Maximilian, Prince of Wied's, Travels in the Interior of North America, 1832-1834, part 2
volume vi, p. 185, note 4. For the Blackfeet and Arapaho see our volume
v, p. 225, note 120. The tribal affinity between the Grosventres of the Prairies and the Arapaho was recognized by frequent visits of the former to the land of the latter. Consult Chittenden, _Fur-Trade_, ii, pp. 852, 853.--ED.
[58] See p. 105 for illustration of Grosventre dagger.--ED.
[59] Most of the Grosventres used the Blackfoot language as well as their own, which is described as difficult by all travellers to this region.--ED.
[60] The _Original Journals_ speak of Stonewall Creek and "those imence nateral walls."--ED.
[61] Similar sand-stone strata are said to occur in other parts of North America; and, in South America, Poeppig seems to have met with them, as he describes them in the following passage:--"Towards noon we approached the highest point on this road, the Alto de Lacchagual (4718 metres, according to Rivero). We were much struck with the sand-stone rocks, which we approached about the half way of the journey, after having already seen them ever since the morning, in different directions before us. As isolated masses, of the most varied forms, they extend in rows along the ridge of the far-stretching chain of hills, and form, in many places, really gigantic walls. Low groups, probably only broken fragments, lie scattered irregularly around, but high, apparently regular pillars rise far above them in the distance, that look partly like basalt, for which they are taken at Lima; partly like works constructed by art. By their symmetrical arrangement they sometimes seem to be the ruins of an immensely large building; at others, appear like large regular quadrangles with square gates, between what seem to be high bastions. The form of the inverted cone occurs here as among the rocks at Adersbach, only the proportions must be conceived as suitable to the Andes, for many of these dark pillars are, undoubtedly, several hundred feet high. The eye exerts itself in vain to discover the termination of these stony columns. They vanish at a great distance in the north-west, between similar lines, which appear to meet them at a certain angle. At one place only we approached them close enough to be able to examine at least the lowest fragments; we saw, however, little more than a very soft, coarse sand-stone, of a whitish colour, which has become black only by the action of the air, and decomposition of the surface. These remarkable groups have no particular name, and no popular tradition is connected with their romantic forms, as in the Hartz. The Peruvian possesses, in this respect, less imagination than the Chileno, who makes something out of every rock, the form of which is unusual; sees a church on the summit of the Andes of Santa Rosa, and, in a lateral valley of the road from Mendoza, fancies that he discovers a palace, and a long procession of monks performing penance."--(Reisebeschreibung, Vol. II. p. 48).--MAXIMILIAN.
[62] See Plate 67, figures 6-9, and Plate 68, figures 22-29, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.--ED.
[63] The extensive collection of all kinds of rock in this remarkable sand-stone valley, was unfortunately lost in the fire on board the Company's steam-boat in the year 1834, and I am, consequently, unable to determine more particularly the kind of the above-mentioned rock, standing out in narrow perpendicular walls. Lewis and Clark call it a conglomerate; but this expression seems to me not to be well chosen.--MAXIMILIAN.
[64] See Plate 67, figure 4, and Plate 68, figure 11, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.--ED.
[65] See Plate 18, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.--ED.
[66] See Plate 74, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.--ED.
[67] Represented in Plate 74 of the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.--ED.
[68] Figure 10 of Plate 68, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.--ED.
[69] Now Eagle Creek, rising in Bear Paw Mountains and entering the Missouri from the north-east.--ED.
[70] Bear Paw Mountains are located in Chouteau County, west of the Little Rockies. They are not a continuous chain, but a group of high, steep, broken hills partly covered with timber, forming part of the watershed between Milk and Missouri rivers. The western end approaches within eight or ten miles of the Missouri. In these mountains occurred the battle of September 30-October 2, 1877, when United States troops captured Chief Joseph and the largest part of his band of Nez Percés.--ED.
[71] This group is the Highwood Mountains, on the southern borders of Chouteau County, directly south of Fort Benton. These mountains rise to an altitude of 7,600 feet.--ED.
[72] See Lewis's own description of his cure, by the use of this fruit, in _Original Journals_, ii, p. 142.--ED.
[73] Maria's River rises in the main chain of the Rocky Mountains, and flows nearly due east into the Missouri, forming its largest northern tributary beyond Milk River. Upon reaching the mouth, Lewis and Clark were uncertain, until they had explored each branch, which was the main stream of the Missouri. They named the northern tributary for Captain Lewis's cousin, Miss Maria Wood, later Mrs. Clarkson.--ED.
[74] For James Kipp see our volume xxii, p. 345, note 319. The site of this post was directly in the angle of the rivers on the west bank of the Missouri; it has since been swept away by the river. While the fort was building, Kipp requested the Indians to depart and return after seventy-five days, when to their surprise they found a completed structure. In the spring of 1832 most of the engagés declined to re-enter the service because of the hazardous situation of the post; moreover, the furs had to be transported to Fort Union. Kipp had, therefore, no alternative but to abandon the stockade, which the Indians soon burned. Three French-Canadians, having taken Blackfoot wives, remained with this tribe. See "Affairs at Fort Benton," in Montana Historical Society _Contributions_, iii, pp. 203-204.--ED.
[75] Fort Mc Kenzie, whose founding is described by Maximilian in