14th. Ietan called this morning, and as some of our party were going to visit at Camp Missouri, he accompanied them in order to obtain Major O'Fallon's permission for his nation to go to war with the {170} Konzas. He informed the agent that individuals of that nation had sometime since stolen horses from them. That one of the losers, Big Soldier, had gone to the Konza village to demand the horses; but seeing a number of horses belonging to that nation when he arrived near the village, he could not resist the temptation of immediately retaliating by seizing several, and appropriating them to his own use. But, Ietan said, he thought the honour of his nation still called for war, and he solicited the acquiescence of the agent in that measure. The Major replied, that his opinion ought to have been asked previously to the retaliatory measure which had already been prematurely taken, as they were not certain that the Konzas were the offenders, and that this ought to have been ascertained before any depredation on the Konzas had been committed. But the course which he would now advise them to pursue was, to send a deputation to the Konzas, for the purpose of ascertaining the fact, to return the Konzas' horses, and to demand their own. This course seemed satisfactory to the warrior; who, however, stated that if the Konzas attempted to steal horses from them in future, he would certainly lead a war party himself against them. 15th. Mr. Woods, of the Missouri Fur Company, has returned from a trading excursion. He reports that he saw several of the Pawnee _caches_, which had been broken open and robbed of their corn by the Omawhaws. This is by no means a rare occurrence with the Indians, but it does not appear that it has ever led to hostilities between nations; they say that when a person is in want of food, he has a right to take any he can find. Corporal Norman, who went out this morning to kill rabbits, returned about noon with twenty-seven, which he had killed with single balls. February 9th. Several Oto Indians have visited us within this day or two, and one of them, Ca-he-ga-in-ya, {171} remained with us last night; he was finely dressed, had on a chief's coat laced with silver, and a profusion of wampum about his neck, and suspended to his ears; he departed this morning on his way to the Omawhaws, to trade for horses. The ice on the Missouri is sixteen inches in thickness, that of the Boyer creek fifteen and three-fourths. 12th. Messrs. Dougherty, Peel [Peale], and myself, with an assistant, encamped at a pond near the Boyer to obtain fish; we cut several holes in the ice of the pond, and obtained one otter and a number of small fishes, amongst which three species appeared to be new; several specimens were of the genus gasterosteus.