Tuesday April 15th. 1806
We delayed this morning untill after breakfast in order to
purchase some horses of the Indians; accordingly we exposed
some articles in exchange for horses the natives were unwilling
to barter, we therefore put up our merchandize and at 8 A.M.
we set out. we halted a few minutes at the sepulchre rock,
and examined the deposits of the ded at that place. these
were constructed in the same manner of those already discribed
below the rapids. some of them were more than half filled
with dead bodies. there were thirteen sepulchres on this rock
which stands near the center of the river and has a surface of
about 2 acres above high water mark.[20]
from hence we returned
to the no[r]thern shore and continued up it about four miles
to another village of the same nation with whom we remained
last night. here we halted and informed the natives of our
wish to purchase horses; the[y] produced us several for sale
but would not take the articles which we had in exchange for
them. they wanted an instrument which the Northwest traders
call an eye-dag (a sort of war hatchet) which we had not. we
procured two dogs of them and departed. a little below the
entrance of Cataract river we halted at another village of the
same people, at which we were equally unsuccessfull in the purchase
of horses. we also halted at the two villages of the Chilluckkittequaws
a few miles above with no better success. at
three in the evening we arrived at the entrance of Quinnette
[21]
creek which we ascended a short distance and encamped at the
place we have called rockfort camp.
[22]
here we were visited by
some of the people from the villages at the great narrows and
falls. we informed them of our wish to purchase horses, &
agreed to meet them on the opposite or North side of the
river tomorrow for the purpose of bartering with them. most
of them returned to their villages this evening three only
remained with us all night. these people are much better clad
than any of the nations below; their men have generally leging
mockersons and large robes. many of them wear shirts of the
same form [as] those of the Chopunnish and Shoshonees highly
ornamented with the quills of the porcupine as are also their
mockersons and legings. they conceal the parts of generation
with the skin of a fox or some other small animal drawn
underneath a girdle and hanging loosly in front of them like
a narrow apron. the dress of their women differs very little
from those about the rapids. both men and women cut their
hair in the forehead which comes down as low as the eyebrows,
they have long earlocks cut square at the end. the other part
of their hair is dressed in the same manner as those of the
rapids. after we landed and formed our camp this evening
Drewyer and some others took a hunt and killed a deer of the
longtailed kind. it was a buck and the young horns had shot
fourth about 2 inches.
