In consequence of the excessive heat of the weather, the great fatigues of the party, and their constant { 109} exposure in the open plains, the health of several of them began to be impaired. The high and coarse grasses, which now covered the plains, greatly impeded their progress, and very rapidly destroyed their clothing and mockasins. Their journey was, therefore, slow and laborious. On the night of the 13th they encamped on the bank of the Konzas, having travelled some distance parallel to the course of that river. The next day several of the party, already much debilitated, began to be afflicted with dysentery; some accidents also occurred to retard their progress, and on that and the following day they advanced only two miles. On the 16th they marched about fifteen miles, and encamped on the bank of the Konzas. Being now in doubt as to the situation of the Konza village, and the illness of some of the party continuing, they determined to remain encamped, while some persons should be sent out to reconnoitre the country, and discover, if possible, whether that part of the river at which they had arrived, was above or below the village they designed to visit.[154] The Konzas river, in this part, bears the closest resemblance to the Missouri, both in the turbulence and rapidity of its current, and the aspect of the country along its banks; it is, however, so shoal as at almost any point to admit of being forded without difficulty.
Willow islands, moving sand-bars, and _falling-in_ banks, are as frequent as in the Missouri. The line of forest which skirts the banks, including the bed of the river, is about half a mile wide, but not entirely uninterrupted. The course of the river is remarkably serpentine, forming woodland points alternately on both sides.
After crossing and recrossing the river, and extending their search in every direction, they had the satisfaction at last to fall in with a beaten path leading up the river, and which their guide and interpreter was confident would conduct them to the Konza village.
{ 110} On the morning of the 19th, they passed across a wide and fertile prairie to the Vermillion, a stream which enters the Konzas from the north-west. It is four feet deep, and about twenty yards wide.[155] Here they halted in the middle of the day, and dined on the flesh of a black wolf, the only game they were able to procure.