32 NARRATIVE OI" A JOURNEY 



hands high over his head,) if 1 was going to the mountains. 

 On answering him in the affirmative, he depressed his hands, 

 and passed them around his head in both directions, then turned 

 quickly away from me, with a very solemn and significant ugh! 

 He meant, doubtless, that my brain was turned ; in plain lan- 

 guage, that I was a fool. This may be attributed to his horror 

 of the Blackfcet Indians, with whom a portion of his tribe was 

 formerly at war. The poor Kaws are said to have suffered 

 dreadfully in these savage conflicts, and were finally forced to 

 abandon the country to their hereditary foes. 



We were on the move early the next morning, and at noon 

 arrived at the Kanzas river, a branch of the Missouri. This is a 

 broad and not very deep stream, with the water dark and turbid, 

 like that of the former. As we approached it, we saw a number 

 of Indian lodges, made of saplings driven into the ground, bent 

 over and tied at top, and covered with bark and bufililo skms. 

 These lodges, or wigwams, are numerous on both sides of the 

 river. As we passed them, the inhabitants, men, women, and 

 children, flocked out to see us, and almost prevented our pro- 

 gress by their eager greetings. Our party stopped on the bank 

 of the river, and the horses were unloaded and driven into the 

 water. They swam beautifully, and with great regularity, and 

 arrived safely on the opposite shore, where they were confined 

 in a large lot, enclosed with a fence. After some difficulty, and 

 considerable detention, we succeeded in procuring a large flat 

 bottomed boat, embarked ourselves and goods in it, and landed 

 on the opposite side near our horse pen, where we encamped. 

 The lodges are numerous here, and there are also some good 

 frame houses inhabited by a few white men and women, who 

 subsist cliiefly by raising cattle, which they drive to the settle- 

 ments below. They, as well as the Indians, raise an abundance 

 of good corn ; potatoes and other vegetables are also plentiful, 

 and they can therefore live sufficiently well. 



