This Stream Is Now Known As Medicine River,
From Medicine Hill, A Conspicuous Landmark Rising At A Little Distance
From The Missouri.
The voyagers were now near the lower portion of what
is now known as South Dakota, and they camped in territory embraced
in the county of Presho.
Here they were forced to send out their hunters;
their stock of meat was nearly exhausted. The hunters returned empty-handed.
"After a hunt of three hours they reported that no game was to be found
in the bottoms, the grass having been laid flat by the immense number
of buffaloes which recently passed over it; and, that they saw only a few
buffalo bulls, which they did not kill, as they were quite unfit for use.
Near this place we observed, however, the first signs of the wild turkey;
not long afterward we landed in the Big Bend, and killed a fine fat elk,
on which we feasted. Toward night we heard the bellowing of buffalo bulls
on the lower island of the Big Bend. We pursued this agreeable sound,
and after killing some of the cows, camped on the island, forty-five miles
from the camp of last night." . . . . . . . . .
"Setting out at ten o'clock the next morning, at a short distance they passed
the mouth of White River, the water of which was nearly of the color of milk.
As they were much occupied with hunting, they made but twenty miles.
The buffalo," says the journal, "were now so numerous, that from an
eminence we discovered more than we had ever seen before at one time;
and though it was impossible accurately to calculate their number,
they darkened the whole plain, and could not have been, we were convinced,
less than twenty thousand. With regard to game in general, we have observed
that wild animals are usually found in the greatest numbers in the country
lying between two nations at war."
They were now well into the Sioux territory, and on the thirtieth
of August they had an encounter with a party of Indians. About twenty
persons were seen on the west side of the river, proceeding along a height
opposite the voyagers. Just as these were observed, another band,
numbering eighty or ninety, came out of the woods nearer the shore.
As they had a hostile appearance, the party in the canoes made preparations
to receive them; they were suspected to be Teton-Sioux, although they
might be Yanktons, Pawnees, or Omahas. The journal adds: -
"In order, however, to ascertain who they were, without risk
to the party, Captain Clark crossed, with three persons
who could speak different Indian languages, to a sand-bar
near the opposite side, in hopes of conversing with them.
Eight young men soon met him on the sand-bar, but none of them could
understand either the Pawnee or Maha interpreter. They were then
addressed in the Sioux language, and answered that they were Tetons,
of the band headed by Black Buffaloe, Tahtackasabah.
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