Saturday March 1st. 1806.
This morning Sergt. Gass and a party set out in quest of the
Elk which had been killed by the hunters the day before yesterday.
they returned with the flesh of three of them late in the
evening. Thompson was left with the hunters in order to jurk
and take care of the flesh of the remaining two. Kuskelar and
wife left us about noon. he had a good looking boy of about
10 years of age with him who he informed us was his slave.
this boy had been taken prisoner by the Killamucks from some
nation on the Coast to the S.East of them at a great distance.
like other Indian nations they adopt their slaves in their families
and treat them very much as their own children. Reubin Fields
and Collins who have been absent since yesterday morning
returned without having killed any game. The birds of the
Western side of the Rocky Mountain to the Pacific Ocean, for
convenience I shall divide into two classes, which I shal designate
from the habits of the birds,
Terrestrial and
Aquatic.
The Grouse or Prarie hen is peculiarly the inhabitant of the
Grait Plains of Columbia they do not differ from those of the
upper portion of the Missouri, the tail of which is pointed or
the feathers in it's center much longer than those on the sides.
this species differs essentially in the construction of this part of
their plumage from those of the Illinois which have their tails
composed of f[e]athers of equal length.[61]
in the winter season
this bird is booted even to the first joint of it's toes. the toes
are also curiously bordered on their lower edges with narrow
hard scales which are placed very close to each other and
extend horizontally about 1/8 of an inch on each side of the toes
thus adding to the width of the tread which nature seems
bountifully to have furnished them at this season for passing
over the snow with more ease. in the summer season those
scales fall off. they have four toes on each foot, their colour
is a mixture of dark brown redish and yellowish brown and
white confusedly mixed in which the redish brown prevails most
on the upper parts of the body wings and tail and the white
underneath the belley and lower parts of the breast and tail.
they asscociate in large flocks in autumn & winter and are
frequently found in flocks of from five to six even in summer.
They feed on grass, insects, the leaves of various shrubs in the
plains and on the seeds of several species of spelts and wild rye
which grow in the richer parts of the plains. in winter their
food is the buds of the willow & Cottonwood also the most of
the native berries furnish them with food. The Indians of this
neighbourhood eat the root of the Cattail or Cooper's flag. it
is pleasantly taisted and appears to be very nutricious.[62]
the
inner part of the root which is eaten without any previous
preperation is composed of a number of capillary white flexable
strong fibers among which is a mealy or starch like substance
which readily desolves in the mouth and seperate from the
fibers which are then rejected. it appears to me that this substance
would make excellent starch; nothing can be of a purer
white than it is.
