Before leaving Prairie du Chien to discover the course of the Minnesota, or St. Peters, as it was then designated, the members of the expedition were divided into two groups, one to go overland to the mouth of the St. Peters, the other to convey the supplies by boat to that point. Both parties visited the principal villages on the way. First following the route of those who went overland, on June 26, 1823, they encountered a village of five lodges, evidently on the Iowa River, in the present Winneshiek County, Iowa. Two days later, June 28, they arrived at the more important village of Wapasha, in the present Wabasha County, Minnesota, and as told in the narrative: "Whatever might be the reveries in which the party were indulging, they were soon recalled to the dull realities of travelling, by the howling and barking of a band of dogs, that announced their approach to an Indian village consisting of twenty fixed lodges and cabins. It is controlled by Wa-pa-sha, an Indian chief of considerable distinction. In his language, (Dacota,) his name signifies _the red leaf_. A number of young men fantastically decorated with many and variously coloured feathers, and their faces as oddly painted, advanced to greet the party. One of them, the son of the chief, was remarkable for the gaudiness and display of his dress, which from its showy appearance imparted to his character foppishness.... The chief is about fifty years of age, but appears older.... His disposition to the Americans has generally been a friendly one." (Keating, (1), I, pp. 249-250.) Hennepin's reception by the ancestors of the same people, in their ancient village near Mille Lac, about a century and a half earlier, may have been quite similar to this accorded the members of the Long expedition in 1823.