beyond this we encamped on the south side, after making, in the course
of the day, thirteen miles. The land on the north is a high rich plain.
On the south it is also even, of a good quality, and rising from fifty
to one hundred feet.

The next morning, 10th, we passed Deer creek, and at the distance of
five miles, the two rivers called by the French the two Charatons, a
corruption of Thieraton, the first of which is thirty, the second
seventy yards wide, and enter the Missouri together. They are both
navigable for boats: the country through which they pass is broken,
rich, and thickly covered with timber. The Ayauway nation, consisting
of three hundred men, have a village near its head-waters on the river
De Moines. Farther on we passed a large island called _Chicot_ or Stump
Island, and encamped on the south, after making ten miles. A head wind
forced us to remain there all the next day, during which we dried the
meat we had killed, and examined the surrounding country, which consists
of good land, well watered, and supplied with timber: the prairies also
differ from those eastward of the Mississippi, inasmuch as the latter
are generally without any covering except grass, whilst the former
abound with hazel, grapes and other fruits, among which is the Osage
plum of a superior size and quality. On the morning of the 12th, we
passed through difficult places in the river, and reached Plum creek on
the south side. At one o'clock, we met two rafts loaded, the one with
furs, the other with the tallow of buffaloe; they were from the Sioux
nation, and on their way to St. Louis; but we were fortunate enough to
engage one of them, a Mr. Durion, who had lived with that nation more
than twenty years, and was high in their confidence, to accompany us
thither. We made nine miles. On the 13th, we passed at between four and
five miles, a bend of the river, and two creeks on the north, called the
Round Bend creeks. Between these two creeks is the prairie, in which