164 NOTES BY THE WAY. 



July Atli. Accompanied by two others, in an equally forlorn condition, 

 the " glorious fourth " finds me plodding along, over an open prairie, be- 

 neath the scorching rays of a summer's sun, unarmed, half-naked, with a 

 shouldered pack, and not having had a morsel to eat for the past two days. 



It is now I think of the festal boards and scenes of good cheer so omni- 

 present upon Freedom's birth-day in the land of my nativity ! Mine is 

 a mode of celebrating Independence, that I care not ever again to observe. 



On the 6th we reached the Ottoe mission and obtained food, after an ab- 

 stinence of four successive days. 



Early in the morning of the 7th we arrived at Council Bluff on the 

 Missouri, eight miles above the mouth of the Platte, aiid nearly four hun- 

 dred above Fort Leavenworth. In the course of the day following our 

 whole party came in, one after another — some of whom had become so 

 weakened by hardship and deprivation they could scarcely move a dozen 

 yards without stumbling ! 



Having remained a few days at Council Bluff to recruit our strength, we 

 procured canoes and descended the Missouri. The 21st inst. found me at 

 Independence, Mo., after an absence of nearly nine months, — having con- 

 sumed seventy-five days upon my return voyage, and, in the meantime, ex- 

 perienced a series of suffering and misfortunes seldom equalled and rarely 

 surpassed. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



The country between the Pawnee village and Bellevieu, and from that to Fort 

 Leavenworth. — Leave Independence for the Mountains. — Meet Pawnees. — In- 

 dian hospitality. — Journey up the South Fork Platte. — Fort Grove. — Beaver creek. 

 — Bijou. — Chabonard's camp. — Country described. — Medicine Lodge. — The Chy- 

 ennes ; their character and history. — Arrive at Fort Lancaster. — Different locahties 

 in its neighborhood. — Fatal Duel. — Ruins. 



The country travelled over from the Pawnee village to Council Bluff 

 (or Bellevieu, as more recently called) is generally possessed of a rich, 

 clayey soil, which is well adapted to cultivation. 



Large quantities of timber skirt the streams, that include all the varie- 

 ties found in the States. The landscape is beautifully undulating, and, at 

 the time of our passing it, was covered with a luxuriant growth of vege- 

 tation, (the grass being frequently waist high,) and ornamented by rare 

 specimens of wild flowers. 



The Pawnees, Ottoes, and Omahas possess the whole extent of this ter- 

 ritory, which embraces much valuable land within its limits. That north 

 of the river and adjacent to Bellevieu is owned by the Pottowatomies, who 

 also claim to the boundary betvv'een Iowa and Missouri. 



