[Lewis:]
Tuesday February 18th. 1806.
This morning we dispatched a party to the Saltworks with
Sergt. Ordway. and a second with Sergt. Gass after the Elk
killed over the Netul. in the evening Sergt. Ordway returned
and reported that the waves ran so high in the bay that he
could not pass to the entrance of the creek which we had
directed him to ascend with the canoe. Collins and Winsor
returned this evening with one deer which they had killed.
the deer are poor and their flesh by no means as good as that
of the Elk which is also poor but appears to be geting better
than some weeks past. in the forenoon we were visited by
eight Cla[t]sops and Chinnooks from whom we purchased a
Sea Otter's skin and two hats made of waytape[45]
and white
cedar bark. they remained untill late in the evening and
departed for their village. these people are not readily obstructed
by waves in their canoes. Sergt. Ordway brought
me a specemine of a species of pine peculiar to the swamps and
marshes frequently overflown by the tide as this is a distinct
species I shall call it N°. 7.
[46]
this tree seldom rises to a greater
hight than 35 feet and is from 2 1/2 to 4 feet in diameter;
the stem is simple branching diffuse and proliferous, the
bark the same with that of N°. 1. only reather more rugged.
the leaf is acerose, 2/10
ths. of an inch in width and 3/4 in length.
they are firm stif and somewhat accuminated, ending in a short
pointed hard tendril, gibbous, thickly scattered on all sides of
the bough but rispect the three upper sides only. those which
have there insersion on the underside incline sidewise with
their points upwards giving the leaf the figure of a sythe.
the others are perpendicular or pointing upwards. is sessile
growing as in N°. 1. from small triangular pedestals of a soft
spungy elastic bark. the under disk of these leaves or that
which grows nearest towards the base of the bough is a deep
glossey green while the upper or opposite side is of a mealy whiteish
pale green; in this rispect differing from almost all leaves.
the boughs retain their leaves as far back as to the sixth years
growth. the peculiarity of the bud scales observed in N°. 1. is
observed in this species. The cone is 3 1/2 inches in length
and 3 in circumpherence, of an ovate figure being thickest in
the middle and tapering and terminating in two obtuse points.
it is composes[d] of small, flexible, thin, obtusely pointed
smooth and redish brown imbricated scales. each scale covering
two small winged seeds and being itself covered in the
center by a small thin inferior scale accutely pointed. the
cone is somewhat of this figure
[ILLUSTRATION] they proceede from
the side as well as the extremities of the bough
but in the former case always at or near the commencement
of some one years growth which is [in] some instances
are as far back as the third year.
