Friday June 6th.. 1806
I visited the Broken Arm to day agreeable to my promis of
the 4th. inst and took with me Drewyer & three other men I
was receved in a friendly manner. The broken Arm informed
me that maney of the small chief[s] of the different Bands of
his nation had not heard our word from our own mouths,
several of them were present and was glad to see me &c. I
repeeted in part what had been said in council before. The
Broken arm told me that the nation would not pass the mountains
untill the latter part of the summer, and with respect to
the young men who we had requested to accompany us to the
falls of Missouri, [they] were not yet selected for that purpose
nor could they be so untill they had a meeting of the nation in
council. that this would happen in the course of ten or 12
days as the whole of the Lodges were about to move to the
head of Commeâp Creek in the Plain of Lewis's river, that
when they held a council they would select two young men.
that if we set out previously to that time the men would
follow us. we therefore do not calculate [upon] any assistance
from them as guides, but depend more upon engaging
some of the Oat-lash-shoots on Clarks river in the neighbourhood
of Travellers rest C. for that purpose. The Broken
Arm gave me a fiew quawmash roots as a great preasent, but
in my estimation those of Cows is much better. I am confident
they are much more healthy. The Broken Arm informed
me that they had latterly been informed that a party
of the Shoshones had arived at the
Y e-e-al po Nation who
reside to the South of the enterance of Kooskooske into
Lewis's river, and had informed that people that their nation
(the Shoshones) had received the talk which was given their
relations on the head of the East fork of Lewis's river last fall,
and were resolved to pursue our councils, and had come fo[r]ward
for the purpose of makeing peace with them, and allso with
the Chopunnish &c. that they had sent several men in serch
of those people with a view to bring them to Lewis's river at
which place the
Broken Arm informed me he should meet them
and smoke the pipe of peace. which he should afterwards
send by with some of his Chiefs in company with those Shoshones
to their nation and confirm a piece which never should
be broken on his part. he produced two pipes one of which
he said was as a present to me the other he intended to send
to the Shoshones &
c. and requested me to take one, I receved
the one made in the fas [h] ion of the country, the other which
was of stone curiously inlaid with silver in the common form
which he got from the Shoshones. I deckorated the stem of
this pipe with blue ribon and white wampom and informed
the chief this was the emblem of peace with us. The men
who accompanied me obtained a good store of roots and bread
in exchange for a number of little
notions, useing the Yanke
phrase, with which their own enginueity had principally furnished
them. on examonation we find our whole party have
a sufficient store of bread and roots for our Voyage. a circumstance
not unpleasing.
I returned at 4 P. M. followed by Hohâstillpilp the 2
young Chiefs who gave us the horses in behalf of the nation
some time sence, the young man who gave us the horse at
Collins Creek to kill as we came up, and several others. I
met the twisted hair and two other indians with Frazier on
the opposit bank from our Camp this morning & sent him
over to our Camp. I met him this evening on his return
home. he informed me he could not accompany us across the
mountains as his brother was sick &c.
