We despatched four men back to the Ottoes village in quest of our man,
Liberte, and to apprehend one of the soldiers, who left us on the 4th,
under pretence of recovering a knife which he had dropped a short
distance behind, and who we fear has deserted. We also sent small
presents to the Ottoes and Missouris, and requested that they would join
us at the Maha village, where a peace might be concluded between them.

August 8. At two miles distance, this morning we came to a part of the
river, where there was concealed timber difficult to pass. The wind was
from the N.W. and we proceeded in safety. At six miles, a river empties
on the northern side, called by the Sioux Indians, Eaneahwadepon, or
Stone river; and by the French, Petite Riviere des Sioux, or Little
Sioux river. At its confluence it is eighty yards wide. Our interpreter,
Mr. Durion, who has been to the sources of it, and knows the adjoining
country, says that it rises within about nine miles of the river
Desmoines; that within fifteen leagues of that river it passes through a
large lake nearly sixty miles in circumference, and divided into two
parts by rocks which approach each other very closely: its width is
various: it contains many islands, and is known by the name of the Lac
d'Esprit: it is near the Dogplains, and within four days march of the
Mahas. The country watered by it, is open and undulating, and may be
visited in boats up the river for some distance. The Desmoines, he adds,
is about eighty yards wide where the Little Sioux river approaches it:
it is shoaly, and one of its principal branches is called Cat river. Two
miles beyond this river is a long island which we called Pelican island,
from the numbers of that animal which were feeding on it: one of these
being killed, we poured into his bag five gallons of water. An elk, too,
was shot, and we had again to remark that snakes are rare in this part
of the Missouri. A meridian altitude near the Little Sioux river made