426 Ex. Doc. No. 41 



1 



out his armlets of brass, and bracelets of brass', and the broad 

 masses of beads that garnished his leggins and his .tomahawkj 

 with its helve studded with brass tacks, and the long queue 

 eked out with braided horse hair. He asked my permission to in- 

 troduce his wife and children, and one Indian after another added 

 himself to the spectators, so that I soon had a room full. 



These Indians, like those of all the tribes I have met with, pride 

 themselves upon the antiquity of their origin. Like the Arcadi- 

 ans of old, who boasted that they were " Ppoff£jij;m„" born before 

 the moon was created, and, like people of modern days, who trace 

 their origin back until they become mistified. These Indians talk 

 of their having descended from nations that lived long, long ago, 

 and who came a long, long way to the north; endeavoring to give 

 force to the idea, of the length, of the time, and of the distance, 

 by placing their hands close together, and then moving them slowly 

 asunder; so slowly that they seem as if they would never complete 



the gesture. 



Mr. McGoffin arrived: he had been 35 days on 



the road since leaving Independence, Missouri, and has a train of 

 25 wagons. 



September 3. — Added two more plants to my collection — the 



"Veronia fasiculata," and the f< dietria coropifolia." In the eve- 

 ning, Mr. M " " " 



Walk 



me 



above us. He said that the antelope were abundant, and there 

 were also some deer; but the sand-flies so annoyed the people up 

 there, that, notwithstanding the abundance of the game, they had 

 enjoyed but little pleasure in hunting. 



September 4.— This morning I obtained a fine specimen of the 

 Arkansas shad. They are often caught of a large size; tliis one 

 measured 17 inches in length. About noon, Mr. Nourse brought 



some specimens of "selenite;" the people of the fort burn it, 

 and use.it to whitewash walls. I also obtained some crystals of 

 quartz. Our Indian friends are yet loitering about the fort, impo- 

 sing upon the traders the obligation of feeding them, which the 



latter are under the necessity of doing, or else lose the furs that 

 the Indians may obtain in the fill. 



In the evening another volunteer died, and was buried. They 

 were obliged to cover the graves with prickly pear, or rocks, to 

 prevent the wolves from tearing the bodies out of the ground. At 

 some places along the Arkansas, the Indians place their corpses in 

 trees, out of the reach of the wolf, and the whites would do well 

 to adopt the same plan. 



The weather is now becoming extremely cold. Last night we 



• 



had a 



25 



as 



*^^C*Y ^^' <S'e;>^m6er 5.— As my room was full of Cheyennes, I 

 IfrnJ ''PPf l^n/ty to obtain some knowledge of the genius and 

 structure of their language. I found the English alphabet sufficient 

 to represent all the sounds they, utter, and at once set myself to 

 ^ork to construct a vocabulary of their language. I had the as- 

 sistance of one of the best interpreters in thi country. ■ 



