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were of a description totally at variance with the upper part of his costume. They were of dressed buckskin, fitting tight to his attenuated limbs and ornamented with large iron buckles at the knees which served to attach and support a pair of Indian hunting gaiters that had, like the rest of his dress, seen long and hard service. To complete his costume, he wore on his feet a pair of moccasins, or Indian shoes, that were really of most beautiful workmanship. These articles of dress, together with his small stature and singular features, rendered his appearance at a little distance the most ludicrous caricature that can be imagined; but upon approaching nearer and conversing with him, his manners were found to be courteous and polished. He had been, as I before mentioned, the governor of Louisiana while it was in the possession of the Spaniards; when this country was purchased by the Government of the United States, he retired to this little village where he was looked upon as a great general and held in the highest esteem and consideration by all the inhabitants.
    But the village was small, and no market for us, and we determined to push up to St. Genevieve and once more were in motion between the ice. We arrived in a few days at the Grand Tower, an immense rock detached from the shore around which the current rushes with great violence. Our
cordelles
were used to force a passage at this dangerous spot; and our men, clinging to the rock as wellas they could, looked as if each movement would plunge them into the abyss—but we passed on without accident. All this night we heard the continual howling of the wolves amidst the heavy woods that covered the large hills on the Illinois shore, opposite to this rock. From what I know of their habits, I am convinced that they were huntingdeer in the following manner. They hunt in packs, like dogs, but with far more sagacity and contrivance. They divide themselves into separate bodies, some to rouse the game and others to waylay them. The pack that is on the hunt starts one or more deer, following them with a note like that of hounds in full cry, and drives the game before it towards the wolves posed in ambush. These wolves, when the deer pass, start up fresh and following their prey, soon overtake it. And it is well known that a cry is uttered as a signal for assembling at the death of the game somewhat like the death note of the hunter’s bugle.
    The weather continued favorable, and we arrived safely at St. Genevieve and found a favorable market. Our whiskey was especially welcome, and what we had paid twenty-five cents a gallon for, brought us two dollars. St. Genevieve was then an old French town, small and dirty, and I far preferred the time I spent inTawapatee Bottom to my sojourn here. Here I met with the Frenchman who accompanied Lewis and Clark to the Rocky Mountains. They had just returned [
sic
] and I was delighted to learn from them many particulars of their interesting journey.
    Having arranged my affairs, I waited only for a thaw to return home. The ice broke at last, and bidding my companions goodbye, I whistled to my dog, crossed the Mississippi and in a few hours was on my road, on foot and alone, bent on reaching Shawnee Town as soon as possible. I had little foreseen the nature of the task before me. As soon as I had left the bottomlands, on reaching the prairies, I found them covered with water, like large seas; however, nothing could induce me to return, and my ardent desire to rejoin my wife and family made me careless of inconvenience or fatigue. Unfortunately, I had no shoes, and my moccasins constantly slipped, which made the wading very irksome. Nevertheless, on the first day I made forty-five miles and swam theMuddy River. I saw only two cabins during the whole day, but I had great pleasure in observing the herds of deer that were crossing the prairies aswell as myself, ankle-deep in water. Their graceful motions and their tails spread to the breeze were