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Show • Lewis and Clarke's Expedition ticles, the whole of which did not in the United States cost mo1·e than twenty dollars: a fourth was purchased by the men for an old checkered shi1·t, a pair of old leggings and a knife. '£he Indians seemed to be quite as welJ pleased as ourselves at the bargains they had made. We now found that the two inferior chiefs were somewl1at displeased at not having received a }Wescnt equal to that given to the great chief, who appeared in a dress so much :finer than their own. 'l'o allay their di!!content, we bestowed on them two old coats, and promised them 1hat if they were active in assisting us across the mountains they should have an additional present. 'l,his treatment completely reconciled . them, and the whole Indian party, except two men and two women, set out in }>erfcct gootJ humour to return home with ca}Jtaiu Clarke. After going fifteen miles through a wide level valley with no woocl but willows and shl'ubs, be encamped in the Shosboncc cove ncar a narrow Jlass wJ1cre the highlands approach within two hundred yards of each othe1•. and the river is only ten yards wide. 'l'bc Indians went. on further, except the three chiefs and two young men, who assisted in eating two deer brought in by the bunters. After their departure every tJ•ing was prepared foJ' the transtportation of the baggage, which was now exposed to the air and dr·ied. Onr game 'vas one deer aml a beaver, and we saw an abundance of trout in the river for which we fixed a net in the evening. We have now reached the extreme navigable point of the Missouri, which our observation places in latitude 43• 30' 4:·3" north. It is difficult to compt'ise in any general deseri{> tion the characteristics of a river so extensive, and fed by so many streams which have their sources in a great ' 'a· riety of soils and climates. But the Missouri is still suniciently powcr('ul to give to all its waters something of a common characteJ·, which is of course decided by the tJat.ure of the country tlu·ougb which it Jlasses. ,.£he bed of the river is chiefly composed of a blue mud from w bich the wa Up the JJlissouJ'i. 387 ter itself derives a deep tinge. I~"'rom its junction here to the place ncar which it leaves the mountains, iti course is embarrassed by rapids and rocks which the hills on each side have tht·own into its channel. From that place, its current, wifb the exception of the falls, is not lJiflicult of navi gation, nor is there much variation in its a1>pcarance till the mouth of the J>Iatt.e. That powc1·f'ul rive•· tht·ows out vast quantities of coar!ie sand which contribute to give a new face to the Missouri, which is now much more impeded by islands. '£he sand, as it is drifted down, adhcrci in time to some of the 1n·ojectiog points fl'om the shore, and forms a bal'l'iet' to the mud, which at length fills to the same height with the sandbar itself: as soon as it has acquh·ed a consistency, the willow grows there the first year, and by its roots assists the solidity of the whole: as the:• mud and sand accumula.te the cottonwood tree next appears; till the gr~ulual excretion of soils raises the surface of the point above the highest freshets. Thus stopped in its course the water seeks a passage ebewherc, and a• the soil on each side is light and yielding, what was only a peninsula, bceomes gradually an islam), ami the river indemnifies itself fot' the usurpation by cHct·oaching on the alljacent shore. In tlais "ay the l\'lissoul'i like the Mississippi is constantly cutting oll' the pr·ojections ol' the shore, and leaving its ancient channel, whieh is then marked by the mud it has deposited and a few stagnant ponds • 'rhe general a11pearancc of the country as it presents itself on ascending may be thus described: From its mouth to the two Charletons, a ridge of highlands borders the river at a small distance, leaving between tlaem fine rich meadows. From the mouth of the two Charletons th~ hills t·ecede from the river, giving greater extcut to the low gt·ounds, but they again approach the l'iver fot• a short distance . near G a·and river, ami again at Snake creek. From that point they retire, nor do they come again to the ueighbour·bood of tlle river till above the Sauk prairie, where they are com- |