SOURCE OF ST. PETERS RIVER. 37 



streams, from the circumstance that different appellations 

 are applied to them, by the Dacotas, the Chippewas, and 

 the traders. A concordance between these different syno- 

 nimies is difficult to establish ; thus the term Pse, applied 

 by the Sioux to one of the western tributaries, has the 

 same meaning as the word Menomone, used by the Chip- 

 pewa to designate one of the rivers that fall in on the east 

 bank, and both are by the traders called Wild-rice, or Folle 

 Avoine. We have used those naines that were least like- 

 ly to create a confusion, and as that of Menomone was 

 preoccupied, we have kept the name of Pse for the west- 

 ern, and Wild-rice for the eastern tributary. However 

 bad the names may be, we have preferred retaining them 

 than increasing the confusion by substituting new terms. 

 It is to be regretted that the practice of retaining the In- 

 dian appellations has not been more generally adopted by 

 travellers ; they have rejected the melodious and original 

 names, to substitute others less pleasant to the ear, and 

 worn out by frequent use, not only on this, but also on 

 the other side of the Atlantic. 



Buffalo river rises in a chain of small lakes, surrounded 

 by a large forest, (Bois Grand,) which is said to extend to 

 the Mississippi. Its course from its source is about north- 

 west, its length sixty miles, its breadth where we crossed 

 it eight yards ; its bottom muddy. 



Wild-rice river is about one hundred and twenty miles 

 long ; its name is derived from the abundance of wild rice 

 which grows in a circular lake, about eighteen miles diame- 

 ter, in which it takes its rise. It is said that the supply of 

 grain which this lake yields is inexhaustible. The course 

 of the river is about parallel to that of Buffalo river; its 

 breadth, nine miles above its mouth, was twelve yards. 



Vol. II. 6 



