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Show MASSACRE OF THE MISSOURI INDIANS-FIRE PRAIRIE. 117 o'clock we came to some excessively dangerous parts, where our vessel frequently struck, and we were obliged to stop the engine, and to push by poles. The vessel stuck fast in the sand, and it was necessary to fasten it to the trees on the bank till it could be got afloat again. At this point the great forests begin to be interrupted by open places, or prairies, and we were at the part called Fox Prairie, where the Saukie and Fox Indians, and, perhaps, some other nations,* formerly attacked, and nearly extirpated, the tribe of the Missouris. The remainder of the people saved themselves among the Otos, on the south-west banks, where their descendants still live, singled with the natives. The Missouris came down the river in many canoes, and their enemies had concealed themselves in the willow thickets. After the Missouris, who suspected no evil, had been killed or wounded with arrows, the victors, leaped into the water, and finished their bloody work with clubs and knives : very few of the Missouris escaped. To-day we saw, for the first time, from the deck of our vessel, the prairies of the Lower Missouri covered with luxuriant young grass, but the air was misty, and bounded our prospect. In the afternoon we took in fuel at Webb's warehouse ; the river was here again covered with wood, which so greatly impeded our progress, that we were obliged to lay to for the night, seven miles above Webb's warehouse. In the morning of the 17th we saw only an uninterrupted forest; in the course of the day we again encountered much danger from the quantity of snags, which, in some places, scarcely left a channel of ten feet in breadth ; but our pilot steered, with great dexterity, between all these dangers, where many a smaller vessel had been wrecked. During this hazardous navigation, we were all on deck, anxiously expecting the result, but everything went off well. We afterwards sounded, sought another channel, but proceeded very slowly, so that we only passed Fire Prairie, and lay to for the night, five miles below Fort Osage. Our engine was broken, so that we could not proceed till the next morning (18th April). On that morning I had the misfortune to break my last Reaumur's thermometer, so that, henceforth, all the observations of the temperature are according to Fahrenheit's scale. Some of my people, attracted by the cries of the wild turkeys, were tempted to land, but returned without having met with any success. I happened to have taken no piece with me, which I much regretted, for a wild turkey-cock came out of a bush about ten paces from me, and stood still, looking at me, while his splendid feathers shone in the sun. Vegetation was rather backward. A large flock of sandhill cranes, taking their course to the north-east, filled the air with their cries; their note is very similar to that of the European crane. After the people had returned on board, at the repeated summons of the bell, we proceeded on our voyage, but were soon obliged to take soundings, and to saw off some dangerous snags; we then landed twenty men on a sand bank, to tow the * Some accounts say that theOsages were the assailants, but I believe the above statement to be correct, because it was given me by Major Dougherty. |