3S0 LIFE OF AUDUBON. 



" May 2. We are now three hundred and eighty miles from 

 St. Louis, and are landing freight and traders for Santa Fe. 



" May 3. We reached St. Leavenworth this morning. The 

 garrison here is on a fine elevation, commanding a good view 

 of the river above and below for a considerable distance. 

 Leaving here, we entered the real Indian country on the west 

 side of the river ; for the State of Missouri, by the purchase of 

 the Piatt Eiver country, continues for two hundred and fifty 

 miles farther ; and here only are any settlements of white 

 inhabitants. 



" May 5. After grounding on sand-bars, and contending 

 against head-winds and currents, we reached the Black Snake 

 Hills settlement, which is a delightful site for a populous city 

 that will be here some fifty years hence. The hills are two 

 hundred feet above the level of the river, and slope down gently 

 on the opposite side to the beautiful prairies, tnat extend over 

 thousands of acres of the richest land imaginable. Here the 

 general aspect of the river greatly changes ; it becomes more 

 crooked, and filled with naked sand-bars, from which the wind 

 whirls the sand in every direction. We passed through a 

 narrow and swift chute, which, in the time of high water, must 

 be extremely difficult to ascend. 



"May 6. We fastened our boat to the edge of a beautiful 

 prairie, to land freight and passengers. Here eighty Indians 

 came to visit us, some on foot and some on horseback, generally 

 riding double, on skins and Spanish saddles; some squaws 

 rode, and rode well. We landed some Indians here, who came 

 as passengers with us, and I noticed that when they joined their 

 relatives and friends, they neither shook hands nor exchanged 

 any congratulations. I saw no emotion, nothing to corroborate 

 Mr. Catlin's views of savage life. 



" When the boat started, all these Indians followed us along 

 the shore, running on foot, and galloping on horseback to keep 

 up with us. When we approached the next landing, I saw 

 some of these poor creatures perched on the neighbouring 

 banks, while others crowded down to our landing-place. They 

 belonged to the Iowa and Fox Indians : the two tribes number 

 about twelve thousand, and their country extends for seventy 

 miles up the river. 



