jected, with disgust, all attempts
which the traders had hitherto made to introduce them: they said they
were surprised that their "father," meaning the president of the United
States, should present to them a liquor which would make them fools.
Captains Lewis and Clarke visited two of the villages, where they were
presented with corn and beans boiled; and also with bread made of corn
and beans. The Ricara Indians are tall and well proportioned. The men
wear skins round their legs, a cloth round their middle, and they
occasionally have a buffalo robe thrown over their shoulders: their
hair, arms, and ears, are decorated with ornaments of different kinds.
The women, who are handsome and lively, wear long shirts made of goats'
skin, generally white and fringed, and tied round the waist; and, in
addition to these, they have a buffalo robe dressed without the hair.
The lodges of the Ricara Indians are of a circular or octagonal form,
and generally thirty or forty feet in diameter. They are made by placing
forked posts, each about six feet high, round the circumference of a
circle; joining these, by poles lying upon the forks; forming a sloping
roof; interweaving the whole with branches and grass, and covering it
with mud or clay. Before the door there is a sort of entrance about ten
feet from the lodge. This people cultivate maize or Indian corn, beans,
pumpkins, water-melons, and a species of tobacco which is peculiar to
themselves. They are well armed with guns, and carry on a considerable
traffic in furs.

For many successive days the voyagers continued to see Indians every
day. They had occasionally wet and unpleasant weather. In one place they
saw, on the bank of the river, a great number of goats; and, soon
afterwards, large flocks of these animals were driven into the river by
a party of Indians, who gradually lined the shore, so as to prevent
their escape, and fired on them, and beat them down with clubs, with so
much success, that, in a short time, they killed more than fifty. Many
buffaloes, elks, and deer were seen; and a great number of snakes.

On Thursday the 18th, they passed the mouth of _Le Boulet_, or
_Cannon-ball river_, the channel of which is about one hundred and forty
yards wide. This stream, (which is indebted for its name to a great
number of large stones, that are perfectly round and lie scattered about
the shore and on the eminences above,) rises in the Black Mountains, and
falls into the Missour