16th. January
Wednesday 1805
about thirty Mandans came to the fort to day, 6
chiefs.
those Me-ne-ta-rees told them they were liars, had told them
if they Came to the fort the whites men would kill them, they
had
been with them all night, Smoked in the pipe and have
been treated well
and the whites had danced for them, observeing
the Mandans were bad and ought to hide themselves. one
of the 1st. War Chiefs of the big bell[i]es nation Came to see us
to day with one man and his Squar to wate on him (requested
that she might be used for the night) (his wife handsome) We
Shot the Air gun, and gave two
Shots with the Cannon which
pleased them verry much, the little Crow 2d. Chf of the lower
Village Came & brought us Corn
&c. 4 men of ours who
had been hunting returned one
frost'd
This War Chief gave us a Chart in his Way of the Missourie,
he informed us of his intentions of going to War in the Spring
against the Snake Indians we advised him to look back at the
number
of Nations who had been distroyed by War, and reflect
upon what he was
about to do, observing if he wished the hapiness
of his nation, he would be at peace with all, by that by
being at
peace and haveing plenty of goods amongst them & a
free intercourse
with those defenceless nations, they would get
on easy tirms a greater
Number of horses, and that Nation
would increas, if he went to War against
those Defenceless
people, he would displease his great father, and he
would not
receive that pertection & care from him as other nations who
listened to his word. This Chief who is a young man 26 yr. old
replied that if his going to war against the Snake
indians would
be displeasing to us he would not go, he had horses
enough.
We observed that what we had said was the words of his
great father, and what we had Spoken to all the Nations which
we Saw
on our passage up, they all promis to open their ears,
and we do not know as yet if any of them has Shut them (we
are
doubtfull of the Soues) if they do not attend to what we
have told them
their great father will open their ears. This
Chief Said that he would
advise all his nation to stay at home
untill we Saw the Snake Indians
& Knew if they would be
friendly, he himself would attend to what we
had told him.
