7th.—At an early hour we were again moving, in order to reach the Elkhorn Ferry before any of the trains should take the precedence, whereby we would have been detained. We had first to cross the Papilion on a bridge, and as it was very narrow, and the road leading to it very steep, we were obliged to unharness the mules from the wagon, lest they might, by pushing one another, precipitate the wagon and themselves into the stream and mud below. The wagon was then pulled across the bridge by hand. Ascending the opposite hill, we were again on the high prairie. Before us, twelve or fifteen miles distant, could be discovered the timber of the Elkhorn, which we expected to cross before noon;—to our right we could yet perceive the timber of the Missouri, and the Old Council Bluffs, where formerly there was a fort for the protection of the traders;—and to our left the timber of the Platte.— Arrived at the Elkhorn, we saw a considerable number of Pawnees, who all appeared glad at our coming to visit them. Here we learnt that a slight affray had taken place the day before, between some Pawnees and a train of emigrants. The readers of the Miscellany have perhaps read of such cases in the newspapers, headed: “Depredation of the _Pawnees_ (or some other Indians) upon a train of emigrants,” and the like, where the blame is generally attached to the Indians. I think it is due to the Indians to state here that the fault does not always lie with them, but very often with the whites. The road of the emigrants lies through the country belonging to the Indians;—their hunting-grounds are traversed by the long lines of white-covered wagons, and the buffaloes, the principal subsistence of the Indians, are thereby chased away to more distant and more secluded pastures, perhaps to regions where it would be unsafe for them to hunt, on account of other tribes inimical to them; and they have thereby been reduced to poverty and want. For all these privations they have been promised presents, as a compensation, from our Government, but thus far they have received nothing. So when the emigrants are passing through their country, they frequently apply to them for tobacco, or some other small presents. It seems that in the above instance, while the Pawnees were hovering around the train, they were refused a present, and one of the men, with the ox-whip, struck an Indian, who came near, which, of course, roused the feelings of the Indians. These accordingly drove off a beef or two, which were then despatched.—