most brutal excesses, and so far from | exertions and fatigue, in others, were considering it as disgraceful, the women still more trying; frequently obliged to and children are invited to partake in drag the boats along by ropes on the its effects, and the men pique them- banks, or to carry them over-land, to selves on the number of times that their scale precipices, where a false step must skill and industry, as hunters, have have hurried them into eternity, to enabled them to procure the dangerous sleep, or rather to become drowsy, upon exchange of kegs of rum for their dried the earth, drenched in rain, and beand pounded meat, grease, and the skins numbed with cold, often uncertain of of wolves, and foxes :-Surely, that po- their route, or of procuring subsistence licy for humanity is out of the question for a single day; ---obliged to be on in commercial dealings,-must be short their guard against any sudden attack sighted, which seeks to gain a temporary from the Indians, or accidental renadvantage over a people, by injuring counters from ferocious animals,-they their moral character, their domestic still sustained their spirits, with a resohabits, and their bodily health! lution which certainly contributed not a The passage up the Missouri was very little to get them through their diffitedious, on account of the windings in culties. Au Indian woman, the wife of its course, as well as the fatigue of going their interpreter, instigated by that constantly against the current, and the principle of curiosity which is said to be innumerable obstacles presented to the inherent in the daughters of Eve, whatboats from shoals, sand-bars, rapids, and ever be their complexion, accompanied projecting rocks. In one place, they them, with an infant at her breast, on were obliged to make a circuit of about their hazardous and fatiguing route, in eighteen miles to bring them to a point, the hope of seeing the "great water" which, overland, lay only at a distance-shared in all their privations, and of nine hundred and seventy-four yards. At night they drew their boats on shore and encamped on the banks of the river. Various fruits were found on the shores -gooseberries, raspberries, plums, currants, grapes, and some berries, much in request among the Indians. country, though only thinly wooded, abounded with game, in which term our travellers include brown and white bears and beavers, which, added to the duce of the river, and more bulky con

The

pro

tributions from the herds of buffaloes, grazing on the plains, left the party no reason to complain of their fare in the beginning of their route; but, as they advanced towards their intended winter-settlement among the Mandans, they began to find provisions scarce by the time they reached the Shoshonees, they were compelled to kill their horses for food; and the further they proceeded, the more serious their difficulties became. To the flesh of the dog they soon reconciled themselves, and preferred it to that of the otter; but a diet of roots, berries, aud dried fish, visibly affected their health and spirits. Much as they suffered from hunger, in some parts of their route, their bodily

made herself very useful by her know-
ledge of a large tract of the country
This
through which they had to pass.
woman manifested a most honourable
and affecting sensibility, on unexpect-
edly meeting with her kindred, and the
friends of her youth, from whom she had
been long separated by the chance of
war; a sensibility which appears the
more amiable, in one who had previously
been but slightly excited, except by her
appetite, or her passion for ornaments.

On setting out at seven o'clock Captain Clarke with Chaboneau and his wife, walked on shore, but they had not gone more than a mile before Captain Clarke band, one hundred yards a-head, begin to saw Sacajawea, who was with her husdance, and shew every mark of the most extravagant joy, turning round to him, and pointing to several Indians, whom he now saw advancing on horseback, sucking her fingers at the same time, to indicate that they were of her native tribe. As they advanced, Captain Clarke discovered among them Drewyer dressed like an Indian, from whom he learnt the situation forming the circuit, he went toward the of the party. While the boats were perforks with the Indians, who, as they went along, sang aloud with the greatest appearance of delight. We soon drew near

relieved from the hands of her enemies.

to the camp, and just as we approached it, tages which such acquisition gives them a woman made her way through the crowd over enemies destitute of equal power. towards Sacajawea, and recognizing each In a country where possession of the other, they embraced with the most tender finest parts of it must be gained by affection. The meeting of these two young force, and retained by incessant vigiwomen had in it something peculiarly lance, where exceeding poverty renders touching, not only in the ardent manner in which their feelings were expressed, but the most trifling superiority an object of from the real interest of their situation. envy, it may easily be imagined that a They had been companions in childhood, continued warfare must be carried on :in the war with the Minnetarees they had has one tribe more horses than another? both been taken prisoners in the same bat--the poorer endeavours to equalize contle, they had shared and softened the ri-ditions by stealing some of them;-does gours of their captivity, till one of them a party go a hunting, and leave their had escaped from the Minnetarees, with village unguarded ?—it is entered in their scarce a hope of ever seeing her friend absence; and what they gain in game, they lose in corn. These petty outrages, of course, call for retaliation; and as the remembrance of injury never dies with Indians, no wonder that their numbers decrease under the influence of perpetual warfare. Personal bravery being the quality of most value to them is that which is most immediately rewarded by distinction: He who gives any remarkable proof of it is made a chief; and after every new achievement, he has a right to assume a new name, indicative of the nature of it; as in Europe it is allowed to augment coats of arms with bearings from a conquered enemy. The chiefs do not, however, graft the new name upon the old one, after the fashion of the Welsh :-in that case, addressing them would exercise to the utmost the powers both of lungs and memory; as the reader may perceive from the following list of appellations :-Pawnawneahpahbe (Struck by the Pawnee), a name probably taken up in remembrance of some hereditary feud; Aweawechache (Half Man), indicative of the modesty of the bearer, who being complimented on his heroic achievements, replied, that he was only half a man; Manbucksheahokeah (Seeing Snake); Mahpahpaparapassatoo (Horned Weasel). Little Thief, Little Wolf, and other diminu tives have, we suppose, the same reference to qualities as the name of LitAll the meetings for conference on the tle John, the famed companion of Robin part of the Indians, end in protestations Hood, had to stature. of poverty, and begging for powder and appear still more whimsical in their sig ball. It is no wonder that they should nification, such as Old woman at a diseagerly seize every opportunity to gain tance, Cherry on a bush, White Buffalo possession of fire arms, or ammunition, robe unfolded, Buffalo medicine, Little when we consider the immense advan-wolf medicine, &c. The word medicine

While Sacajawea was renewing among the women the friendships of former days, Captain Clarke went on, and was received by Captain Lewis and the Chief, who after the first embraces and salutations were over, conducted him to a sort of circular tent or shade of willows. Here he was seated on a white robe; and the Chief immediately tied in his hair six small shells, resembling pearls, an ornament highly va lued by these people, who procure them in the course of trade from the sea coast.The mocassins of the whole party were then taken off, and after much ceremony the smoking begau. After this, the conference was to be opened, and glad of an opportunity of being able to converse more intelligibly, Sacajawea was sent for; she came into the tent, sat down, and was beginning to interpret, when in the person of Cameahwait, she recognized her brother she instantly jumped up, and ran and embraced him, throwing over him her blanket, and weeping profusely: the chief was himself moved, though not in the same degree. After some conversation between them, she resumed her seat, and attempted to interpret for us, but her new situation seemed to overpower her, and she was frequently interrupted by her tears.

This interview took place near the extreme navigable point of the Missouri; we have, therefore, noticed it somewhat out of course; and will resume our observations on the route with more regard to the order of time.

Other names

The discovery of the falls of the Missouri is so important a feature in the undertaking, and was the occasion of such rejoicing to the whole party, who were just before almost overcome with the accumulating fatigues of their route, and lost in conjecture as to the right direction of it, that we doubt not our readers will sympathize in the feelings of Captain Lewis, when the sound of the fall of water first broke on his ear:-there is so little enthusiasm in the whole narrative, that we are glad to select an event important in itself, and awakening that admiration and awe, in the minds of the beholders, which the works of an Almighty hand, on so graud a scale, must excite even in the most unreflecting.

but being received as it falls by the irre gular and somewhat projecting rocks below, forms a splendid prospect of perfectly white foam, two hundred yards in length, and eighty in perpendicular elevation. This spray is dissipated into a thousand shapes, sometimes flying up in columns of fifteen or twenty feet, which are then oppressed by larger masses of the white foam, on all which the sun impresses the brightest colours of the rainbow. As it rises from the fall, it beats with fury against a ledge of rocks which extends across the river at one huudred and fifty yards from the precipice.

For many miles below this fall the river is one continued succession of rapids and cascades; just under one of them is a little island in the middle of the river, well covered with timber. Here, on a cottonwood tree, an eagle had fixed its nest, and seemed the undisputed mistress of a spot, to contest whose dominion neither man nor beast would venture across the gulfs that surround it, and which is further secured by the mist rising from the falls.

The fatigues of the men in the neighIn this direction, Captain Lewis had bourhood of the falls were considerably gone about two miles, when his ears were increased by the difficulty of conveying saluted with the agreeable sound of a fall their canoes over the rapids: continuof water, and as he advanced, a spray which seemed driven by the high south- ally in the water, going against a strong west wind, arose above the plain like a current, their feet severely cut by column of smoke, and vanished in an in-stones, and fragments of rock;-by land stant. Towards this point he directed his they suffered as much from the prickly steps, and the noise increasing as he appear, and the sharp points of earth, left proached, soon became too tremendous to by the trampling of the buffalo in the be mistaken for any thing but the great rains;-loaded with burdens as heavy falls of the Missouri. Having travelled as they could carry, limping with the seven miles after first hearing the sound, soreness of their feet, unable to stand he reached the falls about twelve o'clock: for more than a few minutes, on account of the heat, they were frequently compelled to halt and rest :-at almost every stepping place, they fell, and were asleep in an instant; yet they were ready to go on again at the word of command, not only without murmuring, but with cheerfulness.

the hills as he approached were difficult of access, and two hundred feet high. Down these he hurried with impatience, and seating himself on some rocks under the centre of the falls, enjoyed the sublime spectacle of this stupendous object, which since the creation had been lavishing its magnificence upon the desert, unknown to

civilization.

To so many positive inconveniences were often added accidents sufficiently appalling, even in description, to shake the nerves of such of our readers as may never have been exposed to the actual contemplation of danger. One time in crossing a narrow pass on the banks of the river, after heavy rains, which had rendered them so slippery as scarcely to afford footing, Captain Lewis slipped; and but for recovering himself by means

lost. So instantaneous was the rise of the

water, that before Captain Clarke had reached his gun and begun to ascend the bank, the water was up to his waist, and he could scarce get up faster than it rose, till it reached the height of fifteen feet with a furious current, which, had they waited a moment longer, would have swept them into the river just above the great falls, down which they must inevitably have. been precipitated.

of his espontoon, would have been pre-ger, that but for Captain Clarke, himself cipitated into the river, over a precipice and his wife and child would have been of about ninety feet:-one of his companions slipped down to the very verge of the precipice, where he lay on his belly, with his right arm and leg over the precipice, while with the other leg and arm he with difficulty held on, to keep himself from being dashed to pieces below. His dreadful situation was instantly perceived by Captain Lewis, who, stifling his alarm, calmly told him that he was in no danger; that he should take his knife out of his belt with the right hand, and dig a hole in the side of the bluff to receive his

Under the head of accidental dangers, we must not forget to make mention of the brown and white bears; than which

we cannot conceive more formidable antagonists; running with great swiftness, open-mouthed, on their prey; leaving the track of their talons several inches

right foot. With great presence of mind he did this, and then raised himself on his knees; Captain Lewis then told him to take off his mocassins, and come forward on his hands and knees, holding his knife in one hand and his rifle in the other. He imme-deep in the ground; difficult, on account diately crawled in this way till he came to a secure spot.

of their conformation, to wound mortally; and tenacious of life to the last This is only one among many in- gasp, we are not surprized that our trastances of the presence of mind and vellers should declare their preference of consideration at all times conspicuous in encountering a brace of Indians rather the conduct of Captain Lewis. That than a single bear. A very different his coadjutor was no less gifted with specimen of the powers and habits of the these valuable qualities is evident on rebrute creation is afforded in the inoffenpeated occasions. One of them will in- sive little animals called by the French. terest our readers, as it displays the petits chiens," by our travellers sudden fury of the elements in these barking squirrels." They are about solitary regions, of which we can scarce- the size of a squirrel, make a whistling ly form an idea. Being separated from noise as they sit at the mouth of their their party, Captain Clarke with Cha-holes, and retreat into them on the apboneau, and his wife with her young child, took shelter in a deep ravine from an approaching storm.

pearance of danger; they burrow a
considerable depth, and some of their
settlements, or villages as they are here
termed, extend for nine miles on the
banks of the river. The beavers also
command extensive tracts, and seem to
be as valuable for their flesh as for their
coats; they cut down the timber for the
space of two or three acres round their
habitation, and carry away trees which
are as thick as the body of a man.
of them seized a pole which Captain
Lewis had planted on the bank of the
river with a note fastened to it, to in
form the party of the route he had
taken.

One

They were on the upper side of the ravine near the river, perfectly safe from the rain, and therefore laid down their guns, compass, and other articles which they carried with them. The shower was at first moderate, it then increased to a heavy rain, the effects of which they did not feel; soon after a torrent of rain and hail descended; the rain seemed to fall in a solid mass, and instantly collecting in the ravine, came rolling down in a dreadful current, carrying the mud and rocks and every thing that opposed it. Captain Clarke fortunately saw it a moment before it reached them, and springing up with his Early in their ascent on the south side gun and shot-pouch in his left hand, with of the Missouri, our travellers passed his right hand clambered up the steep bluff, some antient fortifications which appushing on the Indian woman with her child in her arms; her husband too had peared to have originally enclosed a space seized her hand, and was pulling her up of five hundred acres, and to have conthe hill, but he was so terrified at the dan-sisted of walls, gateways, covered ways,

and circular redoubts. They were informed by their guides, that many similar fortifications were to be found on the Platte, the Rangas, the Jaques, &c. but not any conjecture respecting when or by whom they were raised. Some specimens of natural architecture, as surprising in their regularity, as the Giant's Causeway, are described in such a manner, as might give occasion to some readers, to imagine that they were meant to be represented as productions of art; they consist of certain walls or cliffs on the banks of the Missouri, in the vicinity of the Falls, which rise from the water to the height of two hundred feet, and are of the breadth of twelve feet. The first is a quarter of a mile long, and is succeeded by a high open plain; three miles further, a second wall of the same height rises on the same side, and three miles further still, a third appears to the

north..

midst of this fantastic scenery, are vast ranges of walls, which seem the productions of art, so regular is the workmanship; they rise perpendicularly from the river, and sometimes to the height of one hundred feet, varying in thickness from one to twelve feet, being equally as broad at the top as below. The stones of which they are formed, are black, thick, and durable, and composed of a large portion of earth, intermixed and cemented with a small quantity of sand, and a considerable These proportion of chalk or quartz. stones are almost invariably regular parallelipeds of unequal size in the wall, but equally deep, and laid regularly in ranges over each other like bricks, each breaking and covering the interstice of the two, on which it rests; but though the perpendicular interstice be destroyed, the horizontal one extends entirely through the whole work; the stones are proportioned to the thickness of the wall in which they are employed, being largest in the thickest walls. The thinner walls are composed of a single depth of the paralleliped, while the thicker ones consist of two or more depths; these walls pass the river at several places, rising from the water's edge much above the sandstone bluffs, which they seem to penetrate; thence they cross in a straight line on either side of the river, the plains over which they tower to the height of from ten to seventy feet, until they lose themselves in the second range of hills: some times they run parallel in several ranges near to each other, sometimes intersect each other at right angles, and have the ap. pearance of ancient houses or gardens.

We must express our regret, that no drawing or plan of these beautiful obthis description. jects, accompany

These hills and river cliffs exhibit a most extraordinary and romantic appearance; they rise in most places nearly perpendicular from the water, to the height of between two and three hundred feet, and are formed of very white sandstone, so soft as to yield readily to the impression of water, in the upper part of which lie embedded two or three horizontal strata of freestone, insensible to the rain, and on the top is a dark rich loam, which forms a gradually ascending plain, from a mile to a mile and a half in extent, when the hills again rise abruptly to the height of above three hundred feet more. In trickling down the cliffs, the water has worn the soft sandstone into a thousand grotesque figures, among which, with a little fancy, may be It is difficult to give in a short abdiscerned elegant ranges of freestone build-stract, a clear idea of the various stages, ings, with columns variously sculptured, and supporting long and elegant galleries, while the parapets are adorned with statuary; on a nearer approach, they represent every form of elegant ruins; columns, some with pedestals and capitals entire: others mutilated and prostrate, some rising pyramidally over each other, till they terminate in a sharp point. These are varied by niches, alcoves, and the customary ap pearances of desolated magnificence; the illusion is increased by the number of martius, who have built their globular nests in the niches, and hover over these columus, as in our country they are accustomed to frequent large stone structures. As we advance, there seems no end to the visionary enchantment which surrounds us. In the

if we may so term them, of our travellers in their route; for, as they found it convenient to their memories to distinguish places before unknown, by names expressive of some circumstance that had befallen themselves, and which could easily be recalled to mind, our readers will not gain much positive information by being told, that one event occurred at Painted Canoe Island, another at White Stallion River, and a third at Little Dog Creek.

After having ascertained the course of the Missouri, Captain Lewis and Captain Clarke, with each a party, took different routes, in order to discover the