at below the falls a creek falls in from the eastward, after
passing through cliffs of red rock: of this the Indians make their
pipes; and the necessity of procuring that article, has introduced a
sort of law of nations, by which the banks of the creek are sacred, and
even tribes at war meet without hostility at these quarries, which
possess a right of asylum. Thus we find even among savages certain
principles deemed sacred, by which the rigours of their merciless system
of warfare are mitigated. A sense of common danger, where stronger ties
are wanting, gives all the binding force of more solemn obligations. The
importance of preserving the known and settled rules of warfare among
civilized nations, in all their integrity, becomes strikingly evident;
since even savages, with their few precarious wants, cannot exist in a
state of peace or war where this faith is once violated. The wind became
southerly, and blew with such violence that we took a reef in our sail:
it also blew the sand from the bars in such quantities, that we could
not see the channel at any distance ahead. At four and a quarter miles,
we came to two willow islands, beyond which are several sandbars; and at
twelve miles, a spot where the Mahas once had a village, now no longer
existing. We again passed a number of sandbars, and encamped on the
south; having come twenty-four and three quarter miles. The country
through which we passed has the same uniform appearance ever since we
left the river Platte: rich low-grounds near the river, succeeded by
undulating prairies, with timber near the waters. Some wolves were seen
to-day on the sandbeaches to the south; we also procured an excellent
fruit, resembling a red currant, growing on a shrub like the privy, and
about the height of a wild plum.

August 22. About three miles distance, we joined the men who had been
sent from the Maha village with our horses, and who brought us two deer.
The bluffs or hills which reach the river at this place, on the south,
contain allum, copperas, cobalt which had the appearance of soft
isinglass, pyrites, and sandstone, the two first very pure. Above this
bluff comes in a small creek on the south, which we call Rologe creek.
Seven miles above is another cliff, on the same side, of allum rock, of
a dark brown colour, containing in its crevices great quantities of
cobalt, cemented shells, and red earth. From this the river bends to the
eastward, and approaches the Sioux river wi