after we had camped, but did
not have time to try the qualities of the stream for fish to any great
extent. This stream is in the Pawnee country, and consequently I would
advise all emigrants who hunt remote from the road and their trains, to
be on their guard, for the Pawnees are a very treacherous, hostile
race, and would not be likely to omit of an opportunity offered to
strip a solitary hunter and send him in minus his gun, clothes, and
perfectly naked, for they seem to be a people much given to such
practical jokes, as some who have traveled this road can testify.

30 miles.

13th. Made about 25 miles to-day, but found but little grass. Have had
a good road, and a very hot day. Litwiler and myself scouted to-day for
a good camping ground, and found one where there was good grass and
water, but no wood except a few dry willows, which we made answer our
wants for the night. We had the misfortune to burst one of our inside
hub bands whilst wedging up the boxes this evening, which, although a
small matter in the States, yet may prove a very serious one out here
on the plains, two hundred miles from a blacksmith's shop, as it may be
the means of losing our wagon.

25 miles.

14th. Made an early start and traveled 28 miles; passed a new made
grave, (made this morning) of a young man who accidentally shot himself
through the head, whilst in the act of taking a rifle out of the wagon,
with the muzzle towards him. He was from Illinois. We have had a dry,
hot day, and the dust has been very annoying to us. Litwiler and myself
scoured the creek bottoms to-day again in search of irons of wagons
that had been burnt, and succeeded in finding some hub bands, with
which I repaired our wagon so that it answered as well as before it was
broken. We turned off from the road this evening about a mile, and
camped by a branch of the Little Blue river, where we found a plentiful
supply of grass, wood and water. Litwiler killed a wild turkey this
evening, which was very fat. We have a beautiful camping ground as the
heart could desire; our wagons are circled, with the tents on the
outside like a Tartar village, on the side of a gentle sloping knoll,
at the base of which stretches off to the river, a beautiful grove of
timber through which runs a clear sparkling brook made by a copious
spring which arises from the ground only a few rods from our
encampment. Our horses are feeding about in sight on the side hills,
cropping the rich