ior men were distributed
knives, tobacco, bells, tape, binding, and other articles of trifling
value. After this the Indian chiefs, and Captains Lewis and Clarke,
smoked together the pipes of peace. These chiefs begged the strangers to
have pity on them, as they were very poor; to send traders to them, as
they wanted powder and ball: they were also anxious to be supplied with
some of "the great father's milk," by which they meant rum, or other
ardent spirits. This people are stout and well proportioned, and have a
peculiar air of dignity and boldness: they are fond of decorations, and
use, for this purpose, paint, porcupine-quills, and feathers. Some of
them wear a kind of necklace of white bear's claws, three inches long,
and closely strung together round their necks. They had among them a few
fowling-pieces, but they were, in general, armed with bows and arrows.

Beyond the village of the Yanktons the country, on both sides of the
river, was low, and, for the most part, destitute of timber; but, in
some places, it was covered with cotton-wood, elm, and oak. The weather
had been intensely hot; but, in the beginning of September, the wind was
violent, and the weather cold and rainy. On the second of this month,
the hunters killed four elks, and the whole party was supplied with an
abundance of grapes and plums, which grew wild near the river. They this
day observed, on the south side of the Missouri, the remains of an
ancient Indian fortification, formed chiefly of walls of earth.

On the 7th of September the weather was very cold. The voyagers, this
evening, encamped at the foot of a round mountain, about three hundred
feet in height, which, at a distance, had the appearance of a dome. In
this part of the country the hunters chiefly killed elks, deer, and
squirrels: and they occasionally brought in beavers, porcupines, and
foxes. On the 12th they passed an island covered with timber; and they
had great difficulty in struggling through the sand-bars, the water
being both rapid and shallow. The weather was now becoming so cold, that
it was requisite to give out flannel-shirts to the men; and several
animals were killed, for the sake of their skins to cover the boats. In
many places the strong current of the river had worn away the banks, to
considerable extent.

An interview took place, on the 25th, with some chiefs of the _Tetons_,
a tribe of the Sioux Indians: nearly the same ceremonies and agreements
were used and e