will detach three of my band and give them to you; they will untie you; but don't be afraid of them, for they will accompany you everywhere." The commandant was disconcerted by this statement of the savage and durst not accept the offer.
On the 6th of October I started on again for the fort of the Little AIissouri,l° or. Fort Pierre. This is the company's great warehouse for goods destined for the wants of the savages inhabiting the river. As upon the Yellowstone, I was again without a guide in this ten days' journey. A Canadian who was going the same way accompanied us. One becomes by degrees accustomed to braving dangers. Full of confidence in the protection of God, we sought our way in a country where there is no trodden path, guided through these desert expanses like the mariner upon the vast ocean. The inhabitants of the fort had carefully recommended to us to avoid meeting the Yanktonnais, the Santees, the Hunkpapas, the Ogallalas, and the Black feet Sioux. Still we had to traverse the plains where they range. On the third day, a party of Yanktonnais and Santees, who were in hiding behind a butte, suddenly surprised us; but they were so far from meaning any harm that they loaded us with kindnesses, and after smoking the calumet of peace with us, furnished us provisions for the road. The next day we met several other parties who showed us the same friendliness and the same attentions; they shook hands with us and we smoked with them.
On the fifth [Eng. ninth] day we found ourselves in the neighborhood of the Blackfeet Sioux, a detached tribe of the Blackfeet of the mountains." Their name alone and the race from which they descend terrified us; we therefore traveled as much as possible in the ravines, to con
to This stream has been variously known as the Little Missouri, the Teton, and Bad river. It was formerly generally known by the second name, but now only by the third.
11 Wrong. There is no relationship between the two tribes.