470 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. 



the Mississippi. The stem of tiie 

 pipe was at least six feet in length, 

 and highly decorated with tufts of 

 horse hair, dyed red. After the 

 pipe was ligiited, he held it up to- 

 wards the sun, and afterwards 

 l)ointed it towards the sky, in dif- 

 ferent directions. lie then handed 

 it to the great chief, who smoked 

 a few whiffs, and taking the head 

 of the pipe in his hand, com- 

 menced by applying the other 

 end to the lips of Mr. Hunt, and 

 afterwards did tlie same to every 

 one in the circle. When this cere- 

 mony was ended, Mr. Hunt rose, 

 and made a speech in Prench, 

 translated as he proceeded into 

 the Sioux language by Dorion. 

 The purport of the speech was to 

 state, that the object of our voy- 

 age up the Missouii was not to 

 trade; that several of our brothers 

 had gone to tiie great salt lake in 

 the west, wiiom we had not seen 

 for eleven moons, 'lliat we had 

 come from the great salt lake in 

 the east, on our way to see oiir 

 brothers, for whom we had been 

 crying ever since they left us ; and 

 our lives wore now become so 

 miserable for tlie want of oui- bro- 

 tliers, that we would rather die 

 than not go to them, and wouUl 

 kill every man that should oppose 

 our passage. 'I'liat wc had heanl 

 of tlieir design to jirevent our 

 passage up the river, hut we did 

 not wish to believe if, as we were 

 determined to jiersist, and were, 

 as th(y might see, well prepared 

 to cHect our jiurpose ; l)ut as a 

 |iroof of our paciiic intentions, we 

 had brought them a present of 

 toijacco and corn. About fifteen 

 carottes of tobacco, and as manv 

 bugs of corn, wei-e now bioui^ht 

 from the boat, and laid in a heap 



near the great chief, who then 

 rose and commenced a speech, 

 which was repeated in French by 

 Dorion. He commenced by stat- 

 ing that they were at war with the 

 Ricaras, Mandans, and Gios Ven- 

 tres or Miuaterees, and the injury 

 it would be to them if these na- 

 tions were furnished with arms 

 and ammunition ; but as they 

 found we were only going to our 

 brothers, they would not attempt 

 to stop us. That he also had bro- 

 thers, at a great distance noith- 

 ward, whom he had not seen for 

 a great many moons, and for whom 

 lie also had been crying. He pro- 

 fessed himself satisfied with our 

 present, and advised us to encamp 

 on the other side of tlie river, for 

 fear his young vten should be trou- 

 blesome. \\'hen the speech was 

 ended, we all rose, shook hands, 

 and returned to the boats. Dur- 

 ing this conference, I had an 

 opportunity of noticing these In- 

 dians, a great number of whom 

 were assembled on the bank above 

 us, and observed that they are in 

 stature considerably below the 

 Osage s, Mahas, and Poncars, and 

 much less robust. They are also 

 much more deficient in clothing 

 and ornaments, a considerable 

 number being entirely naked, but 

 all armed." 



Tiie return of a war party of 

 Indians is related in the following 

 manner : — 



"It liad been a custom with ns 

 to keep a guard round our camp 

 during tlie night since our arrival 

 at the Aricaras. Four of the pai ty 

 were stationed for this puipose 

 until midnight, and were then re- 

 lieved by four others, wh(» re- 

 mained on gii.nid until moi-ning. 

 On the morning of the 10th, at 



day- 



1 



