Volume 1

346 C. M'KENZIE—C. CHABOILLEZ, JR.—LE BORGNE.
Caldwell, who had left Riviere la Souris with a small
assortment of goods in May last [June 4th, 1806] ;
both
young men in the service of the N. W. Co. The natives
conducted us to the hut in which they resided, which
was that of the great chief of the village, Le Borgne ;
*°
he
and found much amiss, he accepted the situation philosophically, and indulged
his taste for study. On retirement he settled on Red r., and died in March,
1854, leaving three daughters, dead since 1889 or earlier, and a son, Hector,
who was living near Winnipeg in 1889. His Mandan journal has much merit,
and is more readable than such things generally are ; it bears with special
interest on Lewis and Clark, from the British point of view, and has a good
deal to say of our present author, whom Mr. McKenzie accompanied on the
trip to which our next chapter is devoted. He describes the present meeting
with Henry in these terms : "I heard my name called at the door of the lodge
by a voice which was familiar, and enquiring if I was within. I hastened to
the door, dressed as I was in the Indian costume, and was much surprised
at seeing Mr, Charles Chaboillez, [Jr.] Mr. Alexander Henry, and Mr. Allen
Macdonel [sic], accompanied by three men. Their first salutation was a
reproach at my dress. . . Messrs. Chaboillez and Henry were much disappointed
; they had promised themselves a pleasant voyage, they had a long
disagreeable one. . . Their appearance was not to their credit, nor to the
interest of the company. It was most galling to me, who understood some
of the Indian language, to hear them despised and the American captains,
whom they [Indians] hated till then, praised. They had come to purchase
horses, but found none to their taste. . . Mr. Henry avowed his disappointment
and did not disguise his detestation of the Indians ; he was displeased
with himself, dissatisfied with his ' equal ' [Chaboillez] and disgusted with his
inferiors. . . Mr. Henry kept at a distance from the crowd and smoked his
pipe alone." This snap-shot of the McKenzie kodak—so to speak—accounts
for the vein of ill humor and bad taste running through the Henry narrative at
present.
Mr. McKenzie's name of the Missouri was not an uncommon one in those
days, and is perhaps defensible as being nearer the aboriginal term ; Sir A.
McKenzie, Thompson, and others use similar forms. The word seems to have
been the name of certain Indians before it was applied to the river : for the
meaning, see L.and C, p. 22, note *^. Some other forms of the tribal term are
Missouria, Missourite, and Oumissourite. This last is found on Marquette's
autograph map of 1673 as 8emess8rit ; but
it is curious to note that exactly our
present form Missouri, for the river, appears as early as 1687 in Joutel's Narrative
: see Margry's Decouvertes, III. p. 432, 1879. A modern Sioux name
is given as Minishoshay or Meneshosha ; a Sac name is Pekitanoui.
C. McKenzie's name for the Cheyennes is more unusual—Shawyens.
*"
For this celebrat-^d character, see L. and C, ed. 1893, pp. 242 and following,
also 1177, .1179, 1183, 1186, 1192. " To give the devil his due " —as someone