en to dress him in his best robe when
he was dead, and then carry him on a hill and seat him on a stone, with
his face down the river towards their old villages, that he might go
straight to his brother who had passed before him to the ancient village
under ground. We have seen a number of Mandans who have lived to a great
age; chiefly however the men, whose robust exercises fortify the body,
while the laborious occupations of the women shorten their existence.

Thursday 21. We had a continuation of the same pleasant weather. Oheenaw
and Shahaka came down to see us, and mentioned that several of their
countrymen had gone to consult their medicine stone as to the prospects
of the following year. This medicine stone is the great oracle of the
Mandans, and whatever it announces is believed with implicit confidence.
Every spring, and on some occasions during the summer, a deputation
visits the sacred spot, where there is a thick porous stone twenty-feet
in circumference, with a smooth surface. Having reached the place the
ceremony of smoking to it is performed by the deputies, who alternately
take a whiff themselves and then present the pipe to the stone; after
this they retire to an adjoining wood for the night, during which it may
be safely presumed that all the embassy do not sleep; and in the morning
they read the destinies of the nation in the white marks on the stone,
which those who made them are at no loss to decypher. The Minnetarees
have a stone of a similar kind, which has the same qualities and the
same influence over the nation. Captain Lewis returned from his
excursion in pursuit of the Indians. On reaching the place where the
Sioux had stolen our horses, they found only one sled, and several pair
of moccasins which were recognised to be those of the Sioux. The party
then followed the Indian tracks till they reached two old lodges where
they slept, and the next morning pursued the course of the river till
they reached some Indian camps, where captain Clarke passed the night
some time ago, and which the Sioux had now set on fire, leaving a little
corn near the place in order to induce a belief that they were Ricaras.
From this point the Sioux tracks left the river abruptly and crossed
into the plains; but perceiving that there was no chance of overtaking
them, captain Lewis went down to the pen where captain Clarke had left
some meat, which he found untouched by the Indians, and then hunted in
the low grounds on