183 



and beautiful appearance. The lodge of the head 

 chief was sixty feet in diameter, elegantly lined 

 with furs, and the seats, which are also used as 

 beds, were covered with the grizzly bear and buf- 

 faloe skins. These people keep their lodges and 

 buildings in a state of great neatness. They cul- 

 tivate the same kind of produce with the Rus, 

 and carry on a trade with the roving Indians, who 

 occasionally visit them. The Mandans and 

 Gross-Ventres live in great friendship, although 

 they speak different languages ; and it is neces- 

 sary they should, for their villages are not more 

 than six miles apart. The Mandans speak the 

 same tongue of the Osage, but have a different 

 accent, and dialect. They were once a numerous, 

 warlike people, but have been reduced by the 

 small pox, and by their enemies, the Sioux, to less 

 than four hundred warriors. 



On the the 13th, we left the Mandans, and ar- 

 rived at the Gross-Ventres village, which is on 

 the lower side of Batteau river, and is called the 

 Meniture village. Another village, called Meni- 

 tar-u-miti-ha-tah, is situated on the upper side of 

 Batteau river. These villages are larger than 

 the Mandans, built in the same manner, and con- 

 taining about six hundred warriors, and about 

 twenty-five hundred inhabitants. They were 

 formerly more numerous, but the small pox has 

 made its ravages among the in. These people 

 deposit their dead in the same manner as tfre 

 Mandans, but at a greater distance from their vi' - 



