Horse, an Otoe; the first an Otoe, the second a Missouri.
    "The incidents just related induced us to give to this place the name of Council Bluffs. The situation of it is exceedingly favorable for a fort and trading factory, as the soil is well calculated for bricks and there is an abundance of wood in the neighborhood and the air being pure and healthy. It is also central to the chief resorts of the Indians; one day's journey to the Otoes; one and a half to the Great Pawnees; two days from the Mahas; two and a quarter from the Pawnee Loups village; convenient to the hunting-ground of the Sioux, and twenty-five days journey to Santa Fe."
    The ceremonies of the council being concluded, Lewis and Clark set sail in the afternoon and encamped in what is now Nebraska, at a distance of five miles above Council Bluffs, where they found the mosquitoes very troublesome. The next day (August 5). after passing a narrow part of the river, they came to a place on the south side of the Missouri river, where was a deserted trading-house. Here one of the party had passed two years trafficing with the Mahas.
    On the 11th of the month the expedition halted on the south side of the stream for the purpose of examining a spot where one of the great chiefs of the Mahas, named Blackbird, who had been dead about four years, was buried. He died of the small-pox. This chief seemed to have been a person of great consideration in his nation. August 18 brought the party at a distance of over forty miles from Blackbird's grave, to a spot where, on the Nebraska side of the Missouri, a Mr. Mackay had a trading establishment in the years 1795 and 1796, which he called "Fort Charles."
     "At fourteen miles [from the previous place of camping], we reached a creek on the south, on which the Mahas reside, and, at seventeen miles and a quarter, formed a camp on a sandbar, to the south side of the river opposite the lower point of a large island. From this place, Sergt. Ordway and four men were detached to the Maha village, with a flag and a present, in order to induce them to come and hold a council with us. Five miles from our camp, they reached the position of the ancient Maha village; it had once consisted of 800 cabins, but was burnt four years ago, soon after the small-pox had destroyed 400 men and a proportion of women and children. On a hill, in the rear of the village, are the graves of the nation, to the south of which runs the fork of the Maha Creek; this they crossed where it was about ten yards wide, and followed its course to the Missouri, passing along a ridge of hill for one mile and a half and a long pond between that and the Missouri; they then recrossed the Maha Creek and arrived at the camp, having seen no tracks of the Indians nor any sign of recent cultivation.
    Our camp lies about three miles northeast from the old Maha village, and is in latitude 42 degrees, 18 minutes and 41 seconds. The accounts we have had of the effects of the small-pox on that nation are most distressing; it is not known in what way it was first communicated to them, though probably by some war party. They had been a military and powerful people, but when these warriors saw their strength wasting before a malady which they could not resist, their frenzy was extreme; they burnt their village and many of them put to death their wives and children to save them from so cruel an affliction, and that all might go together to some better country.
     "On the 16th, we still waited for the Indians; a party had gone out yesterday to the Maha Creek, which was dammed up by the beaver between the camp and the village; a second went to-day. They made a kind of drag with small willows and bark, and swept the creek. The first company caught 818 fish; the second, upward of 800. consisting of pike, bass, fish resembling salmon, trout, red-horse, buffalo, one rock-fish, one flatback, perch, catfish, a small species of perch, called on the Ohio, silverfish, a shrimp of the same size, shape and flavor of those about New Orleans and the lower part of the Mississippi: we also found very fat muscles, and, on the river, as well as the creek, are different kinds of duck and plover.   *   *
    "The Otoes returned with the information that the rest were coming on with the deserter; they had also caught Liberte; but, by a trick, he made his escape; they were bringing three of the chiefs in order to engage our assistance in making peace with the Mahas.   *   *   *
    "August 18.--In the afternoon, the party arrived with the Indians, consisting of the Little Thief and the Big Horse, whom we had seen on the 3d, together with six other chiefs, and a French interpreter.   *   *   *   *   *
    "August 19.--The chiefs and warriors being assembled at 10 o'clock, we explained the speech we had already sent from Council Bluffs and renewed our advice.   *   *   *
    "The next morning, August 20, we had the misfortune to lose one of our Sergeants--Charles Floyd. He was yesterday seized with a bilious colic, and all our care and attention were ineffectual to relieve him. A little before his death, he said to Capt. Clark, 'I am going to leave you.' His strength failed him as he added, 'I want you to write a letter for me.' He died with a composure which justified the high opinion we had formed of his firmness and good conduct. He was buried on the top of the bluff with the honors due a brave soldier, and the place of his interment was marked by a cedar post, on which his name and the day of his death were inscribed. About a mile beyond this place, to which we gave his name, is a small river, about thirty yards wide, on the north side [of the Missouri], which we called Floyd's River, where we encamped.
     About three miles above Floyd's River, the party the next day (August 21), reached the mouth of the Great Sioux River, where is now situated Sioux City, Iowa. Nothing of importance was seen by the expedition in passing from the mouth of the Sioux to that of the Jame,. or Dakota River, which they reached August 27. As they came to that place, an Indian swam to one of their boats, and, on the

landing of the party, they were met by two others, who gave information that a large body of Sioux was encamped near. A spot up the Missouri was determined upon as a proper place to meet these Indians, and three of the men were sent to invite the savages to a council there--at Calumet Bluffs, on the Nebraska side of the Missouri--where the party formed their camp in a beautiful plain, to await the arrival of the Sioux. The chiefs to the number of five and about seventy men and boys of this nation were received at noon, August 30, when Capt. Lewis delivered to them a speech with the usual advice and council for the future conduct. An answer was returned on the morrow. They promised to bring the Pawness and Mahas together, that peace might be established between them, and they themselves agreed to make peace with the Otoes and Missouris, the only nations with whom they were then at war. This was the first council ever held by any agents of the United States with any one of the numerous bands of the Sioux. These Indians were Yanktons--the band numbering about 200 men. Their homes were upon the Dakota, Des Moines and Sioux Rivers.
     The Sioux were found by Lewis and Clark to be divided into ten separate tribes or bands--Yanktons, Tetons of the Burnt Woods, Tetons Okandandas, Tetons Minnakenozzo, Tetons Saone, Yanktons of the Plains, Wahpatone, Mindawarcarton, Wahpatoota and Sistasoone. The Tetons of the Burnt Woods, numbering about 300 men, roved on both sides of the Missouri, White and Teton Rivers. The Tetons

Okandandas, consisting of about 150 men, inhabited both sides of the Missouri below the Cheyenne River. The Tetons Minnaknozzo inhabited both sides of the Missouri above the Cheyenne; they numbered 250 men. The Tetons Saone dwelt on both sides of the Missouri below the Warreconne River. and consisted of about 300 men. The Yanktons of the Plains, or Big Devils, had their homes on the heads of the Sioux, Dakota and Red Rivers. They were the most numerous of all the tribes; they numbered about 500. The Wahpatone lived upon the St. Peter's just above its mouth; they consisted of 200 men. The Mindawarcarton, or proper. Dakotas or Sioux, possessed both sides of the Mississippi, about the Falls of St. Anthony, and numbered 300. The Wahpatoota, or Leaf Beds, inhabited both sides of the St. Peter's, below Yellow Wood River; their men numbered about 150. The Sistasoone, numbering 150 men, resided at the head of St. Peter's. From this it will be seen that the men of the entire nation, in 1804, was over 2.500, representing a population of over 10.000 souls.
     From Calumet Bluffs to the Rapid River (or, as it was called by the French, Riviere qui Court, now the Niobrara), nothing of particular importance transpired, so far as the expedition was concerned. But, we must here take leave of the gallant Captains and their company, as they had reached the northeast corner of what is now Nebraska. They soon passed on up the Missouri beyond its present limits, came finally to the Pacific Ocean and returned down the Missouri in the summer of 1806. An