BUSHNELL] VILLAGES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI 91 
The preceding is a clear though all too brief account of a native 
village, prepared at a time when it continued in a primitive con- 
dition. The site, on the left bank of Kansas River just below the 
mouth of the Republican, would have been about the present Fort 
Riley, near the northern line of Geary County. In some respects this 
is the most interesting description of a Kansa village given in the 
present work. The habitations—long mat-covered lodges—were of 
the type erected by the Osage and Quapaw, kindred tribes of the 
Kansa, and it is highly probable they represented the form of dwell- 
ings reared by the same tribes many generations before in their 
ancient villages which then stood in the valley of the Ohio, far east 
of the Mississippi. 
~ Just 15 years elapsed between the time of the Lewis and Clark 
expedition and the arrival_of the Long party in the country of the 
Kansa.. In August, 1819, to those aboard the steamboat Western 
Engineer, “ The site of an old village of the Konzas, and the remains 
of a fortification erected by the French, were pointed out a few 
miles below Isle au Vache. This island, which lies about one hundred 
miles above Fort Osage, was the wintering post of Capt. Martin’s 
detachment, destined to proceed in advance of the troops ordered 
to the Missouri.” And nothing shows more clearly the changed con- 
ditions in that region during the past century than the continuation 
of this narrative: ‘Captain Martin, with three companies of the 
rifle regiment, left Bellefontain in September 1818, and arrived at 
Isla au Vache in October, with the expectation of resuming his march, 
as early in the following spring as the weather would permit. But 
not having received the necessary supplies of provisions as antici- 
pated, they had been compelled to remain till the time of our arri- ; 
val, subsisting themselves principally by hunting... Between 
two and three thousand deer, besides great numbers of bears, turkies, 
&c. had been taken.” On August 23, 1819, a large number of Kansa 
Indians, from their villages on the river bearing their tribal name, 
gathered at Isle au Vache to meet members of the Long party in 
council, “There were present at this council, one hundred and sixty- 
one Konzas, including chiefs and warriors, and thirteen Osages.” 
(James, (1), I, pp. 110-112.) 
While at Fort Osage members of the Long expedition left for an 
overland journey to the Kansa towns. The party was led by Say, 
and left the fort August 6, arriving at the villages just two weeks 
later. The Kansa town then stood in the extreme southwestern cor- 
ner of the present Pottawatomie County, Kansas, at the mouth of the 
Big Blue. And “as they approached the village, they perceived the 
tops of the lodges red with the crowds of natives; the chiefs and 
warriors came rushing out on horseback, painted and decorated, and 
