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Show CHAI1 • II. Some account of the J•awnee Indians-Council held with the dtto ~nd Mu1souri Indians-Council held " 'ith another party of the Ottoes-Death of sergeant }'loyd-The party encamp ncar the mouth of Whitestone river-The charac· ter of the Missouri, with the ri,•ers :that enter it-The surrounding countryThe various islands, bays, creeks, &c. giveh in the course of the expedition. OUR camp is by observation in latitude 4f0 3' 11". Im~ n1ediately behind it is a plain about five miles wide, one half covered with wood, the other dry and elevated. The low grounds on the south near tl1c junction of the two rivers, are rich, but subject to be overflowed. ~·arther up, the banks are higher, and opposite our camp the fit·st hills approach the river, and are covered with timber, such as oak, walnut, and elm. The intermediate country is watered by the Papillon, or Butterfly creek, of about eighteen yards wide, and three miles from the Platte; on the north are high open plains and prairies, and at nine miles from the Platte, the Musquitoe creek, and two or three small willow islands. We stayed here several days, during which we dried our provisions, made new oars, and prepared our despatches and maps of the country we had passed, for the president of the United States, to whom we intend to send them by a peri· ogue from this place. The hunters have found game scarce in this neighbourhood; they have seen deer, turkies, and grouse; we have also an abundance of ripe grapes; and one or our men caught a 'vhite catfish, the eyes of which were small, and its tail resembling that of a dolphin. The present season is that in which the Indians go out into the praides to hunt the buffaloe; but as we discovered some hunter's tracks, and observed the plains on fire in the direction oftheh• . villages, we hoped that they might have returned to gather the ;reen indian corn, and therefore despatched two men to Lewis and Cla1·1~e·s Ex-peditimz, &c. S3 the Ottoes or Pawnee villages with n1>rcscnt of tobacco, and an invitation to the chiefs to Yisit us. 'rhey returned al'tev two days absence. '.fheir first course was through an open prairie to the south, in which they crossed Butterfly creek. They then reached a small beautifult•ivcr, callet.l Come de Cerf~ or :Elkhorn river, about one hundred yards wide, with clear watet• and a gravelly channel. It empties a lit.tle below the Ottoe village into the Platte, which they crossed, and arrived at the town about forty-five miles from our camp. They found no Indians there, though they saw some fresh tracks of a small party. The Ottoes were once a }lOW· crful nation, and lived about twenty miles above the Platte, on the southern bank of the Missouri. Being reduced, they migrated to the neighbourhood of the Pawnees, under whose protection they now live. Their village is on the south side of the Platte, about thirty miles from its mouth; and their number is two hundred men, including about thirty families of Missouri Indians, who are incorporated with them. Five leagues above them, on the same side of the river, reside~ the nation of Pawnees. This people were among the most numerous of the Missouri Indians, but have gradually been dispersed and brokc'n ~ and even since the ycaL' 1797, have undergone some sensible Clhan;?:cs. r.rhey now consist of four bands; the fit·st is the one j;.st mentioned, of about · five hund1•ed men, to whom of late years have been atlde(l the second baml, 'vho are called republican Pawnees, from tbeil" having lived on the l'Cpublican oranch of the river Kanzas, whence tbcy emigrated to join the principal band of Pawnees: the republican Pawnees amount to nearly two lmndred and fifty men. The third, are the Pa wnces Loups, or Wolf Pawnees, who reside on the 'Volf fork of the I.)Jatte_, about ninety miles from the principal Pawnees, and number two hundred and eighty men. The fourth band originally re· sided on tho Kanzas aml Arl{ansaw, but in their wars witb tbe Osages, they wcl.'e so often defeated, that they at last retired to their pl'esent position on the Red I'iVeJ·.~ whero VOL. I. Jl |
