[200] Loup (Wolf) River is a large northern tributary of the Platte, which empties into the latter a few miles below Columbus, Platte County. It rises in the arid sand hills of northwestern Nebraska, and flows southeast for three hundred miles to the confluence. It is sometimes called the Pawnee Loup River, from the dominant Indian tribe on its waters.--ED. [201] One of the ladies was Madam Lisa; the name of the other is not known. They are supposed to have been the first white women to ascend the Missouri to this point.--ED. [202] Daniel Ketchum owed his title of major to a brevet awarded for distinguished services at the battle of Niagara Falls. He entered the army early in the war as second lieutenant in the 25th Infantry, and rose through a first lieutenancy to a captaincy in 1813. He died in 1828.--ED. [203] Little is recorded concerning this individual. His name was probably Michael, and he had been a United States army officer. The circumstances of his death are better known than the incidents of his life, he having been killed by the Indians (1823) on the Yellowstone.--ED. [204] Compare the astonishment of the Indians at the appearance of Captain Clark's negro servant York, in Thwaites, _Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition_, index.--ED. {181} CHAPTER X[205] Account of the Omawhaws--Their manners and customs, and religious rites--Historical notices of Black Bird, late principal chief. A great portion of the information contained in the following pages, respecting the Missouri Indians, and particularly the Omawhaws, was obtained from Mr. John Dougherty, deputy Indian agent for the Missouri, who had an excellent opportunity of making himself acquainted with the natives, by residing for a time in the Omawhaw village, and by visiting all the different nations of this river. This gentleman with great patience, and in the most obliging manner, answered all the questions which I proposed to him, relating to such points in their manners, habits, opinions, and history, as we had no opportunity of observing ourselves. And we have much to regret that it is not in our power to present the reader with a biographical sketch of this amiable and intrepid traveller.