feet gradually invaded the nobler parts, leaving nothing unchanged but a bunch of grapes which the woman holds in her hands to this day. Whenever the Rees pass these sacred stones, they stop to make some offering of dress to propitiate the gods."
On that day Lewis and Clark passed out of what is now South Dakota. They went on that autumn as far as the Mandan villages above Bismarck on the Missouri, where they built a post and spent the winter. The next year, 1805, with great hardship, they crossed the mountains and reached the Pacific Ocean. Remaining at the mouth of the Columbia until spring, they turned back and reached the north line of South Dakota on the 21st day of August, 1806, precisely two years from the date when they entered South Dakota on the upward trip. They stopped with the Rees for a short visit, but hastened by the Teton country without attracting attention. They had no desire to meet Black Buffalo, fearing that he would again attempt to detain them. The Yanktons were friendly, but they spent little time with them, being in great haste to reach civilization again. At Elk-point they met Mr. James Aird carrying goods to the Yanktons, and he supplied them with provisions of which they were in great need, and gave them the first information they had had from the outside world for more than two years. They reached St. Louis early in September, and their return was a source of great rejoicing to all the people of the United States.
