Opposite to the mouth of Otter Creek,[298] 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.[299] 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,[300] 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.[301] 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.[302] 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[303] (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.[304] 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.[305] 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[306] of Lewis and Clarke.[307]
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.[308] 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.
Antlers of deer
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.[309] 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[310] 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.[311] 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.[312] 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,[313] 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.[314] 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,[315] 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.[316] 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.[317] 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.[318] 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.[319] 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),[320] 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;[321] 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.[322] 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.