"The men carefully pluck from their chins, axilla of the arms, eye-brows, &c. every hair of beard that presents itself: this is done with a spiral wire, which, when used, is placed with the side upon the part, and the ends are pressed towards each other so as to close the spires upon the hairs, which can then be readily drawn out; this instrument we observed to be an article of dress of the chiefs, who departed to attend the council at the Isle au Vache." FOOTNOTES: [139] For Bissel, see Cuming's _Tour_, in our volume iv, note 182. Charles Pentland, of Pennsylvania, served during the War of 1812-15 as ensign and third lieutenant in the 4th Rifles. Retained in 1815, he was in 1821 transferred to the 6th Infantry, in which, two years later, he became captain. He was dismissed in 1826.--ED. [140] The Kansas River and its tributaries drain most of the state of the same name. It heads in the prairies of eastern Colorado, and joins the Missouri at the point where the latter enters the State of Missouri. It is still sometimes called the Kaw. The name appears in various forms on early French maps--as Cans, Rivière des Kancés, Rivière des Quans, etc.--ED. [141] The Little Platte (which the French called Petite Rivière Platte, or Little Shallow River), rises in southern Iowa and flows south to its confluence with the Missouri in Platte County. Its mouth is now opposite Diamond Island, for the channels of the two rivers have, in their shifting, been brought together several miles above the old confluence. The abandoned lower channel is still visible. Diamond Island is near the Kansas side of the Missouri, on the line between Leavenworth and Wyandotte counties. When Lewis and Clark passed this spot in 1804, the two smaller islands of the group called Three Islands had but recently appeared. They are opposite the mouth of Nine Mile Creek, five or six miles below Leavenworth. The principal member of the group is Spar Island. The Four Islands are in front of Leavenworth, and one of the largest has the same name as the city.--ED. [142] Isle au Vache (Isle des Vaches, Isle de Vache, Buffalo Island), now Cow Island, is on the line between Atchison and Leavenworth counties. Wyly Martin, a Tennesseean, had been captain in the 3d Rifle regiment at the close of the War of 1812-15, and after an honorable discharge in 1815, had been reinstated the same year. He was transferred to the 6th Infantry in 1821, and resigned two years later.