On the opposite side of the
river from our camp was the permanent village
of the Rees and Mandans, whose houses were
of dirt and partly underground. For a hun-
dred years before this time they had planted
large gardens, and we were accustomed to buy
of them corn, beans, and pumpkins. From time
to time our people had made treaties of peace
with them. Each family of the Rees had one
or two buffalo boats--not round, as the Sioux
made them, but two or three skins long. In
these boats they brought quantities of dried
beans and other vegetables to trade with us for
jerked buffalo meat.
"It was a great gathering and a time of gen-
eral festivity and hospitality. The Sioux young
men were courting the Ree girls, and the Ree
braves were courting our girls, while the old
people bartered their produce. All day the
river was alive with canoes and its banks rang
with the laughter of the youths and maidens.
"My father's younger brother, whose name
was Big Whip, had a close friend, a young man
who ever after the event of which I am about
to tell you was known as Bald Eagle.
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