SOURCE OP ST. Peter's river. 249 



it, without being induced to look back to the causes which 

 may have produced this phenomenon. But here man finds 

 himself baffled in every attempt to dive into the abyss 

 of past times ; he may contemplate the scenery, but can- 

 not unravel the mysteries of its creation. Deep strata of 

 sandstone and limestone are disclosed ; they have preserv- 

 ed, as yet, the elevation of the hills undiminished, but have 

 not protected their sides from waste. " When we entered 

 on the prairie, towards the close of the day," says Mr. 

 Colhoun, from whose notes this description is chiefly ex- 

 tracted, "a landscape was presented, that combined grander 

 beauties than any I ever beheld ; far as the eye could fol- 

 low were traced two gigantic walls of the most regular out- 

 line, formed, as it were, by successive faces of pyramids. 

 Between them, extended a level verdant prairie, the scene 

 of the Python flexures of the Mississippi. My sensations 

 were prolonged by the reflection that I had before me one 

 of the noblest rivers in the world ; they were enhanced 

 when I saw the evidences of a grand catastrophe. Majestic 

 as is the Mississippi, there was a time when it swept 

 along, a stream, more than one hundred fold its present 

 volume." 



Whatever might be the reveries in which the party were 

 indulging, they were soon recalled to the dull realities of 

 travelling, by the howling and barking of a band of dogs, 

 that announced their approach to an Indian village consist- 

 ing of twenty fixed lodges and cabins. It is controlled by 

 W^-pa-sh&, an Indian chief of considerable distinction. In 

 his language, (Dacota,) his name signifies the red leaf. A 

 number of young men fantastically decorated with many 

 and variously coloured feathers, and their faces as oddly 

 painted, advanced to greet the party. One of them, the son 

 of the chief, was remarkable for the gaudiness and display 



Vol. I. 2^2 



