AN INDIAN COUNCIL. 359 



all the others were on shore, and then retired majestically as 

 thiey had entered, not shaking hands even with the captain, 

 Ivho had entertained them and made the speech. This is a 

 ceremony which takes place yearly as the Company's boat 

 goes up. Each Indian carried away about two pounds of 

 tobacco. Two of the Indians who distributed the tobacco, and 

 were of the highest rank, were nearly naked, and one by my 

 side had only a clout and one legging on. They are now all 

 gone but one, who goes with us to the Yellow-stone Eiver. 



" This morning the thermometer stood at 37°. We haye 

 passed the village of the poor Mandans, and of the Grosventres, 

 to-day: the latter is cut off from the river by an enormous 

 sand-bar, now covered with willows. We saw a few Indian 

 jiorn-fields ; the plants were sickly-looking, and about two inches 

 high. The prairies are very extensive, stretching away to the 

 hills, and there are deep ravines in them filled with water 

 sufficiently saline to be used by the Indians for seasoning their 

 food. 



"June 13. Fori Union. Thermometer 53°, 72°, 68°. We 

 arrived here to-day, and have made the shortest trip from St. 

 Louis on record, just forty-eight days. We have landed our 

 effects, and established ourselves in a log-house, with one room 

 and one window, intending to spend three weeks here before 

 launching into the wilderness. 



" There has been no ardent spirits sold here for two years, 

 and the result is, the Indians are more peaceable than formerly. 

 On the plains we saw the mounds where many Indians had 

 been buried who died here of the small-pox. There were 

 apparently several bodies in each mound, and a buffalo's skull 

 was put over each one : this relic has some superstitious value 

 in the estimation of these poor ignorant creatures. 



" Our boat has been thronged with these dirty savages ever 

 since we fastened her to the landing, and it is with difficulty 

 we can keep them from our rooms. All around the village the 

 fllth is beyond description, and the sights daily seen will not 

 bear recording : they have dispelled all the romance of Indian 

 life I ever had, and I am satisfied that all the poetry about 

 Indians is contained in books ; there certainly is none in their 

 wild life in the woods. The captain of our vessel told me that 



