painted red; a yellow or white stripe on the forehead, and the mouth and chin with the figure of a yellow hand, or else quite black. A tall, handsome Saukie Indian, called Massica (the tortoise), had a bold, fierce countenance, and an aquiline nose; his cordiality was very striking; his brown eyes sparkled, and his white teeth looked quite dazzling, contrasted with the dark brown face, which had a good deal of red paint on it. On his forehead he wore a band of otter skin, which was fastened behind the head, and then fell down in two long stripes to the ground. He had attached a black and white eagle's feather to his deer's tail, and was covered with a large red blanket. Mr. Bodmer has given a very good likeness of this handsome man in Plate 36, but without his head-dress, in order to show the manner in which the tuft of hair was cut. Many of these people wore coloured calico shirts, and all used the Indian leather leggins, which come down to the shoes, and are ornamented at the ankles with leather fringes. They are fastened, with leather straps, above the girdle. They also wear a piece of woollen cloth, generally striped blue and white, round the waist, which is fastened under the girdle. The girdle and knee bands were often very elegantly adorned with glass beads, and in the former is a sheath, similarly ornamented, for a large, broad, and very sharp knife, which they obtain, by barter, from the merchants, and employ for various purposes, especially for cutting up game, and scalping their enemies. The shoes, generally called mocassins, are made of soft, tanned buckskin, and the upper edge turned down below the ankle. These people wear them very plain, without any ornament. Many of them had fastened swan skins, with the down, or that of polecats, much marked with white, below their knees, the long hairy tail of which hung down to the ground, or to the ankle. Most of them had no other covering, on the upper part of the body, under their blankets; and 106 many wore brass necklaces and bracelets. The men, who were between thirty and forty in number, never appeared without their arms; they carried tomahawks, or else the common Indian club, which has, at the upper end, a steel plate, sharp on both edges, and pointed. We did not see any bows and arrows among these Indians, because they had not come out on a warlike expedition, but on a festal visit; many of them had a kind of lance, made of a long sword blade, fastened to a pole, which was covered with red cloth, and ornamented with many black raven's or eagle's feathers, hanging down either in a long row, or in long bunches. These weapons they had always in their hand, and never laid them aside. The women, like those of Brazil, carried their bundles on their backs, with a leather strap passing over the forehead; they had their children with them, some of whom were in very convenient cradles. They all had very neat bast mats, ornamented with black figures, on which they slept, and some had, likewise, bear skins. Their travelling sacks, or bags, in which they had all their effects, were of the same material.

The chief or leader of the Indians assembled here, was the Saukie chief, Kiokuck, a slender man, of the middle size, with agreeable features, not very different from those of an European, though of a darker colour. He wore a coloured calico shirt, and, on his breast, a large medal, which he had received from the President of the United States; and likewise wore a figured handkerchief round his head, and was wrapped in a green blanket. He carried in his hand a calumet, ornamented with feathers. His face was not painted, his ears not disfigured, and it was affirmed that he was not of pure Indian origin. He wore brass rings round his neck and wrists.

The dwelling-place of these Indians is on the western banks of the Mississippi, about Rock River and Rock Island, where the agent appointed for them by the government resides. In 1805 they sold, to the United States, their territory on the east of the Mississippi; still claiming a large tract of land, which extends from the upper Jowa River, along the west bank of the Mississippi, down to the river Des Moines, and further back to the Missouri. The Fox Indians call themselves Musquacki, or Mus-quack-ki-uck. They live sociably in villages, in permanent arched huts, and it is said that they can muster 1,600 warriors (according to Dr. Morse, however, only 800), and that they number about 5,000 souls. They plant maize, beans, gourds, &c. The men hunt, and work in their lead mines, which are very productive, so that, it is said, they have yielded 500,000 lbs. in one season. Their language has not a barbarous sound; it has some nasals and gutturals; the words are very frequently pronounced indistinctly, so that 107 it is often difficult to write them down; though, on the whole, less so than is the case with many other nations.

The French and English find much more difficulty than the Germans, in pronouncing all the Indian languages of North America, with which I have become acquainted. It was highly interesting to us, to observe so many of these Indians together. They were by no means grave and still; on the contrary, they were very cheerful, and often laughed heartily. If one went up to them familiarly, and spoke to them, many of them had a very agreeable, friendly expression; others were cold, and appeared, to us, hostile. Several repeated, with pleasure, the words of their language, and were very willing to have their portraits drawn, for which they always required a present. At last they were so annoyed by the importunity of the motley crowd, that we could have no more intercourse with them. They sold many of their effects, for which they received money, which they soon disposed of, but always examined whether it was genuine or false. There were some grave, dignified men among them, who carefully observed what was passing around them. Of these, I especially noticed Watapinat and Massica.

General Clarke invited us to a small assembly, which he was to hold in his house with the Indians. We accordingly repaired thither. This meeting took place in the apartments, which are ornamented with a highly interesting collection of arms and utensils, which the General had procured on his extensive travels with Captain Lewis. The rooms contain, likewise, portraits of the most distinguished Indian chiefs of different nations. General Clarke, with his secretary, was seated opposite to the Indians, who sat in rows along the walls of the apartment. We strangers sat at the General's side, and near him stood the interpreter, a French Canadian. The Indians, about thirty in number, had done their best to ornament and paint themselves; they all looked very serious and solemn, and their chief sat at their right hand. The general first told them, through the interpreter, for what reason he had assembled them here, on which Kiokuck rose, with the calumet in his left hand, gesticulating with his right hand, in harmony with his thoughts; he spoke very loud, in broken sentences, interrupted by short pauses. His speech was immediately translated and written down. This conference lasted above half an hour. General Clarke had introduced us to the Indians, telling them that we had come far over the ocean to see them; they all testified their satisfaction in a rather drawling "Hah!" or "Ahah." Before and after the sitting all the Indians passed us in a line, each giving us his right hand, and looking steadfastly in our faces. They then withdrew, headed by their chiefs. The General had told them that they should persevere in their amicable sentiments as hitherto; and they had expressed the wish that their brethren might soon be set at liberty, because their wives and children at home were suffering hunger and distress. Upon this the General advised them, when Black Hawk and his associates should be set at liberty, to keep a watchful eye over them. On this condition he would intercede for the prisoners. We were invited by the General to accompany him, on the 108 following day, on board the Warrior steam-boat, when he intended to convey the Indians to the barracks, to grant them an interview with Black Hawk.

On the 26th of March we found the Indians already on board the Warrior, which was hired for this excursion; others of these original figures, wrapped in their red blankets, were walking on the beach. We had provided cigars and other trifles, by which we soon gained their confidence. Massica, the tall young Saukie Indian, was the most interesting among them. As soon as General Clarke came, the anchor was weighed, and the Warrior proceeded down the Mississippi. The Indians assembled on the fore part of the ship, to sing: the bleak wind was much felt by many of them, as they wore no covering under their blankets, yet they always remained on deck. Below, in the after hold of the vessel, they had a fire, at which they boiled and roasted the provisions that were given them. They examined, with much attention, the steam-engine, the hissing and roaring of which interested them extremely. They formed groups of different kinds; many were busy in improving the painting of their faces, at their small looking-glasses; others were smoking their pipes in philosophical ease; and others lay asleep on the floor, wrapped in their blankets. They very readily acquiesced, whenever we asked them to sing; their chorus-singing was remarkable; it rises and falls, now loud now low, often quavering, yet, on the whole, not inharmonious; and though it has some resemblance with that of the Botocudos, in Brazil, it was by no means so rude and savage. Sometimes they shouted aloud, and generally ended their song with their war-whoop—a shrill cry, in which they cause the voice to quaver, by holding the hand before the mouth.

About ten o'clock the Warrior approached Jefferson barracks, where the inhabitants had assembled on the shore to see the Indian deputation land. The Indians sung a wild chorus, rattling their weapons, and, as soon as they had landed, marched in procession, led by their chiefs, to the heights, where the barracks formed a quadrangle, open to the river, enclosing a large space. General Clarke introduced us to General Atkinson, the commandant of the place; and, after resting a short time in his house, we proceeded to a spacious empty hall in one of the adjoining buildings, where the Indians were already seated in rows. The Generals sat opposite to them, surrounded by the spectators, among whom were several ladies. When all were assembled, Kiokuck, with the aid of the interpreter, delivered an address to General Atkinson, who replied, on which the prisoners were introduced. First of all, Black Hawk appeared, a little old man, perhaps seventy years of age, with grey hair, and a light yellow complexion; a slightly curved nose, and Chinese features, to which the shaven head, with the usual tuft behind, not a little contributed. None of the prisoners were painted. These poor men entered with downcast looks; and though no Indian betrayed any lively demonstrations of emotion, such feelings were very manifest in many of them. The prisoners gave their hands to their countrymen all round, and then sat down with them. Two of the Indians, known as particularly 109 dangerous men, one of them the celebrated Winnebago prophet, who has a repulsive countenance, had chains with large iron balls at their feet. The other prisoners were not chained, and we were told that they were taken out every day to walk, by the guard. The speeches now recommenced: Kiokuck spoke often, and interceded for the prisoners; and General Atkinson repeated to them pretty nearly what General Clarke had already said, on which the Indians again uttered their "Hah," or "Ahah." When the speeches were ended, the company withdrew, and left the prisoners alone with their countrymen, to give free vent to their feelings. The sight of old Black Hawk, and the whole scene of the prisoners and their friends, was affecting, and many of the spectators appeared to participate in their feelings.

We then examined the barracks, in which four companies of the 6th regiment were quartered. The hospital is a detached building; the surrounding country is open prairie; in the vicinity of the buildings, however, it is covered with a wood of slender oaks, without underwood, and from the eminence is a very agreeable prospect over the river. General Atkinson invited us to dinner, and introduced us to his family. At three o'clock we again embarked on the Warrior with all the Indians, and reached St. Louis late in the evening.

As it was my intention to travel through the interior of the western part of North America, and, if possible, the Rocky Mountains, St. Louis was unquestionably the most proper basis for such an enterprise. The question was, whether it was more advisable to go by the caravans by land to Santa Fé, or to proceed by water up the Missouri? Captain Stewart (of Grand Tully), an English traveller, with whom I had become acquainted at St. Louis, was on the point of setting out by land by the caravan, and it would have been agreeable to me to travel in his company; but after I had consulted many persons well acquainted with the country, the plan of following the course of the Missouri seemed to be the most suitable for my purposes; for, first, I should not be able to observe any Indians on the land journey; for if you happen to meet with them, you must fight them, and, therefore, cannot become well acquainted with them; and, secondly, it is extremely difficult, nay impossible, to make considerable collections of natural history on such a journey. These reasons were decisive: I hoped, therefore, to obtain from the gentlemen of the American Fur Company, a passage up the Missouri in their steam-boat, the Yellow Stone, which was daily expected to return from New Orleans; and as soon as it had taken in a cargo, was to set out on its voyage up the Missouri. It is necessary to prefix a few words respecting this American Fur Company. The first regular company of this kind in the United States was the Michilimakinack Fur Company, established in 1790. Its capital belonged chiefly to some persons in Canada; but as foreigners were not allowed to trade with the Indians in the United States, some citizens of the latter gave it the sanction of their names. The last war with England dissolved the company, and during that time no trade was carried on with the Indians. About 1816, Mr. Astor, of New York, a countryman of ours, formed a fur company, under the name of 110 the American Fur Company. His plan was well conceived, very extensive, and designed to carry on trade with all the Indian tribes. Mr. Astor's enterprises towards the Columbia River did not succeed, but in all other parts the fur trade prospered, and is carried on, up to the present time, with great success. About the same time two other companies were formed at St. Louis—the Missouri Fur Company, and the French Company, which proposed to carry on the trade on that river. The first continued its operations for about five or six years, when it terminated, having met with many difficulties. In 1822 the Columbia Fur Company was established, and violent opposition and rivalry arose between the three companies, which continued till 1826. During this time the fur trade had afforded but little profit to any of the persons engaged in it. In the spring of that year, a person of the name of Crooks was sent from New York by the American Fur Company to buy up the two other companies, in which he succeeded. Some of the members of these companies were received into the American Company, and thus the whole of the very extensive fur trade was concentrated in the hands of that company, and remains so up to this moment. Some individuals and small associations have since made frequent attempts to carry on the trade in the Indian territory and the Rocky Mountains, but have always been obliged to give way to the powerful and wealthy company, which has now spread its commercial stations over a great part of the interior of North America, and continues to extend them more and more.

In British North America, two great fur companies were founded at an earlier period—the North-west, and the Hudson's Bay Company, which for a long time were at open war with each other, but afterwards joined, and still exist under the name of the Hudson's Bay Company. To the north of the Missouri on the borders of British North America, they are rivals of the American Company, and both parties endeavour to draw over the Indians to their side. But as no white settlers have yet penetrated to those remote and desolate regions, the American Company rules there alone, by its commercial stations and its numerous servants, the goods with which they carry on the trade having become necessary even to the most dangerous Indian tribes; for this reason foreign travellers cannot expect to succeed in their enterprises without the consent and assistance of this company.

At St. Louis I had become acquainted with several very interesting persons; Major Ofallon, having been formerly agent of the Indian nations on the Missouri, was well acquainted with the country, and assisted me with his advice, as well as Major Dougherty, now agent for the nations of the Pawnees, Otos, and the Joways: they both advised me, as the only practicable means of visiting those countries with safety, to join the American Fur Company, and to obtain from the 111 directors a passage on board their steam-boat. Fully appreciating the value of this counsel, I endeavoured to become acquainted with Mr. Pierre Chouteau, who directed the affairs of the company at St. Louis, and with Mr. Mc Kenzie, who usually lived on the Upper Missouri, and was now on the point of proceeding on board the steamer to Fort Union, at the mouth of the Yellow Stone River. Both gentlemen received me with great politeness, and readily acceded to my request.

Our necessaries for this journey, and many small articles for bartering with the Indians, were procured and placed on board the Yellow Stone steamer. General Clarke favoured me with his advice, as well as several other gentlemen, particularly Major Pilcher, who had penetrated far into the Indian territory to the Rocky Mountains, while he was a member of the Missouri Fur Company; likewise Messrs. Sanford and Bean, the former of whom was agent for the Crows, Mandans, Assiniboines, Manitaries and Blackfeet, and the latter for the Puncas and Sioux. All these persons, who were well acquainted with the Indian territory, were to accompany us up the Missouri to their several stations. Major Ofallon, whom we visited at his pleasant country seat, near St. Louis, had the kindness to furnish me with the map of the course of the Missouri, by Lewis and Clarke, on a large scale. We found at his house an interesting collection of Indian articles, and a great number of Indian scenes by Catlin, a painter from New York, who had travelled in 1831 to Fort Union.

Before we left St. Louis, another deputation of Saukie Indians arrived from the Lower Missouri, who held councils with General Clarke. They came down the Missouri in long double canoes. Among them were several very strong, robust men, who, when they were in liquor, were dreadfully savage and wild. One of their most distinguished warriors, who was remarkable for a curved nose, exactly such as we see in the Mexican sculptures, suffered severely from consumption; his family seemed much concerned about him; the women sat around him and lamented. The time passed rapidly in observing these interesting people, till the 10th of April, which was the day fixed for our departure.

CHAPTER X

JOURNEY FROM ST. LOUIS TO THE CANTONMENT OF LEAVENWORTH, OR TO THE BORDERS OF THE SETTLEMENT, FROM THE 10TH TO THE 22ND OF APRIL

Departure from St. Louis—The Engagés, or Voyageurs—St. Charles—Gasconade River—Osage River—Jefferson City—Boonville and Franklin—Arrow Rock—Chariton—Grand River—Battle of the Missouri Indians—Fire Prairie—Dangerous place and situation of the vessel—Fort Osage—The Osages—Liberty—Quicksands—Konzas River—Boundary of the United States—The Konzas Indians—Pilcher's Expeditions—Little Platte River—Dwelling of the Joways—Diamond Island—Cantonment of Leavenworth.

On the 10th of April, at eleven o'clock, all our company having collected, the Yellow Stone left St. Louis; Mr. Pierre Chouteau, and several ladies of his family, accompanied us to St. Charles. Some guns were fired, as a signal, on our departure, on which numbers of the inhabitants assembled on the shore, among them the Saukies and some half-civilized Kikapoo Indians. Mr. Bodmer made some interesting sketches of the former, of which the plate gives a specimen. There were about 100 persons on board the Yellow Stone, most of whom were those called engagés, or voyageurs, who are the lowest class of servants of the Fur Company. Most of them are French Canadians, or descendants of the French settlers on the Mississippi and Missouri.

The appearance of the river above St. Louis did not differ from that already described. The red-bud (Cercis Canadensis) appeared as underwood in the forests, covered with dark red blossoms before the appearance of the leaves, which form red stripes along the shore, and make a pleasing contrast with the young, bright green leaves of the willows. At noon, Reaumur's thermometer on board was at +17½°. We had soon passed the 16½ miles to the mouth of the Missouri, but before we entered it, we lay to, on the Illinois side, to take in wood. The Yellow Stone entered 113 the Missouri, which, at its mouth, is about the same breadth as the Mississippi at this place. In the afternoon we reached, on the S. W. side, Belle Fontaine, a rather decayed building belonging to the military station established, in 1803, against the Indians, but which was subsequently abandoned. The current of the river runs here at the rate of five miles an hour; on the left bank there is a chain of calcareous hills with the same singular forms of towers, &c. as on the Mississippi. The bushes of wild plums were covered with snow-white blossoms, and those of the Cercis Canadensis, with their red flowers; and I could not help remarking that, in this country, most of the trees and bushes have their flowers before their leaves. On the beach the inhabitants had fixed fishing rods, which they examined, from time to time, and we saw them take up a large cat-fish. Towards evening the lofty plane trees, with their white branches, were beautifully tinged with the setting sun. We passed several islands, which showed us the usual formation of these accumulations of sand, which arise rapidly, and are often as rapidly destroyed. Against the stream they generally have a naked, sandy point, with layers of thick, heavy timber; young willows grow first, then poplars, and, lastly, hard timber. In many places in the forests, and between the willows, we observed the high rushes (Equisetum hyemale) which are said to be injurious to the horses, unless salt is given them with it.

Next morning we reached St. Charles, on the N. E. shore, one of the oldest French settlements on the Missouri, consisting of about 300 houses, where the massive church, with its low tower, has a very good appearance. The environs of this scattered village are rather bare, but there were many European fruit trees in blossom. Most of the houses are built of wood, but a modern part of the place is of brick. On an eminence rising behind it, stands an old stone tower, which formerly served as a defence against the Indians. We lay to, opposite St. Charles, where Messrs. Mc Kenzie and Dougherty joined us, and M. Chouteau and his family took leave, and returned to St. Louis. After stopping a few hours, we continued our voyage till a storm of wind filled the air with sand, from the sand banks, and compelled us to stop after twelve o'clock, above the whirlpool, called Remoux á Baguette; towards dark, however, we reached Isle au Bon Homme, in the vicinity of which we passed the night. On the 12th of April, the original forms of the calcareous rocks again appeared, with the red cedar, as usual, growing upon them. The hills were covered with forests, where many trees were putting forth leaves, especially the very delicate green foliage of the sugar maple. A cavern at this place is called the Tavern Rock (Taverne de Montardis), and on both sides of the river were numerous snags, which often prove dangerous to vessels. Near some habitations the European peach trees were in blossom; among the strange forms of the rocks, I saw one flattened at the top like a table, on a thin stem, and quite isolated. The country is here pretty well peopled, and game is rather rare in the forests, at least we were told that stags, bears, and wild turkeys were not often found there. The people settle on the eminences, rather than below on the bank of the river, where the air is 114 said to be less salubrious. The inundations of the river form marshes on the low grounds, which, being protected from the sun by the surrounding trees, produce fevers. Flint, in his History and Geography of the Mississippi Valley, gives a very good account of the climate and diseases of this country. We passed Isle and Rivière au Bœuf, as well as the village of Pinkney; observed very picturesque rocky scenes, climbing plants, which twined round overthrown broken trunks of trees, and gloomy ravines, which were now full of the bright green young leaves that were everywhere sprouting forth. The Yellow Stone had several times struck against submerged trunks of trees, but it was purposely built very strong, for such dangerous voyages. This was its third voyage up the Missouri. The Fur Company possess another steamer called the Assiniboin which had left St. Louis to go up the Missouri before us. At night-fall we lay to on the right bank, where a cheerful fire of large logs was soon made, round which our engagés assembled and chatted incessantly in French. We spent part of the night with Messrs. Mc Kenzie, Dougherty, and Sanford, under the canopy of the starry heavens, while a couple of clarionets, on board the vessel, played Scotch airs and the famous "Yankee-doodle."

On the morning of the 13th of April, the weather was serene and cool, the thermometer, at eight in the morning, +5° Reaum., and at noon, +9°. We had lain to, for the night, near Otter Island, and soon saw before us the country about Gasconade River. There were extensive sand banks on the left hand, picturesque hills, many pleasing gradations of tint in the forests; an island, on the surface of which we distinctly saw the layer of black mould, six feet thick, with sand beneath it; further from the left bank a chain of hills, valleys, and eminences, covered with high trees, which were just beginning to put forth leaves, all illumined by the beams of the brightest morning sun. Near the Gasconade, where we took in wood, many interesting plants were in blossom. The Gasconade, which is an inconsiderable river, and rises not far from the source of the Merrimack, in the State of Missouri, expands behind a high, bold eminence, the summit of which is covered with rocks and red cedars. The hills near it are frequently covered with the white and the yellow pine, which supply St. Louis with boards and timber for building. Its mouth, which is reckoned to be 100 miles from that of the Missouri, is picturesquely situated in a lofty forest. Near it, our hunters fired unsuccessfully at a flock of wild turkeys. We soon passed the village of Portland; then the mouth of Little-Au-Vase Creek, where we observed, in the woods, the young leaves of the buck-eye trees (Pavia) which grew in great abundance. A little further on, the Osage River appears between wooded banks: it is a small stream, in which, according to Warden, many soft-shelled tortoises are found: we came then to Côte-Sans-Dessein, an old French settlement of six or eight houses, celebrated for the brave defence made by a few men against a numerous body of Indians. It must have been formerly much more considerable, since Brackenridge calls it a beautiful place. The river has destroyed it, and it is now quite insignificant. Opposite to it, on the left bank, further up the country, there 115 are many originally French families, and half-breeds, descendants of the Osage Indians, who formerly dwelt in these parts. While Mr. Bennett, the master of our vessel, landed to visit his family, who lived here, we botanized on the opposite bank, where oaks of many kinds were in blossom, and where the Monocotyledonous plant is found, which is called here Adam and Eve. Its roots consist of two bulbs joined together, of which it is said that, when thrown into the water, one swims and the other sinks. It is held to be a good cure for wounds. The flower was just beginning to appear.

From Côte-Sans-Dessein, you soon come to Jefferson City, on the south bank of the Missouri, the capital, as it is called of the State of Missouri, where the governor resides. It is at present only a village, with a couple of short streets, and some detached buildings on the bank of the river. The governor's house is in front, on the top of the bank, and is a plain brick building of moderate size. The gentle eminences, on which the place was built about ten years ago, are now traversed by fences, and the stumps of the felled trees are everywhere seen.

The morning of the 14th of April was clear but cool; at 8 o'clock +8°, a thick mist rising from the river. On a wooded eminence, on the left hand, at some distance from the bank, is a high, isolated rock, which stands like a tower in the forest. Major Dougherty, once passing this place with some Joway Indians, was told by them, that there was a tradition among their ancestors, that this rock was formed of the dung of a race of bisons, which lived in heaven, but they themselves no longer believed this fable. The Manito rocks, two isolated blocks, about fifty feet high, which have been mentioned by many travellers, appear below, on the bank of the river. They are mentioned in the account of Major Long's Expedition, which contains much information respecting the Missouri, as far as Council Bluff, to which I refer. We learn from that work, that almost all these calcareous rocks of the Missouri contain organic remains, encrinites, &c. On the rocks, which are divided by ravines into broad rounded shapes, like towers, the Virginia red cedar grows, and falcons build their nests. We see here on the rocky walls red spots, strokes and figures, remaining from the times when the Indians dwelt here: two towering overhanging rocks, in which there are several caves, put me in mind of the ruins of the castle of Heidelburg. Just before dinner we reached Rockport, a village founded two years ago, on the Manito River, six miles up which river Columbia is situated. Near this place there are again many red figures on the rocky walls, among others that of a man with uplifted arms; not thirty years have elapsed since this whole country was in the possession of the Indians. After passing Manito and Bonne Femme Creek, we stopped at the village of Boonville on the left bank, opposite which is Old Franklin. As this place was threatened by the river, and is besides in an unhealthy situation, the people founded New Franklin, rather further inland, now a thriving village, near which salt springs have been discovered. We afterwards passed the mouth of La Mine River, which is about equal to the Lahn, and lay to for the night at Arrow Rock (Pierre à flêche), a chain in which 116 flint is found, of which the Indians formerly made the heads of their arrows. In a ravine, before Arrow Rock Hill, there is a new village, which was called New Philadelphia, though the inhabitants did not approve of this name.

On the following morning (April 15th), proceeding on our voyage, we passed little Arrow Rock, and found a very fertile and rather populous country. Near the mouth of Chariton River, there are several islands, covered with willows, poplar, and hard timber. The river here makes a considerable bend; the numerous sand banks did not permit us to proceed in a direct line, but compelled us to take the narrow channel, at the outer edge of the bend, and to take soundings continually, being in great danger of striking against the snags. Some parts of the banks were rent in a remarkable manner by the rapid stream, when the water was high. In many places, large masses, fifteen or eighteen feet in height, had sunk down, with poplars thirty or forty feet high, as well as entire fields of maize, and piles of timber, which form together a wild scene of devastation, to which the broken poplars not a little contributed.

The drift wood on the sand bank, consisting of the trunks of large timber trees, forms a scene characteristic of the North American rivers; at least I saw nothing like it in Brazil, where most of the rivers rise in the primeval mountains, or flow through more solid ground. On the banks which we now passed, the drifted trunks of trees were in many places already covered with sand; a border of willows and poplars was before the forest, and it is among these willow bushes that the Indians usually lie in ambush, when they intend to attack those who tow their vessels up the river by long ropes. At five o'clock in the afternoon we reached the mouth of Grand River, which was then very shallow, almost as broad as the Wabash. The Yellow Stone nearly run aground at the mouth of this river, and stirred up the sand so as to discolour the water. The Joway Indians dwelt on the Grand River till 1827, when they removed to Little Platte River. They continue, however, like the Saukies and Foxes, to hunt in the prairies at its source, where buffaloes, elks, and stags, are said to be still pretty numerous. The first of these Indians called the Grand River, Nischna-Honja; and the Missouri, Nischna-Dja:—Ni, in their language, means water, and Nischna, the river.

We lay to, for the night, beyond Waconda Creek. Our hunters dispersed into the neighbouring woods and plantations, but they only shot some parrots. On the 16th, in the morning, we had, on the left bank, undulating hills, thinly covered with trees, and on the bank were strata of limestone. Here is the mouth of the stream, the Bonnet de Bœuf, which, doubtless, has its name from the caps, with ox horns, which the Indians, who formerly dwelt here, wore in their dances. Some highly dangerous submerged snags left only a very narrow channel open for our vessel. At ten 117 o'clock we came to some excessively dangerous parts, where our vessel frequently struck, and we were obliged to stop the engine, and to push by poles. The vessel stuck fast in the sand, and it was necessary to fasten it to the trees on the bank till it could be got afloat again. At this point the great forests begin to be interrupted by open places, or prairies, and we were at the part called Fox Prairie, where the Saukie and Fox Indians, and, perhaps, some other nations, formerly attacked, and nearly extirpated the tribe of the Missouris. The remainder of the people saved themselves among the Otos, on the southwest banks, where their descendants still live, mingled with the natives. The Missouris came down the river in many canoes, and their enemies had concealed themselves in the willow thickets. After the Missouris, who suspected no evil, had been killed or wounded with arrows, the victors leaped into the water, and finished their bloody work with clubs and knives: very few of the Missouris escaped.

To-day we saw, for the first time, from the deck of our vessel, the prairies of the Lower Missouri covered with luxuriant young grass, but the air was misty, and bounded our prospect. In the afternoon we took in fuel at Webb's warehouse; the river was here again covered with wood, which so greatly impeded our progress, that we were obliged to lay to for the night, seven miles above Webb's warehouse. In the morning of the 17th we saw only an uninterrupted forest; in the course of the day we again encountered much danger from the quantity of snags, which, in some places, scarcely left a channel of ten feet in breadth; but our pilot steered, with great dexterity, between all these dangers, where many a smaller vessel had been wrecked. During this hazardous navigation, we were all on deck, anxiously expecting the result, but everything went off well. We afterwards sounded, sought another channel, but proceeded very slowly, so that we only passed Fire Prairie, and lay to for the night, five miles below Fort Osage.

Our engine was broken, so that we could not proceed till the next morning (18th April). On that morning I had the misfortune to break my last Reaumur's thermometer, so that, henceforth, all the observations of the temperature are according to Fahrenheit's scale. Some of my people, attracted by the cries of the wild turkeys, were tempted to land, but returned without having met with any success. I happened to have taken no piece with me, which I much regretted, for a wild turkey-cock came out of a bush about ten paces from me, and stood still, looking at me, while his splendid feathers shone in the sun. Vegetation was rather backward. A large flock of sandhill cranes, taking their course to the north-east, filled the air with their cries; their note is very similar to that of the European crane. After the people had returned on board, at the repeated summons of the bell, we proceeded on our voyage, but were soon obliged to take soundings, and to saw off some dangerous snags; we then landed twenty men on a sand bank, to tow the 118 steamer, but their efforts broke the rope, and they all tumbled one upon another, to the great amusement of those on board. By way of precaution, our vessel was fastened to a large tree, which proved our safety, for the rudder was soon afterwards deranged, and rendered unserviceable. It was repaired about two o'clock, but we soon run aground on a sand bank, where we were obliged to remain all night, in a rather unsafe situation, for the current, on the bank, was very strong, and we could not fasten the vessel to anything, so that we might easily have been carried down the stream; the river, however, continued to subside. On the morning of the 19th a flat boat was procured, to lighten our vessel, by landing a part of the cargo, which was piled up in the wood, on the bank, and covered with cloths. Mr. Bodmer made a faithful sketch of this scene.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, the crew had got the steamer off the sand bank into deeper water, on the right, a little below the mouth of Fishing Creek. Here our anchors, boats, &c., were taken on board, and three men left to take care of the landed goods, which consisted of the presents for the Indians in Major Dougherty's agency. The flat boat was sent back to its owner, on Fishing Creek, under the care of thirty men, who had to wade in the water to keep it afloat. After taking in fuel, for which the wood of the red mulberry and the ash is preferred, we proceeded slowly, and reached, at dusk, the hill, on the right bank, where Fort Osage, built, in 1808, by Governor Lewis, formerly stood. The ridge on which it was situated is free from wood, and cultivated, and the last posts and beams were taken away by the people in the neighbourhood. This part of the country was the chief abode of the Osages. Only ten years ago they were still at Côte-Sans-Dessein. They are peaceably disposed towards the Americans; and the Fur Company have trading posts in their territory. The whole tract, from the Osage River, through which we have passed, was formerly theirs, but they sold a part of it to the United States, and they are now entirely forced back into the prairies, on the river Arkansas.

We lay to, for the night, a short distance below Fort Osage. On the 20th, in the morning, Blue Water River was hid from us, by a long island, on the steep banks of which large snags, covered with sand and earth, projecting very far, formed a threatening point. We had scarcely passed it, when we run aground on a sand bank. The engine was immediately backed; but the current carried the vessel so close to the above point, that it tore away our side gallery with a great crash. The carpenter soon repaired it, and our progress was now more favourable. At noon we had 68½° Fahrenheit. At this time a thunder-storm arose, accompanied with hail and rain. The rain continued to fall in torrents till we reached the landing-place of the village of Liberty, which is at some distance from the river. Some buildings and detached houses were situated on the bank, in front of the wooded mountains, where the vigorous vegetation, refreshed by the rain, was very brilliant. The tall, slender, forest trees, grow among picturesque rocks; the beautiful flowers of the red bud tree, bright green moss, and a thick carpet of verdure, chiefly consisting 119 of the leaves of the May-apple (Podophyllum), everywhere covered the mountains. The papaw trees were just opening their buds. This is about the northern limit for the growth of this tree. Some keel-boats were lying here, belonging to the Fur Company of Messrs. Ashley and Soublette, which was just established as a rival to the American Fur Company. In the pay of these gentlemen, there were, in the boats, about ten Germans, who had engaged in this service, for which they were not well qualified, and were, besides, wholly inexperienced in the mode of trading with the Indians. We next reached the mouth of the Blue Water River, the clear blue waters of which formed a great contrast to those of the Missouri. We were here joined by a couple of canoes, with some Canadian engagés from the Upper Missouri, who brought to Mr. Mc Kenzie news from Fort Union, at the mouth of the Yellow Stone River. Their half Indian costume, which is usually worn, was new to us. One of them, named Defond, a tall, slender, brown man, was a half-breed Indian, and one of the best and most experienced pilots of the Missouri. Mr. Mc Kenzie had sent for him to steer our vessel up the river, and he fully justified his reputation. He was likewise a sportsman, and brought us several turkeys which had been lately shot. Before evening we became acquainted with the quicksands of the Missouri. These are sand banks which are so soft that one immediately sinks in them. We saw an ox, which went deeper at every motion, while nobody could afford it any assistance.

On the next morning (21st April), we reached the mouth of the river Konza, or Konzas, called by the French, Rivière des Cans, which is not quite so broad as the Wabash, and was now very shallow. Its clear green water was distinguished by a well-defined, undulating line, from the muddy stream of the Missouri. The steam-boat has navigated the Konzas about seven miles upward, to a trading-post of the American Fur Company, which is now under the direction of a brother of Mr. P. Chouteau. It is said that this country formerly abounded in beavers, but their numbers are much diminished. At the point of land between the Konzas and the Missouri, is the boundary which separates the United States from the territory of the free Indians. It runs directly from south to north, comes from the territory of the Osages, passes the Osage River, and goes northward from the Missouri, parallel to the Little Platte River, to Weeping Water River, which falls into the Missouri, whence it runs eastward to the Des-Moines and the Mississippi. About 500 or 600 paces from the mouth of the Konzas, the banks of the river consist of high yellow clay walls, in the forest; and near it live the remnants of several Indian tribes, which were driven or dislodged from the States to the east of the Mississippi, to whom land was assigned in these parts. Among them were the Delawares, Shawnees, Miamis, &c., &c.

Proceeding 90 or 100 miles up the river, you come to the villages of the Konzas (Cans, of the French), the best accounts of whom are given by Mr. Say in the narrative of Mr. Long's travels. These people formerly lived nearer to the Missouri, but have gradually retired from it. Their language is entirely the same as that of the Osages, and the language of these two people 120 is only a dialect, originally not different from that of the Omahas and Puncas, being distinguished only by the pronunciation, and not by its roots. At present the Konzas inhabit the tract on both sides of the river of the same name, and its tributaries, and they make excursions into the prairies of the Arkansas.

We were now in the free Indian territory, and felt much more interested in looking at the forests, because we might expect to meet with some of their savage inhabitants. We examined the country with a telescope, and had the satisfaction of seeing the first Indian, on a sand bank, wrapped in his blanket; but our attention was soon called to the obstacles on the river: we avoided one dangerous place, where the Missouri was so full of trunks of trees that we were forced to put back; but at noon, when the thermometer was at 75°, we got among drift wood, which broke some of the paddles of our wheels, so that it was necessary to stop the engine. Forty-two of our men, most of whom had been out with their fowling-pieces, came on board. Among them was Dr. Fellowes, a young physician, going to the cantonment at Leavenworth.

The underwood of the forest consisted chiefly of Laurus benzoin and Cercis Canadensis; the ground was covered with Equisetum hyemale, from one and a half to two feet high. Limestone everywhere stood out; large blocks of it were on the bank. The Little Platte River here falls into the Missouri. On the northern bank, seven miles up that river, are the villages of the Joway Indians, who speak the same language as the Ottowas. They inhabit and hunt the country about the Little Platte, Nadaway, Nishnebottoneh Rivers, together with a band of the Saukies, who have settled in this neighbourhood. A couple of Shawnee Indians stood on the high bank, and made us friendly signs. We halted, for the night, near Diamond Island; our people cut down some trees, and kindled a large fire, which illumined the tall forests.

The next morning, 22nd of April, was warm and cheerful, the thermometer being at 64½° Fahrenheit, at half-past seven o'clock. About six, we passed several islands, separated by narrow channels, where our pilot steered so close to the left bank that the hens which we had on board flew to the land. We soon came to a place where most of the trees were cut down, and we were not a little surprised at the sight of a sentinel. It was the landing-place of the cantonment Leavenworth, a military post, where four companies of the sixth regiment of infantry of the line, about 120 men, under Major Ryley, were stationed to protect the Indian boundary. There were also 100 rangers, who are mounted and armed militia, who are well acquainted with Indian warfare.

We were stopped at this place, and our vessel searched for brandy, the importation of which, into the Indian territory, is prohibited; they would scarcely permit us to take a small portion to preserve our specimens of natural history. Major Dougherty rejoined us here, and brought with him several Kickapoo Indians who had come from St. Louis to receive land in these parts. The 121 Kikapoos, and Delawares, and some other Indians, are settled at no great distance from this place; the officers of the garrison were on board the whole day, and our hunters rambled about the surrounding country. We saw, in the neighbourhood, the beautiful yellow-headed Icterus xanthocephalus. The black oak and other trees were in blossom, and many interesting plants. Near the bank, where the vessel lay, the beds of limestone were full of shells, of which we kept some specimens. Between these limestone strata there were, alternately, thin layers of dark bluish clay slate, which was not yet very hard.

CHAPTER XI

JOURNEY FROM THE CANTONMENT OF LEAVENWORTH TO THE PUNCA INDIANS, FROM APRIL 22ND TO MAY 12TH

Dangerous place, Wassoba-Wakandaga—Independence River—Blacksnake Hills, with Roubedoux Trading House—The Joways and Saukies—Nadaway River—Wolf River—Grand Nemahaw River—Country of the Half-breeds—Nishnebottoneh River—Little Nemahaw River—Violent Storm—Weeping-water Creek—La Platte River—Belle Vue, Dougherty's Agency—The Omaha Indians—Their Dance—Council Bluffs—Boyer's Creek—Little Sioux River—Blackbird Hills—Floyd's Grave—Big Sioux River—Joway River—Vermilion Creek—Jacques River—The Punca Indians—Meeting with the Assiniboin Steamer.

The Yellow Stone left the cantonment at five in the afternoon of the 22nd of April, and we soon reached the narrow part of the river called, by the Osages and Konzas, Wassoba-Wakandaga (Bear-Medicine). There were so many trunks of trees in the river that it seemed very problematical whether we should be able to pass between them. Our people cut off some of the most dangerous branches below water, and got our vessel gradually through; soon after which we lay to for the night.

The next morning, 23rd of April brought us a storm, with thunder, but without lightning. Early in the morning a large branch of a tree, lying in the water, forced its way into the cabin, carried away part of the door case, and then broke off, and was left on the floor. After this accident, when one might have been crushed in bed, we came to Cow Island, where, in 1818, some troops, on their way to Council Bluff, were overtaken by the frost, and obliged to pass the winter. At half-past seven o'clock, the temperature was 67°. The heat of the preceding day had greatly advanced vegetation; the forests were beautifully verdant, and there were many flowers. The Indians now make sugar from the maple. The Kikapoo Indians, whom we had seen at St. Louis, were to have lands assigned them in these parts, and their territory is said to extend to Independence River. There were no fixed Indian villages at that time, but the 123 Joways, Saukies, and Foxes hunt in these parts. We proceeded past Cow Island, which is six miles in length, and covered with poplars, and shave grass. The sand was marked by the footsteps of the stags which come here to drink, by which they tread down deep paths to the water's edge, and lick holes in the saline clay of the bank. Here began green hills without wood, which are the transition to the entirely naked prairie, as they at first alternate with woods, which grow in the ravines, and on the banks of the river. At twelve o'clock the thermometer was at 77°. Our navigation was attended with many difficulties to Independence River, the mouth of which is on the right bank; here we reached, on the same side of the river, naked grassy eminences, where a village of the Konzas formerly stood, and which is still usually marked in the maps. The Spaniards had a post of a few soldiers here. The soil is said to be very fertile and favourable to settlers. The forests were now in their greatest beauty, and began to afford some shade.

On the 24th we saw the chain of the Blacksnake Hills, but we met with so many obstacles in the river that we did not reach them till towards the evening. They are moderate eminences, with many singular forms, with an alternation of wooded and open green spots. Near to the steep bank a trading house has been built, which was occupied by a man named Roubedoux, an agent of the Fur Company. This white house, surrounded by the bright green prairies, had a very neat appearance, and Mr. Bodmer sketched this pretty landscape, which had a beautiful effect of light and shade. It is only this part of the chain that is called Blacksnake Hills, for the chain itself is no other than that which we had long observed on the banks, of which there are two, one on each side, running parallel to each other, and forming the valley of the Missouri, more or less approaching to or receding from it. The river flows through the alluvial soil which it has thrown up, and which is changed, every year, crossing from one chain to the other, and, where it reaches the chain, produces high banks by the shock.

When the steam-boat lay to, between 500 or 600 paces from the trading house, some of the engagés of the company came on board, and reported that the Joway Indians, whose village was about five or six miles distant, had made an incursion into the neighbouring territory of the Omahas, and killed six of these Indians, and brought in a woman and child as prisoners, whom they offered for sale. Major Dougherty, to whose agency the Joways belong, immediately landed to rescue the prisoners, accompanied by Major Bean and Mr. Bodmer, but they returned, at eleven o'clock at night, without having accomplished their object, because the Joways, fearing his reproaches, had completely intoxicated both themselves and their prisoners. Mr. Bodmer brought some beautiful plants from the prairie, among which were 124 the fine orange-coloured flowers of the Batschia canescens, which we here saw for the first time.

On the forenoon of the following day, the 25th, we passed the mouth of the Nadaway River, and met with many difficulties, so that we were even obliged to back for some distance, and landed our wood-cutters in Nadaway Island. A Captain Martin wintered on this island for two seasons, 1818 and 1819, with three companies of riflemen. At that time there was so much game that they entirely subsisted on it. We were told that in one year they killed 1,600, in the other 1,800 head of game (Cervus Virginianus), besides elks and bears; and wounded, perhaps, as many more of those animals, which they were unable to take. The woods were very picturesque. The numerous horse-chestnuts were in full leaf; the white ash was in flower, as well as many species of pear and plum, which looked as if covered with snow, and formed a beautiful contrast with the red masses of the flower of the Cercis. The canal between Nadaway Island and the cantonment is called Nadaway Slew, at the end of which we saw the remains of some Indian huts. In a dark glen in the forest, we observed a long Indian hut, which occupied almost its whole breadth, and must have served for a great number of persons. The bald eagle had built its nest on many of the high trees on the bank. In some places we saw smoke rising in the forest; in others, the trees and the ground were burnt quite black. Such fires are sometimes caused by the Indians, in order to escape the pursuit of their enemies, and sometimes, also, by the agents of the fur traders. We were told that the forest was green, this year, a fortnight earlier than usual. We saw everywhere pairs of the beautiful Anas sponsa, which came out of the holes in the bank, where they doubtless had their nests. Before dusk we reached the mouth of Wolf River, where an eagle had built her nest. The Oto Indians, mixed with some Missouris, live in these parts, on the west bank of the Missouri. They are allies of the Joways, and hunt as far as the river La Platte.

On the following morning, April 26th, we saw great numbers of water fowl, and many wild geese with their woolly young; the parents never abandoned them, even when our people shot at them. The care and anxiety which these birds shewed for their young interested us much. We came to the mouth of the Grand Nemahaw river in a beautiful romantic country, from which, to the Little Nemahaw, the territory of the people called Half-breeds extends. Among the Omaha, Oto, Joway, and Yankton (Sioux) Indians, there lived from 150 to 200 of their descendants by white men, to whom they assigned this tract of land as their property. They had taken this resolution two years before, but had not yet carried it into execution. The land was given by the Otos to whom it belonged, and the other tribes bore part of the expenses. Towards noon, when the thermometer was at 27°, we again, several times touched the bottom, near Tarkio 125 River, but without receiving any injury. Picturesque forests alternate with the verdant alluvial banks of the river, and Indian hunting huts were everywhere seen, but no inhabitants. One may travel thousands of miles along this river without seeing a human being. From the mouth of the Nishnebottoneh to Council Bluffs, there is a narrow green prairie before the chain of hills; the mouth itself is between lofty trees on the east bank. In the wood below, Major Dougherty once killed twenty elks, all belonging to one troop. They had divided, and part broke into the ice in the river, where they fell a prey to the Otos who pursued them. Beavers formerly abounded in this river, but they are now extirpated. When the evening sun, gradually sinking behind the tall forest, illumined the whole country, we had a lovely view of the chain of hills, variously tinged with brilliant hues of violet, pink, and purple, while the broad mirror of the river and adjacent forest shone as if on fire. Silence reigned in these solitudes, the wind was hushed, and only the dashing and foaming of our steamboat interrupted the awful repose. We were disagreeably roused from our reverie by our vessel striking against the snags in the river. We passed the night near Morgan's Island, not far from which there was formerly a trading house for the Oto Indians, but it no longer existed. The note of the whip-poor-will, which we had not before met with, was heard in all the adjacent forests.

The next morning, proceeding on our voyage, we plainly observed in the steep banks of the river, the alternate strata of clay and sand, with a thick layer of fertile black mould at the top, and, about eight feet below the surface, a black stratum of bituminous coal, or coal slate, which we were, however, unable to examine closely. On the bank we saw what are called pumice stones, which are pieces of the rock of the Upper Missouri, changed by fire, and brought down by the river; the Indians use this pumice stone to smooth their tanned and hardened skins. At the mouth of the Little Nemahaw River, the Missouri was very shallow. Our vessel having received several violent shocks by striking, and a storm, accompanied by heavy rain, arising, we ran aground, about noon, on a sand bank, and were obliged to put out a boat to take soundings, but the wind, which blew with increasing violence from the open prairie on the south-west, drove us further into the sand bank. Every moment it became more furious; our vessel lay almost on her side, which the people endeavoured to counteract by fastening her with strong cables to the trees lying in the water. After dinner several of our hunters went on shore, but the boat had scarcely returned, when the storm suddenly increased to such a degree that the vessel appeared to be in imminent peril. One of our chimneys was thrown down, and the foredeck was considered in danger; the large coops, which contained a number of fowls, were blown overboard, and nearly all of them drowned. As they got upon the sand banks they were afterwards taken up, with other things which we had been obliged to throw overboard; our cables had, happily, held fast, and, as the wind abated a little, Captain Bennett hoped to lay the vessel close to the bank, which was twenty feet high, where it would be safe 126 but the storm again arose, and we got deeper and deeper into the sands. Some of our hunters and Mr. Bodmer appeared on the bank, and wanted to be taken on board, but the boat could not be sent, and they were obliged to seek shelter from the storm in the neighbouring forests. Mr. Mc Kenzie, and other persons acquainted with the Missouri, assured us they had never encountered so violent a storm in these parts. After four o'clock, however, the wind abated, and the boat was dispatched to pick up the articles we had lost.

On the following day we were obliged to lighten the ship before we could proceed, by landing the wood which we had taken in the previous day, and many other articles. Our vessel, however, soon ran aground again, and as we could not proceed, we made the vessel go backwards to the right bank, where we passed the night. In the preceding year the Yellow Stone had been detained five days at this place. Towards evening a flock of above 100 pelicans, flying northwards, passed over us. Their flight was in the form of a wedge, and sometimes of a semicircle. On the 29th, we found sufficient water, and proceeded; a still larger flock of pelicans induced our engagés to make use of their rifles, and they winged one of the birds, which strutted about on the shore, but we could not venture to take it. At half-past seven, a.m., we were at a place called the Narrows of Nishnebottoneh; here, about thirty miles from its mouth, this river comes so near to the Missouri, that between both there is an interval of only 200 paces. The appearance of the chain of hills beyond the Nishnebottoneh is very remarkable. The calcareous rock is in very strange forms, sometimes like entrenchments and bastions, partly clothed with verdure, partly with dry yellow grass, and spotted with yellowish red clay. The soil is extremely fertile, and well adapted for agriculture; formerly there were hundreds of elks and stags in these parts, but they are now rarely met with. By a general agreement the Otos, Joway, Fox, and Saukie Indians hunt this country in common. Having been on shore for some time, I was returning to the vessel when the pilot called out that there was a rattlesnake very near me, the rattle of which he heard; I looked, and immediately found the animal, and having stunned it with some slight blows, I put it into a vessel in which there were already a live heterodon and a black snake, where it soon recovered. The three agreed very well together, but were afterwards put into a cask of brandy to go to Europe. This rattlesnake was of the species Crotalus tergeminus, first described by Say, which is very common on the Missouri. The water being too shallow, it was necessary partly to unload the vessel on a sand bank, and to stop for the night. On the morning of the 30th, many attempts were made to move from this spot; we sounded, put out thirty men, but were at last obliged to return to the place where we had passed the night. Messengers were then sent up the river to endeavour to procure a keelboat; meanwhile all our hunters went ashore. I found in the vicinity traces of the Indians, and large traces of wolves in the sand. A storm drove us back to the vessel, and soon drenched us with a torrent of rain. Our hunters killed a wild goose, a wood duck, and an owl, and brought a 127 black snake with them; one of them had broken off a piece of poison vine, by which his hands and face were much swollen; but the people here do not much mind such accidents, though the swelling frequently lasts many days.

The 1st of May set in with rain and a clouded sky; the forests were dripping wet; during the night we had observed some fireflies. Numerous flocks of two kinds of swallows passed us, flying to the north. About noon a white cat-fish was caught by one of the lines which we had thrown out; a second broke the strong line as we were drawing it up. The first we had caught weighed sixty pounds, and we soon took another weighing sixty-five pounds, and a third weighing 100 lbs, in the jaws of which was the hook of the line that had been broken. In the stomach of this and the other cat-fish were found large pieces of pork, the bones of fowls, &c., feet of geese, all refuse from the vessels; and likewise the entire gills of another large fish. A great number of leeches were attached to the gills of these fish. It is only on the Upper Missouri that this fish attains so large a size.

On the following morning the Missouri had risen a little. In the neighbouring thickets some birds were singing, or rather twittering, and there was nothing like the loud concert which, at this season of the year, animates the European forests. The Yellow Stone did not set out till near eleven o'clock. In the afternoon we came to some almost perpendicular hills on the bank, the base of which consisted of violet, the middle of bluish grey, the upper part of yellow red clay. In some places a whole colony of swallows had built against them. About the place where Weeping-water Creek opens, among beautiful thickets, before the green hills of the prairies, we met with great obstructions, and were several times obliged to put the vessel back. We reached Five Barrel Islands, in a broad part of the river, just when the evening sun gave a peculiar charm to the verdant landscape. The forest was picturesque but not very lofty; the bird cherry was in flower, but the blossoms of the red bud had lost their bright colour. Vines twined round the trunks of the trees, and the numerous blossoms of the phlox formed blue spots amongst the rocks. Towards night we met a canoe, with two persons on board, one of whom was M. Fontenelle, clerk to the Fur Company, who resided near at hand at Belle Vue. He was a man who had much experience in the trade with the Indians, and had often visited the Rocky Mountains. As he was shortly to undertake an expedition to the mountains, with a body of armed men, he turned back with us.

Early on the morning of the 3rd of May, we came to the hill called by the Otos and Omahas—Ischta Maso, or Ischta Manso (the iron eye). It is rather higher than the neighbouring hills, and a small stream of the same name runs from its side into the Missouri. We were now near the month of La Platte River. Four or five miles before you come to the conflux, you distinguish the water of the two rivers by their colour, that of the La Platte being clear and green, and keeping unmixed on the western bank. A mile further up, the water was covered with foam, in 128 consequence of the heavy rains. In half an hour we came to the first mouth of the river, which is divided from the second by a low island, with gently rounded verdant hills in the back ground. The second mouth is the largest. There were large piles of drift wood on the sand bank, next the island. The river, which was much swollen, brought down wood and foam, and its waters, though, at present, not quite clear, yet still of a bluish tint, were plainly distinguished as they ran in a semicircular bend, from the yellowish, dirty water of the Missouri. After passing the sand bank at its mouth, we reached, in twenty minutes, Papilion Creek, and saw before us the green-wooded chain of hills with the buildings of Belle Vue, the agency of Major Dougherty. There were many sand banks in the river, on which there were numbers of wild geese, and some quite white birds, with black quill feathers—perhaps cranes or pelicans. At two in the afternoon we reached M. Fontenelle's dwelling, consisting of some buildings, with fine plantations of maize, and verdant wooded hills behind it. A part of the plantations belongs to the government. The prairie extends beyond the hills. The land is extremely fertile; even when negligently cultivated, it yields 100 bushels of maize per acre, but is said to produce much more when proper care is bestowed on it. The cattle thrive very well, and the cows give much milk, but some salt must now and then be given them. M. Fontenelle expected to possess, in a few years, 5,000 swine, if the Indians did not steal too many of them. The government of the United States bought of the Indians a great tract of land to the east of the Missouri, extending to Big Sioux River, but have hitherto left them in possession of this land.

Belle Vue, Mr. Dougherty's post, is agreeably situated. The direction of the river is north-west. Below, on the bank, there are some huts, and on the top the buildings of the agents, where a sub-agent, Major Beauchamp, a blacksmith, and some servants of the company, all lived with their families, who attend to the plantations and affairs of the company. These men were mostly married to women of the tribes of the Otos and Omahas; all, on our landing, immediately came on board. Their dress was of red or blue cloth, with a white border, and cut in the Indian fashion. Their faces were broad and coarse, their heads large and round, their breasts pendent, their teeth beautiful and white, their hands and feet small and delicate. Their children had dark brown hair, and agreeable features. Belle Vue was formerly a trading post of the Missouri Fur Company, on the dissolution of which it was bought by M. Fontenelle, who parted with it to the government, and was appointed to the agency of the Otos, Omahas, Pawnees, and Joways. M. Fontenelle settled, as I have said, 600 or 800 paces further down the river. Here the Yellow Stone lay to, and we inspected the buildings of the agency, from which there is a very fine view of the river, especially from the summit of the hill, where the cemetery is situated. The rock here is limestone, with a great number of shells, of which, however, I could see only bivalves; but our time was too short to decide on this point.

129 It was near this place that a marauding party of twelve Joways lately crossed the river, and pursued a defenceless company of Omahas, who had just left Belle Vue; and, having overtaken them three miles off, killed and plundered all of them, except some who were desperately wounded, and whom they believed to be dead. The victors returned by another way. A woman and a child recovered. Major Dougherty took leave of us at Belle Vue, intending to go to the Omahas, and appease the vengeance of that tribe. About five in the afternoon we also left, and were proceeding along the west bank, when we met two Mackinaw boats, which had been obtained for our vessel by a boat which we had sent before. On the same bank we suddenly saw three Omaha Indians, who crept slowly along. They were clothed in buffalo robes, and had bows, with quivers made of skin, on their backs. About the nose and eyes they were painted white.

Among these Indians there was a woman who had been severely wounded; namely, the well-known Mitain, who is spoken of in Major Long's "Travels to the Rocky Mountains," as an interesting instance of maternal affection, but without mentioning her name. She and her child had received many severe wounds, but were so fortunate as not to be scalped. The nearest village of the Omahas is twenty-five miles from Belle Vue. This country is the proper territory of this tribe, which lives on both sides of the Missouri, from Boyer River to Big Sioux River, and hunts further up to Jacques River, as well as between Running Water River (l'eau qui court) and the La Platte.

On the morning of the 4th of May, at half-past seven o'clock, the thermometer was at 69¾°. We had all round us beautiful low prairie hills, before which was alluvial land, thrown up by the 130 river, covered with fine grass. The river had risen an inch during the night. The noise and smoke of our steamer frightened all living creatures; geese and ducks flew off in all directions. There was formerly a village of the Joway Indians at this place, the inhabitants of which, on the death of their chief, returned to their countrymen further down. On the left bank there were whole tracts covered with dead poplars, which had been killed by the fires caused by the Indians in the forest and prairie. We soon saw the white buildings of Mr. Cabanné's trading post, which we saluted with some guns, and then landed.

We were very glad to see, at the landing-place, a number of Omaha and Oto Indians, and some few Joways, who, in different groups, looked at us with much curiosity; all these people were wrapped in buffalo skins, with the hairy side outwards; some of them wore blankets, which they sometimes paint with coloured stripes. In their features they did not materially differ from those Indians we had already seen, but they were not so well formed as the Saukies. Many of them were much marked with the small pox. Several had only one eye; their faces were marked with red stripes: some had painted their foreheads and chins red; others, only stripes down the cheeks. Few only had aquiline noses, and their eyes were seldom drawn down at the corners; generally speaking, their eyes are small, though there are exceptions. They wore their hair loosely hanging down their backs; none had shaved their heads; and, on the whole, they looked very dirty and miserable. The countenances of the women were ugly, but not quite so broad and flat as those of the Foxes and Saukies; their noses, in general, rather longer. Their dress did not differ much from that of those Indians, and they wore the same strings of wampum in their ears. The men carried in their hands their tobacco pipes, made of red or black stone (a hardened clay), adorned with rings of lead or tin, which they generally obtain from the Sioux, at a high price.

This trading post consists of a row of buildings of various sizes, stores, and the houses of the engagés, married to Indian women, among which was that of Mr. Cabanné, which is two stories high. He is a proprietor of the American Fur Company, and director of this station. He received us very kindly, and conducted us over his premises. From the balcony of his house was a fine view over the river, but the prospect is still more interesting from the hills which rise at the back of the settlement. Between the buildings runs a small stream, with high banks, which rises from a pleasant valley, in which there are plantations of maize for the support of the inhabitants. Mr. Cabanné had planted fifteen acres of land with this invaluable grain, which yield, annually, 2,000 bushels of that corn, the land here being extremely fertile. The banks of the stream are covered with fine high trees, and many of the plants were in flower, especially the beautiful blue lychnis, the white oak, &c. A high wind prevailed throughout the day, but, within doors, the weather was warm, 78° at four o'clock. Our vessel remained here the whole day, and we were besieged all the time by Indians, who caused a very disagreeable heat in our cabins. Among 131 them was a Joway, called Nih-Yu-Máh-Ni (la pluie qui marche), who sold us several articles of his dress. Mr. Bodmer made a sketch of the boy of an Omaha, whom the father first daubed with red paint. He took vermilion in the palm of the hand, spat upon it, and then rubbed it in the boy's face. The head of this boy was shaved quite smooth, excepting a tuft of hair in front, and another at the back. A number of men and women stood round, looking on with eager curiosity. I showed the Indians a rattlesnake in brandy, and they gave me to understand that a child had lately been bitten by one of these animals, and died in consequence. The little child, lately wounded by the Joways, was brought to us; the wounds, though they had not been dressed and covered, were almost healed.

We spent a very pleasant evening with Mr. Cabanné; sitting in the balcony of his house, we enjoyed the delightful temperature and the fine scene around us. The splendid sky was illumined by the full moon; silence reigned around, interrupted only by the noise of the frogs, and the incessant cry of the whip-poor-will, in the neighbouring woods, till the Indians assembled round the house, and, at the request of Mr. Cabanné, performed a dance. About twenty Omahas joined in it; the principal dancer, a tall man, wore on his head an immense feather cap, like those of the Camacans in Brazil, but larger and of less elaborate workmanship, composed of long tail and wing feathers of owls and birds of prey; in his hand he held his bow and arrows. The upper part of his body was covered only with a whitish skin, which fell over the right shoulder and breast, and was adorned with bunches of feathers; his arms, face, and the uncovered parts of his body, were painted with white stripes and spots. His trousers were marked with dark cross stripes, and trimmed at the ankles with a great quantity of fringe. He also wore an apron. He had a savage and martial appearance, to which his athletic figure greatly contributed. Another man, 132 who was younger, of a very muscular frame—the upper part of whose body was naked, but painted white—had in his hand a war club, striped with white, ornamented at the handle with the skin of a polecat. He wore on his head a feather cap, like that already described. These two men, and several youths and boys, formed a line, opposite to which other Indians sat down in a row; in the middle of which row the drum was beat in quick time. Several men beat time with war clubs hung with bells; and the whole company (most of whom were painted white) sung, "Hi! hi! hi!" or "Hey! hey! hey!" &c., sometimes shouting aloud. The manner of the dance was thus: bending their bodies forward, they leaped up with both feet at once, not rising high from the ground, and stamped loudly, while the drum beat in quick time, and their arms were rattled and occasionally lifted up into the air. Thus they leaped opposite to each other, with great exertion, for about an hour; they perspired violently, till the usual presents, a quantity of tobacco stalks, were thrown on the ground before them. This dance was very interesting to me, especially in connection with the beautiful evening scene on the Missouri. The bright light of the moon illumined the extensive and silent wilderness; before us, the grotesque band of Indians, uttering their wild cry, together with the loud call of the night raven, vividly recalled to my mind scenes which I had witnessed in Brazil. We did not return to our vessel till late at night, after taking leave of our kind host, and of Major Pilcher; the former was on the point of returning to St. Louis, leaving the superintendence of the trading post to Major Pilcher.

The Omahas, or, as some erroneously call them, Mahas, were formerly a numerous tribe, but have been much reduced by frequent wars with their neighbours; the smallpox, too, has committed dreadful ravages, and there are now but few vigorous young men among them. Their language differs from that of the Otos, Missouris, and Joways; there is, however, an affinity between them. The best and most complete accounts of the Omahas are given by Mr. Say in his Narrative of Major Long's "Expedition to the Rocky Mountains," to which I would refer my readers.

On the 5th of May, the Yellow Stone left Cabanné's trading house; the weather was warm 133 and serene; we passed the mouth of Boyer's Creek on the east bank, where the Missouri makes a bend, and saw the ruins of the former cantonment, or fort, at Council Bluffs. This military post was established, in the year 1819, for 1,000 men, but, in fact, there were now only 500 men of the regiment in garrison at Jefferson barracks. In the year 1827, these troops were withdrawn and stationed at Leavenworth; the fort, or, rather, the barracks, formed a quadrangle, with a bastion or blockhouse, in two of the angles. At present there were only the stone chimneys, and, in the centre, a brick storehouse under roof. Everything of value had been carried away by the Indians. We were told that numerous rattlesnakes are found among the ruins. The situation of Council Bluffs is said to have been much more favourable for observing the Indians than that at Leavenworth; and it was even conjectured that this post will be again occupied. The military station was at first placed a little further inland, but the scurvy carried off 300 of the garrison in one winter. Mr. Sandford, who had rejoined us, once found here the large grinders of a mastodon, which are now in the possession of General Clarke, at St. Louis.

At twelve at noon, we ran aground, but happily sustained no damage, at a dangerous place, where the left bank was blocked up with many snags, and which is called the Devil's Race-ground. The country was low and uniform till we again reached the hills, which were rather bare of wood, but of grotesque form, and covered with a fine verdant carpet. Near the mouth of the Soldier River, an engagé met us, who brought letters from the Assiniboin steamer. We went on pretty well till the evening, when we got upon a sand bank, and then made the vessel fast for the night; after which our people exerted themselves to get off the bank, in the midst of a storm of thunder and lightning.

The steamer was got afloat by daybreak on the 6th. On both sides there was alluvial soil, thickly covered with willows and poplars, mixed, in some places, with other trees. Here we saw, on a sand bank, two large wolves, which seemed to look at us with surprise. The Omaha Indians hunt on both banks of this part of the river; they are said to be the most indolent, dull, unintellectual, and cowardly of the Missouri Indians. At two in the afternoon we landed on the prairie, which was covered with tall trees, and forty or fifty of our men immediately began to hew down wood for fuel; there was abundance of grass, but not a single flower, which was caused by the prairie having been set on fire; black burnt wood was scattered about, and the ground itself was discoloured in places by the effects of the fire.

From this place the country becomes more and more level, and bare of wood, and the eye roves over the boundless prairie. Behind a willow-tree I saw some remains of Indian huts, in front of one of which a pole was set up, with a piece of red cloth attached to the top. The forest, which had been inundated, was likewise destitute of flowers; numerous traces of stags were everywhere seen. During the night a man deserted, whom Mr. Mc Kenzie had some time before put under arrest for having uttered vehement threats. The 7th day of May, the anniversary of our 134 departure from Germany, was very fine. We soon reached the chain of hills on the left bank, at a place where the yellow limestone rock was nearly perpendicular, and in which innumerable swallows had built their nests; these are called Wood's Hills, and do not extend very far. On one of them we saw a small, conical mound, which is the grave of the celebrated Omaha chief, Washinga-Sahba (the blackbird). In James's Narrative of Major Long's Expedition, is a circumstantial account of this remarkable and powerful chief, who was a friend to the white man: he contrived, by means of arsenic, to make himself feared and dreaded, and passed for a magician, because he put his enemies and rivals out of the way when it suited him. An epidemical smallpox carried him off, with a great part of his nation, in the year 1800, and he was buried, sitting upright upon a live mule, at the top of a green hill on Wakonda Creek. When dying, he gave orders that they should bury him on that hill, with his face turned to the country of the white men. The Omahas have been since so reduced by their enemies, the Sioux, Saukies, and Foxes, that they are now quite powerless and insignificant, not being able to muster above 300 or 400 warriors. Washinga-Sahba was so feared by his own people, that nobody ventured to wake him when he slept: it is said that they used then to tickle his nose with a blade of grass. The present chief of the Omahas is Ongpa-Tanga (the great elk), of whom Godman, in his Natural History, has given a good portrait. He lives on the Horn River, which falls into the La Platte, about twenty miles above its mouth.

On the following day (the 8th of May) we came to Floyd's Grave, where the sergeant of that name was buried by Lewis and Clarke. The bank on either side is low. The left is covered with poplars; on the right, behind the wood, rises a hill like the roof of a building, at the top of which Floyd is buried. A short stick marks the place where he is laid, and has often been renewed by travellers when the fires in the prairie have destroyed it. A little further up is Floyd's River, and on Floyd's Hills there were a few fir trees, over which the kite hovered in the air. About half a league beyond Floyd's River is the mouth of the Big Sioux River, interesting from the circumstance of its being the boundary of the territory of the Dacota, or Sioux nation. Its breadth, at the mouth, is about sixty paces, and it is said to be navigable by Mackinaw boats for 100 miles. About 120 miles up this river, a tribe of the Sioux reside, which is known by the name of Wahch-Pekuté; this, and another tribe of this people on the Mississippi, and near Lake Pepin, are the only ones of their nation who plant maize; all the other hordes of the Sioux are hunters. The territory of these people formerly extended further to the south, till the before-mentioned treaty for the purchase of land was concluded with the Indians.

At noon, with a temperature of 75°, there was such a violent wind, that the fine sand from the banks penetrated into the innermost parts of our vessel; the broad river was so agitated by the wind, that the pilot could not distinguish the sand banks, and we were obliged to lie to. In a small meadow in the woods we saw the giant footsteps of the elks, and likewise of the common 135 stag, which we would willingly have followed had not a rising tempest compelled us to return on board. Vivid lightning flashed in the horizon, the rain soon poured down in torrents, and at night a storm arose which, at midnight, raged with such fury, that we might have felt some alarm, had not our vessel been so well protected by the bank. The storm frequently forced open the doors of the upper cabin, and the rain beat into the room. Towards daybreak the tempest returned with increased violence; the flashes of lightning and the claps of thunder were incessant during the twilight, and everybody thought that the vessel must be struck.

The 9th of May set in with rain, a cloudy sky, and high wind; the thermometer, before so high, fell, at half-past seven o'clock, to 56°. When the storm had passed over, our vessel quitted the place where it had taken shelter. We passed along wild, desolate banks, then a green prairie, by a chain of steep hills, partly bare, partly covered with forests, or with isolated fir trees and picturesque ravines, with dark shadows, into which the close thicket scarcely allowed the eye to penetrate. We here saw, for the first time, a plant which now became more and more common; namely, the buffalo-berry-bush (Sheperdia argentea, Nutt.), with pale, bluish-green, narrow leaves. At the mouth of the Joway River, which runs into the Missouri, on the south bank, at a very acute angle, clay-slate appeared to stand out on the bluffs, divided into narrow, horizontal strata, the lower of which were blackish-blue, and those above of yellowish-red colour. Our hunters and wood-cutters landed, on which occasion we lost a hound, which had strayed too far into the forest. Five or six hundred paces further up, we saw, among the thickets of willow and poplar, an old Indian wigwam, near which the red willow, mixed with the common willow, was in blossom. The thermometer, which had been at 56° in the morning, rose at ten o'clock, when the sun broke through the clouds. We frequently observed the wild geese, which endeavoured to take their young, of which they never had more than four or six, to some place on shore, where they would be safe from us. When we came very near, the mother fluttered anxiously to a little distance, and called them to her.

We continued our voyage, but soon lay to at the prairie, on the right bank, because Mr. Mc Kenzie wished to form a plantation at this place. The whole plain was covered with high, dry grass. On the bank of the river there was a fine border of tall timber trees, in which the turtle-dove cooed, and flocks of blackbirds were flying about. The hills of the prairie were covered with the finest verdure, and the singular forms of the hills afforded us an interesting subject of observation on the otherwise uniform appearance of the country. We halted for the night near the high trees that bordered the prairie, where there were numbers of ducks and plovers. As soon as it was dark, the young men set fire to the dry grass of the prairie, to give us the pleasure of seeing how the fire spread, but the attempt did not fully succeed, because there was 136 no wind. Mr. Mc Kenzie left some men here, with agricultural implements, to make a plantation; among them was one François Roi, of Rheims, whose name gave occasion to many innocent jokes, and we deliberated what name should be given to the kingdom he was going to found.

On the following day, the 10th, we had been exactly four weeks since we left St. Louis. At the spot where we now were, it is said that large herds of buffaloes are seen in the winter, but we had not yet met with one of these animals. The character of the country was much changed; it is, for the most part, naked, and without woods. The trees which are found here are no longer lofty and vigorous, as on the Lower Missouri; yet the wild vines are still seen climbing on the bushes, though this, too, entirely ceases further up the river. Near the mouth of Vermilion Creek, the green hills of the prairie approach very near the water; and here we saw, on the back of one of the hills, a grave surrounded with poles, which was that of some Sioux Indians, who had been killed by lightning in a violent thunder-storm. At the mouth of the stream we saw wild ducks and geese, of which a pair of the latter, with six young ones, anxiously endeavoured to escape us. The female remained faithfully with her young ones, while the male flew away.

The morning of the following day (the 11th of May) brought us to the mouth of Jacques River, which was concealed from our view by a sand bank. The steep banks, which in Lewis and Clarke's map are called Calumet Bluffs, have deep ravines, and are of an ash-grey colour at the base, and yellow above. We reached the island called by those travellers Sego Island, where we found very little water, and then came to Lewis and Clarke's White Bear Bluffs, of which Mr. Bodmer made a drawing. At noon the thermometer was at 63°. After dinner we saw, at a distance, the Assiniboin steamer, with which we came up in half an hour. It had not been able to proceed any further for want of a sufficient depth of water. After we had saluted the master of the vessel, Mr. Pratte, son of the General of that name at St. Louis, and a member of the American Fur Company, we went on board his vessel. In this steamer there were two cabins, much lighter and more pleasant than those in the Yellow Stone; the stern cabin had ten berths, and the fore cabin twenty-four, and between decks was the large apartment distinct for the engagés. The crew had lately killed a she-bear—the young ones were alive on board. While we were visiting the Assiniboin, we suddenly perceived, on the left or southern bank, a number of Indians, between fifteen and twenty of whom rolled down the hills. As our people did not seem very desirous of having anything to do with them, and contented themselves with looking at them through a telescope, we took advantage of the fine weather to make an excursion into the prairie.

The chain of hills, bounding the valley of the Missouri on the north, crossed the verdant prairie, in a straight line, at a distance of about 1,000 paces from the river. The appearance of this chain was singular, with perpendicular, yellow, calcareous walls, which indicated that the 137 river must, formerly, have flowed in that direction; and the cylindrical hollow marked the ancient bed of the river. In the prairie itself there were many pools of water, and we found several interesting plants, among which were some with long roots like carrots, especially the yellow flowering Batschia longiflora (Pursh.), and the Oxitropis Lamberti B. The great yellow-breasted lark (Sturnella, Vieill.), was everywhere seen in pairs, and its short, coy call, and its pleasing, whistling note, were heard from every side. Besides these, we saw the prairie hen, and the great long-billed curlews (Numenius longirostris), of which we shall speak hereafter. Skeletons of buffaloes were scattered in the plain, especially many skulls, but very few of which were entire.

When I returned to the vessel, I found there three Punca Indians, the chief of the tribe Shudegacheh, his brother Passitopa, and Ha-cha-ga. They were all robust, good-looking men, tall, and well-proportioned, with strongly-marked features, high cheek-bones, aquiline noses, and animated dark hazel eyes. Their hair hung down as far as the shoulders, and part of it lower; that of the chief was shorter, and fastened together in a plait. The upper part of the body of these Indians was naked, only they wore round the neck an ornamented band, and had a large slit in their ears: from those of the chief an ornament of shell work was suspended. His beard below the chin consisted of scanty hairs, which had been suffered to grow very long. They wore a narrow bracelet of white metal round the wrist, very plain, leather pantaloons, and large buffalo robes; the chief, however, was wrapped in a white blanket.

The Puncas, as they are now universally called, or as some travellers formerly called them, Poncaras, or Poncars, the Pons of the French, were originally a branch of the Omahas, and speak nearly the same language. They have, however, been long separated from them, and dwell on both sides of Running-water River, and on Punca Creek, which Lewis and Clarke call Poncara. They formerly lived, like the Omahas, in clay huts, at the mouth of the river, but their powerful enemies, the Sioux and the Pawnees, destroyed their villages, and they have since adopted the mode of life of the former, living more generally in tents made of skins, and changing their place from time to time. Their external appearance and dress do not much differ from those of the Omahas. They are said to have been brave warriors, but have been greatly reduced by war and the smallpox. According to Dr. Morse's report, they numbered, in 1822, 1,750 in all; at present the total amount of their warriors is estimated at about 300. The band of them, which 138 we met with here, has set up eight or nine leather tents, at the mouth of Basil Creek, on a fine forest. They plant maize, which they sell to the Sioux, but they had neglected to cultivate this grain for about three years, and obtained it from the Omahas; they, however, intended to grow it again themselves.

As Major Bean was agent of the Puncas, they came to speak to him. The chief had formerly received, through the agent, a large silver medal of President Madison, which he wore suspended round his neck. On the face of all these medals, which are given as a distinction to the Indian chiefs, there is the bust of the President, and, on the reverse, two clasped hands, with a suitable inscription. Shudegacheh had a remarkably intelligent countenance, and fine manly deportment. He sat down by us, and smoked, with his comrades, the only pipe that they had with them; but, according to Indian custom, several pipes soon circulated in the company. The evening was very cool, and, as some of the Indians had no leggins, we took them into our cabin, where their portraits were drawn, after they had been regaled with pork, bread, and tea, which Mr. Mc Kenzie gave them. One of the Indians made me a present of his wooden war-club, which was painted reddish-brown; another, with a pair of shoes, made of elk leather, which were dyed black with the juice of white walnut. These people were not armed, as they had come merely on a visit, and had left their best effects behind. Among them was a French Canadian, named Primeau, who has long lived among them. He acted as interpreter, and communicated to me some words of the Punca language.

The morning of the 12th of May was cold, there having been a hoar frost during the night. The Indians sat upon the bank, wrapped in their buffalo skins, as represented in the subjoined woodcut.

139 While the Yellow Stone remained stationary, the Assiniboin attempted to pass the shallow place on the river, during which time the hunters went into the prairie. The Indians had a conference with their agent, in which the chief expressed a wish that their great father (the President) would send them several articles, particularly agricultural implements. The attitude and gestures of the speaker were graceful; his right arm and shoulder were bare, while he gesticulated with his hand; and his fine, manly countenance was very expressive. As he had not put on his leggins, we observed, on his muscular calves, two tattooed stripes crossing each other, X; otherwise, he was neither tattooed nor painted. Some of these Indians had been inoculated with the smallpox by a surgeon, whom Major Bean had taken to them the year before, and who had inoculated 2,600 Indians of different tribes. Many of them had manifested distrust on this occasion; and, when he offered to perform the operation, said, "Now we are well; if we should become sick it will be time enough to submit to the operation." Shudegacheh had on the upper part of his arm a large, round scar, which he is said to have burnt into his flesh with his tobacco-pipe, on the death of a relation. Major Bean presented to the Indians, in the name of the Government, tobacco, powder, and ball, and the chief received a fine blanket. Mr. Mc Kenzie observed to him, that "the Puncas furnished too few skins, and did not plant maize enough; it was not possible to purchase anything of them;" to which he replied, that "there was no unity among his people; that they lived too scattered, and, therefore, he could not superintend them, and keep them to work." At noon, the thermometer being at 67°, our hunters returned, without having seen anything of consequence, except a couple of large curlews. The boats, which had been sent out to take soundings, likewise came back, and great exertions were made to lighten the steamer, by transferring part of the cargo to the Maria keel-boat. At length, at two o'clock, we were able to weigh anchor, and run awhile down the river, which was done with such rapidity that the Indians became giddy, and sat down on the floor. In this manner we turned round a sand bank, and proceeded upwards, along the south coast of the river, and in twenty minutes were opposite the huts of the Punca Indians. They lay in the shade of a forest, like white cones, and, in front of them, a sand bank extended into the river, which was separated from the land by a narrow channel. The whole troop was assembled on the edge of the bank, and it was amusing to see how the motley group crowded together, wrapped in brown buffalo skins, white and red blankets—some naked, of a deep brown colour. The little children, with their protuberant bellies, and their legs, of a dark brown colour, carrying bows and arrows in their hands, were running along the beach, or cowering like little monkeys, while the men walked about, very gravely, with their weapons in their hands. We landed our Indian visitors on the sand bank; the boat brought back some skins, and we afterwards saw Primeau, with the Indians, wade through 140 the channel. A little further up we witnessed a great prairie fire, on the left bank. The flames rose from the forest to the height of 100 feet—fiery smoke filled the air: it was a splendid sight! A whirlwind had formed a remarkable towering column of smoke, which rose, in a most singular manner, in graceful undulations, to the zenith. Afterwards we came to steep hills, behind which is Manoel's Creek, so called from Manoel Lisa, a Spaniard, who formerly carried on the fur trade in these parts. Towards evening we were near the Assiniboin steamer, which lay before us, and halted in the vicinity of Basil Creek, where the Puncas formerly dwelt, numbers of whose graves are seen upon the hills. The trunks of trees in the river had much injured our paddles.

CHAPTER XII

VOYAGE FROM L'EAU QUI COURT TO FORT PIERRE, ON THE TETON RIVER (THE LITTLE MISSOURI), AND STAY THERE, FROM MAY 13TH TO JUNE 4TH

Running-water River (l'eau qui court)—Punca Creek—Remarkable Mountains—Cedar Island—Delay caused by the insufficient Depth of the Water—First Sight of Buffaloes and Antelopes—Burning Mountain—Black Strata of bituminous Coal—Bijoux Hills—Prairie Dogs—Shannon, or Dry River—White River—Ruins of Cedar Fort—Fort Look-out (Sioux Agency)—Visit to it—The Dacotas of the Branch of the Yanktons—Wahktageli—Big Bend, or Grand Détour—Medicine Hills—Teton River—Fort Pierre—Stay there—The Tetons, a branch of the Dacotas or Sioux.

On the morning of the 13th of May, the Yellow Stone passed the mouth of the Running-water River (l'eau qui court), when the thermometer was at 55°. The Assiniboin was before us. We reached the mouth of Punca Creek, which runs along the chain of hills obliquely to the Missouri. At the time when the Puncas separated from the Omahas, they built a kind of fort of earth, some miles up this river, which, however, they no longer occupy. There are said to be hot springs in the neighbourhood, such as are known to exist in several places on the banks of the Missouri. Springs of any kind are, however, very rare in these dry prairies. In this neighbourhood are many villages of the prairie dogs (Arctomys ludoviciana, Ord.), in the abandoned burrows of which, rattlesnakes abound. It has been affirmed that these two species of animals live peaceably together in these burrows; but observers of nature have proved that the snakes take possession of abandoned burrows only, which is in the usual course of things. Deep 142 gullies traverse the summits of the banks, above which the turkey buzzards were hovering. On a sudden, three Punca Indians appeared and hailed us; they were wrapped in their buffalo skins, and carried their bows and arrows on their shoulders. One of them had a very singular appearance, having bound up the hair of his head, so that it stood quite upright. Though they made signs to us to take them on board, we did not stop, but renounced the pleasure of more closely observing these interesting people. The trees on the edge of the prairie, by which we passed, were old, thick, and low, with their summits depressed and cramped. They were the resort of the Carolina pigeon, which is found all along the banks of the river. The red cedars, in particular, were stunted and crippled, often thicker than a man's body in the trunk, and very frequently wholly withered. The swallows' nests—numbers of which were built against the steep banks—were not yet inhabited. We were unable, on account of the shallowness, to reach a fine grove of poplars on the right bank, and proceeded along the hills of the left bank, which were seventy or eighty feet in height, where the red cedar abounded, and we stopped to fell a number of these trees. A wild lateral ravine here opened to the Missouri, up the steep sides of which our wood-cutters climbed, and cut down the cedars, which were loaded with their black berries. The wood of this tree emits a very aromatic scent, and it is much used by the steam-boats for fuel, because it supplies a great deal of steam, and the berries, as we were told, are eaten by the Indians for certain medicinal purposes. At the bottom of the narrow ravine, there was a thicket of elm, cedar, bird-cherry, clematis, celtis, celastrus, vine, and other shrubs; and the neighbouring lofty verdant hills of the prairie produced many beautiful plants, among which was Stanleya pinnatifida, with its splendid long bunches of yellow flowers. Returning to our vessel, when the bell gave the signal for departure, we found one of the three Punca Indians whom we had seen in the morning. He had taken advantage of our slow progress to overtake us. His hair hung down to his shoulders, and was tied together in a queue. His countenance was good-natured and friendly; he wore a buffalo robe, had a bow and arrows on his back, and, in his hand, a large hussar sabre, which he had received as a present. Major Bean gave him some tobacco, powder, lead, and ball; and after he had satisfied his craving appetite he returned, well satisfied, to his comrades. In the afternoon the country was by no means attractive, rather flat, and not so verdant; our vessel sustained many violent shocks. The chain of hills, in the distance, appeared in more and more singular forms, partly resembling ramparts and batteries, and then again perfectly flat, like table-land. An isolated, round, conical eminence, which is called the Tower, stands on them. On the bank were, again, singularly stunted woods and thickets, probably kept down by the cold winds of the prairie. The soil and the whole character of the country was changed; on the Lower Missouri it was a black mould, and very fertile. Cedars flourished here, growing to the height of forty or fifty feet, yet they were often withered, or, at least, many had dry branches on their summits.

143 On the following morning, the 14th, we had a very difficult navigation, and were even obliged to put back, so that the Assiniboin overtook and passed us, and we followed it up the river on the north bank, and afterwards landed forty men to lighten the vessel; ran happily over a sand bank, and again passed the Assiniboin. In the preceding year, the whole prairie was seen from the steamer to be covered with herds of buffaloes, but now there were no living creatures, except a few wild geese and ducks, which had likewise become scarce, since the termination of the great forest below the La Platte River. The monotony of this rude landscape was, however, soon interrupted by the appearance of a canoe, in which were four white men rowing down the river. A boat was speedily manned, into which Mr. Mc Kenzie and Mr. Sandford went, well armed, in order to speak to them, because they were supposed to be engagés of the Company who were deserting. We were informed by them, that the Arikkaras, a dangerous Indian tribe, had lately murdered three beaver hunters, one of whom was a man named Glass, well known in the country, of whom I shall have occasion to speak in the sequel.

Upon an island, to which we came, was a real wilderness; the beavers had formed a kind of abattis, by felling poplars; another island was remarkable because there is a hot spring opposite to it, on the main land, the water of which has no mineral taste. On the left bank, about five or six miles below Cedar Island, we observed the remains of Indian huts. Mr. Mc Kenzie had met here, in the preceding year, a camp of the Punca Indians. On the steep banks were coloured stripes, or regular strata; some black, doubtless bituminous coal, others reddish brown, and, in several places, burnt black. Some parts had burnt very lately, and, in many places, had fallen in. Unhappily we were not able more closely to examine these remarkable strata. We fastened the vessel for the night to the western coast; and the lightning was very brilliant.

On the following day, the 15th of May, we saw in the thickets, behind which the prairie extended, many traces of an Indian camp; heads of elks, stags, and other animals, were scattered about; the marks of horses' feet were everywhere visible; and a practicable trodden path led through the thickets. At noon, when the thermometer was at 77°, the Assiniboin again passed us, and, with the keel-boat Maria, vanished from our sight. At four in the afternoon, we reached the place where we had stopped the preceding night, with the help of the keel-boat, which had returned, and at length succeeded in getting forward; but again had a storm of thunder and lightning. The whole country, beyond the banks, consisted of hills, rising one above the other; some covered with verdure, some of a yellowish colour, mostly without life and variety. While the lightning flashed from the dense black clouds, we again overtook the Assiniboin, which had landed its wood-cutters to fell some cedars on the steep mountain. We, too, landed 300 paces further up, to cut down cedars for fuel. At this place there was the narrow deep ravine of a small stream, now dry, in which we caught a pale yellow bat, and saw some snakes, and the scattered bones of buffaloes. We climbed from the bottom of the ravine up the singular 144 eminences of the prairie, and collected some interesting plants, particularly the wild turnip. Two species of cactus were not yet in blossom; they are, probably, not sufficiently known to botanists. One of them has been taken for the Cactus opuntia; and Captain Back, too, says, that it is found on an island in the Lake of the Woods; but this is certainly not the above-named plant. On the highest elevation above the river, we enjoyed a remarkably fine prospect, while the sky was darkened by black thunder clouds. Around us was the amphitheatre of singularly-formed mountain-tops; at our feet lay the fine broad river, intersected by innumerable sand banks, which plainly showed us the difficulties of our navigation. On the banks, at so great a distance from the dwellings of civilized men, were two large vessels emitting volumes of steam. We were lost in the contemplation of this vast wilderness, when the bell summoned us on board. Our people had found a channel with five feet water, but it was so dark and foggy, that we were obliged to lie to early.

On the following morning, the 16th of May, having passed a village of the prairie dogs, we reached, at nine o'clock, the Cedar Island, which is said to be 1,075 miles from the mouth of the Missouri. On the steep banks of this long narrow island, which lies near the south-west bank, there were thickets of poplars, willows, and buffalo berry; the rest of the island is covered with a dark forest of red cedars, of which we immediately felled a good number. Their beautiful violet-coloured wood is traversed towards the edge by white veins, and is found very fit for ship-building. We crossed, with great pleasure, this wilderness of lofty cedars, the rough bark of which peels off of itself, and hangs down in long slips; many of them were withered, others broken and thrown down, or lying on the ground, covered with moss and lichens. The notes of numerous birds were heard in the gloom of this cedar forest, into which no ray of the sun could penetrate. Here, too, we found everywhere traces of the elks and stags, and saw where they had rubbed off the bark with their antlers. This may be considered as the limit to which the wild turkey extends on the Missouri. It is true that this bird is, now and then, found higher up, even on the Yellow Stone River; but these are exceptions, for beyond this place the woods are too open and exposed. The Indians, on the Upper Missouri, very readily barter for the tails of these fine birds, to use them as fans and ornaments, and Mr. Mc Kenzie, accordingly, took a good supply with him.

On account of the high wind we were obliged to stop longer than we intended at Cedar Island, and took advantage of the delay to send out our hunters with their fowling-pieces. They brought back some birds, and a quadruped which was new to me. The wood-cutters had found, in a hollow tree, a nest of the large wood-rat, with four young ones. This fine animal has a tuft of hair at the end of its tail, and sometimes the whole tail is covered with hair. In colour and shape it resembles our Norway rat, and has not yet been mentioned as found on the Missouri, unless a couple of passages in Lewis and Clarke's Travels, which say, "very large rats were found here," refer to it.

145 On the morning of the 17th we saw the first antelopes, or cabris, half a dozen of which fled over the hills, but at so great a distance that we could not well distinguish them; we, however, subsequently had the pleasure of seeing one of these animals stop so long on the summit of the bank that we could very plainly observe it nearer at hand. It gazed for a long time at the steamer, appeared to be alarmed, trotted away, then stopped again, and disappeared behind the hills. The antelope becomes more and more common in this part of the country, and we saw several to-day, but the wishes of our hunters were disappointed. The Indians use the skin of these animals for clothing, but they are not very eager in the chase of the antelope, except where the buffalo is scarce. As, on sounding the channel, only four feet of water were found, the steamer was moored to the bank, and we took our fowling-pieces. With difficulty we penetrated through the thickets of poplar and willow on the bank, where the large tracks of the elks and of the Virginian deer were everywhere deeply imprinted in the soft soil. We then reached the prairie, which is perfectly level, and extends for 300 or 400 paces to the hills. It was covered with high grass, and clusters of many different plants. Our people traversed the prairies in all directions, looking for the pomme blanche, which was very common. Near the thickets we saw the pretty Carolina pigeon, seeking its food on the ground, but, when we approached, all the birds immediately flew out of the prairie, and sought refuge in the recesses of the thickets. We had a fine, starlight, cool evening.

On the 18th we saw the first buffaloes that we had met with on this voyage. Several of our hunters were immediately landed to pursue them. They ascended into a ravine, and disappeared behind the hills. We also landed, at noon, when the thermometer was at 68°. Beyond the thickets on the bank, there were some old isolated trees in the prairie, in which, as well as in the tall plants, bushes, and grass, there were numerous birds. During the day, the mosquitoes (Tipula) were so troublesome in the wood, that we could scarcely load our pieces; it is said that, in the height of summer, this nuisance is still more intolerable. The buffalo hunters returned to the vessel at the same time with us; they had, indeed, missed their object, but had killed a large buck antelope, as well as a great many prairie dogs, the heads of which were all mutilated by the rifle balls. As these little animals retreat to their burrows, on the approach of any strange object, and only put out their heads, the Americans, with their long rifles, generally hit them in this part: they are a favourite food among them. Our men brought back the skin and the head, as well as the flesh of the antelope which they had killed: they likewise brought me a fine grey eagle and a serpent (Col. eximus). The river being so shallow, we were not able to proceed on the following day, and continued our excursions on shore. I often passed my time in the lofty and shady forest which extended beyond the willow thickets on the banks, at the border of the open prairie. Sitting on an old trunk, in the cool shade, I could observe at leisure the surrounding scene. I saw the turkey buzzards, that hovered above the hills, contending against the high wind, while a couple of falcons frequently made a stoop at them, doubtless to defend 146 their nest. A couple of ravens likewise flew about them. The red-eyed finch, the beautiful Sylvia æstiva, the Sylvia striata, and the wren, flew around me, the latter singing very prettily. If I passed beyond the prairie hills, I found the ground, on the long-extended ridge, covered with the blue flowers of the Oxitropis Lamberti (Pursh.), which grew in tufts about a foot high. There, too, I saw dens of the foxes and wolves. I saw a fine bird which we had not before met with, namely, the prairie hen (Tetrao phasianellus), a pair of which rose before me, and of which I first shot the cock. These birds are found in considerable numbers from this place up to the Rocky Mountains. In the daytime we suffered great heat in these excursions, while there was also a high wind, and the ground was hard and dry; the soles of our shoes became so polished on this ground and the hard dry grass, that it was difficult and fatiguing to walk on the slopes. We were forced to remain here many days, because the water was very shallow, and, during this time, we had several violent thunder-storms. It is a peculiarity of this part of the country that, in spring, rain, storms, and tempests prevail, while the summer and autumn are, in general, very dry. All the small streams in the extensive prairies then dry up, and there is a general want of water, except in the vicinity of the large rivers.

On the 21st of May it was so cool that we were obliged to have fires in the cabins; the river had risen a little, and we endeavoured to proceed. Captain Pratte, of the Assiniboin, came on board with a man named May, a beaver hunter, who had left Fort Union, on the Yellow Stone, in March. He confirmed the account of the murder of the three men by the Arikkaras, and added the still more alarming intelligence, that thirteen of the Company's engagés had been killed by the Blackfoot Indians. He said that the herds of buffaloes had left the Missouri, and had been followed by the Sioux Indians, so that we must expect to see only a few of them on the river. The keel-boat of the Assiniboin had taken part of our cargo on board on the 22nd, and, as there was rather more depth of water, the Yellow Stone had been got afloat, after a delay of five days in this shallow place. We happened to be on the hills when the bell summoned us on board, and hastened as quickly as possible to the bank, but came too late, and were compelled to follow the vessel for a couple of hours, clambering over fragments of stone, pieces of rock, to creep through thickets full of thorns and burrs, or to wade through morasses; and not till eleven o'clock did we get on board. The hills on both sides of the river were of singular forms; some of them were crowned with rocks resembling ancient towers and ruins. The eminences had some dark spots, caused by black shining strata of coal. Many of these strata had been on fire, and one of them was extinguished only last year, after having burnt more than three years. Such a thick stratum of bituminous coal ran in a well-defined stripe on both sides of the river, at an equal elevation, along all the hills, as far as the eye could reach; and it is not difficult to follow this stratum for many hundred miles; it is only interrupted, at intervals, by ravines. Some lofty hills, hereabouts, are called Bijoux Hills, after a person of that name, who resided here many years. 147 The next morning we found the Assiniboin at the foot of these hills. Our steamer could not be moved till noon, and then did not proceed far, but lay to near a sand bank. On the morning of the 24th, Major Bean left us, accompanied by Mr. Bodmer, to go by land to Sioux Agency, or Fort Lookout, where he intended to wait for us. He had procured saddle-horses from that place. As we expected the keel-boat, to lighten the ship, we had time to go ashore and make an excursion inland. At eleven o'clock the bell summoned us to return. The vessel was made to drop about 2,000 paces down the river, and then, with much exertion, to proceed along the north-east bank, where we found the Maria keel-boat, which had likewise run aground, but had been got afloat by its crew, who laboured up to their waists in water, while the people were lightening our steamer. Mr. Mc Kenzie and myself went on shore to explore the neighbouring eminences, where we found many rare plants. The geology and mineralogy of these hills are likewise interesting. The surface consists of clay of various colours, partly resembling lithomarge; plates and fragments of foliated gypsum were scattered around, and seemed to stand out in the clay. When we reached the bare sterile heights which belong to the black burnt stratifications, I found the soil quite different from what it had appeared to me when I looked at it from below. The whole consists of a clay, which has undergone the effects of fire, and is partly burnt black on the surface. We saw no living creatures on these bare heights, except the finch (Fringilla grammaca), first described by Say. Several caves or dens of wolves, foxes, and marmots, were observed in the declivities of the hills. Between four and five o'clock, the keel-boat having been sent on before, the Yellow Stone proceeded along the northeast bank. Near the Shannon, or Dry River, the sun sank behind the poplar wood on the bank, and we lay to for the night. From the Shannon, the mouth of which is on the west side, the territory of the Sioux nations is reckoned to extend up the Missouri. On the east bank, as I have observed, it begins much sooner.

At five o'clock, on the following morning, the 25th of May, we had already reached the White River, and at noon came to a place where the Cedar Fort, a trading post of the Missouri Fur Company, had formerly stood. When the Company was dissolved, this and other settlements were abandoned, and demolished by the Indians. Directly opposite, on the east bank, a stratum of earth burnt till 1823, in consequence of which a large portion of a hill fell, and now stands isolated before the bank; it is seventy or eighty feet high, and 150 feet long. In the course of the day we came to a place where an Arikkara village had formerly stood, on the ridge of the hills, which was destroyed by the Sioux, and the inhabitants expelled. Opposite to this was Fort Lookout, where the French Fur Trading Company had a post. A little further up the river we saw, on the hills, some burying-places of the Sioux Indians; most of them were formed of a high platform, on four stakes, on which the corpse, sewn up in skins, lies at full length; others consisted of stakes and brushwood, like a kind of hedge, in the middle of which the deceased is buried in the ground. We were told that the son of a chief was buried in one of the latter, in a 148 standing posture. On a point of land, at the left hand, round which the Missouri turns to the west, we saw the buildings of Sioux Agency; the Yellow Stone saluted the post with several guns, and was welcomed to the fort by the hoisting of a flag, while the whole population, about fifty in number, chiefly consisting of Sioux Indians, were assembled on the beach. We greeted our friends Major Bean and Mr. Bodmer, and proceeded a mile further, to an extensive forest, where we took in wood, and stopped for the night. In order to get acquainted with the Sioux, in whom I took so much interest, I returned, in a heavy rain, through the bushes and high grass, to the agency, where Major Bean received me very kindly, though his dwelling, according to the fashion of the place, was rudely constructed, and he was incommoded by too many visitors.

Sioux Agency, or, as it is now usually called, Fort Lookout, is a square, of about sixty paces, surrounded by pickets, twenty or thirty feet high, made of squared trunks of trees, placed close to each other, within which the dwellings are built close to the palisades. These dwellings consisted of only three block-houses, with several apartments. Close to the fort, in a northern direction, the Fur Company of Mr. Soublette had a dwelling-house, with a store; and, in the opposite direction, was a similar post of the American Fur Company. The fort is agreeably situated on a green spot, near the river, partly covered with bushes, and partly open, bounded by hills, beyond which the prairie extends, first, with a few old trees, and some wooded spots, but soon assuming its peculiar bare character. About ten leather tents or huts of the Sioux, of the branch of the Yanktons or Yanktoans, were set up near the fort.

The Dacotas, as they call themselves, or the Sioux of the French, called by the Ojibuas or Chippeways, Nandoesi (which has been corrupted into Nadowassis), are still one of the most numerous Indian tribes in North America. Pike stated their number at 21,575 souls, and they are still reckoned at 20,000; nay, some even affirm, that they are still able to furnish 15,000 warriors, which seems rather too high an estimate. Major Long, who gives much information respecting this people, calculates their number at 28,100, of which 7,055 are warriors, the nation possessing 2,330 tents, which agrees pretty nearly with the statements we received on the Missouri. If we add the Assiniboins, who are of the same origin, and who are estimated at 28,000, we shall have for all the Dacotas, 56,100 souls, of whom 14,055 are warriors, and the number of their tents 5,330. Major Long is of opinion that they cannot be calculated at less than 25,000 souls, and 6,000 warriors; 20,000 is, therefore, not too high an estimate.

The territory which they inhabit extends from Big Sioux River, between the Missouri and the Mississippi, down the latter to Rock River, and northwards to Elk River; then westwards, in a line which includes the sources of St. Peter's River, and reaches the Missouri below the Mandan villages, stretches down it, crosses it near Heart River, and includes the whole country on the western bank, to the Black Hills about Teton River, as far as Shannon River. The Sioux are divided into several branches, which all speak the same language, with some deviations. 149 Three principal branches live on the Missouri, viz., the Yanktons, or Yanktoans, the Tetons, or Titoans, and the Yanktonans, or Yanktoanons. The Mende-Wakan-Toann, or the people of the Spirit Lake, and some others, live on the Mississippi. All these branches together are, as Major Long says, divided by the traders into two great classes—the Gens du Lac and the Gens du Large; i.e., those who live near the Spirit Lake, and are now chiefly found on the banks of the Mississippi, and those who roam about in the prairies. The Yanktoanons are said to constitute one-fifth of all the Dacotas, and the Tetons the half of the whole nation.

The Dacotas roam as far as the territory of the Puncas, over the Black Hills, to the Arkansa, and westwards to the Rocky Mountains, into the territory of the Crows, on the Yellow Stone River, &c. Pike makes them, as well as the Pawnees, descend from the Tartars; but many objections may be made to this notion, as the affinity of the North Americans and the people of Asia is not proved, and the resemblance between them appears to be very limited. In general, these Indians have more strongly-marked countenances and higher cheek-bones than many other tribes on the Missouri, nor are their features so regular or pleasing, yet there is no considerable difference in their physiognomy. Bradbury says they are much inferior in stature to the Osages, Mandans, and Puncas, and by no means so robust; but this assertion must be very much restricted, because there are many tall men among the Dacotas. The Yanktons live in Sioux Agency, or the furthest down the Missouri, among which tribe we now were. All these Dacotas of the Missouri, as well as most of those of the Mississippi, are only hunters, and, in their excursions, always live in portable leather tents. Only two branches of them are exceptions to this rule, especially the Wahch-Pe-Kutch, on the Mississippi, who cultivate maize and other plants, and therefore live in fixed villages. All these Indians have great numbers of horses and dogs, the latter of which often serve them as food. The Dacotas, on the Missouri, were formerly dangerous enemies to the Whites. Bradbury calls them blood-thirsty savages; whereas now, with the exception of the Yanktonans, they bear a very good character, and constantly keep peace with the Whites. Pike seems to have too high an idea of their valour; at least, this is the opinion now entertained on the Missouri. Such of these Indians as reside near the Whites, are frequently connected with them by marriages, and depend on them for support. They then become negligent hunters, indolent, and, consequently, poor. This was partly the case at Sioux Agency, where they rarely possessed more than two horses. One of the most considerable men among them, wholly devoted to the Whites, was Wahktageli, called the Big Soldier, a tall, good-looking man, about sixty years of age, with a high aquiline nose, and large animated eyes. Besides him, there were several elderly, and some slender young men of this nation, here. They had, in general, a rather narrow, oval countenance, narrow, long eyes, and aquiline, or straight, well-formed noses; their colour was a dark brown. They wore their hair hanging down long over the shoulders, and often plaited en queue; the older men, however, let it hang loosely, cut off a little below the 150 neck, and turned back from the forehead. Younger people generally wore it parted, a large lock hanging down on the nose; young men had the upper part of the body only wrapped in their large white or painted buffalo hides. They had long strings of blue and white wampum shells in their ears; some of them wore one, two, or three feathers, which were partly stripped till towards the point.

Mr. Bodmer having expressed a wish, immediately on the arrival of the Big Soldier, to paint his portrait at full length, he appeared in his complete state dress. His face was painted red with vermilion, and with short, black, parallel, transverse stripes on the cheeks. On his head he wore long feathers of birds of prey, which were tokens of his warlike exploits, particularly of the enemies he had slain. They were fastened in a horizontal position with strips of red cloth. In his ears he wore long strings of blue glass beads, and, on his breast, suspended from his neck, the great silver medal of the United States. His leather leggins, painted with dark crosses and stripes, were very neatly ornamented with a broad embroidered stripe of yellow, red, and sky-blue figures, consisting of dyed porcupine quills, and his shoes were adorned in the same manner. His buffalo robe was tanned white, and he had his tomahawk or battle-axe in his hand. He appeared to stand very willingly as a 151 model for Mr. Bodmer, and remained the whole day in the position required, which, in general, the Indians find it difficult to do. The remainder of these people were now entirely without ornaments, naked, and the upper parts of their bodies not at all painted, but only wrapped in their buffalo robes. On their backs they carried their quivers, which were made of leather, in which their arrows are kept; they carry their bows in their hands.

The features of the women resembled, on the whole, those we have already described, yet their faces, for the most part, were not so broad and flat as those of the Saukies, or Musquake women, and some were even pretty. The tents of the Sioux are high pointed cones, made of strong poles, covered with buffalo skins, closely sewed together. These skins are scraped on both sides, so that they become as transparent as parchment, and give free admission to the light. At the top, where the poles meet, or cross each other, there is an opening, to let out the smoke, which they endeavour to close by a piece of the skin covering of the tent, fixed to a separate pole standing upright, and fastened to the upper part of the covering on the side from which the wind blows. The door is a slit, in the front of the tent, which is generally closed by another piece of buffalo hide, stretched upon a frame. A small fire is kept up in the centre of the tent. Poles are stuck in the ground, near the tent, and utensils of various kinds are suspended from them. There are, likewise, stages, on which to hang the newly-tanned hides; others, with gaily-painted parchment pouches and bags, on some of which they hang their bows, arrows, quivers, leather shields, spears, and war clubs.

We paid a visit to Wahktageli in his tent, and had some difficulty in creeping into the narrow, low entrance, after pulling aside the skin that covered it. The inside of this tent was 152 light, and it was about ten paces in diameter. Buffalo skins were spread on the ground, upon which we sat down. Between us and the side of the tent were a variety of articles, such as pouches, boxes, saddles, arms, &c. A relation of the chief was employed in making arrows, which were finished very neatly, and with great care. Wahktageli immediately, with much gravity, handed the tobacco-pipe round, and seemed to inhale the precious smoke with great delight. His wife was present; their children were married. The conversation was carried on by Cephier, the interpreter kept by the Agency, who accompanied us on this visit. It is the custom with all the North American Indians, on paying a visit, to enter in perfect silence, to shake hands with the host, and unceremoniously sit down beside him. Refreshments are then presented, which the Big Soldier could not do, as he himself stood in need of food. After this the pipe circulates. The owner of a neighbouring tent had killed a large elk, the skin of which the women were then busily employed in dressing. They had stretched it out, by means of leather straps, on the ground near the tent, and the women were scraping off the particles of flesh and fat with a very well-contrived instrument. It is made of bone, sharpened at one end, and furnished with little teeth like a saw, and, at the other end, a strap, which is fastened round the wrist. The skin is scraped with the sharp side of this instrument till it is perfectly clean. Several Indians have iron teeth fixed to this bone. Besides this operation, we took particular notice of the harness of the dogs and horses, hanging up near the tent, both these animals being indispensable to the Indians to transport their baggage on their journeys. Even the great tent, with many long, heavy poles, is carried by horses, as well as the semi-globular, transparent wicker panniers, under which the little children are protected against sun and rain, by spreading blankets and skins over them. Smaller articles are conveyed by the dogs, as we shall relate in the sequel. Many of the Sioux are rich, and have twenty or more horses, which they obtained originally from the Spaniards on the Mississippi, and the frontier of New Mexico on the Oregon, but which are now found in great numbers among the several Indian nations. One of their most important employments is to steal horses, and the theft of one of these animals, from another nation, is considered as an exploit, and as much, nay more honoured than the killing of an enemy. The dogs, whose flesh is eaten by the Sioux, are equally valuable to the Indians. In shape they differ very little from the wolf, and are equally large and strong. Some are of the real wolf colour; others black, white, or spotted with black and white, and differing only by the tail being rather more turned up. Their voice is not a proper barking, but a howl, like that of the wolf, and they partly descend from wolves, which approach the Indian huts, even in the daytime, and mix with the dogs.

Among the peculiar customs of the Sioux is their treatment of the dead. Those who die 153 at home are sewed up, as I have before stated, in blankets and skins, in their complete dress, painted, and laid with their arms and other effects on a high stage, supported by four poles, till they are decomposed, when they are sometimes buried. Those who have been killed in battle are immediately interred on the spot. Sometimes, too, in times of peace, they bury their dead in the ground, and protect them against the wolves by a fence of wood and thorns. There were many such graves in the vicinity of the Sioux Agency, among which was that of the celebrated chief, Tschpunka, who was buried with his full dress and arms, and his face painted red. Very often, however, they lay their dead in trees; and we saw, in the neighbourhood of this place, an oak, in which there were three bodies wrapped in skins. At the foot of the tree there was a small arbour, or shed, made of branches of poplar, which the relations had built for the purpose of coming to lament and weep over the dead, which they frequently do for several days successively. As a sign of mourning, they cut off their hair with the first knife that comes to hand, daub themselves with white clay, and give away all their best clothes and valuable effects, as well as those of the deceased, to the persons who happen to be present. The corpse of a young woman had been enveloped in skins about a week before, and placed between the branches of the oak, with six pieces of wood under it; and a little higher in the tree there was a child. Guided by the obliging interpreter, we viewed everything remarkable in the Sioux agency, which, indeed, is confined to the Indians and their mode of life. Major Bean had the kindness to accommodate us for the night.

We passed the 26th of May here, when Mr. Bodmer finished his very capital likeness of Wahktageli. The elk, killed by the Indians, furnished us with fresh meat, and we considered ourselves very well off. In the afternoon, Messrs. Mc Kenzie and Sandford came from the Yellow Stone to visit us, and we returned on board in the evening.

The following morning (27th) was cool, windy, and cloudy, and, at half-past seven, the thermometer at only 54°. It was so cold that we had fires in our cabins the whole day. Major Bean had the courtesy to present me with the complete dress of the Big Soldier, an interesting souvenir of the friendly reception we had met with in his house. The Assiniboin passed us rapidly in the afternoon, and we followed. A well-known Sioux chief, called Tukan Haton, and, by the Americans, the Little Soldier, was on board with his family, intending to accompany us to Fort Pièrre, on the Teton River. These Indians were in mourning for some of their relations lately deceased; their dress was, therefore, as bad as possible, and their faces daubed with white clay. The Big Soldier also paid us a visit previous to our departure. He had no feathers on his head, but only a piece of red cloth. After receiving some food he took leave, and we saw the grotesque, tall figure stand for a long time motionless on the beach. As the vessel proceeded very quickly, our Indians laid down their heads as a sign that they were giddy, but they were soon relieved, as the water became shallow. We lay to not far above the stream which 154 Lewis and Clarke call the Three Rivers. Here we again had leisure to make an excursion in the wood, where the ground was covered with pea vine (Apios tuberosa), and a plant resembling convallaria. The Carolina pigeon was frequent here, and was sought after by our people for their dinner, to which the river contributed some cat-fish, of the usual olive-brown kind. Our Indians kindled their fire in the neighbouring wood, and lay around it, but soon returned to the vessel.

Early on the 28th, part of the goods had been put into the keel-boat, to lighten the steamer, which was accomplished by eight o'clock. From this place to the Big Bend of the Missouri is fifteen miles, before reaching which we came to an island, which has been formed since Lewis and Clarke were there. The same stratum of coal, which I have before mentioned, ran along the hills, and was visible at a great distance. We soon overtook the Assiniboin, and reached the Big Bend which the Missouri takes round a flat point of land; following the course of the river, it is twenty-five miles round, while the isthmus is only one mile and a half across. The large peninsula, round which the Missouri turns, is flat, and bordered with poplars and willows; the opposite bank is higher, steep, and bare. A couple of antelopes were, in this place, frightened by the noise of our steamer; these animals are said to be very numerous here in the winter time. The Little Soldier sat by the fireside, smoking his pipe, in doing which, like all the Indians, he inhaled the smoke, a custom which is, doubtless, the cause of many pectoral diseases. The tobacco, which the Indians of this part of the country smoke, is called kini-kenick, and consists of the inner green bark of the red willow, dried, and powdered, and mixed with the tobacco of the American traders. According to Say, they also smoke the leaves of the arrow-wood (Viburnum), when they have none of the bark.

On the 29th, we were nearly at the end of the Big Bend, and stopped, at seven o'clock in the morning, to cut down cedars. Here we ascended the lofty, steep hills, which were partly bare, and burnt black, and from which we had a view of the whole bend of the river. To the south, we saw the tops of the Medicine Hills, which are about eight miles from the Medicine Creek, on the west bank. Towards noon there appeared, on the western bank, steep, rocky walls, and, behind them, singularly-formed hills, some resembling pyramids, others, round towers, &c. At this place we suddenly espied a canoe, with four men in it, which touched at a sand bank; a boat was put out, and brought back two of the strangers, who proved to be Mr. Lamont, a member of the Fur Company, and Major Mitchell, one of their officers, and Director of Fort Mc Kenzie, which is situated near the falls of the Missouri. They came last from Fort Pièrre, and were on their way to St. Louis, but we persuaded them to return with us. Having taken in 155 wood on the morning of the 30th, we came to a leather tent on the bank, in which three of the Company's engagés and some Indians lived, to take care of 100 horses, belonging to Fort Pièrre. They had lately killed three antelopes, and gave us some of the fresh meat. At seven o'clock we had, on the right hand, Simoneau's Island, which, in Lewis and Clarke's map, is called Elk Island; it was covered with lofty, green poplars. Soon after twelve o'clock we came to a plantation, made by the inhabitants of Fort Pièrre, where we found about ten men, who had got ready a great quantity of fine stack wood for our vessel. At this place, which is only three miles from the fort, we observed hills, of a singular form, often cleft perpendicularly, and, in the river, several islands, all of which have now different names from those given to them by Lewis and Clarke. Before six, in the evening, we reached the mouth of the Teton River, or the Little Missouri, which the Sioux call the Bad River. It rises in the Black Hills, and has a long course, with many windings; but is said, however, to be straight for 150 miles from the mouth. In this part of the Missouri are vast sand banks, on which we saw a numerous flock of pelicans. These birds, however, only stop here on their passage, and do not build their nests. The river is very wide at the mouth of the Teton, and has extensive low prairies, with a border of poplars and willows. The French Fur Company had formerly a fort just above the mouth of the Teton, which was abandoned when the Companies joined, and another built further up, which was called Fort Teton; this, too, was abandoned; and Fort Pièrre (so called after Mr. Pièrre Chouteau) was erected higher up, on the west bank, opposite an island.

The steamer had proceeded a little further, when we came in sight of the Fort, to the great joy of all on board: the colours were hoisted, both on the steamer and on the fort, which produced a very good effect between the trees on the bank; a small village, consisting of thirteen Sioux tents, lay on the left hand. Our steamer first began to salute with its cannon, which was returned from the shore by a running fire of musketry, and this was answered from our deck by a similar very brisk fire. Before we reached the landing-place, we perceived an isolated, decayed old house, the only remains of Fort Tecumseh, and, ten minutes afterwards, landed at Fort Pièrre, on the fifty-first day of our voyage from St. Louis. A great crowd came to welcome us; we were received by the whole population, consisting of some hundred persons, with the white inhabitants at their head, the chief of whom was Mr. Laidlow, a proprietor of the Fur Company, who has the management at this place. There were many Indians among them, who had done their part to welcome us by firing their muskets, which they carried in their hands. There seemed to be no end of shaking hands; a thousand questions were asked, and the latest news, on both sides, was eagerly sought for. Mr. Fontenelle, who was to undertake a journey to the Rocky Mountains, was already here, having performed the journey, on horseback, in eleven days. As soon as we set foot on land, we proceeded, accompanied by numbers of persons, to the Fort, to which there is a straight road of about a quarter of a mile. We put up at Mr. Laidlow's house, where we rested beside a good fire.

156 Fort Pièrre is one of the most considerable settlements of the Fur Company on the Missouri, and forms a large quadrangle, surrounded by high pickets, round which the buildings stand in the manner already described. At the north-east and south-west corners there are block-houses, with embrasures, f, f, the fire of which commands the curtain; the upper story is adapted for small arms, and the lower for some cannon; each side of the quadrangle is 108 paces in length; the front and back, g, g, each 114 paces; the inner space eighty-seven paces in diameter. From the roof of the block-houses, which is surrounded with a gallery, there is a fine prospect over the prairie; and there is a flag-staff on the roof, on which the colours are hoisted. The timber for this fort was felled from forty to sixty miles up the river, and floated down, because none fit for the purpose was to be had in the neighbourhood. Mr. Laidlow's dwelling-house, d, d, consisted of one story only, but was very conveniently arranged, with large rooms, fire-places, and glass windows. Next this house was a smaller building, e, for the office and the residence of a clerk. The other clerks, the interpreters for the different Indian nations, the engagés and their families, altogether above 100 persons, lived in the other buildings, a, a, a, a. Opposite, in c, c, were the stores, at that time of the value of 80,000 dollars; and in other rooms, the furs obtained from the Indians by barter. The fort has two large doors, g, g, opposite each other, which are shut in the evening; in b there was an enclosed piece of garden ground. The situation of the settlement is agreeable; the verdant prairie is very extensive, animated by herds of cattle and horses; of the latter, Fort Pièrre possessed 150, and of the former, thirty-six, which afforded a sufficient supply of milk and fresh butter. Indians, on foot and on horseback, were scattered all over the plain, and their singular stages for the dead were in great numbers near the Fort; immediately behind which, the leather tents of the Sioux Indians, of the branches of the Tetons and the Yanktons, stood, like a little village; among them the most distinguished was the tent of the old interpreter, Dorion, a half Sioux, who is mentioned by many travellers, and resides here with his Indian family. This tent was large, and painted red; at the top of the poles composing 157 it some scalps fluttered in the wind. A great number of Indian dogs surrounded this village, which did not differ from those we have already described. Many of them were perfectly similar to the wolf in form, size, and colour; they did not bark, but showed their teeth when any one approached them.

Near the fort we roused, in the thickets, a Virginian deer, and saw wolves, in the middle of the day, prowling about in the prairies; but we could not get near them, and fired at them in vain with our rifles. Round an isolated tree in the prairie I observed a circle of holes in the ground, in which thick poles had stood. A number of buffalo skulls were piled up there; and we were told that this was a medicine, or charm, contrived by the Indians in order to entice the herds of buffaloes. Everywhere in the plain we saw circles of clods of earth, with a small circular ditch, where the tents of many Indians had stood. This time we visited the Indian tents uninvited; in that which we first entered there were several tall, good-looking men assembled; the owner of the tent was a man of middle-size; his complexion very light, and his features agreeable. His wives were dressed very neatly, and were remarkably clean, especially the one who appeared to be the principal; she wore a very elegant leather dress, with stripes and borders of azure and white beads, and polished metal buttons, and trimmed as usual at the bottom with fringes, round the ends of which lead is twisted, so that they tinkle at every motion. Her summer robe, which was dressed smooth on both sides, was painted red and black, on a yellowish white ground. She estimated all these articles of dress very highly. Among the effects piled up inside the tent, there were several interesting things, such as cradles for the infants, viz., ornamented boards, to which they are fastened with broad leathern straps, one passing over the head, and the other over the middle of the body. The workmanship of these leathern straps was remarkably neat and curious; for instance, they were entirely covered with a ground of milk-white porcupine quills, on which figures of men, of a vermilion colour, and black figures of dogs, and other similar patterns, were most tastefully embroidered, and all of the most lively and well-chosen colours. After we had conversed with the men, the pipe circulated. The pipes of 158 the Dacotas are very beautiful, in truth the most beautiful of all the North American Indians, which they make, in various forms, of the red indurated clay, or stone.

The pipe has a long, flat, broad wooden tube, which is ornamented with tufts of horse-hair, dyed red, yellow, or green, and wound round with strings of porcupine quills of divers colours. We looked at the women as they were at work. For the shoes which they made they had softened the leather in a tub of water, and stretched it in the breadth and length with their teeth. In the middle of the hut was a fire, over which the kettle was suspended by a wooden hook; they now all use iron kettles, which they obtain from the traders. Before most of the tents poles were placed, leaning against each other, to which gaily-painted parchment pouches were hung, and likewise the medicine-bags, as they are called, in which the medicine, or charms, are preserved, and which they open and consult only on solemn or important occasions, such as campaigns and the like. Here, too, were suspended the bow and quiver of arrows, spears, and a round shield of thick leather, with a thin cover, also of the same material. In another tent the women were dressing the skins, either with a pumice-stone, or with the before-described toothed instrument, which was here entirely of iron. They then pulled the skin over a line, in all directions, backwards and forwards, to make it pliable.

The Sioux at Fort Pièrre were in general slender, sometimes muscular-men, of middling stature, though some of them were tall. They had oval faces, with prominent cheek-bones, slightly-curved and well-formed noses; the inner angle of the eye often drawn down. Their faces were painted red, some with white rings round the eyes, and others with a black point on the forehead, or a white circle with a black point on each cheek. Some had strings of wampum in their ears, but the greater part of them strings of white or blue glass beads, and round their necks an elegant, and frequently broad necklace, embroidered with white beads. The neck and breast of several were marked with dark blue tattooed stripes, or only with some small figures. These Indians let their hair grow as long as possible, and plait it behind in a long tail, which is ornamented with round pieces of brass, and often hangs down to a great length, as among the Chinese. Many of the Dacotas have three such tails, one behind, and one at each side, for the Indians on the Upper Missouri take much pride in long hair, whereas those in the country lower 159 down the river, cut it short. Some wore feathers in their hair, which are tokens of their exploits, and are determined with great precision, according to the merit of the wearer. The annexed figure of a Dacota shows the manner in which the hair is divided into plaits.

The women wore their hair hanging down, naturally parted on the middle of the head, and the parting painted red. Their robes were coloured red and black. Their shoes are neatly ornamented with various figures made of dyed porcupine quills. I purchased several Dacota shoes; and, among them, a pair, on the upper part of which the figure of a bear's footstep was very neatly embroidered in bright colours. The old women are generally very ugly and dirty, as they are obliged to do very hard work.

The Sioux, who live on Teton River, near Fort Pièrre, are mostly of the branch of the Tetons; though there are some Yanktons here. The former are divided into five branches, and the latter into three. Like all the North American Indians, they highly prize personal bravery, and, therefore, constantly wear the marks of distinction which they have received for their exploits; among these are, especially, tufts of human hair attached to their arms and legs, and feathers on their heads. He who, in the sight of the adversaries, touches a slain or a living enemy, places a feather horizontally in his hair for this exploit. They look upon this as a very distinguished act, for many are often killed in the attempt, before the object is attained. He who kills an enemy by a blow with his fist, sticks a feather upright in his hair. If the enemy is killed with a musket, a small piece of wood is put in the hair, which is intended to represent a ramrod. If a warrior is distinguished by many deeds, he has a right to wear the great feather-cap, with ox-horns, 160 which will be described in the sequel. This cap, composed of eagle's feathers, which are fastened to a long strip of red cloth, hanging down the back, is highly valued by all the tribes on the Missouri, and they never part with it except for a good horse. In a battle with the Pawnees, a Sioux chief was killed, who wore such a cap; the conqueror wore it as a trophy, and the Sioux recognized him by it in the next battle; they made great efforts to kill him, and succeeded in wounding him; but his horse was too fleet for them, and he always escaped. Whoever first discovers the enemy, and gives notice to his comrades of their approach, is allowed to wear a small feather, which is stripped, except towards the top. The scalps taken in battle are drawn over small hoops, and hung on the top of the tent-poles. He who takes a prisoner wears a particular bracelet. These Indians frequently possess from thirty to forty horses, and are then reckoned to be rich. The tents are generally composed of fourteen skins, each worth two dollars. We were told, that wealthy people sometimes have eight or nine wives, because they are able to support them. The Sioux do not understand the treatment of diseases, but generally cure wounds very well. Before their death, they usually determine whether they will be buried, or be placed on a stage, or in a tree.

There was, among the Dacotas at this place, a young Punca Indian, whose name was Ho-Ta-Ma, a handsome, friendly man, who often amused himself with different games; frequently he was seen with his comrades playing at what was called the hoop game, at which sticks, covered with leather, are thrown through a hoop in motion. In the daytime the Indians were often seen galloping their horses, mostly riding on their bare backs: sometimes they ran races, as Mr. Bodmer has represented. In the evening they drive their horses into the fort, as they are more safe from a hostile attack, and horse-stealing is universally practised by the Indians. The Indian families residing here are mostly related to the white inhabitants of the fort, and, therefore, constantly abide near them. The men lead a very indolent life; for, besides the chase and war, their only occupations are eating, smoking, sleeping, and making their weapons.

During our stay here, on board the vessel, we were continually besieged by Indians, who did not move from the spot. Our time was, therefore, divided between these visitors and our excursions into the prairie. On the 2nd of June, 7,000 buffalo skins and other furs were put on board the Yellow Stone, with which it was to return to St. Louis. We took this opportunity of sending letters to Europe: the Assiniboin was assigned us for the continuation of the voyage. The weather, at this time, was very unfavourable; it rained at a temperature of 57°, and we were obliged to have a fire in our cabin throughout the day. The Assiniboin had already taken our baggage on board, but still lay on the east bank, for an attempt to bring it over to our side had failed, because the water was too low. In the afternoon, when we visited Mr. Laidlow in the fort, six Sioux, from the prairie, arrived on horseback, whose horde, of 200 tents, was at the distance of a 161 day's journey. They brought word that, two days' march from the fort, there were numerous herds of buffaloes. Among these new comers there were some elderly men; the plaits of their hair were wound about with strips of skin, and their faces were painted red; their bodies were fleshy, which was a proof that they had suffered less from hunger than those in the fort. They paid a visit first to the Assiniboin, and then to Mr. Laidlow, who gave them food and tobacco. Mr. Lamont, who had taken leave of us to-day, to go by the steam-boat to St. Louis, embarked with some of the Company's clerks: he was saluted with several cannon shot, and before evening the Yellow Stone rapidly descended the river. While Messrs. Mc Kenzie, Sandford, and Mitchell took up their abode in the fort, we went on board the Assiniboin, from which I made, on the 4th of June, an interesting excursion into the prairie, in order to make myself acquainted with the eastern bank.

I left the vessel at half-past seven o'clock, the thermometer being at 59°, and immediately ascended the steep eminences, of which the lower were covered partly with bright green, partly with dry, yellow grass, and the higher ones bare, with the surface frequently blackened by fire. A path, trodden by the elks to the river, led me to the highest summit, from which I had a pleasing prospect of the opposite bank and the fort. It lay, clearly delineated, in the extensive verdant plain, bounded by a singular chain of hills; and I again distinguished, half way up the mountains, the black stripe of the extensive stratum of coal. At noon it was warm and I returned much heated, the thermometer being at 72°. We received a visit from six or seven newly arrived Tetons, whom the interpreter, Dorion, introduced to us. They were particularly interested by the steam-boat, and, after they had very minutely examined it, they were served with dinner and pipes. The dinner chiefly consisted of bacon, which the Indians do not like; 162 they, however, swallowed it, in order that they might not appear uncourteous. Among them was a Teton, named Wah-Menitu (the spirit, or god, in the water), and who had such a voracious appetite, that he devoured everything which the others had left; his face was painted red; he had a remarkably projecting upper lip, and an aquiline nose much bent. In his hair, which hung in disorder about his head, with a plait coming over one of his eyes or nose, the feather of a bird of prey was placed horizontally; but observe that he had a right to wear three. Mr. Bodmer, who desired to draw this man's portrait, gave him some vermilion, on which he spat, and rubbed his face with it, drawing parallel lines, in the red colour, with a wooden stick. Wah-Menitu stayed on board for the night; sung, talked, laughed, and joked without ceasing; and seemed quite to enjoy himself.

CHAPTER XIII

VOYAGE FROM FORT PIERRE, ON THE TETON RIVER, TO FORT CLARKE, NEAR THE VILLAGES OF THE MANDANS, FROM JUNE 5TH TO JUNE 19TH

Singular conformation of the Country—Traces of Fire—Chayenne Island and River—Former abode of the Arikkaras—The Woodcutters alarmed by the Indians—Cabris or Antelopes—Wolves and other Animals—Little Chayenne River—Abundance of Game—Traces of the Beaver, and of the breaking-up of the Ice—Moreau's River—Grand or Wetarko River—Rampart River—The two abandoned Villages of the Arikkaris—La Butte au Grès—La Butte de Chayenne—Murder of Whites by the Arikkaras—Cannon-ball River, with its Sand-stone Balls—Heart River—La Butte Carrée—Interview with the Yanktonans—Fort Clarke, near the Mandan Villages—The Mandans—The Crows.

Our departure was delayed till ten o'clock on the 5th of June, when three guns were fired, and we left the fort. The Assiniboin was perfectly equipped for the voyage up the river, and had sixty men on board. Mr. Mc Kenzie had remained behind in the fort, but overtook us at noon with Mr. Laidlow, who was desirous to accompany us a little way. We had stopped at an island called, by the Canadians, Isle au Village de Terre, because, on the other side of the channel which divides it from the continent, there was formerly a village of the Sioux. This island was covered with an almost impenetrable thicket of narrow-leaved willows, which was so dense and entangled, that one of our large dogs caught an elk calf alive; we heard its moaning, but were not able to find it. The next morning the thermometer was at 66½°. We were obliged to unload some goods, and to lighten our vessel, and our hunters brought us many interesting objects, particularly several birds, among which was the grey butcher-bird (Lanius excubitoroides), of which Richardson gives a representation, and which we had not met with before. Though antelopes and a white wolf had approached very closely to them, our hunters had not been able to kill any large animals. The addition to our Flora was very considerable. The hills all consisted of clammy, greasy, sterile clay, which was burnt on the surface, and covered with pieces of stone; and in many places we observed on them round masses, which looked as if they had been 164 melted and formed by fire. We stayed here till noon on the 7th of June, when we again proceeded with an agreeable temperature of 77½°. We ran aground several times, and at last took in our goods, which we had deposited on the left bank. This delay gave us time to make an excursion. In company with Mr. Bodmer, I ascended the slippery, very steep eminences along the river, the singular shapes of which often appeared to form perfect craters. The earth and stones everywhere indicated that they had undergone change by fire. The earth was hard, friable, with many crevices—the stones brown, blackish, and often looking like scoriæ. This clay, when wet, is exceedingly clammy and tough. The conical summits, most of which were perfectly round and pyramidal, were most singularly formed. At the top there were always very regular, parallel, horizontal rings; the lower parts of the pyramid had perpendicular furrows, or clefts, as the annexed woodcut shows. These conical hills have been evidently elevated by fire, so that many crater-like hollows are seen between and near them. In the furrows and clefts of these singular hills, many low plants grow, and form regular net-like green stripes on the bare black clay. These lines, intersecting each other, divide the surface into regular beds. The lower part of these eminences is generally covered with plants, particularly grasses, while the upper is bare, or merely crossed with the transverse stripes of verdure, and often they are entirely bare. The climbing up these high, slippery ascents in the heat of the day was rather fatiguing. When we came into the clefts between the pyramids, we found the ground, in general, slimy, and so adhesive that we were almost compelled to leave our shoes behind. In such places, some old red cedars, groups of the bird cherry, ashes, roses, &c., were nourished by the moisture. Near the hills, and in the plain, a cactus, with roundish, flat joints, grew in abundance. It was not yet in blossom, and I cannot say whether it is the plant taken, by Nuttall, for Cactus opuntia; probably it is Cactus ferox. We found many traces of antelopes and of herds of buffaloes. The latter had everywhere trodden broad paths on their way to the river to drink. No beast of the chase presented itself as an object for our rifles, and, as the sun was going down, we set out on our return. On the way we 165 found the horns of an elk, with twelve antlers, and it was late before we reached the Assiniboin. On the 8th of June, in the morning, we received a farewell visit from Mr. Laidlow, and then saw Mr. Fontenelle's party, consisting of sixty men and 185 horses, pass along over the hills. They rode in our sight through the stream called, by the Anglo-Americans, Breechcloth Creek, and, by the Sioux, Tscheh-ke-na-ka-oah-ta-pah. This stream, as well as most of the small rivers of the prairie, not excepting even the Little Sioux River, have, in general, a brackish taste when the water is low. Frequently taking soundings, we proceeded but slowly in the shallow Missouri, and, early in the afternoon, reached the place where the timber for building Fort Pièrre had been felled. From this place it is fifteen miles to the mouth of the Chayenne River. Finding some cords of wood ready piled up, we took them on board. At sunset, a high wind arose, so that we could not reach the mouth of the Chayenne till about seven o'clock on the following morning, after passing Chayenne Island. The country about the mouth of this river is open, the chain of hills low, and the banks covered with forests. At its mouth, and for some way up on both sides of the Missouri, the Arikkaras formerly dwelt, till they were driven further up by the Sioux, and, at length, wholly retired from the banks of the Missouri. If we follow the course of the Chayenne for a couple of hundred miles up to the Black Hills, we come to the dwellings of the Chayenne Indians, who are hostile to most of the tribes of the Missouri. They are said to be tall, slender men, with long, narrow faces, and differing in their language from all the other tribes in the country. They formerly lived at the mouth of Chayenne River. They affirm that they came to the Missouri from the north-east. Dr. Morse states their number at 3,250 souls.

We made but slow progress to-day; and at two o'clock, after our boats had taken soundings in all directions, we remained fast aground, and had burnt all our fuel, so that we had to send wood-cutters into the forests on the left bank. In about half an hour the boats suddenly returned, bringing word that hostile Indians had been seen in the forest, and the wood-cutters had, therefore, refused to begin their work. To give them courage, and to protect them during their work, all hands on board, that could be spared, armed themselves with rifles and muskets, and, to the number of twenty-six persons, immediately went on shore. They formed a line of outposts behind the trees, under whose protection the wood-cutters pursued their work. But they were not disturbed, for the Indians had retired, or it had been a false alarm. We lay to for the night on the west bank; a strong wind had risen, with a pretty high temperature, which continued till the following morning, the 10th of June. Early on that day we reached an island, which appears to be that called, by Lewis and Clarke, Caution Island, where a couple of white wolves gazed at us without appearing to be at all afraid. In the afternoon, we came to the mouth of Little Chayenne River, on the east bank. Elks are very numerous in these parts; on the following morning we saw a herd of, at least, thirty of these large animals, as well as a great many wolves, often three or four together, most of them white. The wood, on the high bank, bore marks of 166 the breaking up of the ice, the bark of the trees being peeled off eight or ten feet above ground. At noon, Mr. Bodmer had shot a very large male antelope, which we despatched some of the people to bring on board; other hunters, who had gone out early to the east bank, made signs that they had killed some game; and the boat which we sent to them returned in the evening with four large elks. In the thick forest, on the left bank, were many traces of beavers, which are more numerous hereabouts than in most of the other parts on the Missouri, because the trappers (beaver catchers) did not venture to place their traps in the territory of the hostile Arikkara Indians.

Opposite to the mouth of Otter Creek, in the woods and thickets of the west bank, behind which rose the green hills of the prairie, there were many elks, which were frightened by the noise of the steamer. In this forest we found an uninhabited loghouse, 180 steps from which runs a pretty river, called Moreau's River, from a man of that name who passed the night here with a Chayenne Indian woman, who had been taken by the Arikkaras and escaped. She stabbed him while he slept, and fled on his horse to her own nation. This river is called the southern boundary of the territory of the Arikkaras, though they often make excursions far beyond it. We stopped at the above-mentioned loghouse to cut wood, but it was found more convenient to pull down part of the old building and take it away. On the morning of the 12th, our cannon, muskets and rifles were loaded with ball, because we were approaching the villages of the hostile Arikkaras. We came to Grand River, called in Lewis and Clarke's map Wetarko River. As we here touched the bottom, we crossed to the east bank, and in half an hour reached Rampart River, which issues from a narrow chain of hills, called Les Ramparts; and soon afterwards an island covered with willows, which, on the large special map of Lewis and Clarke, has an Arikkara village, of which there are now no traces. From the hills we had a fine prospect over the bend of the river, on which the villages of the Arikkaras are situated, and which we reached after a short run of only two miles.

The two villages of this tribe are on the west bank, very near each other, but separated by a small stream. They consist of a great number of clay huts, round at the top, with a square entrance in front, and the whole surrounded with a fence of stakes, which were much decayed, and in many places thrown down. It is not quite a year since these villages had been wholly abandoned, because their inhabitants, who were extremely hostile to the Whites, killed so many Americans, that they themselves foresaw that they would be severely chastised by the United States, and therefore preferred to emigrate. To this cause was added, a dry, unproductive season, when the crops entirely failed; as well as the absence of the herds of buffaloes, which hastened their removal. It is said that these Indians now roam about on the road from St. Louis to Santa Fé, and the late attacks on the caravans are ascribed to them. Mr. Bodmer made an accurate drawing of these deserted villages. The principal chief of the Arikkaras, when they retired from 167 the Missouri, was called Starapat (the little hawk, with bloody claws), and generally La Main pleine de Sang, who will be mentioned in the sequel.

The Arikkaras, or, as they are called by the Mandans, Rikkaras or Rees, Les Ris of the Canadians, are a branch of the Pawnees, from whom they long since separated. Their language, which is very easy for a German to pronounce, is said to be a proof of this affinity. Their number is supposed to be still 4000 souls, among whom 500 or 600 are able to bear arms. The wife of La Chapelle, the interpreter for that nation, was an Arikkara; she had a round full countenance, and rather delicate small features, with a very light yellowish complexion. It is affirmed that the women of this nation are the handsomest on the Missouri. Manoel Lisa, a well-known fur trader, had formerly built a trading house in this country, of which nothing now remains; though the place is still called Manoel Lisa's Fort. The prairie was to-day more verdant and pleasant than yesterday. A mountain, with some remarkable summits, called La Butte au Grès, gave it some diversity. Here we suddenly saw, on the bank, a man, who fired his musket three times, and at first took him for an Indian; but another soon appeared, in a small leathern boat, and we learnt that both were engagés or travellers of the Company, who were dispatched from the Upper Missouri, with letters for Mr. Mc Kenzie. We took them in, and the little leathern boat was left lying on the beach. In the distance, on the left, there was a chain of mountains, with numerous summits, near which Cannon-ball River flows; and, nearer to the Missouri, a chain of flat hills, level at the top, with many clefts, called La Butte de Chayenne. In this neighbourhood we saw a high tree in a poplar wood, entirely covered with turkey buzzards, as in Brazil; towards evening we passed Beaver Creek (Rivière au Castor), the Warananno of Lewis and Clarke.

On the 14th, in the morning, the sky was clouded, and the wind very bleak. On the west bank of the river a ravine was shown us, where, seven or eight years before, the Arikkaras had shot seven white men, who were towing a loaded Mackinaw boat up the river.

After we had passed an island, which is not marked in Lewis and Clarke's map, we observed two isolated table mountains in the prairie, on the west bank, which are not far from Cannon-ball River; and we then came to an aperture in the chain of hills, from which this river, which was very high, issues. On the north side of the mouth, there was a steep, yellow clay wall; and on the southern, a flat, covered with poplars and willows. This river has its name from the singular regular sand-stone balls which are found in its banks, and in those of the Missouri in its vicinity. They are of various sizes, from that of a musket ball to that of a large bomb, and lie irregularly on the bank, or in the strata, from which they often project to half their thickness 168 when the river has washed away the earth; they then fall down, and are found in great numbers on the bank. Such sand-stone balls are met with in many places on the Upper Missouri; and former travellers have spoken of them. Many of them are rather elliptical, others are more flattened, and others flat on one side, and rather convex on the other. Of the perfectly spherical balls, I observed some two feet in diameter. On the steep bank of the Missouri we saw many such balls projecting from the narrow strata of the yellow sand-stone. A mile above the mouth of the Cannon-ball River, I saw no more of them. The Missouri had risen considerably; and, during the night, our people were obliged to keep off, with long poles, the trunks of trees that came floating down the river, without being able to prevent our receiving shocks which made the whole vessel tremble.

On the 15th, the river had risen nine inches, and brought down much wood and foam, which was expected, for it is reckoned that, in the month of June, the Missouri is twice much swollen from the melting of the snow in the Rocky Mountains. The weather was serene and warm. As early as half-past five o'clock we saw, on the eastern bank, a chain of table hills, quite flat at the top, which extends to a pretty considerable distance. The river turns, to the westward, towards this interesting chain, which is called the Mountains of the Old Mandan Village, because, at the place where it is traversed by the river, such a village is said to have formerly stood. At nine o'clock we stopped on the western bank to repair the damage the vessel had sustained, which gave our hunters time to make an excursion a few miles into the prairie. Towards eleven o'clock the bell gave the signal for departure. The current of the river was now very strong, so that we could proceed but slowly. We came to the site of the old Mandan village, which was situated, at the foot of the hills, in a fine meadow near the river; some poles, that were still standing, were the only remains of it; there was no village here at the time of Lewis and Clarke's journey. Dry, yellow grass now covered the place which had once been the scene of busy Indian life: only a colony of swallows, that had built their nests in the neighbouring hills, gave some animation to the scene. We were now in the territory of the Indian tribe of the Mandans. A little further up, we saw four of our hunters sitting on the level ground, which was covered with poplars; one of them, Ortubize, the Sioux interpreter, had killed a Virginian deer, and wounded a large elk, which had escaped; soon after, Messrs. Bodmer and Harvey arrived quite fatigued and heated; they had gone a great way, and very nearly missed the steamer. Mr. Harvey had killed a black-tailed or mule deer. They had met with four of these animals, and brought the 169 head and skin, with some of the flesh of the one killed. At the next place, where we reached the hills, an isolated summit rose above the rest, which is called Bald Eagle Head; these hills were beautifully illumined with the setting sun; we saw the white wolves trotting about on them, and some swans were swimming in the river. On the eastern bank we saw the ruins of an old trading house, and many traces of beavers. Near the mouth of Apple Creek we took in wood, and saw, on the left hand, the continuation of a chain of hills, of very singular forms. The night swallows flew over the river at an early hour, and a large beaver appeared among the willows, which we shot at without success. The 16th of June set in with a high northeast wind, accompanied with rain. We soon reached the mouth of Heart River, but the wind drove our vessel towards the bank, and we were obliged to lay to at six o'clock; and it was not till the evening that the wind so far abated as to allow us to continue our voyage. The next morning, early, we came in sight of the Butte Carrée. In the willow thickets, on the bank, a very fine buffalo bull stood within half musket-shot; our people fired, but to no purpose. Soon after, we saw, in the prairie, two more very large animals of this species; and, in the course of the day, perceived a great number of them. The river brought down several dead buffalo cows. A little before the mouth of Lewis and Clarke's Hunting Creek, the Missouri is half a mile broad, but soon becomes narrower. At eight o'clock we reached the place where a Mandan village had formerly stood. The Sioux, from St. Peter's River, surprised it about forty years ago, killed most of the inhabitants, and destroyed the huts. The prairie hills formed, in this part, long, flat, naked ridges, perfectly resembling the walls of a fortress. The oaks and ashes, at the edge of the thickets, were but just 170 beginning to unfold their buds. It is probable, however, that they had suffered by a fire in the prairie. After we had passed, alternately, prairies, with their hills, steep clay banks, and stripes of forest, we prosecuted our voyage till dusk, and lay to near a large willow thicket, on the eastern bank, when some musket shots were suddenly heard, the flashes of which were evidently seen. Mr. Mc Kenzie immediately supposed that it was an Indian war party, which people, in general, avoid, as they do not much trust them. We consulted what was to be done. Many shots followed, which made a very loud report, it being the custom of the Indians to use a great deal of powder; and we soon perceived, among the dark thickets, the figures of the Indians in their white buffalo robes. As nobody knew the intentions of these people, we looked forward to the meeting with some anxiety. The Indians broke silence first, calling out that they were come with peaceable intentions, and wished to be taken on board. Ortubize, the interpreter, telling us that they were Sioux, of the branch of the Yanktonans, we conferred some time with them, while a kind of bridge of planks was thrown across to the shore. Twenty-three, for the most part tall men, came on board, and were made to sit down, in a row, on one side of the large cabin. They came from a camp of the Yanktonans, consisting of 300 tents, which was in the neighbourhood; they generally lived on the banks of the Chayenne, which falls into the Red River, near the Devil's Lake, and the sources of St. Peter's River. They had been hunting in the neighbourhood, and shot some buffaloes. The Yanktonans are represented as the most perfidious and dangerous of all the Sioux, and are stated frequently to have killed white men, especially Englishmen, in these parts. They generally come to the Missouri in the winter, but at this season it was a mere chance that we met with them. They were mostly robust, slender, well-shaped men, with long dishevelled hair, in which some wore feathers as indications of their exploits. The upper parts of their bodies were generally naked, merely covered with the buffalo's skin, or blanket; but their whole dress was plain and indifferent, as they only came out for a hunting excursion. The chief of these people was Tatanka-Kta (the dead buffalo), a man of middling stature, with a very dark brown, expressive countenance, and his hair bound together over the forehead in a thick knot; he was dressed in a uniform of red cloth, with blue facings and collar, and ornamented with silver trimmings, such as the traders are used to give, or to sell to such chiefs as they desire to distinguish. In his hand he had the wing of an eagle for a fan.

After we had smoked with these Yanktonans all round, the chief opened, before Mr. Mc Kenzie, a bag, with old pemmican (dry meat powdered), by way of present, and then rose to make a speech. After shaking hands, successively, with all persons present, he said, with much gesticulation, and in short sentences, between which he appeared to be reflecting, "that the whole body of the 300 huts was under the principal chief, Jawitschahka; that his people had been formerly on good terms with the Mandans, but had been at variance with them for about a year, on account of the murder of a Sioux, and now wished to make peace again; that with this view 171 they had sent three of their people to the Mandan villages, but did not know the result; and, therefore, were very desirous of the mediation of Mr. Mc Kenzie; that they happened to be near the river, when they perceived their father's ship, and were come to visit him; that to be able to supply the Fur Company with more beaver skins, they wished to have liberty to hunt on the Missouri, and on that account peace with the Mandans was of importance to them. They hoped, therefore, that Mr. Mc Kenzie would intercede for them, and allow them to accompany him." The answer was—"That if, like the other tribes of their nation, who lived constantly on the Missouri, they would, in future, conduct themselves properly, and never kill white men, he would attempt all that lay in his power; but he bade them consider what would be the best for them, whether to come on board with him, or to go alone by land to the Mandan villages, as he did not know how they might be received by the young men of the Mandan tribe." These Indians showed us a beautiful skin of a young, white, female buffalo, which they intended as a present for the Mandans, by whom such skins are highly valued. They had already sent them a white buffalo calf. Our visitors were afterwards taken into another apartment, where refreshments were set before them, and they were lodged for the night. The next morning, however, they went ashore, and proceeded to Fort Clarke on foot. During the night there was a violent tempest, and the next morning, the 18th June, was gloomy, damp, and windy. We left at an early hour the place of the meeting, from which it was twelve miles to Fort Clarke. The Yanktonans, keeping in sight of us, walked through the prairie, where they frightened a herd of ten or twelve wolves, which had long amused us by their gambols. At half-past seven we passed a roundish island covered with willows, and reached then the wood on the western bank, in which the winter dwellings of part of the Mandan Indians are situated; and saw, at a distance, the largest village of this tribe, Mih-Tutta-Hang-Kush, in the vicinity of which the whole prairie was covered with riders and pedestrians. As we drew nearer the huts of that village, Fort Clarke, lying before it, relieved by the back-ground of the blue prairie hills, came in sight, with the gay American banner waving from the flagstaff. On a tongue of land on the left bank were four white men on horseback; Indians, in their buffalo robes, sat in groups upon the bank, and the discharge of cannon and musketry commenced to welcome us. The Assiniboin soon lay to before the fort, against the gently sloping shore, where above 600 Indians were waiting for us. Close to the beach, the chiefs and most distinguished warriors of the Mandan nation stood in front of the assembly of red men, among whom the most eminent were Charata-Numakschi (the wolf chief), Mato-Topé (the four bears), Dipauch (the broken arm), Berock-Itainu (the ox neck), Pehriska-Ruhpa (the two ravens), and some others. They were all dressed in their finest clothes, to do us honour. As soon as the vessel was moored, they came on board, and, after having given us their hands, sat down in the stern cabin. The pipe went round, and the conversation began with the Mandans, by the assistance of Mr. Kipp, clerk to the American Fur Company, and director of 172 the trading post at Fort Clarke; and with the Manitaries, by the help of the old interpreter, Charbonneau, who had lived thirty-seven years in the villages of the latter people, near this place. Mr. Mc Kenzie caused the proposal of the Yanktonans to be submitted to these Indians, but the latter, after long deliberation, replied that they could not possibly accept these proposals of peace, because the Yanktonans were much too treacherous; that, however, no harm should now be done to them, and that they might depart unmolested.

Most of the Indians in our cabin were stout, tall men, except Mato-Topé, who was of middle stature, and rather slim. I shall have occasion to say more, in the sequel, of this brave and distinguished chief. They had their weapons, such as muskets, bows, war clubs, and battle axes, in their hands, and also fans of eagles' wings, and wore buffalo robes, which, on the inner side, are painted reddish-brown, or white, and adorned with coloured figures. They let their hair hang down at length, considering it as an ornament. Sometimes it is divided into plaits, and daubed with a reddish clay. However, I refrain, at present, from describing these Indians, of whom I shall have occasion to speak more at length. The Mandans, Manitaries, and Crows, of which tribe there were now seventy tents about the fort, differ very little from each other in their appearance and dress; they are, however, taller than the Indians on the Missouri whom we had before seen, and their features more regular than those of the Sioux.

We soon went on shore, and examined the numerous assemblage of brown Indian figures, of whom the women and children, in numerous groups, were sitting on the ground; the men, some on horseback, some on foot, were collected around, and making their observations on the white strangers. Here we saw remarkably tall and handsome men, and fine dresses, for they had all done their utmost to adorn themselves. The haughty Crows rode on beautiful panther skins, with red cloth under them, and, as they never wear spurs, had a whip of elk's horn in their hand. These mounted warriors, with their diversely painted faces, feathers in their long hair, bow and arrows slung across their backs, and with a musket or spear in their hands, the latter of which is merely for show, were a novel and highly interesting scene. This remarkable assembly gazed at the strangers with curiosity, and we conversed with them by signs, but soon proceeded to the fort, which is built on a smaller scale, on a plan similar to that of all the other trading posts or forts of the Company. It is about the size of the Sioux Agency, but more rudely constructed. Immediately behind the fort there were, in the prairies, seventy leather tents of the Crows, which we immediately visited.

The tents of the Crows are exactly like those of the Sioux, and are set up without any regular order. On the poles, instead of scalps, there were small pieces of coloured cloth, chiefly red, floating like streamers in the wind. We were struck with the number of wolf-like dogs of all colours, of which there were certainly from 500 to 600 running about. They all fell upon the strangers, and it was not without difficulty that we kept them off by throwing stones, in which 173 some old Indian women assisted us. We then proceeded about 300 paces in a north-west direction from the fort, up the Missouri, to the principal village of the Mandans, Mih-Tutta-Hang-Kush. This village consisted of about sixty large hemispherical clay huts, and was surrounded with a fence of stakes, at the four corners of which conical mounds were thrown up, covered with a facing of wicker-work, and embrasures, which serve for defence, and command the river and the plain. We were told that these cones or block-houses were not erected by the Indians themselves, but by the Whites. Three miles further up the river, and on the same bank, is the second village of the Mandans, called Ruhptare, consisting of about thirty-eight clay huts, which we could not then visit for want of time. In the immediate vicinity of the principal village, the stages, on which these Indians, like the Sioux, place their dead, lay scattered.

Around them were several high poles, with skins and other things hanging on them, as offerings to the lord of life, Omahank-Numakshi, or to the first man, Numank-Machana. The three villages of the Manitaries (gros ventre) nation, whose language is totally different from that of the Mandans, are situated about fifteen miles higher up on the same side of the river, and most of their inhabitants had come on this day to the Mandan villages.

The view of the prairie around Fort Clarke was at this time highly interesting. A great number of horses were grazing all round; Indians of both sexes and all ages were in motion; we were, every moment, stopped by them, obliged to shake hands, and let them examine us on all sides. This was sometimes very troublesome. Thus, for example, a young warrior took hold of my pocket compass which I wore suspended by a ribbon, and attempted to take it by force, to hang as an ornament round his neck. I refused his request, but the more I insisted in my refusal, the more importunate he became. He offered me a handsome horse for my compass, 174 and then all his handsome clothes, and arms into the bargain, and as I still refused, he became angry, and it was only by the assistance of old Charbonneau, that I escaped a disagreeable and, perhaps, violent scene. On returning to the steamer we there found a numerous company of Indians, some smoking, others wrapped in their blankets, and asleep on the floor.

Mr. Sandford, the sub-agent of the Mandans, Manitaries, and Crows, had a conference with Eripuass (the rotten belly), the distinguished chief of the latter. We accompanied Mr. Sandford to this meeting. Eripuass, a fine tall man, with a pleasing countenance, had much influence over his people; being in mourning he came to the fort in his worst dress, his hair cut close, and daubed with clay. Charbonneau acted as interpreter in the Manitari language. Mr. Sandford recommended to the chief continued good treatment of the white people who should come to his territory, hung a medal round his neck, and, in the name of the government, made him a considerable present of cloth, powder, ball, tobacco, &c., which this haughty man received without any sign of gratitude; on the contrary, these people consider such presents as a tribute due to them, and a proof of weakness. The Crows, in particular, as the proudest of the Indians, are said to despise the Whites. They do not, however, kill them, but often plunder them. At nightfall we visited Eripuass in his tent. The whole camp of the Crows was now filled with horses, some with their foals, all which had been driven in, to prevent their being stolen. This nation, consisting of 400 tents, is said to possess between 9,000 and 10,000 horses, some of which are very fine. The dogs were partly taken into the tents, and we were less exposed to their attacks than in the day time, yet still we had to fight our way through them. The interior of the tent itself had a striking effect. A small fire in the centre gave sufficient light; the chief sat opposite the entrance, and round him many fine tall men, placed according to their rank, all with no other covering than a breech-cloth. Places were assigned to us on buffalo hides near the chief, who then lighted his Sioux pipe, which had a long flat tube, ornamented with bright yellow nails, made each of us take a few puffs, holding the pipe in his hand, and then passed it round to the left hand. After Charbonneau had continued the conversation for some time in the Manitari language, we suddenly rose and retired, according to the Indian customs.

The Crows are called by the Mandans, Hahderuka, by the Manitaries, Haideroka; they themselves call their own tribe Apsaruka. The territory in which they move about is bounded, to the north or north-west, by the Yellow Stone River, and extends round Bighorn River, towards the sources of Chayenne River and the Rocky Mountains. These Indians are a wandering tribe of hunters, who neither dwell in fixed villages, like the Mandans, Manitaries, and Arikkaras, nor make any plantations except of tobacco, which, however, are very small. About six years ago, the Crows are said to have had only 1,000 warriors, at present they are reckoned at 1,200. They roam about with their leather tents, hunt the buffalo, and other wild animals, and have many horses and dogs, which, however, they never use for food. They are said to possess more 175 horses than any other tribe of the Missouri, and to send them in the winter to Wind River, to feed on a certain shrub, which soon fattens them. The Crow women are very skilful in various kinds of work, and their shirts and dresses of bighorn leather, embroidered and ornamented with dyed porcupine quills, are particularly handsome, as well as their buffalo robes, which are painted and embroidered in the same manner. I shall speak, in the sequel, of their large caps of eagles' feathers, and of their shields, which are ornamented with feathers and paintings, and other articles. The men make their weapons very well, and with much taste, especially their large bows, covered with the horn of the elk or bighorn, and often with the skin of the rattle-snake. I have represented a beautiful quiver of this nation, adorned with rosettes of porcupine quills. In stature and dress these Indians correspond, on the whole, with the Manitaries, both having been originally one and the same people, as the affinity of their languages proves. Long hair is considered as a great beauty, and they take great pains with it. The hair of one of their chiefs, called Long Hair, was ten feet long, some feet of which trailed on the ground when he stood upright. The enemies of the Crows are the Chayennes, the Blackfeet, and the Sioux; their allies are the Mandans and Manitaries. With the latter they bartered their good horses for European goods, but the American Fur Company has now established a separate trading post for them on the Yellow Stone River, which is called Fort Cass.

Though the Crows look down with contempt upon the Whites, they treat them very hospitably in their tents, yet their pride is singularly contrasted with a great propensity to stealing and begging, which makes them very troublesome. They are said to have many more superstitious notions than the Mandans, Manitaries, and Arikkaras; for instance, they never smoke a pipe when a pair of shoes is hung up in their tent; when the pipe circulates none ever takes more than three puffs, and then passes it in a certain manner to his left-hand neighbour. They are skilful horsemen, and, in their attacks on horseback, are said to throw themselves off on one side, as is done by many Asiatic tribes. They have many bardaches, or hermaphrodites, among them, and exceed all the other tribes in unnatural practices.

As among all the Missouri Indians, the Crows are divided into different bands or unions. A certain price is paid for admission into these unions and their dances, of which each has one peculiar to itself, like the other Missouri tribes; on which occasion the women are given up to the will of the seller in the same manner, as will be more particularly mentioned when speaking of the other tribes. Of the female sex, it is said of the Crows, that they, with the women of the Arikkaras, are the most dissolute of all the tribes of the Missouri.

This people have a superstitious fear of a white buffalo cow; when a Crow meets one he addresses the sun in the following words: "I will give her (i.e. the cow) to you." He then 176 endeavours to kill the animal, but leaves it untouched, and then says to the sun, "Take her; she is yours." They never use the skin of these white buffalo cows, as the Mandans do, of which I shall, by-and-by, speak at length. The most sacred objects in the eyes of this people are the sun, the moon, and tobacco, that is, the leaves of the genuine tobacco (Nicotiana); and, therefore, all their children wear a small portion of this herb, well wrapped up, round their necks, by way of amulet.

They do not bury their dead in the ground, but, like the Mandans, Manitaries, Sioux, and Assiniboins, lay them on stages in the prairie. A Crow woman, who was on the point of death, was very apprehensive and uneasy in her mind lest she should be interred in the ground, according to the custom of the Whites. This was her sole concern, though she did not otherwise express any fear of death; as soon as she was made easy on this point, she died perfectly satisfied.

CHAPTER XIV

VOYAGE FROM FORT CLARKE TO FORT UNION, NEAR THE MOUTH OF THE YELLOW STONE RIVER, FROM THE 19TH TO THE 24TH JUNE

Ruhptare, the second Village of the Mandans—The Villages of the Manitaries on the Knife River—Interview with the Manitaries—Winter Villages of that Nation—Remarkable Hills—Mountain L'Ours qui Danse—Little Missouri River—Territory of the Assiniboins—Kiasax and Matsokui, two Blackfeet Indians—The Grizzly Bear—Interview with the Assiniboins—The Bighorn—Muddy River, Lewis and Clarke's White Earth River—Yellow Stone River—Fort Union.

On the 19th June, the Assiniboin left Fort Clarke, with a high, cold wind, and clouded sky; the thermometer, at nine in the morning, being at 60½°. The chiefs, and other Indians, had come on board, and also Kiasax, a Blackfoot Indian, who wished to return to his own people. The country, on the south bank, appeared to us to have some resemblance with many parts on the banks of the Rhine; but, on the right bank, there soon appeared those singular hills, resembling fortifications. At ten o'clock, we came to Ruhptare, the second Mandan village, on the south bank, which is situated in a plain a little higher than the river. All the inhabitants, in their buffalo dresses, were collected on the bank, and some had taken their station on the tops of their huts to have a better view: the whole prairie was covered with people, Indians on horseback, and horses grazing. In the low willow thickets on the bank, the brown, naked children were running about; all the men had fans of eagles' feathers in their hands. The village was surrounded with a fence of palisades; and, with its spherical clay huts, looked like a New Zealand Hippah. Here, too, there were high poles near the village, on which skins and other things were hung, as offerings to the lord of life, or the sun, and numerous stages for the dead were scattered about the prairie. As we proceeded, the whole population accompanied us along the steep bank on foot and on horseback, followed by many of their large wolf dogs. The 178 country was pretty open and flat. We saw before us the fine broad mirror of the river, and, at a distance on the southern bank, the red mass of the clay huts of the lower village of the Manitaries, which we reached in half an hour. The Missouri is joined by the Knife River, on which the three villages of the Manitaries are built. The largest, which is the furthest from the Missouri, is called Eláh-Sá (the village of the great willows); the middle one, Awatichay (the little village), where Charbonneau, the interpreter, lives; and the third, Awacháwi (le village des souliers), which is the smallest, consisting of only eighteen huts, situated at the mouth of Knife River. While we were examining this interesting country, and receiving from Charbonneau many particulars respecting these villages, in which he had lived for more than thirty years, our Indian companions were sitting or lying about the fire, smoking their pipes. Among them was Dipauch (the broken arm), a tall, stout man, with whom I frequently came in contact in the following winter. His long, thick hair was bound together in a large queue, and on his breast he wore a silver gorget, which he had received as a present from the Whites. The expression of his countenance was agreeable, whereas that of Berock Itainú (bull's neck), a similar colossus, the inseparable companion of the former, was gloomy and less pleasing. Both were six feet high, and Berock Itainú wore his hair tied together in a knot upon his head. Mato-Topé (the four bears), the eminent Mandan chief, whom I have before mentioned, and Cháratá-Numákshi (the chief of the wolves), were also present; and I purchased from the former his painted buffalo dress, which had hitherto been his medicine (i.e. charm), which he highly valued as a souvenir of his brother, who had been shot by the enemy. Our cookery pleased them much; they were fond of coffee, and sugar was a great delicacy; but they cannot make maple sugar like the Indians in the woody country, because the trees are neither numerous nor strong enough to produce this article.

When we turned our eyes from the dark brown inhabitants to the surrounding scenery, we saw, on the banks, grey hills, with level prairies and willow thickets next the river, and the country, in general, was rather flat than mountainous. The hills were partly depressed at the top—a feature which is almost peculiar to these hills. At noon the sun burst forth, and the thermometer was at 76°, with a high wind. The south bank of the river was now animated by a crowd of Indians, both on foot and on horseback; they were the Manitaries, who had flocked from their three villages to see the steamer and to welcome us. The appearance of this vessel of the Company, which comes up, once in two years, to the Yellow Stone River, is an event of the greatest importance to the Indians; they then come from considerable distances to see this hissing machine, which they look upon as one of the most wonderful medicines (charms) of the white men. The sight of the red-brown crowd collected on the river side, for even their buffalo skins were mostly of this colour, was, in the highest degree, striking. We already saw above a hundred of them, with many dogs, some of which drew sledges, and others, wooden boards 179 fastened to their backs, and the ends trailing on the ground, to which the baggage was attached with leather straps. The Indians hastened through the willow thicket, and, altogether, stood opposite to us on the steep, low, sandy bank, where they were so crowded that we, every moment, expected to see the sand give way.

The most attractive sight which we had yet met with upon this voyage, now presented itself to our view. The steamboat lay to close to the willow thicket, and we saw, immediately before us, the numerous, motley, gaily painted, and variously ornamented crowd of the most elegant Indians on the whole course of the Missouri. The handsomest and most robust persons, of both sexes and all ages, in highly original, graceful, and characteristic costumes, appeared, thronged together, to our astonished eye; and there was, all at once, so much to see and to observe, that we anxiously profited by every moment to catch only the main features of this unique picture. The Manitaries are, in fact, the tallest and best formed Indians on the Missouri, and, in this respect, as well as in the elegance of their costume, the Crows alone approach them, whom they, perhaps, even surpass in the latter particular. Their faces were, in general, painted red, in which the North Americans agree with the Brazilians, and many other South Americans; their long hair hung in broad flat braids down their backs; on the side of each eye, they had hanging, from the forehead, a string of white and blue beads, alternating with tooth shells, and their heads were adorned with feathers, stuck in the hair.

The expression of their remarkable countenances, as they gazed at us, was very various; in some, it was cold and disdainful; in others, intense curiosity; in others, again, good-nature and simplicity. The upper parts of their bodies were, in general, naked, and the fine brown skin of their arms adorned with broad, bright bracelets of a white metal. In their hands they carried their musket, bow and battle-axe; their quivers, of otter skin, elegantly decorated, were slung over their backs; their leggins were trimmed with tufts of the hair of the enemies whom they had killed, with dyed horse-hair of different colours, and with a profusion of leather fringe, and beautifully embroidered with stripes of dyed porcupine quills, or glass beads, of the most brilliant colours. These handsome, robust men, showing their remarkably fine white teeth as they smiled, gave free expression to their feelings; and the unnatural and ugly fashions, as well as the different costumes of the white people, probably afforded ample matter for satirical observations, for which these children of nature have a peculiar turn. All these Indians were dressed in their very finest clothes, and they completely attained their object; for they made, at least upon us strangers, a very lively impression. Many of them were distinguished by wearing leather shirts, of exquisite workmanship, which they obtain by barter from the Crows. Several tall, athletic men were on horseback, and managed their horses, which were frightened by the noise of the steam-boats, with an ease which afforded us pleasure. Urging them with their short whips in the manner of the Cossacks, with the bridle fastened to the lower jaw, they, at length, pushed the 180 light, spirited animals through the willow thicket, till they reached the river, where these fine bold horsemen, resembling the Circassians, with their red-painted countenances, were regarded with great admiration. Many of them wore the large valuable necklace, made of long bears' claws, and their handsomely-painted buffalo robe was fastened round the waist by a girdle. In general they had no stirrups, but sat very firmly on the naked backs of the horses, and several rode on a saddle resembling the Hungarian saddle. Among the young women we observed some who were very pretty, the white of whose sparkling hazel eyes formed a striking contrast with the vermilion faces. I regret that it is impossible, by any description, to give the reader a distinct idea of such a scene, and there was not sufficient time for Mr. Bodmer to make a drawing of it. The following winter, however, afforded us an opportunity, in some measure, to supply this deficiency.

The chiefs of the Manitaries came on board for a short time; among them were old Addi-Hiddisch (the road maker), Péhriska-Rúhpa (the two ravens), Lachpizí-Sihrish (the yellow bear), and several others, and with them the Blackfoot Kiasax, in his best dress, who was to make the voyage along with us. He was accompanied by his Manitari wife, who carried a little child, wrapped in a piece of leather, fastened with straps. She wept much at parting from her husband, and the farewell scene was very interesting. While this was going on, an Indian, on the shore, was employed in keeping off the crowd with a long willow rod, which he laid about the women and children with a right hearty good will, when, by their curiosity, they hindered our engagés and crew in loosening the vessel from the shore. The vessel, however, was ready to start; Mr. Kipp, Charbonneau, the interpreter, and the Manitari chiefs, took leave, and hastened to land, on which the Assiniboin proceeded rapidly up the Missouri. The Indians followed us, for a time, along the bank; about thirty of them formed an interesting group on horseback, two sometimes sitting on the same beast. As the willow thickets on the banks ceased, we had a good view of the prairie, where many Indian horsemen were galloping about; herds of horses fled from the noise of the vessel. The friends and relations of Kiasax and Matsokui—for we had taken another Blackfoot on board—followed the vessel longer than any of the others; they frequently called to them, and nodded farewell, to which Kiasax answered with a long wooden pipe, upon which he played a wretched piece of music. This Mandan pipe, which the Indians, on the Upper Missouri, frequently use, is from two and a half to three feet long, rather wider at the lower end, and has a hole on the upper side, which is alternately opened and shut with the finger. By way of ornament, an eagle's feather is fastened 181 to the end of the instrument with a string, which is generally a medicine or talisman of the owner. Kiasax set a high value on his pipe, which he held constantly in his hand, and would not sell on any terms. A violent storm, accompanied by heavy rain, compelled us to lay to, for ten minutes, on the left bank, where the river is bounded by steep high hills. At this spot Major Pilcher had formerly established a trading post for the Crows and Assiniboins. There were, at that time, no such posts further up the Missouri, but it has since been abandoned, and no trace of it is now to be seen. Before us was a fine extensive view of romantic gradations of the tongues of land, singular mountain tops and cones; and, on the grey chain of hills, we again saw the black horizontal parallel strata of the bituminous coal, which accompany, without interruption, the course of the Missouri. This black fossil has often been examined, with the hope that it might be employed as fuel, but it is unserviceable, has a very bad smell, and is of no use even for blacksmiths' work. These black strata have evidently undergone, in former times, the action of fire; and we everywhere observed, on the ridges of the hills, clay or clay-slate formations, either in the shape of cones, or angular, like fortifications. Many of these pyramids are perfectly regular, and stand on a broad basis, furrowed by the water; some are square, and others regularly flattened. The strata of bituminous coal extend along the base of most of them; all these singularly-formed rocks have, doubtless, been elevated by the action of subterraneous fire. The evening sun illumined the grotesque pyramidal hills, and their shadows gave us a clear idea of their forms. The northern declivity of the mountains was partly covered with bushes; the southern, almost always naked and bare. Towards nightfall we passed the winter village of the Manitaries, situated in a forest, which, at this time, was without inhabitants, and then came to a tongue of land on the right hand, with a high, steep, rocky bank, on which Mr. Sandford once found, in the month of April, great numbers of serpents, which he estimated at several thousands. They appear to have consisted of two species only, which, by their description, were, doubtless, the Col. sirtalis and flaviventris of Say. All the holes and pits in the sides of the rock, and between the blocks of stone on the bank, are said to have been full of them. In one small ravine they lay coiled up in balls; several hundreds of them were killed, the Americans, in general, having an antipathy to these animals. Bradbury, too, mentions large heaps of serpents, under stones, along the Missouri, but at another season of the year. That serpents must abound in these parts, seems to be proved by the name of a small stream, which is called Snake Creek. Half a mile from this place, the Miry Creek flows, from a flat meadow; on the hills beyond we saw some antelopes.

On the following morning, the 20th of June, we perceived, in a forest on the bank, fifteen Indians, and soon afterwards four large elks, which would have been a welcome prey to the hunters, had they been aware of their being so near. One of the strata of black coal on the generally flat hills of this part of the country had lately been on fire; we did not, however, perceive any smoke.

182 After ten o'clock, having taken in fuel, we came to singular hills, flattened at the top, which are called L'Ours qui Danse, because it is said the Indians here celebrate the bear dance, a medicine feast, in order to obtain success in the chase. At noon there was a high cold wind while the thermometer was at 70°. The country was rather flat, and the river was bordered by green forests; on the right bank, in particular, the wood was beautiful, lofty, and dark. Here we observed many traces of beavers, such as gnawed trees and paths leading to the water's edge. Our hunters gradually returned to the bank; they had shot two Virginian deer, an antelope, and a prairie hen. Mr. Bodmer, who returned to the vessel much fatigued and heated, brought with him a stone of the shape of a battle-axe, which had been found in the prairie.

Continuing our voyage, we saw the buffaloes hasten away, and moored our vessel at twilight to some trees on the north bank. All over the plain there were deeply trodden paths of the buffaloes. On the morning following, the 21st, the river had risen considerably, and brought down trunks of trees, branches, &c., which covered the surface, and gave our vessel some violent shocks: strips of wood, and desolate hills, without any vegetation, appeared. On the southern bank we came to a green spot at the mouth of the Little Missouri, which is reckoned to be 1670 miles from the mouth of the Great Missouri. The chain of blue hills, with the same singular forms as we had seen before, appeared on the other side of this river. In the forests roses in full blossom formed a thick underwood, which was traversed by the path of the buffaloes. Before noon we reached the territory of the Assiniboins, and were, at this time, at Wild Onion Creek. Kiasax (l'ours gauche—left-handed or awkward bear) had permitted Mr. Bodmer to take his portrait, without making any objection, whereas Matsokui (beautiful hair) was not to be persuaded to do so, affirming that he must then infallibly die. It turned out in the sequel that he was to die, and Kiasax to return, unhurt by the enemy. The latter had adopted the costume of the Manitaries, but at the same time wrapped himself in a Spanish blanket, striped blue, white and black, which, as well as a metal cross, which he wore suspended round his neck, was a proof of the intercourse between the Blackfoot Indians and the Spaniards near the Rocky Mountains. These two Indians appeared to be very quiet, obliging men. Thus, for instance, they never 183 returned from an excursion on shore, without bringing me some handfulls of plants, often, it is true, only common grass, because they had observed that we always brought plants home with us.

We lay to about three miles below Goose Egg Lake. A white wolf accompanied the steam-boat as it proceeded. We came to the canal which joins Goose Egg Lake to the Missouri, which I was unable to examine, as the steamer did not stop. Here the river makes a great bend, which, as well as that near Fort Lookout, is called by some Canadians Le Grand Détour. Early on the following morning, the 22nd, we saw wild animals of various kinds, such as buffaloes, elks, and Virginian deer. The wild geese with their young suffered us to approach pretty closely, because, at this season, they moult their long wing feathers. About ten o'clock we had an alarm of fire on board: the upper deck had been set on fire by the iron pipe of the chimney of the great cabin. We immediately lay to, and, by breaking up the deck, the danger was soon over, which, however, was not inconsiderable, as we had many barrels of powder on board. We had scarcely got over this trouble, when another arose; the current of the swollen river was so strong, that we long contended against it to no purpose, in order to turn a certain point of land, while, at the same time, the high west wind was against us, and both together threw the vessel back three times on the south coast. The first shock was so violent, that the lower deck gallery was broken to pieces. Our second attempt succeeded no better; part of the paddle-box was broken, and carried away by the current. We were now obliged to land forty men to tow the vessel, for which purpose all on board voluntarily offered their services, even the two Blackfeet overcame their natural laziness. Beyond this dangerous place, we took on board the hunters whom we had sent out. They were covered from head to foot with blood, and hung about with game, having killed two elks. The effect of the current and the wind upon our vessel continued for a long time. It was often thrown against the alluvial bank, so that the deck was covered with earth, and the track of our vessel clearly marked along the clayey sand bank. After four o'clock we stopped at a narrow verdant prairie in front of the hills, to fell wood: several pretty plants, among which was a juniper with the berries still green, were found here. The cat bird, the wren and blackbird animated the thickets, and we observed also the great curlew (Numenius longirostris). A very large elk horn of twelve antlers had been found; a number of them lie about in all the forests and prairies, of which no use is made. In the afternoon we saw in the prairie of the north bank a large grizzly bear, and immediately sent Ortubize and another hunter in pursuit of him, but to no purpose. Soon after we saw two other bears, one of a whitish, the other of a dark colour, and our hunters, when they returned, affirmed that they had wounded the largest. Harvey had shot an elk, and brought the best part of it from a great distance, and with considerable exertion, to the river. From this place upwards, the grey bear became more and more common; further down the river it is still rare. Brackenridge says, it is not found below the 184 Mandan villages, but this is not quite correct. Near the prairie where we saw the bears, is the mouth of White Earth River, called by Lewis and Clarke, Goat-pen River. Here we crossed the Missouri, and lay to for the night on the south coast, where some of our people landed to set traps for the beavers. Harvey had the good fortune to catch, during the night, a young beaver, which he brought on board alive, on the following morning, the 23rd. The iron trap had broken one of the legs of the little beaver, and with all our care we could not keep it alive. The surrounding country on the banks of the Missouri, which is here very broad, again showed the singularly formed angular hills flattened at the top like tables: several pretty prairies, in which the white artemisia and other beautiful plants grew, extended at the foot of the eminences, on the declivity of which the buffalo berry and the creeping juniper were common; henceforward the clay cones were partly burnt as red as bricks, which was a clear proof of their origin. Many of them had parallel horizontal stripes, projecting a little, of harder sandstone strata, which had resisted the influence of the elements more than the intermediate strata of clay and sand.

The vessel laying to, about eleven o'clock, near a wood on the south bank, we suddenly perceived on the north bank some Indians, who immediately called to us. They were the first Assiniboins that we had met with; they sat upon the bank waiting for the boat which Mr. Mc Kenzie sent to them. After a short pause they came on board the steamer, and proved to be Stassága (le brecheux), who was well known to Mr. Mc Kenzie, with seven of his people of the branch called by the French, Gens des Filles. The chief, a robust, thick-set man, rather above the middle size, wore his hair tied behind in a thick queue, and cut short in front; he had bound across the crown a slip of whitish skin; in his ears he had strings of blue and white glass beads; round his neck a collar of bears' claws; the upper part of his body was wrapped in a red woollen shirt; his legs were quite bare, but he had a pair of handsomely embroidered leggins which he put on when his people left the vessel. He was wrapped in a buffalo robe, and had in his hand a musket, and an eagle's wing for a fan. Another robust man had smeared his face, about the eyes, with white clay. The rest of these Indians were neither well formed nor well dressed, but dirty and slovenly. Their hair hung in disorder about their heads; some of them had made it up into three plaits; their legs were mostly bare; only a couple of them had leggins. One of them, with a Jewish physiognomy, wore a white wolf skin cap. Some of them were marked with two parallel tattooed black stripes from the neck down the breast; the upper parts of their bodies were naked, but they were wrapped in buffalo robes. Most of them had guns, and all, without distinction, bows and arrows, the latter in a quiver or bag made of skin, to which also the case for the bow is attached, as shown in the woodcut.

As the Assiniboins are a branch of the Sioux, Ortubize was able to act as interpreter. They were made to sit down round the great cabin, and the pipe circulated; they likewise 185 received abundance of food, which seemed to please them much. They said that since they came to these parts in the spring, they had suffered much from want of food, buffaloes being scarce. They intended shortly to leave this part of the country, but the chief wished to go with us to Fort Union, which we allowed him to do. After they had been shown about the vessel, the steam-engine of which greatly excited their attention, though they suppressed any mark of surprise, they were landed in a lofty poplar grove on the north bank.

After dinner, we proceeded along the side of a prairie, where we heard the note of the great curlew. The valley of the river was bounded on both sides by very remarkable whitish-grey, obliquely stratified ridges, with singular spots of red clay, and bushes in the ravines; at their feet was the prairie, covered with pale green artemisia; and on the tongues of land, at the windings of the Missouri, there were fine poplar groves, with an undergrowth of roses in full bloom, buffalo-berry bushes, and many species of plants. On the mountains we again saw naked rounded cones of earth, as if they had been thrown up by moles, and, on the tops of some of them, a little turret, or cone, while their sides were rounded by the rain water, or marked with parallel perpendicular furrows.

On our further progress up the river, we saw, for the first time, the animal known by the name of the bighorn, or the Rocky Mountain sheep, the Ovis montana of the zoologists. A ram and two sheep of this species stood on the summit of the highest hill, and, after looking at our steamer, slowly retired. These animals are not frequent hereabouts, but we afterwards met with them in great numbers. We here took on board some cord wood, which the different trading posts had employed their engagés to get ready for the steamboat.

On the 24th, in the morning, we found the banks wooded, and beyond the thickets were the chain of hills, in the middle of which were strata of the colour of red bricks. Cones of that colour, and sometimes detached grey figures, with a red base, crowned the heights. Many varied colours showed that these eminences must have undergone the action of fire. About eight o'clock we came to the mouth of Muddy River (the White Earth River of Lewis and Clarke), which issues from a thicket on the north bank. In this part we saw smoke on the bank, and, soon afterwards, some Assiniboins, one of whom fired three shots to attract our attention: others soon came up, and we took them on board. They were robust men, with high cheek-bones, well dressed, all in leather shirts, their legs mostly bare, and their hair hanging smooth about their heads; one of them took off the leather case of his bow, and wrapped it round his head like a turban, so that a little tuft of feathers, at one end of it, stood upright. Following the numerous windings of the Missouri, from one chain of hills to another, we reached, at seven o'clock in the evening, the mouth of the Yellow Stone, a fine river, hardly inferior in breadth to the Missouri at this part. It issues below the high grey chain of hills, and its mouth is bordered with a fine wood of tall poplars, with willow thickets. The two rivers unite in an obtuse angle; and there 186 is a sudden turn of the Missouri to the north-west; it is not wooded at the junction, but flows between prairies thirty or more miles in extent. Herds of buffaloes are often seen here; at this time they had left these parts: we saw, however, many antelopes. At the next turn of the river, towards the right hand, we had a fine prospect. Gentle eminences, with various rounded or flat tops, covered with bright verdure, formed the back-ground; before them, tall poplar groves, and willow thickets on the bank of the river, whose dark blue waters, splendidly illumined by the setting sun, flowed, with many windings, through the prairie. A little further on lay Fort Union, on a verdant plain, with the handsome American flag, gilded by the last rays of evening, floating in the azure sky, while a herd of horses grazing animated the peaceful scene.

As the steamer approached, the cannon of Fort Union fired a salute, with a running fire of musketry, to bid us welcome, which was answered in a similar manner by our vessel. When we reached the fort, we were received by Mr. Hamilton, an Englishman, who, during the absence of Mr. Mc Kenzie, had performed the functions of director, as well as by several clerks of the Company, and a number of their servants (engagés or voyageurs), of many different nations, Americans, Englishmen, Germans, Frenchmen, Russians, Spaniards, and Italians, about 100 in number, with many Indians, and half-breed women and children. It was the seventy-fifth day since our departure from St. Louis, when the Assiniboin cast anchor at Fort Union.

The Yellow Stone, being one of the principal affluents of the Missouri, receives several considerable streams, of which the following are the chief:—

1. The Bighorn River (La Grosse Corne).
2. The Little Bighorn River (La Petite Grosse Corne).
3. The Tongue River (La Rivière à la Langue).
4. The Powder River (La Rivière à la Poudre).

The Yellow Stone is called, by the Canadians, La Roche Jaune. Warden calls it Keheetsa, but I do not know where he got this name. Lewis and Clarke say it has no name. The names given it by most of the Indian nations signify Elk River.

CHAPTER XV

DESCRIPTION OF FORT UNION AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD

Description of the Fort and its Vicinity—Its Inhabitants, and the Fur Trade on the Upper Missouri—The Indian Branch of the Assiniboins, the original Possessors of this Spot.

The erection of Fort Union was commenced in the autumn of 1829, by Mr. Mc Kenzie, and is now completed, except that some of the edifices which were erected in haste are under repair. The fort is situated on an alluvial eminence, on the northern bank of the Missouri, in a prairie, which extends about 1,500 paces to a chain of hills, on whose summit there are other wide-spreading plains. The river runs at a distance of scarcely fifty or sixty feet from the fort, in the direction from west to east; it is here rather broad, and the opposite bank is wooded. The fort itself forms a quadrangle, the sides of which measure about eighty paces in length, on the exterior. The ramparts consist of strong pickets, sixteen or seventeen feet high, squared, and placed close to each other, and surmounted by a chevaux-de-frise. On the south-west and north-east ends, there are block-houses, with pointed roofs, two stories high, with embrasures and some cannon, which, though small, are fit for service. In the front of the enclosure, and towards the river, is the well-defended principal entrance, with a large folding gate. Opposite the entrance, on the other side of the quadrangle, is the house of the commandant; it is one story high, and has four handsome glass windows on each side of the door. The roof is spacious, and contains a large, light loft. This house is very commodious, and, like all the buildings of the inner quadrangle, constructed of poplar wood, the staple wood for building in this neighbourhood. In the inner quadrangle are the residences of the clerks, the interpreters, and the engagés, the powder magazine, the stores, or supplies of goods and bartered skins, various workshops for the handicraftsmen, smiths, carpenters, &c., stables for the horses and cattle, rooms for receiving and entertaining the Indians; and in the centre is the flag-staff, around which several half-breed Indian hunters had erected their leathern tents. A cannon was also placed here, with its mouth towards the principal 188 entrance. The fort contains about fifty or sixty horses, some mules, and an inconsiderable number of cattle, swine, goats, fowls, and domestic animals. The cattle are very fine, and the cows yield abundance of milk. The horses are driven, in the day-time, into the prairie, guarded and exercised by armed men, and, in the evening, brought back into the quadrangle of the fort, where the greater part of them pass the night in the open air. Mr. Mc Kenzie has, however, lately had a separate place, or park, provided for them.

Fort Union is one of the principal posts of the Fur Company, because it is the central point of the two other trading stations, still higher up, towards the Rocky Mountains, and having the superintendence of the whole of the trade in the interior, and in the vicinity of the mountains. One of these two trading stations, called Fort Cass, is 200 miles up the Yellow Stone River, and is confined to the trade with the Crow tribe; the other, Fort Piekann, or, as it is now called, Fort Mc Kenzie, is 850 miles up the Missouri, or about a day's journey from the falls of this river, and carries on the fur trade with the three tribes of the Blackfoot Indians. The latter station has been established about two years, and, as the steamers cannot often go up to Fort Union, they despatch keel-boats, to supply the various trading posts with goods for barter with the Indians. They then pass the winter at these stations, and in the spring carry the furs to Fort Union, whence they are transported, in the course of the summer, to St. Louis, by the steamers.

The Company maintains a number of agents at these different stations; during their stay they marry Indian women, but leave them, without scruple, when they are removed to another station, or are recalled to the United States. The lower class of these agents, who are called engagés, or voyageurs, have to act as steersmen, rowers, hunters, traders, &c., according to their several capabilities. They are often sent great distances, employed in perilous undertakings among the Indians, and are obliged to fight against the enemy, and many of them are killed every year by the arms with which the Whites themselves have furnished the Indians. Some of the agents of the Fur Company winter every year in the Rocky Mountains.

The proprietors of the American Fur Company were Messrs. Astor, at New York, General Pratte, Chouteau, Cabanné, Mc Kenzie, Laidlow, and Lamont; the three latter had a share 189 in the fur trade on the Upper Missouri only. Wild beasts and other animals, whose skins are valuable in the fur trade, have already diminished greatly in number along this river, and it is said that, in another ten years, the fur trade will be very inconsiderable. As the supplies along the banks of the Missouri decreased, the Company gradually extended the circle of their trading posts, as well as enterprises, and thus increased their income. Above 500 of their agents are in the forts of the Upper Missouri, and at their various trading posts; and, besides these individuals, who receive considerable salaries (for it is said that the Company yearly expend 150,000 dollars in salaries), there are in these prairies, and the forests of the Rocky Mountains, beaver and fur trappers, who live at their own cost; but whose present wants, such as horses, guns, powder, ball, woollen cloths, articles of clothing, tobacco, &c. &c., are supplied by the Company, and the scores settled, after the hunting season is over, by the furs which they deliver at the different trading posts. Many of these, when not employed in hunting, live at the Company's forts. They are, for the most part, enterprising, robust men, capital riflemen, and, from their rude course of life, are able to endure the greatest hardships.

During the summer, the Company send out, under the direction of an experienced clerk, a number of strong, well-armed, mounted men, who convey the necessary goods and supplies, on pack-horses, to the trading stations, at a distance from the river; they always observe and enforce the required conditions of the Indians, and not unfrequently come to blows with them. These expeditions have to support themselves by the chase, consequently the men must be good hunters, as they subsist almost exclusively on what they procure by their guns. Besides the forts which I have so often named, the Company has also small winter posts, called log-houses, or block-houses, among the Indians, quickly erected, and as quickly abandoned: to these the Indians bring their furs, which are purchased, and sent, in the spring, to the trading posts. The American Fur Company has, at present, about twenty-three, large and small, trading posts. In the autumn and winter the Indian tribes generally approach nearer to these posts, to barter their skins; while in the spring and summer they devote themselves especially to catching beavers, for which they receive every encouragement from the merchants, who lend or advance them iron traps for the purpose.

The animals, whose skins are objects of this trade, and the annual average of the income derived from skins, may be pretty well ascertained from the following statement:

1. Beavers: about 25,000 skins. They are sold in packs of 100 lbs. weight each, put up separately, and tied together. There are, generally, about sixty large skins in a pack; if they are smaller, of course there are more skins. A large beaver skin weighs about two pounds—sometimes more. The usual price is four dollars a pound.

190 2. Otters: 200 to 300 skins.

3. Buffalo cow skins: 40,000 to 50,000. Ten buffalo hides go to the pack.

4. Canadian weasel (Musetela Canadensis): 500 to 600.

5. Martin (pine or beech martin): about the same quantity.

6. Lynx; the northern lynx (Felis Canadensis): 1,000 to 2,000.

7. Lynx; the southern or wild cat (Felis rufa): ditto.

8. Red foxes (Canis fulvus): 2,000.

9. Cross foxes: 200 to 300.

10. Silver foxes: twenty to thirty. Sixty dollars are often paid for a single skin.

11. Minks (Mustela vison): 2,000.

12. Musk-rats (Ondathra): from 1,000 to 100,000. According to Captain Back, half a million of these skins are annually imported into London, as this animal is found in equal abundance as far as the coasts of the Frozen Ocean.

13. Deer (Cervus Virginianus and macrotis): from 20,000 to 30,000.

Beyond Council Bluffs, scarcely any articles are bartered by the Indians—especially the Joways, Konzas, and the Osages—except the skins of the Cervus Virginianus, which is found in great abundance, but is said to have fallen off there likewise very considerably.

The elk (Cervus Canadensis, or major), is not properly comprehended in the trade, as its skin is too thick and heavy, and is, therefore, used for home consumption. The buffalo skin is taken, as before observed, from the cows only, as the leather of the bulls is too heavy. The wolf skins are not at all sought by the company, that is to say, they do not send out any hunters to procure them; but, if the Indians bring any, they are bought not to create any dissatisfaction, and then they are sold at about a dollar a-piece. The Indians, however, have frequently nothing to offer for barter but their dresses, and painted buffalo robes.

The support of so large an establishment as that at Fort Union requires frequent hunting excursions into the prairie; and Mr. Mc Kenzie, therefore, maintained here several experienced hunters of a mixed race, who made weekly excursions to the distance of twenty or more miles into the prairie, sought the buffalo herds, and, after they had killed a sufficient number, returned home with their mules well laden. The flesh of the cows is very good, especially the tongues, which are smoked in great numbers, and then sent down to St. Louis. The colossal marrow-bones are considered quite a delicacy by the hunters and by the Indians. The consumption of 191 this animal is immense in North America, and is as indispensable to the Indians as the reindeer is to the Laplanders, and the seal to the Esquimaux. It is difficult to obtain an exact estimate of the consumption of this animal, which is yearly decreasing and driven further inland. In a recent year, the Fur Company sent 42,000 of these hides down the river, which were sold, in the United States, at four dollars a-piece. Fort Union alone consumes about 600 to 800 buffaloes annually, and the other forts in proportion. The numerous Indian tribes subsist almost entirely on these animals, sell their skins after retaining a sufficient supply for their clothing, tents, &c., and the agents of the Company recklessly shoot down these noble animals for their own pleasure, often not making the least use of them, except taking out the tongue. Whole herds of them are often drowned in the Missouri; nay, I have been assured that, in some rivers, 1,800 and more of their dead bodies were found in one place. Complete dams are formed of the bodies of these animals in some of the morasses of the rivers; from this we may form some idea of the decrease of the buffaloes, which are now found on the other side of the Rocky Mountains, where they were not originally met with, but whither they have been driven.

Besides the buffalo, the hunters also shoot the elk, the deer, and, occasionally, the bighorn. The former especially are very numerous on the Yellow Stone River. All other provisions, such as pork, hams, flour, sugar, coffee, wine, and other articles of luxury for the tables of the chief officers and the clerks, are sent from St. Louis by the steamer. The maize is procured from the neighbouring Indian nations. Vegetables do not thrive at Fort Union, which Mr. Mc Kenzie ascribes to the long-continued drought and high winds.

The neighbourhood around Fort Union is, as I have observed, a wide, extended prairie, intersected, in a northerly direction, by a chain of rather high, round, clay-slate, and sand-stone hills, from the summits of which we had a wide-spreading view over the country on the other side of the Missouri, and of its junction with the Yellow Stone, of which Mr. Bodmer made a very faithful drawing. We observed on the highest points, and at certain intervals of this mountain chain, singular stone signals, set up by the Assiniboins, of blocks of granite, or other large stones, on the top of which is placed a buffalo skull, which we were told the Indians place there to attract the herds of buffaloes, and thereby to ensure a successful hunt. The strata of sand-stone occurring in the above-mentioned hills are filled, at least in part, with impressions of the leaves of phanerogamic plants, resembling the species still growing in the country. A whitish-grey and reddish-yellow sand-stone are found here. In all these prairies of North America, as well as in the plains of northern Europe, those remarkable blocks or fragments of red granite, are everywhere scattered, which have afforded the geologist subject for many hypotheses. Major Long's Expedition to St. Peter's River mentions blocks of granite in the prairies of Illinois; they are found in abundance in the north, about St. Peter's 192 River, in the State of Ohio, &c. Other boulders, however, of quartz, flint, slate, &c., evidently formed by water, are found everywhere in the prairies. The hills were partly bare, and very few flowers were in blossom; the whole country was covered with short, dry grass, among which there were numerous round spots with tufts of Cactus ferox, which was only partly in flower. Another cactus, resembling mammillaris, with dark red flowers, yellow on the inner side, was likewise abundant. Of the first kind it seems that two exactly similar varieties, probably species, are found everywhere here; both have fine, large, bright yellow flowers, sometimes a greenish-yellow, and, on their first expanding, are often whitish, and the outer side of the petals, with a reddish tinge; but in one species, the staminæ are bright yellow, like the flower itself, and, in the other, of a brownish blood red, with yellow anthers. The true flowering time of these plants begins at the end of June.

The scene of destruction, which has often been mentioned, namely, the whitening bones of buffaloes and stags, recurs everywhere in the prairie, and the great dogs of the fort frequently seek for such animal remains. Between the hills, there are, sometimes, in the ravines, little thickets of oak, ash, negundo maple, elm, bird-cherry, and some others, in which many kinds of birds, particularly the starling, blackbird, &c., build their nests. The king-bird and the red thrush are likewise found. Of mammalia, besides those in the river, namely, the beaver, the otter, and the muskrat, there are, about Fort Union, in the prairie, great numbers of the pretty little squirrel, the skin of which is marked with long stripes, and regular spots between them (Spermophilus Hoodii, Sab.), which have been represented by Richardson and Cuvier. The Anglo-Americans of these parts call it the ground squirrel; and the Canadians, l'écureuil Suisse. From its figure and agility, it is a genuine squirrel, and, therefore, rather different from the true marmot arctomys. The burrows, in which these animals live, are often carried to a great extent underground. The entrance is not much larger than a mouse hole, and has no mound of earth thrown up, like those of the prairie dogs. Besides these, there are several kinds of mice, particularly Mus leucopus. The flat hills of the goffer are likewise seen; this is a kind of large sand rat, living underground, of which I did not obtain a specimen.

Not far above and below the fort there were woods on the banks of the Missouri, consisting of poplars, willows, ash, elm, negundo maple, &c., with a thick underwood of hazel, roses, which were now in flower, and dog-berry, rendered almost impassable by blackberry bushes and the burdock (Xanthium strumarium), the thorny fruit of which stuck to the clothes. In these thickets, where we collected many plants, the mosquitos were extremely troublesome. In such places we frequently heard the deep base note of the frogs; and in those places which were not damp, there were patches of two kinds of solidago; likewise Gaura coccinea (Pursh.), and Cristaria coccinea, two extremely beautiful plants; and, on the banks of the river, the white-flowering Bartonia ornata (Pursh.), and the Helianthus petiolaris (Nutt.), which were everywhere in flower, &c. &c.

193 In the forest, a pretty small mouse was frequent, as well as the large wood rat, already mentioned. Of birds, there are some species of woodpeckers, the Carolina pigeon, numerous blackbirds (Quiscalus ferrugineus), thrushes, several smaller birds, the beautiful bluefinch, first described by Say, the American fly-catcher, and several others. The whip-poor-will is not found so high up the Missouri. The river does not abound in fish; it produces, however, two species of cat-fish, and soft shell turtles, but which are not often caught.

The climate about Fort Union is very changeable. We had often 76° Fahrenheit, and storms of thunder and lightning alternating with heavy rains. Other days in the month of June were cold, the thermometer falling to 56°. Winds prevail here the greater part of the year, and therefore the temperature is usually dry. The weather, while we were there, was uncommonly rainy. Spring is generally the wettest season; the summer is dry; autumn the finest time of the year; the winter is severe, and often of long continuance. The snow is often three, four, or six feet deep in many places, and then dog sledges are used, and the Indians wear snow shoes. The winter of 1831-1832 had been remarkably mild in these parts. The Missouri had scarcely been frozen for three days together; but the spring, however, set in very late. On the 30th of May, 1832, the forests were still without verdure; and there was, in that month, such dreadful weather, that an Indian was frozen to death in the prairie: a snow storm overtook him and a girl, who escaped with one of her feet frozen. In general, however, the climate is said to be very healthy. There are no endemic disorders, and the fine water of the Missouri, which, notwithstanding the sand mixed with it, is light and cold, does not a little contribute to make the inhabitants attain an advanced age. There are no physicians here, and the people affirm they have no need of them. Persons, whom we questioned on the subject, said, "We don't want doctors; we have no diseases." In the preceding spring, however, there had been more sickness than usual on the Missouri, and at the time of our visit, the approach of the cholera was feared. Colds are, probably, the most frequent complaints, the changes in the temperature being sudden, the dwellings slight and ill built, and the people exposing themselves without any precaution.

Fort Union is built in the territory of the Assiniboins, of whom a certain number generally live there. At this time they had left, because the herds of buffaloes were gone to a distant part of the country. The Assiniboins are real Dacotas, or Sioux, and form a branch which separated from the rest a considerable time ago, in consequence of a quarrel among them. They still call themselves by that name, though they seem generally to pronounce it Nacota. They parted from the rest of the tribe, after a battle which they had with each other on Devil's Lake, and removed further to the north. The tribe is said to consist of 28,000 souls, of whom 7,000 are warriors. They live in 3,000 tents; the territory which they claim as theirs, is between the Missouri and the Saskatschawan, bounded by lake Winipick on the north, extending, on the east, to Assiniboin River, and, on the west, to Milk River. The English and Americans sometimes 194 call them Stone Indians, which, however, properly speaking, is the name of only one branch.

The Assiniboins are divided into the following branches or bands:

1. Itscheabiné (les gens des filles).

2. Jatonabinè (les gens des roches). The Stone Indians of the English. Captain Franklin, in his first journey to the Frozen Ocean, speaks of these Indians, and observes that they are little to be depended upon. He says that they call themselves Eascab, a name with which, however, I have not met.

3. Otopachgnato (les gens du large).

4. Otaopabinè (les gens des canots).

5. Tschantoga (les gens des bois). They live near the Fort des Prairies, not far from Saskatschawan River.

6. Watópachnato (les gens de l'age).

7. Tanintauei (les gens des osayes).

8. Chábin (les gens des montagnes).

In their personal appearance the Assiniboins differ little from the true Sioux; those whom we saw were, perhaps, on the whole, not so tall and slender as the Sioux. Their faces are broad, with high cheeks, and broad maxillary bones. They frequently do not wear their hair so long as the Sioux; many of them have it scarcely hanging down to the shoulders; some, however, let it grow to a great length, and braid it in two or three tails; nay, some let it hang like a lion's mane over their faces and about their heads. Several wore round white leather caps, others feathers in their hair, or a narrow strip of skin fastened over the crown. A remarkable head-dress is that with two horns, of which I shall have to speak in the sequel. They paint their faces red, or reddish-brown, and, when they have killed an enemy, quite black: the hair in front is often daubed with clay; the upper part of the body is seldom naked in winter time, when they wear leather shirts, with a large round rosette on the breast, which is embroidered with dyed porcupine quills, of the most vivid colours; and they have often another exactly similar ornament on their back. The sleeves of these leather shirts are adorned with tufts of their enemies' hair. The outer seam of the leggins, as among all the other tribes, has an embroidered stripe of coloured porcupine quills, and trimmed in the same manner with human or dyed horsehair. In the summer time the upper part of the body is often naked, and the feet bare, but they are never without the large buffalo robe, which is often curiously painted. Their necklaces and other ornaments are similar to those of the other nations which have already been described. They, however, very frequently wear the collar of the bears' claws, but not the long strings of beads 195 and dentalium shells, which are used by the Manitaries. Most of the Assiniboins have guns, the stocks of which they ornament with bright yellow nails, and with small pieces of red cloth on the ferrels for the ramrod. Like all the Indians, they carry, besides, a separate ramrod in their hand, a large powder-horn, which they obtain from the Fur Company, and a leather pouch for the balls, which is made by themselves, and often neatly ornamented, or hung with rattling pieces of lead, and trimmed with coloured cloth. All have bows and arrows; many have these only, and no gun. The case for the bow and the quiver are of the skin of some animal, often of the otter, fastened to each other; and to the latter the tail of the animal, at full length, is appended. The bow is partly covered with elk horn, has a very strong string of twisted sinews of animals, and is wound round in different places with the same, to strengthen it. The bow is often adorned with coloured cloth, porcupine quills, and white strips of ermine, but, on the whole, this weapon does not differ from that of the Sioux. Most of them carry clubs in their hands, of various shapes, and the fan of eagles' or swans' wings is indispensable to an elegant dandy.

The Assiniboins being hunters, live in movable leather tents, with which they roam about, and never cultivate the ground. Their chief subsistence they derive from the herds of buffaloes, which they follow in the summer, generally from the rivers, to a distance in the prairie; in the winter, to the woods on the banks of the rivers, because these herds, at that time, seek for shelter and food among the thickets. They are particularly dexterous in making what are called buffalo parks, when a tract is surrounded with scarecrows, made of stones, branches of trees, &c., and the terrified animals are driven into a narrow gorge, in which the hunters lie concealed, as represented and described by Franklin, in his first journey to the Frozen Ocean. There was such a park ten miles from Fort Union, where I was told there were great numbers of the bones of those animals. On such occasions the Indians sometimes kill 700 or 800 buffaloes. Of the dried and powdered flesh, mixed with tallow, the women prepare the well-known pemmican, which is an important article of food for these people in their wanderings. These Indians frequently suffer hunger, when the chase or other circumstances are unfavourable; this is particularly the case of the northern nations, the Crees, the Assiniboins, the Chippeways, and others, as may be seen in Tanner, Captain Franklin, and other writers, when they consider dead dogs as a delicacy. In the north, entire families perish from hunger. They eat every kind of animals, except serpents; horses and dogs are very frequently killed for food, which is the reason why they keep so many, particularly of the latter.

In comparison with the other nations, the Assiniboins have not many horses; their bridles and saddles are like those of the Manitaries. The rope of buffalo hair, which is fastened to the 196 lower jaw as a bridle, is always very long, and trails on the grass when the animal is not tied up. Many have large parchment stirrups in the shape of shoes, and all carry a short whip in their hand, generally made of the end of an elk's horn, and gaily ornamented. Their dogs are of great help to the women in their heavy work; and they are loaded with the baggage in the same manner as among the Manitaries.

In general, the Assiniboins have the customs as well as the superstitious notions of the Sioux; for an account of which, Major Long's "Expedition to St. Peter's River," may be consulted. They keep on good terms with the Fur Company, for their own interest; they are, however, horse-stealers, and not to be trusted; and when one meets them alone in the prairie, there is great danger of being robbed. Smoking is a favourite enjoyment with them, but, as they live at a distance from the red pipe clay, the bowls of their pipes are generally made of a blackish stone, or black clay, and are different in shape from those of the Dacotas. The pipe tube is ornamented like those of the other tribes. They generally smoke the herb kinikenick, which we have before mentioned, or the leaves of the bear-berry (Arbutus uva ursi), mixed with genuine tobacco. To clean their pipes they make use of a painted stick, bound round with quills, dyed of various colours, and with a neat tassel at the end of it, which is generally stuck in their hair.

Many games are in use among these Indians; one of these is a round game, in which one holds in his hand some small stones, of which the others must guess the number, or pay a forfeit. This game is known also to the Blackfeet. Another is that in which they play with four small bones and four yellow nails, to which one of each sort is added; they are laid upon a flat 197 wooden plate, which is struck, so that they fly up and fall back into the plate, and you gain, or lose, according as they lie together on one side, and the stake is often very high.

Among the amusements and festivities are their eating feasts, when the guests must eat everything set before them, if they will not give offence. If one of the guests is not able to eat any more, he gives his neighbour a small wooden stick, and the plate with food, the meaning of which is that he will make him a present of a horse, on the next day, if he will undertake to empty the plate; and the young men do this in order to gain reputation. The Assiniboins are brave in battle, and often very daring. They frequently steal into the villages of the Mandans and Manitaries, shoot the inhabitants in or near their huts, or steal their horses.

They believe in a creator, or lord of life (Unkan-Tange), and also in an evil spirit (Unkan-Schidja), who torments people with various disorders, against which their sorcerers or physicians (medicine men) use the drum and the rattle to expel the evil spirit. Like the Crees and several other tribes, they believe that thunder is produced by an enormous bird, which some of them pretend to have seen. Some ascribe lightning to the Great Spirit, and believe that he is angry when the storm is violent. They believe that the dead go to a country in the south, where the good and brave find women and buffaloes, while the wicked or cowardly are confined to an island, where they are destitute of all the pleasures of life. Those who, during their lives, have conducted themselves bravely, are not to be deposited in trees when they die, but their corpses are to be laid on the ground, it being taken for granted that, in case of need, they will help themselves. Of course they are generally devoured by the wolves, to secure them from which, however, they are covered with wood and stones. Other corpses are usually placed on trees, as among the Sioux, and sometimes on scaffolds. They are tied up in buffalo hides, and three or four are sometimes laid in one tree.

The language of the Assiniboins is, on the whole, the same as that of the Sioux, altered by their long separation, and the influence of time and circumstances. Like them, they have many gutturals and nasal tones; in general, however, it is an harmonious language, which a German pronounces without difficulty.

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AUDUBON'S WESTERN
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Being the MS. record of a trip from New York to Texas, and an overland journey through Mexico and Arizona to the gold-fields of California

By
JOHN W. AUDUBON

With biographical memoir by his daughter
MARIA R. AUDUBON

Edited by
FRANK HEYWOOD HODDER
Professor of American History, University of Kansas

With folded map, portrait, and original drawings

J

OHN W. AUDUBON, son of the famous ornithologist, was a member of Colonel Webb's California Expedition which started from New York City for the gold-fields in February, 1849. The Journal consists of careful notes which Audubon made en route. It was written with a view to publication, accompanied by a series of sketches made at intervals during the journey; but owing to Audubon's pre-occupation with other affairs, the plan of publication was never realized.

The Journal is, therefore, here published for the first time, and is illustrated by the author's original sketches, carefully reproduced. It gives a vivid first-hand picture of the difficulties of an overland journey to California, and of the excitements, dangers, and privations of life in the gold-fields. An additional interest attaches to this account from the fact that Colonel Webb deserted his party, which consisted of nearly a hundred men, when the expedition reached Roma, and the command then by unanimous choice of the party devolved upon Audubon. This situation, as modestly related by the author, displays his sympathetic nature, as well as his keenness and ability as a leader.

Besides being a fascinating story of adventure, the Journal throws much light on the interesting years immediately following the discovery of gold in California. John W. Audubon was (with his brother Victor G. Audubon) the assistant of his father, and executed much of the artistic work on the famous "Quadrupeds of North America." His pictures of the spreading of the gold craze in the East, the journey through Mexico, and the social conditions after reaching California, show him to be a keen and faithful observer.

The Editor, Professor F. H. Hodder, of the University of Kansas, has supplied complete annotation explaining matters of topography, natural science, and historical and personal allusions. Professor Hodder in his editorial work has drawn liberally upon his special knowledge of the history and geography of the West and Southwest. A biographical memoir has been written by Miss Maria R. Audubon. Being the daughter of the author, she has availed herself of a large amount of auxiliary material not accessible to any other biographer.

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PERSONAL NARRATIVE
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Travels in Virginia, Maryland,
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana,
Kentucky; and of a Residence in
the Illinois Territory: 1817-1818

BY

ELIAS PYM FORDHAM

With facsimiles of the author's sketches and plans

Edited with Notes, Introduction, Index, etc., by
FREDERIC AUSTIN OGG, A.M.
Author of "The Opening of the Mississippi"

AN UNPUBLISHED MS.

This hitherto unpublished MS., which is a real literary and historical find, was written in 1817-18 by a young Englishman of excellent education who assisted Morris Birkbeck in establishing his Illinois settlement. The author writes anonymously, but by a careful study of various allusions in the Narrative and from information furnished by the family in possession of the MS., has been identified as Elias Pym Fordham. Landing at Baltimore, he reached the West by way of Philadelphia, Pittsburg, and the Ohio River to Cincinnati, describing the people and the country as he went along.

THE MIDDLE WEST IN 1817

Fordham was an especially well-qualified observer of the Middle West because of the numerous journeys he undertook, on land-hunting trips for new emigrants, in the service of Mr. Birkbeck. These journeys led him into Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky; and he never omits the opportunity to make frank and pointed comment on society, manners, and morals, as well as careful observations of the face of the country and of industrial conditions. The style is quite unaffected and has much natural charm and sprightliness; and the fact that he wrote anonymously made him much more free in his comments on contemporary society than would otherwise have been possible.

LOCAL AND PIONEER HISTORY

These journeys also gave him unexampled opportunities for contact with the pioneers of Middle West, and his journal is consequently rich in personalia of early settlers, remarks on contemporary history and politics, state of trade, agriculture, prices, and information on local history not obtainable elsewhere. He also visited the larger cities and gives very interesting accounts of Pittsburg and Cincinnati, accompanied by original sketches and plans. In Kentucky he had the opportunity to study slavery; and although at first prejudiced against this institution he finally reached the conclusion that the slave states offered better chances of successful settlement than the free states.

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The publication of Fordham's Narrative with introduction, extensive annotations, and index by professor Frederic A. Ogg, one of the best authorities on the history of the Mississippi Valley, will make accessible to historical students much new and important material, besides giving the general reader a book of vital and absorbing interest.

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"AN AUTHORITY OF THE HIGHEST IMPORTANCE"—Winsor

THE
PRESENT STATE
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EUROPEAN SETTLEMENTS
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MISSISIPPI;
WITH
A Geographical Description of that River.
ILLUSTRATED BY
PLANS and DRAUGHTS.

By Captain PHILIP PITTMAN.

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MDCCLXX

Edited with Introduction, Notes, and Index, by
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Professor of American History, University of Kansas

This exceedingly rare work was issued in London, in 1770, and has been so much in demand by historical students and collectors of Americana that even imperfect copies of the original are now almost impossible to obtain at any price. Our text is from a perfect copy of the original with all the folding maps and plans carefully reproduced.

*Only two copies have been offered for sale during the past five years; one copy sold at $95.00, and the other is now offered by a reliable firm of booksellers at $105.00.

A valuable source work

Pittman's Mississippi Settlements contains much valuable original material for the study of the French and Spanish Settlements of old Louisiana, West Florida, and the Illinois country. The author, Captain Philip Pittman, was a British military engineer, and gives an accurate general view of the Mississippi Settlements just after the English came into possession of the eastern half of the valley by the Peace of 1763. His account, written from personal observation, is rich in allusions to the political, social, and military readjustments resulting from this change of possession. "A comprehensive account of the Illinois country and its inhabitants, with sketches in detail of the several French posts and villages situated therein, as personally viewed by him in 1766-67.... It contains, in a compact form, much useful and reliable information (nowhere else to be found) concerning the Mississippi Valley and its people at that transition period."—Wallace: Illinois and Louisiana under French Rule.

The earliest English account

Dr. William F. Poole in Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of America says: "It is the earliest English account of those settlements, and, as an authority in early western history, is of the highest importance. He [Pittman] was a military engineer, and for five years was employed in surveying the Mississippi River and exploring the western country. The excellent plans which accompany the work, artistically engraved on copper, add greatly to its value."

Annotation by Professor Hodder

An introduction, notes, and index have been supplied by Professor Frank Heywood Hodder, who has made a special study of American historical geography. The value of the reprint is thus enhanced by annotation embodying the results of the latest researches in this field of American history.

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The Historic Highways of America

by Archer Butler Hulbert

A series of monographs on the History of America as portrayed in the evolution of its highways of War, Commerce, and Social Expansion.

Comprising the following volumes:

I —Paths of the Mound-Building Indians and Great Game Animals.

II —Indian Thoroughfares.

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VI —Boone's Wilderness Road.

VII —Portage Paths: The Keys of the Continent.

VIII —Military Roads of the Mississippi Basin.

IX —Waterways of Westward Expansion.

X —The Cumberland Road.

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XIII, XIV —The Great American Canals, two volumes.

XV —The Future of Road-Making in America.

XVI —Index.

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