[Lewis:]
Saturday April 19th. 1806.
This morning early we had our small canoes drawn out, and
employed all hands in transporting our baggage on their backs
and by means of the four pack-horses, over the portage.
This labour we had accomplished by 3 P.M. and established
our camp a little above the present Skil-lute village which has
been removed a few hundred yards lower down the river than
when we passed them last fall and like others below have the
floors of their summer dwellings on the surface of the earth
instead of those cellars in which they resided when we passed
them. there was great joy with the natives last night in consequence
of the arrival of the Salmon; one of those fish was
caught; this was the harbinger of good news to them. They
informed us that these fish would arrive in great quantities in
the course of about 5 days. this fish was dressed and being
divided into small peices was given to each child in the village.
this custom is founded in a supersticious opinion that it will
hasten the arrival of the salmon. with much difficulty we
obtained four other horses from the Indians today, we wer[e]
obliged to dispence with two of our kettles, in order to acquire
those, we have now only one small kettle to a mess of 8 men.
in the evening Capt. Clark set out with four men to the
Enesher village at the grand falls in order to make a further
attempt to procure horses. these people are very faithless in
their contracts; they frequently receive the merchandize in
exchange for their horses and after some hours insist on some
additional article being given them or revoke the exchange.
they have pilfered several small articles from us this evening.
I directed the horses to be hubbled & suffered to graize at a
little distance from our camp under the immediate eye of the
men who had them in charge. one of the men Willard was
negligent in his attention to his horse and suffered it to
ramble off; it was not to be found when I ordered the others
to be brought up and confined to the picquits. this in addition
to the other difficulties under which I laboured was truly
provoking. I repremanded him more severely for this piece
of negligence than had been usual with me. I had the remaining
horses well secured by picquits; they were extreemly
wrestless and it required the attention of the whole guard
through the night to retain them notwithstanding they were
hubbled and picquited. they frequently throwed themselves
by the ropes by which they were confined. all except one
were stone horses for the people in this neighbourhood do
not understand the art of gelding them, and this is a season
at which they are most vicious. many of the natives remained
about our camp all night.
