the Indians before their contact with Europeans had changed
their customs!

Lewis and Clark were particularly instructed to investigate the
sources of the Missouri, to learn how the continental divide could
be crossed, and to ascertain the nature of the streams which flowed
westward to the Pacific. They were also to study the resources
of the country, and to examine into the character and customs of
all the Indian tribes that they should meet.

The start was made from St. Louis in May, 1804, with two large
rowboats and one sail-boat. The latter was to return with news of
the party when the farthest outpost upon the Missouri was reached.

Through the summer months and late into the fall the boats toiled
up the river against the swift current, finally reaching a village
of the Mandan Indians in the present state of North Dakota, where
the explorers spent the winter. Thus far they were in a region
frequently visited by the traders and trappers from St. Louis.

[Illustration: FIG. 67.--THE GREAT FALLS OF THE MISSOURI]

In the spring they pushed on again in canoes, at length entering
an unknown region. The Missouri forked so frequently that it was
often difficult to determine which was the main stream. To the
surprise of the travellers, the country appeared to be uninhabited,
so that they could get no assistance from the Indians. Only a small
stock of provisions remained, and as the party numbered about thirty,
it was necessary to keep hunters out in advance all the time.

As we are carried swiftly through this region to-day in the cars,
no signs of wild creatures are to be seen, and it is difficult for
us to believe that game was once abundant. The narrative of the
expedition abounds with descriptions of various large animals which
the explorers met in herds, such as deer, antelope, buffalo, bears,
and wolves. The bears, both white and brown, were very numerous
and bold. The white bears in particular were so ferocious that the
hunters had many serious encounters with them. They would sometimes
enter the camp at night, and at one time a herd of buffalo stampeded
through it.

When undecided at one point which branch of the river to follow,
Captain Lewis went some distance in advance and discovered the
Great Falls of the Missouri. He was greatly impressed and awed
by the magnitude and height of the successive falls, which were
twenty-four, forty-seven, and eighty feet high respectively, and
were connected by a series