The Winning of the West 



hesitation the tribe usually consented to this 'also, 

 and the explorers, greatly gratified, passed on. It 

 is needless to say that as soon as they had disap- 

 peared the tribes promptly went to war again, and 

 that in reality the Indians had only the vaguest idea 

 as to what was meant by the ceremonies, and the 

 hoisting of the American Flag. The wonder is that 

 Clark, who had already had some experience with 

 Indians, should have supposed that the councils, 

 advice, and proclamations would have any effect of 

 the kind hoped for upon these wild savages. How- 

 ever, together with the love of natural science incul- 

 cated by the fashionable philosophy of the day, they 

 also possessed the much less admirable, though en- 

 tirely amiable, theory of universal unintelligent phi- 

 lanthropy which was embodied in this philosophy. 

 A very curious feature of our dealings with the In- 

 dians, not only in the days of Lewis and Clark, but 

 since, has been the combination of extreme and in- 

 deed foolish benevolence of purpose on the part of 

 the Government, with, on the part of the settlers, a 

 brutality of action which this benevolent purpose 

 could in no wise check or restrain. 



As the fall weather grew cold the party reached 

 the Mandan village, where they halted and went 

 into camp for the winter, building huts and a stout 

 stockade, which they christened Fort Mandan. 

 Traders from St. Louis and also British traders 

 from the North reached these villages, and the in- 

 habitants were accustomed to dealing with the 

 whites. Throughout the winter the party was well 



