On the 15th of April, Picotte arrived with about twenty men, and had his boat laden with maize, which he was to carry to Fort Union. They immediately set about preparing the Mackinaw boat for our voyage down the river, and Picotte set out on the 16th, notwithstanding a heavy rain. Every preparation was completed on the following day; the boat was brought to the landing-place, furnished on the deck with a spacious Indian tent covering, and all was made ready for our voyage, Mr. Chardon resolving to accompany me to Fort Pièrre on the Teton River.
On the 18th of April, at noon, the boat was loaded; and, after we had partaken of our last frugal dinner at Fort Clarke, we took a cordial farewell of Mr. Kipp, with whom we had passed so long a time in this remote place, and who had done everything for me that was possible in his circumscribed condition. Accompanied by the inhabitants of the fort, and many of our Indian friends, among whom was Mato-Topé and Pehriska-Ruhpa, all of whom shook hands at parting, we went on board our boat. The weather was favourable, though there was a strong wind from the southwest. Some cannon-shot were fired by the fort as a farewell salute, and we glided rapidly down the beautiful stream of the Missouri.
FOOTNOTES:
[38] Compare with this the invocations of the Omaha, given in Dorsey, "Siouan Cults," U. S. Bureau of Ethnology Report, 1889-90, p. 373.—Ed.
[39] See p. [59], for illustration of a double rainbow.—Ed.
[40] See Plate 45, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[41] For sketch of this trader, see our volume xxii, p. 316, note 279.—Ed.
[42] See Plate 50, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[43] The second figure from the left, in Plate 50, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[44] This portrait is in Plate 50, the third figure from the left, atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.