He continued to smoke quietly with them, till rising to return, he took his wife by the hair, led her as far as the door, and with a single stroke of his tomahawk put her to death before her father’s eyes:  then turning fiercely upon the spectators, he said that if any of her relations wished to avenge her, they might always find him at his lodge; but the fate of the woman had not sufficient interest to excite the vengeance of the family.  The caprice or the generosity of the same chief gave a very different result to a similar incident which occurred some time afterwards.  Another of his wives eloped with a young man, who not being able to support her as she wished they both returned to the village, and she presented herself before the husband, supplicating his pardon for her conduct:  the Borgne sent for the lover:  at the moment when the youth expected that he would be put to death, the chief mildly asked them if they still preserved their affection for each other; and on their declaring that want, and not a change of affection had induced them to return, he gave up his wife to her lover, with the liberal present of three horses, and restored them both to his favour.

Monday 11.  The weather was cloudy in the morning and a little snow fell, the wind then shifted from southeast to northwest and the day became fair.  It snowed again in the evening, but the next day,

Tuesday 12, was fair with the wind from the northwest.

Wednesday 13.  We had a fine day, and a southwest wind.  Mr. M’Kenzie came to see us, as did also many Indians who are so anxious for battle-axes that our smiths have not a moment’s leisure, and procure us an abundance of corn.  The river rose a little to-day, and so continued.

Thursday 14.  The wind being from the west, and the day fine, the whole party were employed in building boats and in shelling corn.

Friday 15.  The day is clear, pleasant and warm.  We take advantage of the fine weather to hang all our Indian presents and other articles out to dry before our departure.

Saturday 16.  The weather is cloudy, the wind from the southeast.  A Mr. Garrow, a Frenchman who has resided a long time among the Ricaras and Mandans, explained to us the mode in which they make their large beads, an art which they are said to have derived from some prisoners of the Snake Indian nation, and the knowledge of which is a secret even now confined to a few among the Mandans and Ricaras:  the process is as follows:  glass of different colours is first pounded fine and washed, till each kind, which is kept separate, ceases to stain the water thrown over it:  some well seasoned clay, mixed with a sufficient quantity of sand to prevent its becoming very hard when exposed to heat, and reduced by water to the consistency of dough, is then rolled on the palm of the hand, till it becomes of the thickness wanted for the hole in the bead; these sticks of clay are placed upright, each on a little pedestal or ball