274 JOURNAL OF E. WILLARD SMITH
ease raging among them, as the wolves would not touch them, although here in great numbers. There were probably two thousands of these calves.
On the 18th it stormed all day and night. Toward evening we saw about three hundred wild horses, who came quite near us. We have seen several large herds of buffalo for several days past.
June 12th. We arrived at the fork of the Platte. The water in the North Fork of the Platte was pretty high, and we were able to proceed quite rapidly. We sometimes traveled fifty miles a day. The main Platte is very wide, and has many islands in it, which were covered with roses as we passed them. In one place this river is four miles wide. One of its islands is one hundred miles long. The country from the forks of the Platte to the Missouri is claimed principally by the Pawnee Indians.
June 14th. We met five buffalo, the last we saw, as we left the country in which they range.
18th. In the morning we arrived at a Pawnee village. It consists of a hundred and fifty lodges, made of poles covered with mud. Each lodge contains three or four families. This village is situated on the south bank of the river. These In- dians raise excellent corn. The squaws perform all the labor in the fields. We gave them some dried meat in exchange for corn. This was the first vegetable food we had eaten in eleven months.
19th. We were obliged to lay by on account of a violent wind. At night we were much annoyed by mosquitoes.
20th. We passed the Loup Fork and also Shell Creek.
21st. We passed Horse Creek, a large stream coming in from the north, also Saline, a large stream from the south. The scenery here is very different from that farther up the river. The banks of the Platte from the foot of the mountains to this place have been low and sandy, with scarcely any trees on the banks, but here the river has bluff banks thickly covered with timber. There is a village of Pawnees, called the Pawnee Loups, on the Loup Fork. The Pawnees have their heads
