BUSHNELL] VILLAGES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI is 
parently piled up in a careless manner, but so arranged as to be 
very strong, and are able to withstand an assault from a much 
superior force.” Many such inclosures were discovered and men- 
tioned by the early explorers of the Upper Missouri Valley, and 
several instances have been cited on the preceding pages when treat- 
ing of the Siouan tribes. 
In 1832 Catlin went up the Missouri, and when he arrived at the 
Arikara village he made a sketch of the town as it appeared from the 
deck of the steamboat. The original painting is now in the National 
Museum, Washington, and is reproduced in plate 58. This was en- 
graved and presented as plate 80 in his narrative. Writing of this 
sketch he remarked: “ Plate 80, gives a view of the Riccaree village, 
which is beautifully situated on the west bank of the river, 200 miles 
below the Mandans; and built very much in the same manner; being 
constituted of 150 earth-covered lodges, which are in part surrounded 
by an imperfect and open barrier of piquets set firmly in the ground, 
and of ten or twelve feet in height. This village is built upon an 
open prairie, and the gracefully undulating hills that rise in distance 
behind it are everywhere covered with a verdant green turf, without 
a tree or a bush anywhere to be seen. This view was taken from 
the deck of the steamer when I was on my way up the river.” (Cat- 
lin, (1), I, p. 204.) At this time the Arikara were very hostile‘to all 
the traders who passed and repassed along the Missouri. They had 
attacked many canoes and caused the death of their occupants. Fear- 
ing the outcome of their actions they soon left the banks of the Mis- 
souri and moved westward. One year after Catlin passed the vil- 
lages Maximilian arrived there while on his way to the far upper 
waters of the Missouri. On June 12, 1833, Maximilian wrote: ‘“ Mo- 
reau’s River .. . is called the southern boundary of the territory 
of the Arikkaras, though they often make excursions far beyond it 
On the morning of the 12th our cannon, muskets and rifles were 
loaded with ball, because we were approaching the village of the hos- 
tile Arikkaras. We.came to Grand River, called in Lewis and 
Clarke’s map Wetarko River. As we here touched the bottom, we 
crossed to the east bank, and in half an hour reached Rampart River, 
which issues from a narrow chain of hills, called Les Remparts; and 
soon afterwards an island covered with willows, which, on the large 
special map of Lewis and Clarke, has an Arikkara village, of which 
there are now no traces. From the hills we had a fine prospect over 
the bend of the river, on which the villages of the Arikkaras are sit- 
uated, and which we reached after a short run of only two miles. 
The two villages of this tribe are on the west bank, very near each 
other, but separated by a small stream. They consist of a great num- 
ber of clay huts, round at the top, with a square entrance in front, 
