"
They were now well into the Sioux territory, and on the thirtieth of
August they had an encounter with a party of Indians. About twenty
persons were seen on the west side of the river, proceeding along a
height opposite the voyagers. Just as these were observed, another band,
numbering eighty or ninety, came out of the woods nearer the shore. As
they had a hostile appearance, the party in the canoes made preparations
to receive them; they were suspected to be Teton-Sioux, although they
might be Yanktons, Pawnees, or Omahas. The journal adds:--
"In order, however, to ascertain who they were, without risk to the
party, Captain Clark crossed, with three persons who could speak
different Indian languages, to a sand-bar near the opposite side, in
hopes of conversing with them. Eight young men soon met him on the
sand-bar, but none of them could understand either the Pawnee or
Maha interpreter. They were then addressed in the Sioux language, and
answered that they were Tetons, of the band headed by Black Buffaloe,
Tahtackasabah. This was the same who had attempted to stop us in 1804;
and being now less anxious about offending so mischievous a tribe,
Captain Clark told them that they had been deaf to our councils, had
ill-treated us two years ago, and had abused all the whites who had
since visited them. He believed them, he added, to be bad people, and
they must therefore return to their companions; for if they crossed over
to our camp we would put them to death.
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