Page:Columbus and other heroes of American discovery; (IA columbusotherher00bell).pdf/204

 little distance in the big boat, the like of which they had never seen before; and the next day a grand meeting of the Sioux was held, at which the whites were most hospitably entertained, though most of the speeches in their honor wound up with petitions for presents.

After a thorough examination of the Great Bend, which has been justly characterized as one of the most remarkable features of the Missouri, forming, as it does, a circuit of some thirty miles, Lewis and Clarke led their men in a north-westerly direction to the mouth of the Cheyenne or Skyenne, just below the 45th parallel of north latitude, where they were met by a French trader, who informed them that the previous winter he had penetrated to the Black Mountains, three hundred leagues to the westward, proving our assertion at the beginning of this chapter, that the first exploration of America was accomplished, as it were, unconsciously.

Early in October the travelers entered the districts occupied by the Mandans, a native tribe holding some very peculiar notions with regard to the powers of the Great Spirit, whom they also called the Great Medicine, recognizing his agency in every cure of ill, whether physical, mental or temporal. Unfortunately, in spite of this strangely advanced creed, the Mandans were a degraded and dissolute race, ready to give and equally ready to take offense; the tomahawk being the usual weapon resorted to for revenge.

In spite of the unpromising character of the people among whom they found themselves, the American leader resolved, as the season was now so far advanced, to build a fort in the Mandan country in which to spend the winter, and to resume their task with fresh ardor in the ensuing spring. The friendship of the Mandans and of the Minnetarees, dwelling in the highlands of Minnesota on the east, was conciliated by presents, etc., and a site chosen for the fort in N. lat. 47°. Aided by the advice and assistance of a number of the English Hudson's Bay Company, and of a Canadian Frenchman who had spent some time among the Cheyenne Indians, the soldiers quickly constructed, not only a fort for their protection, but a number of cabins for their comfort; and the whole of the winter was passed in studying the ways of the natives, hunting, etc., the monotony of the residence in the spot being often relieved by visits from French or Canadian fur-traders, from whom much valuable information was obtained.

Early in April of the ensuing year, 1805, the camp at Fort Mandan, as the temporary settlement had been called, was broken up, and the party, now