Building Fort Mandan — Patrick Gass: October 27, 1804

we set out early. At half past seven we arrived at the first
village of the Mandans and halted about two hours. This
village contains 40 or 50 lodges built in the manner of those
of the Rickarees. These Indians have better complexions
than most other Indians, and some of the children have fair
hair. We passed a bluff on the south side with a stratum of
black resembling coal. There is a bottom on the north side,
where the second Mandan village is situated. We went about
a mile above it, and encamped in the same bottom, for the
purpose of holding a council with the natives. This place is
1610 miles from the mouth of the river du Bois, where we first
embarked to proceed on the expedition. There are about the
same number of lodges, and people, in this village as in the first.
These people do not bury their dead, but place the body on
a scaffold, wrapped in a buffaloe robe, where it lies exposed.*