or big-horn, a pair of large elk horns, the horns and tail of a
black-tailed deer, and a variety of skins, such as those of the red fox,
white hare, marten, yellow bear, obtained from the Sioux; also a number
of articles of Indian dress, among which was a buffalo robe representing
a battle fought about eight years since between the Sioux and Ricaras
against the Mandans and Minnetarees, in which the combatants are
represented on horseback. . . . Such sketches, rude and imperfect as
they are, delineate the predominant character of the savage nations.
If they are peaceable and inoffensive, the drawings usually consist of
local scenery and their favorite diversions. If the band are rude and
ferocious, we observe tomahawks, scalping-knives, bows and arrows, and
all the engines of destruction.--A Mandan bow, and quiver of arrows;
also some Ricara tobacco-seed, and an ear of Mandan corn: to these were
added a box of plants, another of insects, and three cases containing a
burrowing squirrel, a prairie hen, and four magpies, all alive." . . .

The articles reached Mr. Jefferson safely and were long on view at his
Virginia residence, Monticello. They were subsequently dispersed, and
some found their way to Peale's Museum, Philadelphia. Dr. Cones, the
zealous editor of the latest and fullest edition of Lewis and Clark's
narrative, says that some of the specimens of natural history were
probably extant in 1893.

Chapter VII -- From Fort Mandan to the Yellowstone

Up to this time, the expedition had passed through regions from which
vague reports had been brought by the few white men who, as hunters and
trappers in pursuit of fur-bearing game, had dared to venture into these
trackless wildernesses. Now they were to launch out into the mysterious
unknown, from which absolutely no tidings had ever been brought by white
men. The dim reports of Indians who had hunted through some parts of the
region were unreliable, and, as they afterwards proved, were often as
absurdly false as if they had been fairy tales.

Here, too, they parted from some of their comrades who were to return
to "the United States," as the explorers fondly termed their native
country, although the strange lands through which they were voyaging
were now a part of the American Republic. The despatches sent to
Washington by these men contained the first official report from Lewis
and Clark since their departure from St. Louis, May 16, 1803; and they
were the l