Hunt to alter his future
course. He had hitherto intended to proceed by the route taken by Lewis
and Clarke in their famous exploring expedition, ascending he Missouri
to its forks, and thence going, by land, across the mountains. These men
informed him, however, that, on taking that course he would have to pass
through the country invested by the savage tribe of the Blackfeet, and
would be exposed to their hostilities; they being, as has already been
observed, exasperated to deadly animosity against the whites, on account
of the death of one of their tribe by the hand of Captain Lewis. They
advised him rather to pursue a route more to the southward, being
the same by which they had returned. This would carry them over the
mountains about where the head-waters of the Platte and the Yellowstone
take their rise, at a place much more easy and practicable than that
where Lewis and Clarke had crossed. In pursuing this course, also, he
would pass through a country abounding with game, where he would have a
better chance of procuring a constant supply of provisions than by the
other route, and would run less risk of molestation from the Blackfeet.
Should he adopt this advice, it would be better for him to abandon the
river at the Arickara town, at which he would arrive in the course of a
few days.
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