25th.  The morning was cold and the wind gentle from the southeast:  at three miles we passed a handsome high prairie on the south, and on an eminence about forty feet above the water and extending back for several miles in a beautiful plain, was situated an old village of the Mandan nation which has been deserted for many years.  A short distance above it, on the continuation of the same rising ground are two old villages of Ricaras, one on the top of the hill, the other in the level plain, which have been deserted only five years ago.  Above these villages is an extensive low ground for several miles, in which are situated, at three or four miles from the Ricara villages, three old villages of Mandans near together.  Here the Mandans lived when the Ricaras came to them for protection, and from this they moved to their present situation above.  In the low ground the squaws raised their corn, and the timber, of which there was little near the villages, was supplied from the opposite side of the river, where it was and still is abundant.

As we proceeded several parties of Mandans both on foot and horseback came along the river to view us, and were very desirous that we should land and talk to them:  this we could not do on account of the sandbreaks on the shore, but we sent our Ricara chief to them in a periogue.  The wind too having shifted to the southwest and being very high it required all our precautions on board, for the river was full of sandbars which made it very difficult to find the channel.  We got aground several times, and passed a very bad point of rocks, after which we encamped on a sandpoint to the north, above a handsome plain covered with timber, and opposite to a high hill on the south side at the distance of eleven miles.  Here we were joined by our Ricara chief, who brought an Indian to the camp where he remained all night.

26th.  We set out early with a southwest wind, and after putting the Ricara chief on shore to join the Mandans who were in great numbers along it, we proceeded to the camp of the grand chiefs four miles distant.  Here we met a Mr. M’Cracken one of the northwest or Hudson Bay company, who arrived with another person about nine days ago to trade for horses and buffaloe robes.  Two of the chiefs came on board with some of their household furniture, such as earthern pots and a little corn and went on with us; the rest of the Indians following on shore.  At one mile beyond the camp we passed a small creek, and at three more a bluff of coal of an inferior quality on the south.  After making eleven miles we reached an old field where the Mandans had cultivated grain last summer, and encamped for the night on the south side, about half a mile below the first village of the Mandans.  In the morning we had a willow low ground on the south and highland on the north, which occasionally varied in the course of the day.  There is but little wood on this part of the river, which is here subdivided into many channels and obstructed