Volume 1

320 SPEECH RECOVERED—THE MISSOURI STRUCK.
covery had an immediate effect ; like so many Quakers
whom the spirit moved, all instantly recovered the power
of speech, and our guide was pestered with idle questions.
Was he sure he was not mistaken ? Did he really remember
the place ? Might not some other place resemble it?
What particular object did he see to convince him he was
right ? The poor fellow lost all patience, and would
answer no such foolishness. We jogged on till noon as
fa:st as our fatigued beasts would go, passing three rivulets,''
near which stand several conical hills, from 50 to 100
feet high. They appear to be composed of soft red
gravel, with streaks of white and blue, without any vegetation
whatever, and at a distance look like brick buildings.
We soon sighted the waters of the Missourie, and descended
the high banks at the entrance of Riviere Bourbeuse.^'
We had much difficulty in crossing this small river,
as both sides were soft clay, into which our horses sunk
deeply. Having washed and cleaned them> and ourselves in
the Missourie, we stopped to allow our horses to feed.
We
saw many tracks of the natives on the beach, going and
coming, some quite fresh ;
also, an abundance of last year's
corn-cobs. We surprised two fallow deer lying in the hollow,
but they escaped, although we started them not 10
yards off.
ment that this place is " about 5 leagues E. S. E." serves to fix the position of
the party for the first time since they left Mouse r. They have certainly been
blundering too far westward.
3* Two creeks which answer to these fall into the Missouri at Fort Stevenson
(abandoned by the military in the summer of 1883, and used for Indian school
purposes since December of that year). These two creeks are Douglass and
Garrison, the latter the lower one. In fact they form but forks of one, as they
now unite in the river-bottom before falling into the Missouri. The fort
stands on the bank between these ; the bottom is full of brush, diamond willow
{Salix cordata), etc.
Either of these creeks may branch S. of Henry's trail,
and thus count as two, making the " three" he enumerates.
39
Miry cr. or r., of L. and C, ed. 1893, pp. 261, 1 176, translating the then
current F. name Bourbeuse ; also Mirey and Myry in the codices ;
now
Snake cr., so-called from the name of the bold bluffs Henry mentions as the
Loge de Serpent. This stream flows S. W. into the Missouri, in McLean
Co. , 6 m. by the road from Fort Stevenson, in Stevens Co.