-538 Ex. Doc. No. 41. 



river without trouble, -where they got plenty of wood; the snow 

 storm we had yesterday, and the discomfiture produced by the hard 

 labor of hauling the wagon, had put them in no very pleasant hu- 

 mor. They wished that I would let them kill the Indians as soon 

 as they came across the river; the Indians came; they e.ntered our 

 camp, and seemed instantly to perceive the feeling that* was burn- 

 ing m the hearts of my party; they stood off without daring to 

 approach our fires; there was but six or eight with the chief now, 

 but he approached at last and offered his hand, and immediately 

 the confidence of the rest seemed to be restored. • 



In my own mind, I did not doubt but that these fellows had 

 robbed us; still I could never kill any of them in cold blood, nor 

 wroula I consent that my men should shoot them down. 



We told them to bring over some of their mules; they brought 

 two, but refused to let us have them, unless we gave them much 

 more than they usually get in fair trade. 



We had left our harness near Jackson's grove; the. mules could 

 not then be attached to the wagons; and, as to buying a mule for 

 myself, which my men insisted upon my doing, I felt perfectly 

 willing to share the hardships of my party, and unwilling to coun- 

 tenance what I considered an imposition oh the part of the 

 Indians. ^ 



The Indians left us in high irritation, on account of the trouble 

 they had had to get their mules across the river; they immediately 

 recrossed, and we prepared to take up our line of march. We 

 now tound that an axe which had been lent to the Pawnees, with 

 tvhich to roughen the ice, had not been returned; the Indians stood 

 gazing at i:s from the opposite bank, while their mules, scattered 

 along the nver side, were quietly grazing. I called the men to- 

 gether; and, leaving two of them in charge of the wagon and sick 

 man, the rest_ of us st&rted otT in pursuit of the Indians, who no 

 sooner saw this movement than they hastily gathered their mules and 

 set off for the sand hills. To pursue these fellows was evidently 

 vain, and we were forced to give up our axe, and ao-aln put our- 

 selves into thg traces. ^ ^ 



We marched twelve miles. During the first half of our journey, 

 some of the Pawnees continued to dog our trail. 



flf tl!^ Tt"^"^^"^ ^t*^"" Pawnees bears a great resemblance to that 

 m tne Kicarees. I had a person in my party who once traded with 

 the Jast mentioned tribe. He recognized many of the words that 

 ine rawnees used. Our communications were, however, carried 

 ^h\ol ' T^""^ °^ ^^^ pantomimic language, a knowledge of 

 ■rniilvJn 7"y F*^^^ '"''^"^' ^^ *^^ various signs seem to be 



m.TrJ. T T- "P^"'^ ^' ^yP^^^^ °^ ^^^ ^^°^« ^^'^"g^ among all the 

 prairie Indians. ° ^ 



^ZtT'^ ]2.-Notwithstanding the snow storm of the 10th, the 



fnd rLrV °',' ^^'l^'^y ^'^^ ^"^^"^ ^'^«^^' ^'^'^^Pt in the ravines 

 sun slnt/f 'f^^^V^^"'^ ^* "^^^ ''^^ exposed to the wind. The 

 than w?K J"*? ""'^^ ^''^' '■^"^''' ^"^ ^^ ^^^^hed more rapidly 

 the mouth ff^r '''' ^"^ Precedi^ng day. At ten o'clock we crossed 

 the mouth of Coon creek," and about five o^clock we formed our 



