the village in the night, without intimating their route; particularly if the party is made up without the consent of the chief, or against the will of the nation.

The courage of an Indian is seldom of the description which we call constitutional; it is rather a frenzied desperate feeling, the result of uncontrolled passions, than the sober dictate of a sense of duty, and a calm determination to be unmoved in the midst of peril. Individuals attracted by the glare of glory and distinction, or the fear of shame, may perform acts of great valour, but in speaking of their general military deportment, it may be said, that they are easily appalled by a bold imposing front, that they never attack boldly where they know danger positively to exist, nor will they stand a vigorous charge, if there is any probability of escape by retreating. Several instances have occurred on the Missouri, in which parties of white men, have repulsed ten times their number of Indians.

Bravery, however, among Indians, is a characteristic of the last importance; without it no man receives political or any other consideration. Generosity is a virtue next in consequence to bravery; and in fact, without the exercise of it, no chief can arrive at any influence. The reputation of giving freely to their young men, and entertaining strangers, must form part of a chief's character. I am poor, I have nothing, (said the old ' Long Hairs' to us,) but why is it so? It is because I am a great man, and give freely whatever I possess.

At the conclusion of the council, the Ottoes performed their war dances: a ring was formed by the warriors, those in it beat time in a low key on a drum, with a stick, and with their voices. A warrior jumped up from among them, took the tomahawk, and began to dance, and recite his exploits in war, going round and round the outside of the circle. When he had finished, the tomahawk was taken by another; their speeches were not inelegant, and the gestures they made use of, were graceful and appropriate; they appeared to more advantage on this occasion, than they did in council. Their exploits appear to rank in importance, in this way: 1st, capturing a man alive; 2d, touching an enemy the first after he is killed in battle; this is considered a much greater honour than to kill a man in action. They say it is no proof of courage to kill a man from a distance, and probably by an accidental shot. But to advance up, and touch a man who has been killed, is evidence that you are not afraid to come near the enemy. The third degree of exploit is killing and scalping a man in war. After that, killing women and children, stealing horses, and striking a man in anger. After this, they boast of their generosty, or magnanimous actions; giving away horses, or having entertained so many strangers. On one occasion, a man rose up and said, 'I was once in the middle of an immense prairie, I gave away there, my horses, my bow and arrows, my gun, my lodge and every thing in it. I burnt the wood* I had collected, and carried so far; and I scattered the ashes, to the four corners of the earth. I retained nothing but my squaws, and my children.'

On these occasions, the greatest attention to the truth is always paid. The actions of each individual, are in fact, so well known throughout the tribe, that it would be impossible to deceive them, with exaggerated stories. If an Indian boasts of his having performed any thing, that is not of common notoriety, he is requested to produce proof of his assertions; and if he fails to do so, he incurs what an Indian very much dreads, the opprobrium of public opinion.

The Ottoes are much attached to the whites, and notwithstanding the high opinion they entertain of their own nation, can be readily brought to acknowledge the superiority of the whites. A trader travelling with an Ottoe chief, after they had halted one evening, made their fire, and were smoking, had the following dialogue:

Chief. I think we Indians, have a great deal more sense than you white people.

Trader. Why do you think so?

Chief. Because we can make bows and arrows better, shoot buffaloe, approach an enemy, and endure cold and heat better; white men are lost in the plains, and do not know how to subsist themselves.

Trader. But this is because they are unaccustomed to these things: am not I who have been so long among you, quite as expert as any of you.

Chief. That is true, but we have never seen a white man so active as you?

Trader. But can you Indians make a gun or gun-powder, or calico, or a watch?

Chief. Ah! (laughing) you have me now; I know well enough that the great Spirit has made white men more sensible than Indians.

Single combats or duels are very uncommon among Indians. An appointed combat never occurs, and it would be entirely at variance with their ideas of bravery, or the point of honour, to place themselves on an equality with their antagonist. If an Indian is injured, he thinks himself justified in obtaining revenge by any method, however foul to us it may appear.

The troops continued at work on the cantonment: on the 10th of October, the council was held with the Pawnee Indians.

The Pawnees, are a numerous nation of Indians; once the most numerous on the Missouri, and probably quite equal to any of them now; they are certainly the most powerful in our neighbourhood. They are divided into four bands: The great Pawnees, residing on La Platte river, about 100 miles above its mouth: The Pawnee Loups, reside on the Loup fork of La Platte river, within 20 miles of the great Pawnees: And the Pawnee republic, so called, from their formerly residing on the Republican fork of the Kanses river, from whence they were driven by their wars with the Osages and Kanses, and they now reside near the great Pawnees. The fourth band appears to be very little known to the whites; they resides on the red river.

The bands near this post, as near as we can judge, can muster the following number of warriors.

they are within three days march of the Council Bluff. When these bands were visited by the late general Pike in 1806, the Pawnee Loups, and the Pawnee Republicans were at war, they are now in a state of profound peace and as the three bands live so near to each other, they may fairly be considered as one nation.

The Pawnees are now at war with the Osages, Kanses, Sioux, and Spaniards: their war excursions are very frequently carried into the settlements of the latter, from whence they procure a great many fine horses; they likewise obtain horses from the nations south of them, for their blankets, guns, &c. their horses they sell again to the nations on the Missouri, for double or treble the quantity; they appear to prefer obtaining European goods, by this species of traffic, to hunting for beaver, and other valuable furs; and their trade is of very little importance to the whites.

Their war parties last summer, brought them in near four hundred horses principally stolen from the Spanish settlements. Formerly they held the Spaniards in great respect, as they put large detachments of troops into their country. Since 1806, however, the Spaniards have not done so, restrained probably by the consideration, that the territory belongs to the United States, and being debarred from the only effectual means of checking Indian depredation; their settlements are placed in the same unfortunate situation that ours were on the borders of Florida.

The agriculture of the Pawnees, is about the same as the Kanses, and Ottoes; like them, they only reside in their vilages, during the intervals of planting and gathering their corn; living nearer the hibitual haunts of the buffalo, than those nations, they subsist more exclusively upon it; they never hunt on the Missouri, and have but little intercourse with the whites.

They are a proud, haughty people, and have great ideas of their own strength and importance. One of their principal men told the interpreter 'What do we care for the whites; did not our fathers live very well, without knowing that such people had an existence? Have we not plenty of buffalo meat, and corn, not only for ourselves, but to give our friends, when they come to see us; and what Pawnee is so poor, that he cannot, if he choose, give his guest a horse to ride home? Who is there in the world, that does not know of the bravery, and numbers of the great Pawnee nation.' Notwithstanding, however, the good opinion they have of themselves, they are believed, to be less warlike than their neighbours, owing to the comparative ease, with which they live, subsisting entirely on buffalo, which they find so near them. The chace of the buffalo, besides being less laborious than that of elk or deer; does not require the use of fire arms, with which the Pawnees are not expert. Their language is more guttural than that of the Kanses and Osages, and approaches nearer to the Sioux; their figures are tall and slim; they have remarkably high cheek bones, and a certain wildness of look, that is peculiar to them. Their government, like that of the Ottoes, is an hereditary aristocracy; the power and authority of which is very much dependent upon the individual character of the principal chieftain. They are not so cleanly, or, rather they are more