“Big White, the chief of the Mandans, now addressed them at some length, explaining the pacific intentions of his nation; the Chayennes observed that both the Ricaras and Mandans seemed to be in fault; but at the end of the council the Mandan chief was treated with great civility, and the greatest harmony prevailed among them.  The great chief, however, informed us that none of the Ricaras could be prevailed on to go with us till the return of the other chief; and that the Chayennes were a wild people, afraid to go.  He invited Captain Clark to his house, and gave him two carrots of tobacco, two beaver-skins, and a trencher of boiled corn and beans.  It is the custom of all the nations on the Missouri to offer to every white man food and refreshment when he first enters their tents.”

Resuming their voyage, the party reached Tyler’s River, where they camped, on the twenty-seventh of August.  This stream is now known as Medicine River, from Medicine Hill, a conspicuous landmark rising at a little distance from the Missouri.  The voyagers were now near the lower portion of what is now known as South Dakota, and they camped in territory embraced in the county of Presho.  Here they were forced to send out their hunters; their stock of meat was nearly exhausted.  The hunters returned empty-handed.

“After a hunt of three hours they reported that no game was to be found in the bottoms, the grass having been laid flat by the immense number of buffaloes which recently passed over it; and, that they saw only a few buffalo bulls, which they did not kill, as they were quite unfit for use.  Near this place we observed, however, the first signs of the wild turkey; not long afterward we landed in the Big Bend, and killed a fine fat elk, on which we feasted.  Toward night we heard the bellowing of buffalo bulls on the lower island of the Big Bend.  We pursued this agreeable sound, and after killing some of the cows, camped on the island, forty-five miles from the camp of last night.” . . . . . . . . .

“Setting out at ten o’clock the next morning, at a short distance they passed the mouth of White River, the water of which was nearly of the color of milk.  As they were much occupied with hunting, they made but twenty miles.  The buffalo,” says the journal, “were now so numerous, that from an eminence we discovered more than we had ever seen before at one time; and though it was impossible accurately to calculate their number, they darkened the whole plain, and could not have been, we were convinced, less than twenty thousand.  With regard to game in general, we have observed that wild animals are usually found in the greatest numbers in the country lying between two nations at war.”

They were now well into the Sioux territory, and on the thirtieth of August they had an encounter with a party of Indians.  About twenty persons were seen on the west side of the river, proceeding along a height opposite the voyagers.  Just as these were observed, another band, numbering eighty or ninety, came out of the woods nearer the shore.  As they had a hostile appearance, the party in the canoes made preparations to receive them; they were suspected to be Teton-Sioux, although they might be Yanktons, Pawnees, or Omahas.  The journal adds:—­