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strata eight or ten feet above the water's edge ; they appeared for a short 

 distance only. 



Twelve o^ clock. — We have just passed the mouth of Cannon Ball river; 

 the bank above it is steep bluffs, composed of thick strata of sand stone ; 

 the opposite bank is gently rolling prairie, until it meets the hills about half 

 a mile or a mile back. 



Six o'' clock, P. M. — The banks this afternoon have been, generally level, 

 or rolling prairie, sometimes ascending gradually from the water's edge, and 

 in other places, having a perpendioular rise of eighteen or twenty feet ; 

 these last appear to be alluvial deposite, sometimes recent, and covered with 

 a thick growth of small timber, and again having a growth of large timber, 

 indicating that years had elapsed since the soil had been formed. In several 

 places high bluff banks rose from the water's edge, composed principally of 

 sand stone, the strata sometimes very much inclined, and at others horizon- 

 tal. We are now just below Apple Creek, and, on each side of the river, 

 nearly opposite, are two small hills, entirely bare of vegetation, called the 

 Peeled Hills ; they seem to be the same formation as those in the Bad 

 Lands. 



MiJidriy, June 10 — Six o'^ clock, A. M. — ^We are now, and have been for 

 several hours on a sand bar, just at the head of Heart River Island ; we 

 have been working hard to get off, but we may be here all day. This 

 island is covered with a fine growth of cotton wood. Last night, after 

 landing, a buffalo bull was killed by some of the men, and several others 

 were seen, the first that have been since we left. Four men started out im- 

 mediately after landing to walk nearly all night and make a hunt to-day. 



I forgot to notice what I had learned a few days ago of the custom of the 

 Indians in the treatment of the aged and Infirm. Hodgekiss was speaking 

 of a certain young Indian who had been killed in battle with the Crows, 

 and said that he had but one fault to find with him ; that he would beat his 

 old father, and that he had seen him strike the old man with a club and leave 

 him almost lifeless. On inquiring if such was the custom, I was told that it 

 was, and instances were cited by several to show that it w^as common for the 

 Indians to leave the old to perish on the prairies. An instance was mentioned 

 of a blind Crow^ Indian having been taken to a battle in the hope that he 

 might be killed — of one very old man having been shut up in some trading 

 house and left to perish — of an old squaw having been left in camp to die, 

 and, being found by the traders, was kept through the winter ; in the spring, 

 being sent back to her people, she was put in a small boat and cast adrift on 

 the river. A small boy is now at Fort Pierre, who was found by a trader 

 and brought in ; he had been left to die, because he had received a very 

 severe injury in one of his legs, and would have been a burden to his friends. 

 I, myself, noticed one day, on the arrival of a large band of Blackfeet, that 

 an old man, who was said to be one-hundred and four years old, if I am not 

 mistaken, was very badly clad, and had a wretched appearance. It seemed 

 as if the young men had left him to provide for his own wants. This custom 

 of neglect and .cruelty to the aged does not necessarily arise from a cruel 

 unfeeling disposition ; it probably come from two causes — their views of a 

 future state and their mode of life. The former leads them to suppose that 

 if these aged persons die, they will go to a state of happiness and abundance, 

 whereas now they are a burden to themselves and friends ; the latter makes 

 it a great trouble to their friends to transport them in their frequent changes 

 Mis.— 8. 



