As the season advanced, the party found many delicious wild fruits, such
as currants, plums, raspberries, wild apples, and vast quantities of
mulberries. Wild turkeys were also found in large numbers, and the party
had evidently entered a land of plenty. Wild geese were abundant, and
numerous tracks of elk were seen. But we may as well say here that the
so-called elk of the Northwest is not the elk of ancient Europe; a more
correct and distinctive name for this animal is wapiti, the name given
the animal by the Indians. The European elk more closely resembles the
American moose. Its antlers are flat, low, and palmated like our moose;
whereas the antlers of the American elk, so-called, are long, high, and
round-shaped with many sharp points or tines. The mouth of the great
Platte River was reached on the twenty-first of July. This famous stream
was then regarded as a sort of boundary line between the known and
unknown regions. As mariners crossing the equator require all their
comrades, who have not been "over the line" to submit to lathering
and shaving, so the Western voyageurs merrily compelled their mates to
submit to similar horse-play. The great river was also the mark above
which explorers entered upon what was called the Upper Missouri.

The expedition was now advancing into a region inhabited by several
wandering tribes of Indians, chief of which were the Ottoes, Missouris,
and Pawnees. It was determined, therefore, to call a council of some of
the chiefs of these bands and make terms of peace with them. After
some delay, the messengers sent out to them brought in fourteen
representative Indians, to whom the white men made presents of roast
meat, pork, flour, and corn-meal, in return for which their visitors
brought them quantities of delicious watermelons. "Next day, August
3," says the journal, "the Indians, with their six chiefs, were all
assembled under an awning formed with the mainsail, in presence of all
our party, paraded for the occasion. A speech was then made, announcing