202 



mouth of White river. On the 8th of August, 

 we arrived at the Missouri, and a party of us 

 went down to the Salt springs, and made a quan- 

 tity of salt. The water in the River Sasqui and 

 in the Three rivers is so brackish, as to be very 

 disagreeable to drink ; and many other streams on 

 the Missouri have a similar taste. On the 20th, 

 we returned to the encampment, and on the 28th, 

 I went with a party up the Middle fork of the 

 Three rivers, to hunt. The country is consider- 

 ably broken, and destitute of timber ; but numer- 

 ous salt licks and a plenty of game. On the 16th 

 of September, we returned, having loaded our 

 horses. 



We remained at this encampment until the 

 27th, when we moved up to Teton river. I ob- 

 tained liberty, on the 3d of October, to go to the 

 Rus village. Here I spent the winter with a 

 number of traders belonging to Saint Louis. The 

 Sioux are enemies to the traders, who follow this 

 employment on the Missouri. They hold them 

 in the greatest contempt, and always rob them 

 whenever they can get a good opportunity. 



On the 12th of April, 1804, the traders left the 

 village, and went up the River Chein, or Dog 

 river, to trade. The chief Man-dd-tonque-qua 

 came to the village, on the 18th, and took me 

 with him on to the Sioux river, where we arrived 

 on the 6th of May, and continued until the 12th 

 of June, when we removed to the River Sasqui. 

 On the 26th of August, a report was spread 



