University of Virginia Library

Sunday June 1st. 1806.

Yesterday evening Charbono an[d] LaPage returned, having
made a broken voyage. they ascended the river on this side
nearly opposite to a village eight miles above us, here their
led horse which had on him their merchandize, fell into the

river from the side of a steep clift and swam over; they saw
an indian on the opposite side whom they prevailed on to
drive their horse back again to them; in swiming the river
the horse lost a dressed Elkskin of LaPages and several small
articles, & their paint [i. e., vermilion] was destroyed by the
water. here they remained and dryed their articles the
evening of the 30th. Ult. the indians at the village learning their
errand and not having a canoe, made an attempt [y]esterday
morning to pass the river to them on a raft with a parsel of
roots and bread in order to trade with them; the indian raft
struck a rock, upset and lost th[e]ir cargo; the river having
fallen heir to both merchandize and roots, our traders returned
with empty bags. This morning Drewyer accompanyed by
Hohâstillpilp set out in surch of two tomahawks of ours which
we have understood were in the possession of certain indians residing
at a distance in the plains on the South side of the Kooskoske;
the one is a tomahawk which Capt. C. left at our camp
on Musquetoe Creek and the other was stolen from us while
we lay at the forks of this and the Chopunnish rivers last fall.
Colter and Willard set out this morning on a hunting execurtion
towards the quamash grounds beyond Collins's Creek. we
begin to feel some anxiety with rispect to Sergt. Ordway and
party who were sent to Lewis's river for salmon; we have
received no inteligence from them since they set out. we
desired Drewyer to make some enquiry after the Twisted hair;
the old man has not been as good as his word with rispect to
encamping near us, and we fear we shall be at a loss to procure
guides to conduct us by the different routs we wish to pursue
from Traveller's rest to the waters of the Missouri. I met
with a singular plant today in blume of which I preserved a
specemine; it grows on the steep sides of the fertile hills near
this place, the radix is fibrous, not much branched, annual,
woody, white and nearly smooth. the stem is simple branching
ascending, [2-1/2 feet high.] celindric, villose and of a pale
red colour. the branches are but few and those near it's upper
extremity. the extremities of the branches are flexable and
are bent downward near their extremities with the weight of
the flowers. the leaf is sessile, scattered thinly, nearly linear
tho' somewhat widest in the middle, two inches in length,
absolutely entire, villose, obtusely pointed and of an ordinary
green. above each leaf a small short branch protrudes, supporting
a tissue of four or five smaller leaves of the same
appearance with those discribed. a leaf is placed underneath
ea[c]h branch, and each flower. the calyx is a one flowered
spathe. the corolla superior consists of four pale perple petals
which are tripartite, the central lobe largest and all terminate
obtusely; they are inserted with a long and narrow claw on
the top of the germ, are long, smooth, & deciduous. there
are two distinct sets of stamens the 1st. or principal consists of
four, the filaments of which are capillary, erect, inserted on
the top of the germ alternately with the petals, equal, short,
membranous; the anthers are also four each being elivated
with it's fillament, they are linear and reather flat, erect, sessile,
cohering at the base, membranous, longitudinally furrowed,
twice as long as the fillament naked, and of a pale perple
colour. the second set of stamens are very minute are also
four and placed within and opposite to the petals, these are
scarcely persceptable while the 1st are large and conspicuous;
the filaments are capillary equal, very short, white and smooth.
the anthers are four, oblong, beaked, erect, cohering at the
base, membranous, shorter than the fillaments, white naked
and appear not to form pollen, there is one pistillum; the
germ of which is also one, cilindric, villous, inferior, sessile, as
long as the 1st stamens & marked with 8 longitudinal furrows.
the single style and stigma form a perfict monapetallous corolla
only with this difference,'that the style which elivates the stigma
or limb is not a tube but solid tho' it's outer appearance is that
of the tube of a monopetallous corolla swelling as it ascends
and gliding in such manner into the limb that it cannot be
said where the style ends, or the stigma begins; jointly they
are as long as the corolla, white, the limb is four cleft, sauser
shaped, and the margins of the lobes entire and rounded. this
has the appearance of a monopetallous flower growing from
the center of a four petalled corollar, which is rendered more
conspicuous in consequence of the 1st. being white and the latter
of a pale perple. I regret very much that the seed of this
plant are not yet ripe and it is pro[ba]ble will not be so during
my residence in this neighbourhood.[33]