to obtain and consolidate an honorable and lasting peace between the two nations. A place had been designated in which the two tribes might meet as friends and brothers, to celebrate the grand event. The deputation, therefore, set out for the Blackfeet camp of 4oo lodges, commanded by the great chief Spotted Deer, or Ponukah-kitzi-Pemmy, which they found encamped in the valley of the Marias river, a pretty large branch of the Missouri river, in the neighborhood of the Great Falls.
About a month before the departure of this expedition, two Crows had been killed, near their own camp, and their scalps carried away, by a war-party of Blackfeet. The two brothers of these unfortunate victims fasted and took their oaths according to custom. These oaths consisted in vowing that they would each kill a Blackfoot, the first good chance. They communicated their intentions to no one. The bravery and determination of these two men were well known. They were elected to join the band of deputies, and promised ostensibly to forget their private wrongs for the public weltare; but in secret they renewed their first intentions, foreseeing that this excursion would probably furnish an occasion of avenging the double murder of their brothers.
The band progressed slowly, using many precautions, and redoubling them as they approached the camp of the Blackfeet. When within a few days' distance from it, they separated in companies of two or three, to scour the country and assure themselves whether any Blackfeet parties were out of the village. In the course of the day the two brothers stayed together, and discovered two Blackfeet Indians returning from the chase, with several horses laden with buffalo meat. Having with them a calumet-handle, they advanced boldly toward their enemies, and offered them the pipe, as on similar occasions. The Blackfeet Indians received the calumet, and were informed that a great deputation, commissioned on the part of the Crows, was repairing to their village, with pacific intentions. They acted with so much address that after some moments the Blackfeet were