When the two parties came within a hundred
yards of each other, all the Indians, except one, halted. Captain Lewis
therefore ordered his two men to halt while he advanced, and after
shaking hands with the Indian, went on and did the same with the others
in the rear, while the Indian himself shook hands with the two men. They
all now came up; and after alighting, the Indians asked to smoke with
us. Captain Lewis, who was very anxious for Drewyer's safety, told them
that the man who had gone down the river had the pipe, and requested
that as they had seen him, one of them would accompany R. Fields, to
bring him back. To this they assented, and Fields went with a young man
in search of Drewyer."
Captain Lewis now asked them by signs if they were Minnetarees of the
north, and he was sorry to be told in reply that they were; he knew
them to be a bad lot. When asked if they had any chief among them, they
pointed out three. The captain did not believe them, but, in order to
keep on good terms with them, he gave to one a flag, to another a medal,
and to the third a handkerchief. At Captain Lewis' suggestion, the
Indians and the white men camped together, and in the course of the
evening the red men told the captain that they were part of a big
band of their tribe, or nation. The rest of the tribe, they said, were
hunting further up the river, and were then in camp near the foot of the
Rocky Mountains. The captain, in return, told them that his party had
come from the great lake where the sun sets, and that he was in hopes
that he could induce the Minnetarees to live in peace with their
neighbors and come and trade at the posts that would be established in
their country by and by.
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