University of Virginia Library

Monday August 26th. 1805.

This morning was excessively cold; there was ice on the vessels
of water which stood exposed to the air nearly a quarter of
an inch thick. we collected our horses and set out at sunrise.
we soon arrived at the extreem source of the Missouri; here I
halted a few minutes, the men drank of the water and consoled
themselves with the idea of having at length arrived at this
long wished for point. from hence we proceeded to a fine
spring on the side of the mountain where I had lain the evening
before I first arrived at the Shoshone Camp. here I halted
to dine and graize our horses, there being fine green grass on
that part of the hillside which was moistened by the water of
the spring while the grass on the other parts was perfectly dry
and parched with the sun. I directed a pint of corn to be
given each Indian who was engaged in transporting our baggage
and about the same quantity to each of the men which
they parched pounded and made into supe. one of the women
who had been assisting in the transportation of the baggage
halted at a little run about a mile behind us, and sent on the
two pack horses which she had been conducting by one of her
female friends. I enquired of Cameahwait the cause of her
detention, and was informed by him in an unconcerned manner
that she had halted to bring fourth a child and would soon
overtake us; in about an hour the woman arrived with her
newborn babe and passed us on her way to the camp apparently

as well as she ever was. It appears to me that the facility and
ease with which the women of the aborigines of North America
bring fourth their children is reather a gift of nature than depending
as some have supposed on the habitude of carrying
heavy burthens on their backs while in a state of pregnacy.
if a pure and dry air, an elivated and cold country is unfavourable
to childbirth, we might expect every difficult incident to
that operation of nature in this part of the continent; again as
the snake Indians possess an abundance of horses, their women
are seldom compelled like those in other parts of the continent
to carry burthens on their backs, yet they have their children
with equal convenience, and it is a rare occurrence for any of
them to experience difficulty in childbirth. I have been several
times informed by those who were conversent with the fact,
that the indian women who are pregnant by whitemen experience
more difficulty in childbirth than when pregnant by
an Indian. if this be true it would go far in suport of the
opinion I have advanced. the tops of the high and irregular
mountains which present themselves to our view on the opposite
side of this branch of the Columbia are yet perfectly covered
with snow; the air which proceeds from those mountains
has an agreeable coolness and renders these parched and South
hillsides much more supportable at this time of the day it being
now about noon. I observe the indian women collecting
the root of a speceis of fennel[19] which grows in the moist
grounds and feeding their poor starved children; it is really
distressing to witness the situation of those poor wretches the
radix of this plant is of the knob kind, of a long ovate form
terminating in a single radicle, the whole being about 3 or four
inches in length and the thickest part about the size of a man's
little finger. it is white firm and crisp in it's present state,
when dryed and pounded it makes a fine white meal; the flavor
of this root is not unlike that of annis seed but not so pungent;
the stem rises to the hight of 3 or four feet is jointed smooth
and cilindric; from 1 to 4 of those knobed roots are attatched
to the base of this stem. the leaf is sheathing, sessile, and
pultipartite,[20] the divisions long and narrow; the whole is of a
deep green. it is now in blume; the flowers are numerous,
small, petals white, and are of the umbellaferous kind. several
small peduncles put forth from the main stock one at each
joint above the sheathing leaf. it has no root leaves. the
root of the present year declines when the seeds have been
matured and the succeeding spring other roots of a similar kind
put fourth from the little knot which unites the roots and stem
and grow and decline with the stem as before mentioned. The
sunflower is very abundant near the watercourses the seeds
of this plant are now rip[e] and the natives collect them in
considerable quantities and reduce them to meal by pounding
and rubing them between smooth stones. this meal is a favorite
food their manner of using it has been beforementioned.
after dinner we continued our rout towards the village. on our
near approach we were met by a number of young men on
horseback. Cameahwait requested that we would discharge
our guns when we arrived in sight of the Village, accordingly
when I arrived on an eminence above the village in the plain
I drew up the party at open order in a single rank and gave
them a runing fire discharging two rounds. they appeared
much gratifyed with this exhibition. we then proceeded to the
village or encampment of brush lodges 32 in number. we
were conducted to a large lodge which had been prepared for
me in the center of their encampment which was situated in a
beautifull level smooth and extensive bottom near the river
about 3 miles above the place I had first found them encamped.
here we arrived at 6 in the evening arranged our baggage near
my tent and placed those of the men on either side of the baggage
facing outwards. I found Colter here who had just arrived
with a letter from Capt. Clark in which Capt. C. had given
me an account of his perigrination and the description of the
river and country as before detailed [advised the purchase of
horses and the pursute of a rout he had learned from his guide who
had promised to pilot ous to a road, to the North &c.[21] ] from this
view of the subject I found it a folly to think of attemp[t]ing to
decend this river in canoes and therefore determined to commence
the purchase of horses in the morning from the indians
in order to carry into execution the design we had formed of
[Capt. C had recomended in] passing the rocky Mountains.
I now informed Cameahwait of my intended expedition overland
to the great river which lay in the plains beyond the
mountains and told him that I wished to purchase 20 horses
of himself and his people to convey our baggage. he observed
that the Minnetares had stolen a great number of their horses
this spring but hoped his people would spear me the number
I wished. I also asked a (another) guide, he observed that he
had no doubt but the old man who was with Capt. C. would
accompany us if we wished him and that he was better informed
of the country than any of them. matters being thus far arranged
I directed the fiddle to be played and the party danced
very merily much to the amusement and gratification of the
natives, though I must confess that the state of my own mind
at this moment did not well accord with the prevailing mirth
as I somewhat feared that the caprice of the indians might suddenly
induce them to withhold their horses from us without
which my hopes of prosicuting my voyage to advantage was
lost; however I determined to keep the indians in a good
humour if possible, and to loose no time in obtaining the
necessary number of horses. I directed the hunters to turn
out early in the morning and indeavor to obtain some meat.
I had nothing but a little parched corn to eat this evening.

This morning Capt. C. and party[22]