BUSHNELL] VILLAGES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI 157 
The expedition under command of Maj. Stephen H. Long ar- 
rived at Council Bluff, “so called by Lewis and Clark, from a council 
with the Otoes and Missouries held there, on the 3rd of August, 1804,” 
during the early autumn of 1819. Winter quarters were established 
at a point about 5 miles lower down the Missouri and at a short dis- 
tance north of the present city of Omaha, Nebr. This was called 
Engineer Cantonment, and during the ensuing months many Indians 
visited the encampment to treat with Maj. O’Fallon, the commis- 
sioner. | 
Leaving the majority of the party in quarters at the cantonment, 
Maj. Long and others of the expedition, on October 11, “began to 
descend the Missouri in a canoe, on their way towards Washington 
and Philadelphia.” Returning from the east they reached Engineer 
Cantonment May 28, 1820, having arrived at St. Louis April 24, 
“from Philadelphia to Council Bluff, to rejoin the party.” 
During the absence of the commanding officers some members of 
the expedition made a short. trip to the Pawnee villages, and the 
following brief account appears in the narrative on May 1, 1820: 
“ At each of the villages, we observed small sticks of the length of 
eighteen inches or two feet, painted red, stuck in the earth in various 
situations, but chiefly on the roofs of the houses, each bearing the 
fragment of a human scalp, the hair of which streamed in the wind. 
Before the entrance to some of the lodges were small frames, like 
painter’s easels, supporting each a shield, and generally a large 
painted cylindrical case of skin, prepared like parchment, in which 
a war dress is deposited. The shield is circular, made of bison skin, 
and thick enough to ward off an arrow, but not to arrest the flight of 
a rifle ball at close quarters . . . The lodges, or houses, of these 
three villages, are similar in structure, but differ in size. The de- 
scription of those of the Konzas will apply to them, excepting that 
the beds are all concealed by a mat partition, which extends parallel 
to the walls of the lodge, and from the floor to the roof. Small aper- 
tures, or doors, at intervals in this partition, are left for the. dif- 
ferent families, that inhabit a lodge, to enter their respective bed 
chambers.” (James, (1), pp. 367-368.) 
After the return of Maj. Long the reunited party left Engineer 
Cantonment, June 6, 1820, and soon reached the Pawnee villages, 
situated about 100 miles westward, on the Loup River, a branch of 
the Platte. The narrative of this part of the journey is most inter- 
esting: “The path leading to the Pawnee villages runs in a direc- 
tion a little south of west from the cantonment, and lies across a 
tract of high and barren prairie for the first ten miles. At this dis- 
tance it crosses the Papillon, or Butterfly creek, a small stream dis- 
charging into the Missouri, three miles above the confluence of the 
Platte.” 
