this the party reached the little French village of La Charette which they saluted with four guns and three hearty cheers.  Then, according to the journal, they landed and were warmly received by the people, who had long since abandoned all hope of ever seeing these far-voyaging adventurers return.  Here are the last entries in the journal that has been our guide so long across the continent and back again to the haunts of men:—­

“Sunday, September 21st, we proceeded; and as several settlements have been made during our absence, we were refreshed with the sight of men and cattle along the banks.  We also passed twelve canoes of Kickapoo Indians, going on a hunting-excursion.  At length, after coming forty-eight miles, we saluted, with heartfelt satisfaction, the village of St. Charles, and on landing were treated with the greatest hospitality and kindness by all the inhabitants of that place.  Their civility detained us till ten o’clock the next morning.

“September 22d, when the rain having ceased, we set out for Coldwater Creek, about three miles from the mouth of the Missouri, where we found a cantonment of troops of the United States, with whom we passed the day; and then,

“September 23d, descended to the Mississippi, and round to St. Louis, where we arrived at twelve o’clock; and having fired a salute, went on shore and received the heartiest and most hospitable welcome from the whole village.”

The two captains were very busily employed, as soon as they arrived in St. Louis, with writing letters to their friends and to the officers of the government who were concerned to know of their safe return to civilization.  Captain Lewis’ letter to the President of the United States, announcing his arrival, was dated Sept. 23, 1806.  President Jefferson’s reply was dated October 20 of that year.  In his letter the President expressed his “unspeakable joy” at the safe return of the expedition.  He said that the unknown scenes in which they had been engaged and the length of time during which no tidings had been received from them “had begun to be felt awfully.”  It may seem strange to modern readers familiar with the means for rapid travel and communication that no news from the explorers, later than that which they sent from the Mandan country, was received in the United States until their return, two years and four months later.  But mail facilities were very scanty in those far-off days, even in the settled portions of the Mississippi Valley, and few traders had then penetrated to those portions of the Lower Missouri that had just been travelled by Lewis and Clark.  As we have seen, white men were regarded with awe and curiosity by the natives of the regions which the explorers traversed in their long absence.  The first post-office in what is now the great city of St. Louis was not established until 1808; mails between the Atlantic seaboard and that “village” required six weeks to pass either way.