Page:A Topographical Description of the State of Ohio, Indiana Territory, and Louisiana.djvu/136

126. The country in every direction around them, for several hundred miles, is entirely bare of timber, except on the water courses and steep declivities of hills, where it is sheltered from the ravages of fire. The remains of the ancient villages of these people are to be seen on many parts of the Missouri, from the mouth of the Tetone river, to the Mandans. The rapacious Sioux Tetons, rob them of their horses, plunder their gardens and fields, and sometimes murder them without opposition, claim the country around them, although they are the oldest inhabitants, and treat them as merely tenants at will. Still they maintain a partial trade with their oppressors, the Tetons, to whom they barter horses, corn, beans, and a species of tobacco which they cultivate, and receive in return guns, ammunition, kettles, axes, and other articles, brought from the river Saint Peters. The Ricaras obtain these horses and mules from their western neighbours, who frequently visit them for the purpose of traffic.

The Mandans, consisting of three hundred and fifty warriors, and twelve hundred and fifty inhabitants, are the most friendly, and well disposed Indians who live on the Missouri. They are brave, humane, and hospitable. Several years ago they lived in six villages, about forty miles below their present towns. From repeated visitations of the small pox, and the frequent attacks of the Sioux, they have been reduced to their