498 AUDUBON 



follows : during the first breaking up of the ice, it at 

 times accumulates, so as to form a complete dam across 

 the river ; and when this suddenly gives way by the heat 

 of the atmosphere, and the great pressure of the waters 

 above the dam, the whole rushes on suddenly and over- 

 flows the country around, hurling the ice against any trees 

 in its course. Sprague has shot two Embcriza pallida, 

 two Lincoln's Finches, and a Black and Yellow Warbler, 

 Sylvicola \_Dendrcecfi\ maciilosa. One of our trappers, 

 who had gone to the hills, brought on board two Rattle- 

 snakes of a kind which neither Harris nor myself had seen 

 before. The four Indians we have on board are three 

 Puncas 1 and one Sioux; the Puncas were formerly at- 

 tached to the Omahas ; but, having had some difficulties 

 among themselves, they retired further up the river, and 

 assumed this new name. The Omahas reside altogether 



o 



on the west side of the Missouri. Three of the Puncas 

 have walked off to the establishment of Mr. Cerre to pro- 

 cure moccasins, but will return to-night. They appear 

 to be very poor, and with much greater appetites than 

 friend Catlin describes them to have. Our men are 

 stupid, and very superstitious ; they believe the rattles of 



i " The Puncas, as they are now universally called, or as some travellers 

 formerly called them, Poncaras, or Poncars, the Pons of the French, were 

 originally a branch of the Omahas, and speak nearly the same language. 

 They have, however, long been separated from them, and dwell on both sides 

 of Running-water River (L'Eau qui Court) and on Punca Creek, which 

 Lewis and Clark call Poncara. They are said to have been brave warriors, 

 but have been greatly reduced by war and the small-pox. According to Dr. 

 Morse's report, they numbered in 1822 1,750 in all; at present the total 

 number is estimated at about 300." ("Travels in North America," Maxi- 

 milian, Prince of Wied, p. 137.) 



" Poncar, Poncha, Ponca or Ponka, Punka, Puncah, etc. 'The remnant 

 of a nation once respectable in point of numbers. They formerly [before 

 1805] resided on a branch of the Red River of Lake Winnipie ; being 

 oppressed by the Sioux, they removed to the west side of the Missouri on 

 Poncar River . . . and now reside with the Mahas, whose language they 

 speak.' (" Lewis and Clark," p. 109, ed. 1893. 



