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Show 112 ~1 ~. lo• • a1td cl m·ke' s Expeditlo u . d f the hills and edges of the runs. In walking along the sJ es o d fift -two hct•ds of butfaloe, and three the shore we counte • y d lk of elk at a s.m g1 e VJ. ew • Be•s ides th<>se we also obsern e') ' deer p' eh. cans, an d wo1 v es,. After seventeen and a half Im fe s we e,n camped on the north, opilosite to the uppermost ob a b f ·ound hills, forming a cone at the to(f, one e. num er o 1 • 1 · ht and some of in about ninety' anothe•· sixty feet 111 •mg ' . legss elevat.w n. 0 ur c l n.e f tells us that the calumet b·J rd . . . t'· boles formed by the filtration of the watm· bves m ue · N t f . the top of these bills through the sJdcs. rar o one rfomtb moles on a point of a hill nine1y fet>t above the o . ese tl ' maJ·ns of an old village wbt. cI . I . l t ng plam, are 1e re 1 IS ng l, s ro . ' and has been fortified; this our chief teBs us is th~ rrma.ms of one of the :Mandan villages, and are the first ~ums '~luch we l•ave set-n of that nation in ascending the Massour·a: op· posile to our camp is a deep bend to the south, at the ex· tremity of which is a pond. . d Saturday 20. 'Ve proceeded ear·ly with a southeast wm ' 'vhich continued higl• all day' and came to a eree~ on tb~ nort,h at two miles distance, twenty yards wide. At mght mde.s ~e ·bed the lower lloint of an island in the middle of the ~ner, reac . . l d co though there is no current on the south. 'rlns IS an IS . • vered with willows and extends about two miles, there bem? a small creek coming in from the south at its lower cxtrenn· t . Aftea· making twelve miles we encamped on the sou~b, ~ the UPllCr part of a bluft' containing stone-coal of an m· ferior quality; immediately below this bluff and 0~1 th~ d:; •l'vity of a bill, are the remains of a village covering SIX c 1 eight acres, fol'merly occupied by the M anu.1~ ns, w } 1o says ' oh our Ricara chief, once lived in a number of villages one~ side of the river, till the Sioux forced them forty miles hig11er· whence, after a few years residence, they moved to theit· ll,rcsent po!)ition. 'fhe country through which we pas· sed has wider bottoms and mo1·e timber than those we have been accustomed to see, the hills rising at a distance and by gradual ascents. 'Ve have seen great numbers of elk, deer, Up the .1. Jfissotwi. 113 goats, and buffaloc, and the usual attendants of these last, the wolves, who follow theh· movements and feed upon those who die by accitlent, or who are too poor to keep pace with the herd; we also wounded a white bear, and saw some f1·esh tracks of' those animals which arc twice as large as the track of a man. Sunday 21. Last night the weatl1cr was cole), the wind J1igh from the northeast, and the rain which fell froze on the ground. At daylight it began to snow, and continued till the afternoon, when it remained cloudy ami the ground was covered with snow. We however, st~t out early, and just above our camp came to a creek on the south, called Chisshetaw, about thirty yards wide and with a consideraIJle quantity of water. Our Ricara chief tells us, that at some distance up this rh-rr is situated a large rock which is held in great veneration, and visited by parties who go to consult it as to their own or their nations' destinies~ all of which th~y discern in some sort of figures or paintings with which it is covered. About two miles off from the mouth of the river the party on shore saw another of the objects of Ricara superstition: it is a Jat·ge oak tree, standing alon~ in the open prairie, and as it alone has withstood the fire which has consumed every thing around, the Indians naturally ascribe to it extraordinary powers. One of their ceremonies is to make a hole in the sldn of their necks througl.t which a string is passed and the other end tied to the body of' the tree; and after remaining in this way for some time they think they become braver. At two miles from ou1~ encampment we came to the ruins of a second Mandan village. which was in existence at the same time with. that just mentioned. It is situated on the north at the foot of a l.aill in a beautiful and extensive plain, whieJ1 is now coveJ•cd with herds ofbuffaloe: nearly opposite al'e remains of a third village on the south of the Missouri; and there is another also about two miles further on the north, a Httle off tho river. At the dis tance of seYen mi1t>s wr eneamped on the south, and spent ' OT .. f . Q. |