SOURCE OP ST. Peter's river. 47 



an oak post fixed on it, bearing on the north side the letters 

 G, B. and on the south side those U. S. On the 8th of Au- 

 gust, at noon, the flag was hoisted on the staflf, which bore 

 south 44° 25' west of the post, at a distance of 2071 feet. 

 A national salute was fired at the time, and a proclamation 

 made by Major Long, that " by virtue of the authority 

 vested in him by the President of the United States, the 

 country situated upon Red river, above that point, was de- 

 clared to be comprehended within the territory of the 

 United States." This declaration was made in the presence 

 of all the inhabitants collected for that purpose. They ap- 

 peared well satisfied on hearing that the whole of the set- 

 tlement of Pembina, with the exception of a single log- 

 house, standing near the left bank of the river, would be 

 included in the territory of the United States. While fix- 

 ing the posts, the colonists requested that they might be 

 shown how the line would run; when this was done, the 

 first observation they made was, that all the buffalo would 

 be on our side of the line; this remark shows the great in- 

 terest they take in this animal, to which all their thoughts 

 recur. We might almost apply to them the observation 

 made by Gomara of the natives of the province of Quivira, 

 and which is strictly true of the Dacotas. " The people 

 have no other riches, (than the buffalo;) they are unto 

 them meat, drink, apparel ; their hides also yield them 

 . houses and ropes ; their sinews and hair, thread ; their horns, 

 mawes, and bladders, vessels ; their dung, fire ; the calves 

 skins budgets wherewith they draw and keep water."* 



" Prjeter haec antinalia, nullas prseterea divitias noverunt barbari ■, 

 haec ipsis clbum potumque subministrant, (caro autem optimi est sa- 

 poris,) tergoribus illorum corpora suafpariter atque casulas muniunt ; 

 e laciniis eorum funes contorquent ; ossa illis stilos ; nervi villique funes ; 

 cornua buccinas; veslcje utres; fimus denlque siccus fomites prajbet" 

 Vide De Laet, ut supra, L. 6, C. 17, andPurchas, p. 778 



