gist and naturalist may find abundant material for study and illustration; for here are found curious remains of the mastodon (the largest of known quadrupeds), mingled with those of the mountain-hare. I have seen well-preserved skulls, horns and tortoises, so large that two men could hardly raise them. All of these bore the distinct impress of their primitive nature.
It remains for me to give some details concerning the Indian tribes that I was able to visit. In none of my preceding voyages had I met the Poncas ; this time I found the whole of this nation assembled at the mouth of the Niobrara-their favorite haunt during the fruit season and the gathering of the corn harvest. The manner in which they accosted my traveling companions augured little good, and was near being attended with disastrous consequences. It appears, indeed, that they meditated an attack upon the little troop of white men who, numbering but fifteen, escorted a wagon filled with merchandise for the Fur Company. They intended, at least, to pillage the convoy and kill one of the travelers, under pretext that he came from the country of the Pawnees, where one of their warriors had lost his life. I will present you here the laconic formula of reasoning of one of these barbarians, while in the act of taking aim at his victim. " My brother was killed by a Pawnee; thou art a notorious friend of the Pawnees ! I must avenge his death, or recover the debt (value of his body) in horses or in blankets! " To this degree, unfortunately, has the idea of justice sunk in the Indian mind. Has an Indian fallen by the hand of a white man, every brave of that tribe considers himself justified in retaliating upon the first white man he chances to meet, without regard to his country or the part of the world from which he may come. I was in advance, but at the first signal of alarm I faced the point of danger. At once the air resounded with reiterated cries of " The Black-robe has come! The Black-robe has come! " Surprise and curiosity arrest the work of pillage. The chiefs ask an explanation, 40