To guard against accident, we had two parcelss of lead and powder in the two places.

The red pirogue was drawn up on the middle of a small island, at the entrance of Maria's River, and secured, by being fastened to the trees, from the effects of any floods.

We now took another observation of the meridian altitude of the sun, and found that the mean latitude of Maria's River, as deduced from three observations, is 49'0 25' 17.2" N." In order to make assurance doubly sure, Captain Lewis resolved to take four men with him and ascend the south branch (that is, the true Missouri), before committing the expedition to that route as the final one.

His proposition was that his party should proceed up the river as rapidly as possible in advance of the main party.

On the second day out, says the journal:-- "Captain Lewis left the bank of the river in order to avoid the steep ravines, which generally run from the shore to the distance of one or two miles in the plain.