[Clark:]
Sunday March 16th 1806
Not any occurrence worthy of relation took place today.
Drewyer and party did not return from the Cathlahmah's this
evening as we expected. we suppose he was detained by the
hard winds today. the Indians remain with us all day, but
would not dispose of their canoe at a price which it was in our
power to give consistently with the state of our stock of Merchandize
which we possess, the ballance of the stock consists
of 6 small blue robes or Blankets one of scarlet. one uniform
Artillerist's coat and hat, 5 robes made of our larg flag, and a
fiew [of] our old clothes trimed with ribon. on this stock we
have wholy to depend for the purchase of horses and such
portion of our subsistence from the Indians as it will be in our
power to obtain. a scant dependence indeed for the tour of
the distance of that before us.
The pellucid jelly like substance, called the sea nettle I found
in great abundance along the Strand where it has been thrown
up by the waves and tide, and adheres to the sand.
There are two species of the Tuci or (seawead) seawreck
which we also found thrown up by the waves. the 1st. specie
at one extremity consists of a large s[v]esicle or hollow vessale
which would contain from one to 2 gallons, of a conic form,
the base of which forms the extreem End and is convex and
Globelar bearing on its center some short broad and irregular
fibers. the substance is about the consistancy of the rind of
a citron Mellon and 3/4 of an inch thick, yellow celindrick,
and regularly tapering the tube extends to 20 or 30 feet and
is then termonated with a number of branches which are flat
1/2 inch in width, rough particularly on the edges, where they
are furnished with a number of little oval vesicles or bags of
the size of a Pigions egg. this plant seams to be calculated to
float at each extremity, while the little end of the tube from
whence the branches proceed, lies deepest in the water.
The White Salmon Trout which we had previously seen only
at the Great Falls of the Columbia, or a little below the Great
Falls, has now made its appearance in the creeks near this
place. one of them was brought us to day by an indian who
had just taken it with his gig. This is a likeness of it; it was
2 feet 8 inches long, and weighed ten pounds the eye is
moderately large, the puple black with a small admixture of
yellow and the iris of a silvery white with a small admixture
of yellow and a little tirbed near its border with a yellowish
brown. the position of the fins may be seen from the drawing,
they are small in perpotion to the fish. the fins are boney
but not pointed except the tail and back fins which are a little
so, the prime back fin and venteral ones, contain each ten
rays; those of the gills twelve, and the small finn placed near
the tail above has no long rays, but is a tough flexable substance
covered with smooth skin. it is thicker in perpotion to
its width than the salmon. the tongue is thick and firm beset
on each border with small subulate teeth in a single series.
the Teeth of the mouth are as before discribed. neither this
fish nor the salmon are cought with the hook, nor do I know
on what they feed. [they] now begin to run &
c. &
c.
