[378] The French had at this time gained a knowledge of the tribes of the Missouri as far up as the Arickaras, who were not, it seems, many days' journey below the Yellowstone, and who told them of "prodigiously high mountains,"--evidently the Rocky Mountains. _Memoire de la Renaudiere_, 1723. [379] This meeting took place a little north of the Arkansas, apparently where that river makes a northward bend, near the twenty-second degree of west longitude. The Comanche villages were several days' journey to the southwest. This tribe is always mentioned in the early French narratives as the Padoucas,--a name by which the Comanches are occasionally known to this day. See Whipple and Turner, _Reports upon Indian Tribes_, in _Explorations and Surveys for the Pacific Railroad_ (Senate Doc., 1853, 1854). [380] _Relation du Voyage du Sieur de Bourgmont, Juin-Novembre, 1724_, in Margry, vi. 398. Le Page du Pratz, iii. 141. [381] _Journal du Voyage des Freres Mallet, presente a MM. de Bienville et Salmon._ This narrative is meagre and confused, but serves to establish the main points. _Copie du Certificat donne a Santa Fe aux sept _[huit]_ Francais par le General Hurtado, 24 Juillet, 1739._ _Pere Rebald au Pere de Beaubois, sans date._ _Bienville et Salmon au Ministre, 30 Avril, 1741_, in Margry, vi. 455-468. [382] _Instructions donnees par Jean-Baptiste de Bienville a Fabry de la Bruyere, 1 Juin, 1741._ Bienville was behind his time in geographical knowledge. As early as 1724 Benard de la Harpe knew that in ascending the Missouri or the Arkansas one was moving towards the "Western Sea,"--that is, the Pacific,--and might, perhaps, find some river flowing into it. See _Routes qu'on peut tenir pour se rendre a la Mer de l'Ouest_, in _Journal historique_, 387. [383] _Extrait des Lettres du Sieur Fabry._