Travels in the Interior of North America Part 14

There were about 100 persons on board the Yellow Stone, most of whom were those called _engages_, or _voyageurs_, who are the lowest cla.s.s of servants of the Fur Company. Most of them are French Canadians, or descendants of the French settlers on the Mississippi and Missouri.

The appearance of the river above St. Louis did not differ from that already described. The red-bud (_Cercis Canadensis_) appeared as underwood in the forests, covered with dark red blossoms before the appearance of the leaves, which form red stripes along the sh.o.r.e, and make a pleasing contrast with the young, bright green leaves of the willows. At noon, Reaumur's thermometer on board was at +17. We had soon pa.s.sed the 16 miles to the mouth of the Missouri,[177]

but before we entered it, we lay to, on the Illinois side, to take in wood. The Yellow Stone entered [pg. 113] the Missouri, which, at its mouth, is about the same breadth as the Mississippi at this place. In the afternoon we reached, on the S. W. side, Belle Fontaine, a rather decayed building belonging to the military station established, in 1803, against the Indians, but which was subsequently abandoned. The current of the river runs here at the rate of five miles an hour; on the left bank there is a chain of calcareous hills with the same singular forms of towers, &c. as on the Mississippi. The bushes of wild plums were covered with snow-white blossoms, and those of the _Cercis Canadensis_, with their red flowers; and I could not help remarking that, in this country, most of the trees and bushes have their flowers before their leaves. On the beach the inhabitants had fixed fis.h.i.+ng rods, which they examined, from time to time, and we saw them take up a large cat-fish. Towards evening the lofty plane trees, with their white branches, were beautifully tinged with the setting sun. We pa.s.sed several islands, which showed us the usual formation of these acc.u.mulations of sand, which arise rapidly, and are often as rapidly destroyed. Against the stream they generally have a naked, sandy point, with layers of thick, heavy timber; young willows grow first, then poplars, and, lastly, hard timber. In many places in the forests, and between the willows, we observed the high rushes (_Equisetum hyemale_) which are said to be injurious to the horses, unless salt is given them with it.

Next morning we reached St. Charles, on the N. E. sh.o.r.e, one of the oldest French settlements on the Missouri, consisting of about 300 houses, where the ma.s.sive church, with its low tower, has a very good appearance. The environs of this scattered village are rather bare, but there were many European fruit trees in blossom. Most of the houses are built of wood, but a modern part of the place is of brick.

On an eminence rising behind it, stands an old stone tower, which formerly served as a defence against the Indians. We lay to, opposite St. Charles, where Messrs. Mc Kenzie and Dougherty joined us, and M.

Chouteau and his family took leave, and returned to St. Louis. After stopping a few hours, we continued our voyage till a storm of wind filled the air with sand, from the sand banks, and compelled us to stop after twelve o'clock, above the whirlpool, called Remoux a Baguette;[178] towards dark, however, we reached Isle au Bon Homme, in the vicinity of which we pa.s.sed the night. On the 12th of April, the original forms of the calcareous rocks again appeared, with the red cedar, as usual, growing upon them. The hills were covered with forests, where many trees were putting forth leaves, especially the very delicate green foliage of the sugar maple. A cavern at this place is called the Tavern Rock (Taverne de Montardis), and on both sides of the river were numerous snags, which often prove dangerous to vessels.

Near some habitations the European peach trees were in blossom; among the strange forms of the rocks, I saw one flattened at the top like a table, on a thin stem, and quite isolated. The country is here pretty well peopled, and game is rather rare in the forests, at least we were told that stags, bears, and wild turkeys were not often found there.

The people settle on the eminences, rather than below on the bank of the river, where the air is [pg. 114] said to be less salubrious. The inundations of the river form marshes on the low grounds, which, being protected from the sun by the surrounding trees, produce fevers.

Flint, in his History and Geography of the Mississippi Valley,[179]

gives a very good account of the climate and diseases of this country.

We pa.s.sed Isle and Riviere au Boeuf, as well as the village of Pinkney;[180] observed very picturesque rocky scenes, climbing plants, which twined round overthrown broken trunks of trees, and gloomy ravines, which were now full of the bright green young leaves that were everywhere sprouting forth. The Yellow Stone had several times struck against submerged trunks of trees, but it was purposely built very strong, for such dangerous voyages. This was its third voyage up the Missouri. The Fur Company possess another steamer called the a.s.siniboin which had left St. Louis to go up the Missouri before us.[181] At night-fall we lay to on the right bank, where a cheerful fire of large logs was soon made, round which our _engages_ a.s.sembled and chatted incessantly in French. We spent part of the night with Messrs. Mc Kenzie, Dougherty, and Sanford, under the canopy of the starry heavens, while a couple of clarionets, on board the vessel, played Scotch airs and the famous "Yankee-doodle."

On the morning of the 13th of April, the weather was serene and cool, the thermometer, at eight in the morning, +5 Reaum., and at noon, +9. We had lain to, for the night, near Otter Island,[182] and soon saw before us the country about Gasconade River. There were extensive sand banks on the left hand, picturesque hills, many pleasing gradations of tint in the forests; an island, on the surface of which we distinctly saw the layer of black mould, six feet thick, with sand beneath it; further from the left bank a chain of hills, valleys, and eminences, covered with high trees, which were just beginning to put forth leaves, all illumined by the beams of the brightest morning sun.

Near the Gasconade, where we took in wood, many interesting plants were in blossom. The Gasconade, which is an inconsiderable river, and rises not far from the source of the Merrimack, in the State of Missouri, expands behind a high, bold eminence, the summit of which is covered with rocks and red cedars. The hills near it are frequently covered with the white and the yellow pine, which supply St. Louis with boards and timber for building. Its mouth, which is reckoned to be 100 miles from that of the Missouri, is picturesquely situated in a lofty forest.

Near it, our hunters fired unsuccessfully at a flock of wild turkeys.

We soon pa.s.sed the village of Portland; then the mouth of Little-Au-Vase Creek, where we observed, in the woods, the young leaves of the buck-eye trees (_Pavia_) which grew in great abundance.[183] A little further on, the Osage River appears between wooded banks: it is a small stream, in which, according to Warden, many soft-sh.e.l.led tortoises are found: we came then to Cote-Sans-Dessein, an old French settlement of six or eight houses, celebrated for the brave defence made by a few men against a numerous body of Indians. It must have been formerly much more considerable, since Brackenridge calls it a beautiful place.[184] The river has destroyed it, and it is now quite insignificant. Opposite to it, on the left bank, further up the country, there [pg. 115] are many originally French families, and half-breeds, descendants of the Osage Indians, who formerly dwelt in these parts. While Mr. Bennett, the master of our vessel, landed to visit his family, who lived here, we botanized on the opposite bank, where oaks of many kinds were in blossom, and where the Monocotyledonous plant is found, which is called here Adam and Eve.

Its roots consist of two bulbs joined together, of which it is said that, when thrown into the water, one swims and the other sinks. It is held to be a good cure for wounds. The flower was just beginning to appear.

From Cote-Sans-Dessein, you soon come to Jefferson City, on the south bank of the Missouri, the capital, as it is called of the State of Missouri, where the governor resides.[185] It is at present only a village, with a couple of short streets, and some detached buildings on the bank of the river. The governor's house is in front, on the top of the bank, and is a plain brick building of moderate size. The gentle eminences, on which the place was built about ten years ago, are now traversed by fences, and the stumps of the felled trees are everywhere seen.

The morning of the 14th of April was clear but cool; at 8 o'clock +8, a thick mist rising from the river. On a wooded eminence, on the left hand, at some distance from the bank, is a high, isolated rock, which stands like a tower in the forest. Major Dougherty, once pa.s.sing this place with some Joway Indians, was told by them, that there was a tradition among their ancestors, that this rock was formed of the dung of a race of bisons, which lived in heaven, but they themselves no longer believed this fable. The Manito rocks, two isolated blocks, about fifty feet high, which have been mentioned by many travellers, appear below, on the bank of the river. They are mentioned in the account of Major Long's Expedition, which contains much information respecting the Missouri, as far as Council Bluff, to which I refer. We learn from that work, that almost all these calcareous rocks of the Missouri contain organic remains, encrinites, &c. On the rocks, which are divided by ravines into broad rounded shapes, like towers, the Virginia red cedar grows, and falcons build their nests. We see here on the rocky walls red spots, strokes and figures, remaining from the times when the Indians dwelt here: two towering overhanging rocks, in which there are several caves, put me in mind of the ruins of the castle of Heidelburg. Just before dinner we reached Rockport, a village founded two years ago, on the Manito River, six miles up which river Columbia is situated.[186] Near this place there are again many red figures on the rocky walls, among others that of a man with uplifted arms; not thirty years have elapsed since this whole country was in the possession of the Indians. After pa.s.sing Manito and Bonne Femme Creek, we stopped at the village of Boonville on the left bank, opposite which is Old Franklin.[187] As this place was threatened by the river, and is besides in an unhealthy situation, the people founded New Franklin, rather further inland, now a thriving village, near which salt springs have been discovered. We afterwards pa.s.sed the mouth of La Mine River, which is about equal to the Lahn, and lay to for the night at Arrow Rock (Pierre a fleche), a chain in which [pg. 116] flint is found, of which the Indians formerly made the heads of their arrows. In a ravine, before Arrow Rock Hill, there is a new village, which was called New Philadelphia, though the inhabitants did not approve of this name.[188]

On the following morning (April 15th), proceeding on our voyage, we pa.s.sed little Arrow Rock, and found a very fertile and rather populous country. Near the mouth of Chariton River, there are several islands, covered with willows, poplar, and hard timber. The river here makes a considerable bend; the numerous sand banks did not permit us to proceed in a direct line, but compelled us to take the narrow channel, at the outer edge of the bend, and to take soundings continually, being in great danger of striking against the snags. Some parts of the banks were rent in a remarkable manner by the rapid stream, when the water was high. In many places, large ma.s.ses, fifteen or eighteen feet in height, had sunk down, with poplars thirty or forty feet high, as well as entire fields of maize, and piles of timber, which form together a wild scene of devastation, to which the broken poplars not a little contributed.

The drift wood on the sand bank, consisting of the trunks of large timber trees, forms a scene characteristic of the North American rivers; at least I saw nothing like it in Brazil, where most of the rivers rise in the primeval mountains, or flow through more solid ground. On the banks which we now pa.s.sed, the drifted trunks of trees were in many places already covered with sand; a border of willows and poplars was before the forest, and it is among these willow bushes that the Indians usually lie in ambush, when they intend to attack those who tow their vessels up the river by long ropes. At five o'clock in the afternoon we reached the mouth of Grand River, which was then very shallow, almost as broad as the Wabash. The Yellow Stone nearly run aground at the mouth of this river, and stirred up the sand so as to discolour the water. The Joway Indians dwelt on the Grand River till 1827, when they removed to Little Platte River.[189] They continue, however, like the Saukies and Foxes, to hunt in the prairies at its source, where buffaloes, elks, and stags, are said to be still pretty numerous. The first of these Indians called the Grand River, Nischna-Honja; and the Missouri, Nischna-Dja:--Ni, in their language, means water, and Nischna, the river.[190]

We lay to, for the night, beyond Waconda Creek.[191] Our hunters dispersed into the neighbouring woods and plantations, but they only shot some parrots. On the 16th, in the morning, we had, on the left bank, undulating hills, thinly covered with trees, and on the bank were strata of limestone. Here is the mouth of the stream, the Bonnet de Boeuf, which, doubtless, has its name from the caps, with ox horns, which the Indians, who formerly dwelt here, wore in their dances. Some highly dangerous submerged snags left only a very narrow channel open for our vessel. At ten [pg. 117] o'clock we came to some excessively dangerous parts, where our vessel frequently struck, and we were obliged to stop the engine, and to push by poles. The vessel stuck fast in the sand, and it was necessary to fasten it to the trees on the bank till it could be got afloat again. At this point the great forests begin to be interrupted by open places, or prairies, and we were at the part called Fox Prairie, where the Saukie and Fox Indians, and, perhaps, some other nations,[192] formerly attacked, and nearly extirpated the tribe of the Missouris. The remainder of the people saved themselves among the Otos, on the southwest banks, where their descendants still live, mingled with the natives. The Missouris came down the river in many canoes, and their enemies had concealed themselves in the willow thickets. After the Missouris, who suspected no evil, had been killed or wounded with arrows, the victors leaped into the water, and finished their b.l.o.o.d.y work with clubs and knives: very few of the Missouris escaped.[193]

To-day we saw, for the first time, from the deck of our vessel, the prairies of the Lower Missouri covered with luxuriant young gra.s.s, but the air was misty, and bounded our prospect. In the afternoon we took in fuel at Webb's warehouse; the river was here again covered with wood, which so greatly impeded our progress, that we were obliged to lay to for the night, seven miles above Webb's warehouse. In the morning of the 17th we saw only an uninterrupted forest; in the course of the day we again encountered much danger from the quant.i.ty of snags, which, in some places, scarcely left a channel of ten feet in breadth; but our pilot steered, with great dexterity, between all these dangers, where many a smaller vessel had been wrecked. During this hazardous navigation, we were all on deck, anxiously expecting the result, but everything went off well. We afterwards sounded, sought another channel, but proceeded very slowly, so that we only pa.s.sed Fire Prairie,[194] and lay to for the night, five miles below Fort Osage.

Our engine was broken, so that we could not proceed till the next morning (18th April). On that morning I had the misfortune to break my last Reaumur's thermometer, so that, henceforth, all the observations of the temperature are according to Fahrenheit's scale. Some of my people, attracted by the cries of the wild turkeys, were tempted to land, but returned without having met with any success. I happened to have taken no piece with me, which I much regretted, for a wild turkey-c.o.c.k came out of a bush about ten paces from me, and stood still, looking at me, while his splendid feathers shone in the sun.

Vegetation was rather backward. A large flock of sandhill cranes, taking their course to the north-east, filled the air with their cries; their note is very similar to that of the European crane. After the people had returned on board, at the repeated summons of the bell, we proceeded on our voyage, but were soon obliged to take soundings, and to saw off some dangerous snags; we then landed twenty men on a sand bank, to tow the [pg. 118] steamer, but their efforts broke the rope, and they all tumbled one upon another, to the great amus.e.m.e.nt of those on board. By way of precaution, our vessel was fastened to a large tree, which proved our safety, for the rudder was soon afterwards deranged, and rendered unserviceable. It was repaired about two o'clock, but we soon run aground on a sand bank, where we were obliged to remain all night, in a rather unsafe situation, for the current, on the bank, was very strong, and we could not fasten the vessel to anything, so that we might easily have been carried down the stream; the river, however, continued to subside. On the morning of the 19th a flat boat was procured, to lighten our vessel, by landing a part of the cargo, which was piled up in the wood, on the bank, and covered with cloths. Mr. Bodmer made a faithful sketch of this scene.[195]

At four o'clock in the afternoon, the crew had got the steamer off the sand bank into deeper water, on the right, a little below the mouth of Fis.h.i.+ng Creek.[196] Here our anchors, boats, &c., were taken on board, and three men left to take care of the landed goods, which consisted of the presents for the Indians in Major Dougherty's agency. The flat boat was sent back to its owner, on Fis.h.i.+ng Creek, under the care of thirty men, who had to wade in the water to keep it afloat. After taking in fuel, for which the wood of the red mulberry and the ash is preferred, we proceeded slowly, and reached, at dusk, the hill, on the right bank, where Fort Osage, built, in 1808, by Governor Lewis, formerly stood. The ridge on which it was situated is free from wood, and cultivated, and the last posts and beams were taken away by the people in the neighbourhood. This part of the country was the chief abode of the Osages. Only ten years ago they were still at Cote-Sans-Dessein. They are peaceably disposed towards the Americans; and the Fur Company have trading posts in their territory. The whole tract, from the Osage River, through which we have pa.s.sed, was formerly theirs, but they sold a part of it to the United States, and they are now entirely forced back into the prairies, on the river Arkansas.[197]

We lay to, for the night, a short distance below Fort Osage. On the 20th, in the morning, Blue Water River was hid from us, by a long island, on the steep banks of which large snags, covered with sand and earth, projecting very far, formed a threatening point.[198] We had scarcely pa.s.sed it, when we run aground on a sand bank. The engine was immediately backed; but the current carried the vessel so close to the above point, that it tore away our side gallery with a great crash.

The carpenter soon repaired it, and our progress was now more favourable. At noon we had 68 Fahrenheit. At this time a thunder-storm arose, accompanied with hail and rain. The rain continued to fall in torrents till we reached the landing-place of the village of Liberty, which is at some distance from the river.[199]

Some buildings and detached houses were situated on the bank, in front of the wooded mountains, where the vigorous vegetation, refreshed by the rain, was very brilliant. The tall, slender, forest trees, grow among picturesque rocks; the beautiful flowers of the red bud tree, bright green moss, and a thick carpet of verdure, chiefly consisting [pg. 119] of the leaves of the May-apple (_Podophyllum_), everywhere covered the mountains. The papaw trees were just opening their buds.

This is about the northern limit for the growth of this tree. Some keel-boats were lying here, belonging to the Fur Company of Messrs.

Ashley and Soublette, which was just established as a rival to the American Fur Company.[200] In the pay of these gentlemen, there were, in the boats, about ten Germans, who had engaged in this service, for which they were not well qualified, and were, besides, wholly inexperienced in the mode of trading with the Indians. We next reached the mouth of the Blue Water River, the clear blue waters of which formed a great contrast to those of the Missouri.[201] We were here joined by a couple of canoes, with some Canadian _engages_ from the Upper Missouri, who brought to Mr. Mc Kenzie news from Fort Union, at the mouth of the Yellow Stone River. Their half Indian costume, which is usually worn, was new to us. One of them, named Defond, a tall, slender, brown man, was a half-breed Indian, and one of the best and most experienced pilots of the Missouri. Mr. Mc Kenzie had sent for him to steer our vessel up the river, and he fully justified his reputation. He was likewise a sportsman, and brought us several turkeys which had been lately shot. Before evening we became acquainted with the quicksands of the Missouri. These are sand banks which are so soft that one immediately sinks in them. We saw an ox, which went deeper at every motion, while n.o.body could afford it any a.s.sistance.

On the next morning (21st April), we reached the mouth of the river Konza, or Konzas, called by the French, Riviere des Cans, which is not quite so broad as the Wabash, and was now very shallow. Its clear green water was distinguished by a well-defined, undulating line, from the muddy stream of the Missouri. The steam-boat has navigated the Konzas about seven miles upward, to a trading-post of the American Fur Company, which is now under the direction of a brother of Mr. P.

Chouteau.[202] It is said that this country formerly abounded in beavers, but their numbers are much diminished. At the point of land between the Konzas and the Missouri, is the boundary which separates the United States from the territory of the free Indians. It runs directly from south to north, comes from the territory of the Osages, pa.s.ses the Osage River, and goes northward from the Missouri, parallel to the Little Platte River, to Weeping Water River, which falls into the Missouri, whence it runs eastward to the Des-Moines and the Mississippi. About 500 or 600 paces from the mouth of the Konzas, the banks of the river consist of high yellow clay walls, in the forest; and near it live the remnants of several Indian tribes, which were driven or dislodged from the States to the east of the Mississippi, to whom land was a.s.signed in these parts. Among them were the Delawares, Shawnees, Miamis, &c., &c.

Proceeding 90 or 100 miles up the river, you come to the villages of the Konzas (Cans, of the French), the best accounts of whom are given by Mr. Say in the narrative of Mr. Long's travels.[203] These people formerly lived nearer to the Missouri, but have gradually retired from it. Their language is entirely the same as that of the Osages, and the language of these two people [pg. 120] is only a dialect, originally not different from that of the Omahas and Puncas, being distinguished only by the p.r.o.nunciation, and not by its roots. At present the Konzas inhabit the tract on both sides of the river of the same name, and its tributaries, and they make excursions into the prairies of the Arkansas.

We were now in the free Indian territory, and felt much more interested in looking at the forests, because we might expect to meet with some of their savage inhabitants. We examined the country with a telescope, and had the satisfaction of seeing the first Indian, on a sand bank, wrapped in his blanket; but our attention was soon called to the obstacles on the river: we avoided one dangerous place, where the Missouri was so full of trunks of trees that we were forced to put back; but at noon, when the thermometer was at 75, we got among drift wood, which broke some of the paddles of our wheels, so that it was necessary to stop the engine. Forty-two of our men, most of whom had been out with their fowling-pieces, came on board. Among them was Dr.

Fellowes, a young physician, going to the cantonment at Leavenworth.

The underwood of the forest consisted chiefly of _Laurus benzoin_ and _Cercis Canadensis_; the ground was covered with _Equisetum hyemale_, from one and a half to two feet high. Limestone everywhere stood out; large blocks of it were on the bank. The Little Platte River here falls into the Missouri. On the northern bank, seven miles up that river, are the villages of the Joway Indians, who speak the same language as the Ottowas.[204] They inhabit and hunt the country about the Little Platte, Nadaway, Nishnebottoneh Rivers, together with a band of the Saukies, who have settled in this neighbourhood. A couple of Shawnee Indians stood on the high bank, and made us friendly signs.

We halted, for the night, near Diamond Island; our people cut down some trees, and kindled a large fire, which illumined the tall forests.

The next morning, 22nd of April, was warm and cheerful, the thermometer being at 64 Fahrenheit, at half-past seven o'clock.

About six, we pa.s.sed several islands, separated by narrow channels, where our pilot steered so close to the left bank that the hens which we had on board flew to the land.[205] We soon came to a place where most of the trees were cut down, and we were not a little surprised at the sight of a sentinel. It was the landing-place of the cantonment Leavenworth, a military post, where four companies of the sixth regiment of infantry of the line, about 120 men, under Major Ryley, were stationed to protect the Indian boundary.[206] There were also 100 rangers, who are mounted and armed militia, who are well acquainted with Indian warfare.

We were stopped at this place, and our vessel searched for brandy, the importation of which, into the Indian territory, is prohibited;[207]

they would scarcely permit us to take a small portion to preserve our specimens of natural history. Major Dougherty rejoined us here, and brought with him several Kickapoo Indians who had come from St. Louis to receive land in these parts.[208] The [pg. 121] Kikapoos, and Delawares, and some other Indians, are settled at no great distance from this place; the officers of the garrison were on board the whole day, and our hunters rambled about the surrounding country. We saw, in the neighbourhood, the beautiful yellow-headed _Icterus xanthocephalus_. The black oak and other trees were in blossom, and many interesting plants. Near the bank, where the vessel lay, the beds of limestone were full of sh.e.l.ls, of which we kept some specimens.

Between these limestone strata there were, alternately, thin layers of dark bluish clay slate, which was not yet very hard.

FOOTNOTES:

[175] Other travellers of our series made their way up the Missouri--Bradbury (volume v), and Brackenridge (volume vi), in 1811, in a barge; Long's party (our volumes xiv-xvii) in 1819, 1820 in a steamboat; Townsend (our volume xxi), in 1834, partly by land and partly by river. Such places as they mention will not here be specifically noticed, a general reference to these earlier volumes being considered sufficient.--ED.

[176] See Plate 10, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv. The Kickapoo are briefly noticed in Croghan's _Journals_, in our volume i, p. 139, note 111. They removed to the west of the Mississippi after the treaty at Edwardsville, Illinois, in 1819.--ED.

[177] Schoolcraft justly observes that the course of the Missouri is much more considerable than that of the Mississippi, and that it would have been more proper to leave the name Missouri to the river, and not call it the Mississippi.--MAXIMILIAN.

[178] Still called Ramrod Eddy, about five miles above St. Charles.

See Missouri River Commissioners' map, made by United States engineers in 1878-79, and published 1883-84.--ED.

[179] See our volume xviii, p. 25, note 1.--ED.

[180] The stream is now called Buffalo Creek, in Warren County, with the town of Dundee at its mouth.

Pinckney was a small village, the seat of Montgomery County (1818-24), but now in Warren County, where a towns.h.i.+p still retains the name, the site of the town having long since been washed away.--ED.

[181] The success of the steamboat "Yellowstone," in the fur-trade business, was so great that the company ordered a somewhat larger craft, which was built at Cincinnati in the winter of 1832-33, and christened the "a.s.siniboine." This was its initial voyage. The next year it ventured too far above the Yellowstone River, was caught by low water and obliged to winter near Poplar River. The "a.s.siniboine"

was lost by fire near Bismarck, North Dakota, June 1, 1835, having on board a large cargo of furs, the year's supply, as well as all of Maximilian's collection. See preface, _ante_ p. 17.--ED.

[182] Otter is more commonly known as Loutre Island; see Bradbury's _Travels_, our volume v, p. 47, note 18.--ED.

[183] Au Vase (now Auxva.s.se) Creek took its name from the miring of a party under charge of Lilburn W. Boggs. It is in Callaway County; and Portland, a hamlet on the north side of the stream, was laid off therein in 1831.--ED.

[184] The defense of this place is detailed in our volume xiv, pp.

139, 140. For Brackenridge, see our volume vi.--ED.

[185] In 1820 a commission was chosen to select a site for the state capital, somewhere near the centre of the state. The place selected was in Cole County, but it did not actually become the capital until about 1826. On Long's map it is marked as "Missouriopolis."--ED.

[186] These two places are noticed in our volume xxi, p. 133, note 8 (Townsend.)--ED.

[187] For Boonville see our volume xxi, p. 89, note 59 (Wyeth). For Franklin, volume xix, p. 188, note 33 (Gregg).--ED.

[188] Probably the settlement now known as Arrow Rock, in Saline County.--ED.

[189] The treaty of cession was signed in 1824, whereby the Iowa Indians relinquished all lands in Missouri, agreeing not to hunt therein after January 1, 1826. See _Indian Treaties_ (Was.h.i.+ngton, 1837), p. 316.--ED.

[190] None of the Indian languages of these parts, of which Major Dougherty spoke thirteen or fourteen, have any general plural; thus, for instance, they never say, in general, _horses_, but always mention a number, as expressive of many horses; nor is there any real article.--MAXIMILIAN.