SOURCE OP ST. Peter's river. 315 



The land party consisted of Messrs. Say, Colhoun, and 

 Lieut. Denny, with a sergeant, a corporal, seven soldiers, 

 and a boy, Louis Pellais, hired as a Chippewa interpreter. 

 It was determined that the two divisions should as far as 

 practicable keep company together, and encamp every 

 night, if possible, at the same place. 



At the point where we embarked, which may be consi- 

 dered as the mouth of the St. Peter, this stream is about 

 ninety yards wide ; it lies in latitude 44° 53' 49" north, 

 longitude 93° 8' 7" west. The magnetic variation amounts 

 to 10° 28' 40" east. These result from a series of observa- 

 tions made by Mr. Colhoun during our stay there. The 

 river is called in the Dacota language Wat^paii Men^esota, 

 which means " the river of turbid water." The term Wa- 

 tapan, which in that language signifies river, is always pre- 

 fixed to the name of the stream ; thus the Mississippi is called 

 Watapan Tancha, (the hody of rivers, because all the other 

 streams are considered as branches or limbs, this being the 

 trunk,) the Missouri is termed Watapan Mene Shosh'A, 

 "the river of thick water." In the Potawatomi, Sauk, 

 and other languages of Algonquin origin, the substantive 

 follows the adjective, as Mese Sepe, Pektannon Sepe, &c. 



The name given to the St. Peter is derived from its tur- 

 bid appearance, which distinguishes it from the Missis- 

 sippi, whose waters are very clear at the confluence. It has 

 been erroneously stated by some authors to signify clear wa- 

 ter. The Indians make a great difference, however, between 

 the terms sota and shosha; one of which means turbid. 



the expedition and accompanied us to Pembina. He has recently pub- 

 lished a book entitled, " La Decouverte des Sources duMlssissippi," &c. 

 which we notice merely on account of the fictions and misrepresenta^ 

 tions which it contains. S. H. L. 



