their nation, who were on the river not far from us:  this we declined; but in spite of our wishes they followed us along shore.  The chief asked us to give them some tobacco; this we did, and gave more as a present for that part of the nation which we did not see.  At seven and a half miles we came to a small creek on the southern side, where we saw great numbers of elk, and which we called Notimber creek from its bare appearance.  Above the mouth of this stream, a Ricara band of Pawnees had a village five years ago:  but there are no remains of it except the mound which encircled the town.  Here the second chief went on shore.  We then proceeded, and at the distance of eleven miles encamped on the lower part of a willow island, in the middle of the river, being obliged to substitute large stones in the place of the anchor which we lost.

September 30.  The wind was this morning very high from the southeast, so that we were obliged to proceed under a double-reefed mainsail, through the rain.  The country presented a large low prairie covered with timber on the north side; on the south, we first had high barren hills, but after some miles it became of the same character as that on the opposite side.  We had not gone far when an Indian ran after us, and begged to be carried on board as far as the Ricaras, which we refused:  soon after, we discovered on the hills at a distance, a great number of Indians, who came towards the river and encamped ahead of us.  We stopped at a sandbar, at about eleven miles, and after breakfasting proceeded on a short distance to their camp, which consisted of about four hundred souls.  We anchored one hundred yards from the shore, and discovering that they were Tetons belonging to the band which we had just left:  we told them that we took them by the hand, and would make each chief a present of tobacco; that we had been badly treated by some of their band, and that having waited for them two days below, we could not stop here, but referred them to Mr. Durion for our talk and an explanation of our views:  they then apologized for what had past, assured us that they were friendly, and very desirous that we should land and eat with them:  this we refused, but sent the periogue on shore with the tobacco, which was delivered to one of the soldiers of the chief, whom we had on board.  Several of them now ran along the shore after us, but the chief threw them a twist of tobacco, and told them to go back and open their ears to our counsels; on which they immediately returned to their lodges.  We then proceeded past a continuation of the low prairie on the north, where we had large quantities of grapes, and on the south saw a small creek and an island.  Six miles above this, two Indians came to the bank, looked at us about half an hour, and then went without speaking over the hills to the southwest.  After some time, the wind rose still higher, and the boat struck a log, turned, and was very near taking in water.  The chief became so much terrified at the danger,