then naked are
now covered with willows several feet high; the entrance of some of
the creeks and rivers has changed in consequence of the quantity of mud
thrown into them; and in some of the bottoms are layers of mud eight
inches in depth."

The streams that flow into the Missouri and Mississippi from the
westward are notoriously fickle and changeable. Within a very few years,
some of them have changed their course so that farms are divided into
two parts, or are nearly wiped out by the wandering streams. In at least
one instance, artful men have tried to steal part of a State by changing
the boundary line along the bed of the river, making the stream flow
many miles across a tract around which it formerly meandered. On this
boundary line between the Sioux and their upper neighbors, the party
met a band of Cheyennes and another of Ricaras, or Arikaras. They held
a palaver with these Indians and reproached the Ricara chief, who was
called Gray-eyes, with having engaged in hostilities with the Sioux,
notwithstanding the promises made when the white men were here before.
To this Gray-eyes made an animated reply:--

"He declared that the Ricaras were willing to follow the counsels we had
given them, but a few of their bad young men would not live in peace,
but had joined the Sioux and thus embroiled them with the Mandans. These
young men had, however, been driven out of the villages, and as the
Ricaras were now separated from the Sioux, who were a bad people and the
cause of all their misfortunes, they now desired to be at peace with the
Mandans, and would receive them with kindness and friendship. Several of
the chiefs, he said, were desirous of visiting their Great Father; but
as the chief who went to the United States last summer had not returned,
and they had some fears for his safety, on account of the Sioux, they
did not wish to leave home until they heard of him. With regard to
himself, he would continue with his nation, to see that they followed
our advice. . . . . . . . . .

"After smoking for some time, Captain Clark gave a small medal to the
Chayenne chief, and explained at the same time the meaning of it. He
seemed alarmed at this present, and sent for a robe and a quantity of
buffalo-meat, which he gave to Captain Clark, and requested him to take
back the medal; for he knew that all white people were 'medicine,' and
was afraid of the medal, or of anything else which the white people gave
to the Indians. Cap