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.[218] 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.[219] 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.[220]
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.[221] 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.[222]
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.[223] 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[224] 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.[225]
Omaha Indians