love of natural science inculcated by the fashionable
philosophy of the day, they also possessed the much less admirable,
though entirely amiable, theory of universal and unintelligent
philanthropy which was embodied in this philosophy. A very curious
feature of our dealings with the Indians, not only in the days of Lewis
and Clark, but since, has been the combination of extreme and indeed
foolish benevolence of purpose on the part of the Government, with, on
the part of the settlers, a brutality of action which this benevolent
purpose could in no wise check or restrain.

They Winter at the Mandan Villages.

As the fall weather grew cold the party reached the Mandan village,
where they halted and went into camp for the winter, building huts and a
stout blockade, which they christened Fort Mandan. Traders from St.
Louis and also British traders from the North reached these villages,
and the inhabitants were accustomed to dealing with the whites.
Throughout the winter the party was well treated by the Indians, and
kept in good health and spirits; the journals frequently mention the
fondness the men showed for dancing, although without partners of the
opposite sex. Yet they suffered much from the extreme cold, and at times
from hunger, for it was hard to hunt in the winter weather, and the game
was thin and poor. Generally game could be killed in a day's hunt from
the fort; but occasionally small parties of hunters went off for a trip
of several days, and returned laden with meat; in one case they killed
thirty-two deer, eleven elk, and a buffalo; in another forty deer,
sixteen elk, and three buffalo; thirty-six deer and fourteen elk, etc.,
etc. The buffalo remaining in the neighborhood during the winter were
mostly old bulls, too lean to eat; and as the snows came on most of the
antelope left for the rugged country farther west, swimming the Missouri
in great bands. Before the bitter weather began the explorers were much
interested by the methods of the Indians in hunting, especially when
they surrounded and slaughtered bands of buffalo on horseback; and by
the curious pens, with huge V-shaped wings, into which they drove
antelope.

They Start Westward in the Spring.

In the spring of 1805, Lewis and Clark again started westward, first
sending down-stream ten of their companions, to carry home the notes of
their trip so far, and a few valuable specimens. The party that started
westward numbered thirty-two adu