the frightful discharge of the steam from the escape-pipe, which the captain of the boat let loose upon them for his own fun and amusement. There were many curious conjectures amongst their wise men, with regard to the nature and powers of the steam-boat. Amongst the Mandans, some called it the “big thunder canoe;” for when in distance below the village, they saw the lightning flash from its sides, and heard the thunder come from it; others called it the “big medicine canoe with eyes;” it was _medicine_ (mystery) because they could not understand it; and it must have eyes, for said they, “it sees its own way, and takes the deep water in the middle of the channel.” [Illustration: 5] [Illustration: 6] They had no idea of the boat being steered by the man at the wheel, and well they might have been astonished at its taking the deepest water. I may (if I do not forget it) hereafter give you an account of some other curious incidents of this kind, which we met with in this voyage; for we met many, and some of them were really laughable. The Fort in which I am residing was built by Mr. M‘Kenzie, who now occupies it. It is the largest and best-built establishment of the kind on the river, being the great or principal head-quarters and depôt of the Fur Company’s business in this region. A vast stock of goods is kept on hand at this place; and at certain times of the year the numerous out-posts concentrate here with the returns of their season’s trade, and refit out with a fresh supply of goods to trade with the Indians. The site for the Fort is well selected, being a beautiful prairie on the bank near the junction of the Missouri with the Yellow Stone rivers; and its inmates and its stores well protected from Indian assaults. Mr. M‘Kenzie is a kind-hearted and high-minded Scotchman; and seems to have charge of all the Fur Companies’ business in this region, and from this to the Rocky Mountains. He lives in good and comfortable style, inside of the Fort, which contains some eight or ten log-houses and stores, and has generally forty or fifty men, and one hundred and fifty horses about him. He has, with the same spirit of liberality and politeness with which Mons. Pierre Chouteau treated me on my passage up the river, pronounced me welcome at his table, which groans under the luxuries of the country; with buffalo meat and tongues, with beavers’ tails and marrow-fat; but _sans_ coffee, _sans_ bread and butter. Good cheer and good living we get at it however, and good wine also; for a bottle of Madeira and one of excellent Port are set in a pail of ice every day, and exhausted at dinner. At the hospitable board of this gentleman I found also another, who forms a happy companion for _mine host_; and whose intellectual and polished society has added not a little to _my_ pleasure and amusement since I arrived here.