Ex. Doc. No. 41. 527 



N 



against the Arrapahoes^ who, he said, were daily coming in with 

 herds of cattle and numbers of Mexican scalps. 



About sunset, as we were travelling slowly along the banks of 

 the river, an Indian approached us, making signs to have us en- 

 camp; he said that he had a large supply of dried Buffrtlo meat, and 

 he could bring it to us if we would encamp near his village. In 

 the evening a number of squaws came to our camp, bringing the 

 promised meat. Although we paid them well with such trinkets 

 as we possessed, yet they could not have been perfectly contended, 

 for we found, after their departure, that they bad carried off all our 

 axes, together with two guns and a bullet pouch. These thefts oc- - 

 curred after my men had been warned to be upon their guard; cer- 

 tainly, no people can be more skillful in thieving than the Chey- 



ennes. 



January 23. — This morning, as soon as we arose, we saw the In- 

 dians returning. In front came the chief of the village, and as- ^ 

 soon as he was near enough, we saw that he carried some of the 

 stolen articles. The squaws brought more meat, but I refused to 

 take any of it until all the missing articles were restored. The , 

 chief told mc that if I would go up to the village with him, he 

 would get them; the village was two miles distant, but rather than 

 loose our axes I consented to go. As soon as we approached the 

 lodges the chief commenced haranguing his people in a stentorian 

 "Toice, and then invited me into his lodge. In a little while the^ 

 Indians came running to us, and every article was restored. 



Shortly after leaving camp we met a company of men who had 

 heen sent from Bent's Fort, with a wagon load of corn, to meet 

 Captain Murphy at the crossing of the Arkansas; impeded by heavy 

 snows, they had only succeeded in getting thus far on their return 



to the fort. 



At sundown we reached a spot where the river bottoms were nil! 



burnt: no wood was to be had. We crossed over to an i: ' if 

 "which was covered with willow bushes j here we were pretty \\M 

 sheltered, but the willow brush was so light and consumed 

 pidly that we found not much comfort by our camp fires. At lhe^ 

 mouth of "Big Sand creek," I obtained a very curious fcssi!, sup- 

 posed to be an inoceramus. 



January 24. — On account of the prairies having been burnt, our 

 mules wandered off for five or six miles. We did not get away 

 until eleven o'clock. Thus we were obliged to lose the best part 

 of this day, on account of the inexcusable negligence of some pre- 

 ceding travellers who had not extinguished their camp fires. 



After the first three miles, our road became extremely difficult. 

 We had to march through snow which had laid on the ground some 

 time. It had thawed, and had afterwards frozen, sometimes bear- 

 ing up the wagons and mules; sometimes giving way so as to 

 render our progress slow and difficult. 



To-day we saw some buflfaloes. I sent out some of the men to 

 kill one of them, but they were very shy, and the snow upon 



• -■ I 



HaTing 



e 



* 



