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pickets. The logs are well prepared and are all up except on the west 

 side ; a bastion with loop holes is placed in the middle of each side. This 

 picket is of course to protect the inmates against enemies by whom they 

 are frequently attacked. 



Between the fort and the village stands a log house which belonged to a 

 man the Indians killed there last winter. He killed an Assiniboine and the 

 Gros Ventres destroyed him in revenge. Many of them came on board and 

 had their usual feast and presents, and then marched off in great glee. One 

 of their chiefs, a tall sharp loooking man, is on board going up with us, and 

 also several others, one of whom is a Crow Indian with his fiimily. He has 

 been visiting at the village, and is the only one that escaped from a small 

 hunting party that was cut off by a small war party of Sioux, a few days 

 ago. I noticed nothing peculiar about the Gros Ventres, except that their 

 skin was generally much lighter than that previously seen. Some of the 

 squaws were very light, closely approaching white. Their hands and feet 

 appear unusually small and neat, and their teeth, which are much shown, 

 are generally good. They have bright eyes, very cheerful countenances, 

 and generally slender bodies well fitted for activity. Their extensive corn 

 fields show signs of industry, covering as they do, the bottom grounds.' I 

 have no doubt that a prudent, patient missionary, offering to instruct them 

 in the arts of civilized life would be well received. 



Three and a half o^ clock, P. M. — We have just passed the mouth of 

 the Little Missouri River, coming from the South ; abjout one-hundred and 

 twenty miles above Fort Clark. Mr. Picotte has just confirmed what I 

 had previously heard about the abandonment of the aged and infirm by the 

 Indians. He says that the Indians further east on Lake Superior and 

 Winnepeg, are worse in this respect than the Missouri Indians. 



He also informed me that since he first knew them in 1820, the Mandans, 

 Rees and Gros Ventres, had probably lost five-sixth's of their number. At 

 the time mentioned, they were a large and flourishing people, but now the 

 Rees and the Gros Ventres have each but one ordinary sized village, and 

 the Mandans a very small one. The same thing is true of every tribe with 

 a fixed place of residence. He assigned for the fact the following rea- 

 sons : — When they remain long in one place the wood becomes scarce and 

 they are obliged to encamp in winter at a distance from their residence in 

 order to obtain fuel, but on account of danger from enemies and rise of 

 water in the spring, they are obliged to return before winter breaks up, and 

 to enter damp and cold houses which have been exposed all winter to the 

 frost and snow ; consequently many, especially the young and the aged, die 

 of colds or other disease originating in the same cause. Also when they 

 live in villages and inhabit mud houses they are more exposed to epidemics; 

 and again, in a fixed position their enemies always know where to find and 

 surprise them while working in their fields. 



These are the reasons why he thinks that for years past those tribes 

 having fixed habitations, have decreased in numbers, and besides the above 

 luentioned nations, he cites as instances, the Otoes, Omahaws, Pawnees and 

 several others. While these have decreased, the Sioux, a wandering peo- 

 ple, have greatly increased, their mode of life giving them the advantage 

 in all the ])articulars mentioned. 



The river has been on the rise for several days, and I have frequently 

 thought of the theory, that when a stream rises it is higlier in the middle 

 than at the shores, and consequently the drift wood floats near the shores, 



