When asked if they had any chief among them, they pointed out three.

The captain did not believe them, but, in order to keep on good terms with them, he gave to one a flag, to another a medal, and to the third a handkerchief.

At Captain Lewis' suggestion, the Indians and the white men camped together, and in the course of the evening the red men told the captain that they were part of a big band of their tribe, or nation.

The rest of the tribe, they said, were hunting further up the river, and were then in camp near the foot of the Rocky Mountains.

The captain, in return, told them that his party had come from the great lake where the sun sets, and that he was in hopes that he could induce the Minnetarees to live in peace with their neighbors and come and trade at the posts that would be established in their country by and by.