e there
remains no vestige, nor is there any thing to recall this great and
numerous nation, except a feeble remnant of about thirty families. They
were driven from their original seats by the invasions of the Sauks and
other Indians from the Mississippi, who destroyed at this village two
hundred of them in one contest, and sought refuge near the Little Osage,
on the other side of the river. The encroachment of the same enemies
forced, about thirty years since, both these nations from the banks of
the Missouri. A few retired with the Osage, and the remainder found an
asylum on the river Platte, among the Ottoes, who are themselves
declining. Opposite the plain there was an island and a French fort,
but there is now no appearance of either, the successive inundations
having probably washed them away, as the willow island which is in the
situation described by Du Pratz, is small and of recent formation. Five
miles from this place is the mouth of Grand River, where we encamped.
This river follows a course nearly south, or south east, and is between
eighty and a hundred yards wide where it enters the Missouri, near a
delightful and rich plain. A racoon, a bear, and some deer were obtained
to day. We proceeded at six o'clock the next morning. The current was so
rapid and the banks on the north falling in so constantly, that we were
obliged to approach the sandbars on the south. These were moving
continually, and formed the worst passage we had seen, and which we
surmounted with much difficulty. We met a trading raft from the Pawnee
nation on the river Platte, and attempted unsuccessfully to engage one
of their party to return with us. At the distance of eight miles, we
came to some high cliffs, called the Snake bluffs, from the number of
that animal in the neighbourhood, and immediately above these bluffs,
Snake creek, about eighteen yards wide, on which we encamped. One of our
hunters, a half Indian, brought us an account of his having to day
passed a small lake, near which a number of deer were feeding, and in
the pond he heard a snake making a guttural noise like a turkey. He
fired his gun, but the noise became louder. He adds, that he has heard
the Indians mention this species of snake, and this story is confirmed
by a Frenchman of our party. All the next day, the river being very
high, the sandbars were so rolling and numerous, and the current so
strong, that we were unable to stem it even with oars added to our
sails; t