Ill 



principally on buffaloe meat, and rarely kill a 

 deer. The men go naked, except their breech 

 flap, and the women wear only a short coat of 

 dressed leather, tied round the waist. These 

 Indians are at perpetual war with the Osage 

 nation. 



Black river, a large branch of Red river, has 

 already been mentioned. Coming from a north- 

 ern direction, it enters Red river about thirty 

 miles above its mouth. The course of Black 

 river is nearly parallel with Mississippi, at a dis- 

 tance of about forty miles. Between these riv- 

 ers the land is overflowed when the Mississippi is 

 high. At the time this immense cypress swamp 

 is flooded, it exhibits the appearance of a vast- 

 number of large trees, standing in a lake, or a 

 bay of the sea. The name of black river, at the 

 distance of sixty miles, is changed, and it is then, 

 called the Washata river. Here the course of 

 the river tends to the westward, and the land 

 becomes sufficiently high to admit of cultivation 

 near the bank of the river. At th,e mouth of the 

 Washata, and near lake Cattahoola, is a small 

 settlement, where the settlers have raised an em- 

 bankment to prevent inundation when the water 

 is high. Above this settlement, at the distance 

 of about one hundred and seventy miles, is an ex- 

 cellent tract of land, extending on the river, about 

 forty miles. Here the much famed Aaron 

 Burr pretended to have made an extensive pur- 

 chase ; to commence the settlement was the osten- 



