A half-century of conflict. France and England in North America. Part ...

^20 SEARCH FOR THE PACIFIC. [1742.be made, to avoid a fierce and dangerous tribecalledSnake Indians (Gens du Serpent).^On hearing this story, La Vdrendrj^e sent his eldestson, Pierre, to pursue the discovery with two men,ordering him to hire guides among the Mandans andmake his way to the "Western Sea. But no guideswere to be found, and in the next summer the youngman returned from his bootless errand.Undaunted by this failure, Pierre set out again inthe next spring, 1742, with his younger brother,Chevaher de la V^rendrye.theAccompanied only by twoCanadians, they left Fort La Reine on the twentyninthof April, and following, no doubt, the route ofthe Assiniboin and Mouse River, reached the chiefvillage of the Mandans in about three weeks.Here they found themselves the welcome guests ofthis singularly interesting tribe, ruined by the smallpoxnearly half a century ago, but preserved tomemory by the skilful pencil of the artist CharlesBodmer, and the brush ofboth of whom saw them atthe painter George Catlin,a time when they werelittle changed in habits and manners since the visitof the brothers La Vdrendrye.^1744.1 Journal du Sieur de la Ve'rendrye, 1740, in Archives de la Marine.2 Memoire du Sieur de la Vd'rendrije, joint a sa lettre du 31 Octobre,8 Prince Maximilian spent the winter of 1832-33 near the Mandanvillages. His artist, with the instinct of genius, seized thecharacteristics of the wild life before him, and rendered them withadmirable vigor and truth. Catlin spent a considerable timeamong the Mandans soon after the visit of Prince Maximilian, andhad unusual opportunities of studj-ing them. He was an indiffer-