wailings ever issued from Pandamonium itself. I was also informed that it proceeded from another cause; when any one, on awaking in the morning, happens {56} to think of a departed friend, or even of some lost dog or horse, which has been prized by the owner, he instantly begins this doleful howl; no sooner is this heard than the whole village, hark in, man, woman, and child, and at least a thousand dogs, with a howling still more horrible. I never had before, so good a conception of Virgil's fine description of that place of the infernal regions, set apart for the punishment of the wicked.
It was eleven o'clock before we could leave this place. The time was spent in procuring some oil-cloth to put over our cabin, and in purchasing several articles of Indian trade which the factor was disposed to sell. Having got every thing ready, and feeling anxious to loose no time, we set off, although the wind was blowing down the river with great violence. After exerting ourselves to the utmost, for an hour or two, we found it necessary to stop, after having done little more than loose sight of the fort. After remaining here a few hours, the wind abated sufficiently to enable us to proceed on our voyage. Passed a small encampment of American hunters. Three men were sitting before a fire, on the edge of the bank, {57} in the midst of the rushes, having trodden them down for a few yards around. Upon three slender forks, a few pieces of bark were placed, which together with the boughs of the poplar afforded some little shelter from the rain. The remains of a deer were suspended to a tree, and several skins were stretched out with the fleshy sides to the fire, for the purpose of being dried. The Missouri is now, what the Ohio was once, the Paradise of hunters. The upper part of the river is still more pleasant, on account of the openness of the plains, and the greater facility of pursuing the wild
