Page:A Topographical Description of the State of Ohio, Indiana Territory, and Louisiana.djvu/130

120 among them, but could not succeed. There is said to be one remarkable trait in the character of the Osage Indians, in which they differ, perhaps, from all other tribes; they are extremely averse to ardent spirit, and few of them can be persuaded to taste it.

Below the Great Osage, on the waters of the Little Osage, Saint Francis and other streams, are a number of scattered bands of Indians, and two or three considerable villages. These bands were principally Indians, who were formerly outcasts from the tribes east of the Mississippi. Numbers have since joined from the Delawares, Shawanoes, Wayondott and other tribes towards the lakes. Their warriors are said to be five or six hundred. They have sometimes made excursions and done mischief on the Ohio river, but the settlements, on the Mississippi have suffered the most severely by their depredations.