to their present position.  The country through, which we passed has wider bottoms and more timber than those we have been accustomed to see, the hills rising at a distance and by gradual ascents.  We have seen great numbers of elk, deer, goats, and buffaloe, and the usual attendants of these last, the wolves, who follow their movements and feed upon those who die by accident, or who are too poor to keep pace with the herd; we also wounded a white bear, and saw some fresh tracks of those animals which are twice as large as the track of a man.

Sunday 21.  Last night the weather was cold, the wind high from the northeast, and the rain which fell froze on the ground.  At daylight it began to snow, and continued till the afternoon, when it remained cloudy and the ground was covered with snow.  We however, set out early, and just above our camp came to a creek on the south, called Chisshetaw, about thirty yards wide and with a considerable quantity of water.  Our Ricara chief tells us, that at some distance up this river is situated a large rock which is held in great veneration, and visited by parties who go to consult it as to their own or their nations’ destinies, all of which they discern in some sort of figures or paintings with which it is covered.  About two miles off from the mouth of the river the party on shore saw another of the objects of Ricara superstition:  it is a large oak tree, standing alone in the open prairie, and as it alone has withstood the fire which has consumed every thing around, the Indians naturally ascribe to it extraordinary powers.  One of their ceremonies is to make a hole in the skin of their necks through which a string is passed and the other end tied to the body of the tree; and after remaining in this way for some time they think they become braver.  At two miles a from our encampment we came to the ruins of a second Mandan village, which was in existence at the same time with that just mentioned.  It is situated on the north at the foot of a hill in a beautiful and extensive plain, which is now covered with herds of buffaloe:  nearly opposite are remains of a third village on the south of the Missouri; and there is another also about two miles further on the north, a little off the river.  At the distance of seven miles we encamped on the south, and spent a cold night.  We procured to-day a buffaloe and an otter only.  The river is wide and the sandbars numerous, and a low island near our encampment.

Monday 22.  In the morning we passed an old Mandan village on the south, near our camp; at four miles another on the same side.  About seven o’clock we came to at a camp of eleven Sioux of the Teton tribe, who are almost perfectly naked, having only a piece of skin or cloth round the middle, though we are suffering from the cold.  From their appearance, which is warlike, and from their giving two different accounts of themselves, we believe that they are either going to or returning from the Mandans, to which nations