University of Virginia Library

[Lewis:]

Tuesday August 13th. 1805.

We set out very early on the Indian road which still led us
through an open broken country in a westerly direction. a
deep valley appeared to our left at the base of a high range of
mountains which extended from S.E. to N.W. having their
sides better clad with pine timber than we had been accustomed
to see the mountains and their tops were also partially
covered with snow. at the distance of five miles the road after
leading us down a long decending valley for 2 Ma brought us
to a large creek about 10 yds. wide; this we passed and on rising
the hill beyond it had a view of a handsome little valley
to our left of about a mile in width through which from the
appearance of the timber I conjectured that a river passed. I
saw near the creek some bushes of the white maple, the shumate
[sumac] of the small species with the winged rib,[7] and a
species of honeysuckle much in it's growth and leaf like the
small honeysuckle of the Missouri only reather larger and
bears a globular berry as large as a garden pea and as white as
wax. this berry is formed of a thin smooth pellicle which envellopes
a soft white musilagenous substance in which there
are several small brown seed irregularly scattered or intermixed
without any sell or perceptable membranous covering. we
had proceeded about four miles through a wavy plain parallel
to the valley or river bottom when at the distance of about a
mile we saw two women, a man and some dogs on an eminence
immediately before us. they appeared to v[i]ew us with attention
and two of them after a few minutes set down as if to wait
our arrival we continued our usual pace towards them. when

we had arrived within half a mile of them I directed the party
to halt and leaving my pack and rifle I took the flag which I
unfurled and a[d]vanced singly towards them the women
soon disappeared behind the hill, the man continued untill I
arrived within a hundred yards of him and then likewise
absconded. tho' I frequently repeated the word tab-ba-bone
sufficiently loud for him to have heard it. I now haistened to
the top of the hill where they had stood but could see nothing
of them. the dogs were less shye than their masters they
came about me pretty close I therefore thought of tying a
handkerchief about one of their necks with some beads and
other trinkets and then let them loose to surch their fugitive
owners thinking by this means to convince them of our pacific
disposition towards them but the dogs would not suffer me
to take hold of them; they also soon disappeared. I now
made a signal fror the men to come on, they joined me and we
pursued the back track of these Indians which lead us along
the same road which we had been traveling. the road was
dusty and appeared to have been much traveled lately both by
men and horses. these praries are very poor the soils is of a
light yellow clay, intemixed with small smooth gravel, and
produces little else but prickly pears, and bearded grass about
3 inches high. the prickley pear are of three species that with
a broad leaf common to the missouri; that of a globular form
also common to the upper pa[r]t of the Missouri and more
especially after it enters the Rocky Mountains, also a 3rd peculiar
to this country. it consists of small circular thick leaves
with a much greater number of thorns. these thorns are
stronger and appear to be barbed. the leaves grow from the
margins of each other as in the broad leafed pear of the missouri,
but are so slightly attached that when the thorn touches
your mockerson it adhears and brings with it the leaf covered
in every direction with many others. this is much the most
troublesome plant of the three. we had not continued our
rout more than a mile when we were so fortunate as to meet
with three female savages. the short and steep ravines which
we passed concealed us from each other untill we arrived within
30 paces. a young woman immediately took to flight, an
Elderly woman and a girl of about 12 years old remained. I
instantly laid by my gun and advanced towards them. they
appeared much allarmed but saw that we were to near for them
to escape by flight they therefore seated themselves on the
ground, holding down their heads as if reconciled to die which
the[y] expected no doubt would be their fate;[8] I took the
elderly woman by the hand and raised her up repeated the
word tab-ba-bone and strip[ped] up my shirt sleve to s[h]ew
her my skin; to prove to her the truth of the ascertion that I
was a white man for my face and ha[n]ds which have been
constantly exposed to the sun were quite as dark as their own.
they appeared instantly reconciled, and the men coming up I
gave these women some beads a few mockerson awls some
pewter looking-glasses and a little paint. I directed Drewyer
to request the old woman to recall the young woman who had
run off to some distance by this time fearing she might allarm
the camp before we approached and might so exasperate the
natives that they would perhaps attack us without enquiring
who we were. the old woman did as she was requested and
the fugitive soon returned almost out of breath. I bestoed an
equ[i]volent portion of trinket on her with the others. I now
painted their tawny cheeks with some vermillion which with
this nation is emblematic of peace. after they had become
composed I enformed them by signs that I wished them to
conduct us to their camp that we wer anxious to become
acquainted with the chiefs and warriors of their nation. they
readily obeyed and we set out, still pursuing the road down
the river. we had marched about 2 miles when we met a
party of about 60 warriors mounted on excellent horses who
came in nearly full speed, when they arrived I advanced
towards them with the flag leaving my gun with the party
about 50 paces behi[n]d me. the chief and two others who
were a little in advance of the main body spoke to the women,
and they informed them who we were and exultingly shewed
the presents which had been given them these men then
advanced and embraced me very affectionately in their way
which is by puting their left arm over you[r] wright sholder
clasping your back, while they apply their left cheek to yours
and frequently vociforate the word âh-hí–e, âh-hí-e that is, I am
much pleased, I am much rejoiced. bothe parties now advanced
and we wer all carresed and besmeared with their grease
and paint till I was heartily tired of the national hug. I now
had the pipe lit and gave them smoke; they seated themselves
in a circle around us and pulled of[f] their mockersons before
they would receive or smoke the pipe. this is a custom among
them as I afterwards learned indicative of a sacred obligation
of sincerity in their profession of friendship given by the act
of receiving and smoking the pipe of a stranger. or which is
as much as to say that they wish they may always go bearfoot
if they are not sincere; a pretty heavy penalty if they are to
march through the plains of their country. after smoking a
few pipes with them I distributed some trifles among them,
with which they seemed much pleased particularly with the
blue beads and vermillion. I now informed the chief that the
object of our visit was a friendly one, that after we should
reach his camp I would undertake to explain to him fully
those objects, who we wer, from whence we had come and
w[h]ither we were going; that in the mean time I did not
care how soon we were in motion, as the sun was very warm
and no water at hand. they now put on their mockersons,
and the principal chief Ca-me-âh-wait made a short speach to
the warriors. I gave him the flag which I informed him was
an emblem of peace among whitemen and now that it had
been received by him it was to be respected as the bond of
union between us. I desired him to march on, which [he]
did and we followed him; the dragoons moved on in squadron
in our rear. after we had marched about a mile in this order
he halted them and gave a second harang; after which six or
eight of the young men road forward to their encampment and
no further regularity was observed in the order of march. I
afterwards understood that the Indians we had first seen this
morning had returned and allarmed the camp; these men had
come out armed cap a pe for action expecting to meet with
their enimies the Minnetares of Fort de Prarie whome they
Call Pâh'-kees. they were armed with b[o]ws arrow and
Shields except three whom I observed with small pieces such
as the N.W. Company furnish the natives with which they
had obtained from the Rocky Mountain Indians on the Yellow
stone river with whom they are at peace. on our arrival at
their encampmen[t] on the river in a handsome level and
fertile bottom at the distance of 4 Ms. from where we had
first met them they introduced us to a londge made of willow
brush and an old leather lodge which had been prepared for
our reception by the young men which the chief had dispatched
for that purpose. Here we were seated on green
boughs and the skins of Antelopes. one of the warriors then
pulled up the grass in the center of the lodge forming a smal[l]
circle of about 2 feet in diameter the chief next produced his
pipe and native tobacco and began a long cerimony of the pipe
when we were requested to take of[f] our mockersons, the
Chief having previously taken off his as well as all the warriors
present. this we complyed with; the Chief then lit his pipe
at the fire kindled in this little magic circle, and standing on
the oposite side of the circle uttered a speach of several minutes
in length at the conclusion of which he pointed the stem
to the four cardinal points of the heavens first begining at the
East and ending with the North. he now presented the pipe
to me as if desirous that I should smoke, but when I reached
my hand to receive it, he drew it back and repeated the same
c[e]remony three times, after which he pointed the stem first
to the heavens then to the center of the magic circle smoked
himself with three whifs and held the pipe untill I took as
many as I thought proper; he then held it to each of the
white persons and then gave it to be consumed by his warriors.[9]
this pipe was made of a dense simitransparent green
stone very highly polished about 2 1/2 inches long and of an
oval figure, the bowl being in the same direction with the stem.
a small piece of birned clay is placed in the bottom of the bowl
to separate the tobacco from the end of the stem and is of an
irregularly rounded figure not fitting the tube purfectly close
in order that the smoke may pass. this is the form of the
pipe. their tobacco is of the same kind of that used by the

[ILLUSTRATION]

Minnetares Mandans and Ricares of the Missouri. the Shoshonees
do not cultivate this plant, but obtain it from the
Rocky mountain Indians and some of the bands of their own
nation who live further south. I now explained to them the
objects of our journey &c. all the women and children of the
camp were shortly collected about the lodge to indulge themselves
with looking at us, we being the first white persons they
had ever seen. after the cerimony of the pipe was over I distributed
the remainder of the small articles I had brought with
me among the women and children. by this time it was late
in the evening and we had not taisted any food since the evening
before. the Chief informed us that they had nothing but
berries to eat and gave us some cakes of serviceberries and
Choke cherries which had been dryed in the sun; of these I
made a hearty meal, and then walked to the river, which I
found about 40 yards wide very rapid clear and about 3 feet
deep. the banks low and abrupt as those of the upper part
of the Missouri, and the bed formed of loose stones and
gravel. Cameahwait informed me that this stream discharged
itself into another doubly as large at the distance of half a days
march which came from the S.W. but he added on further
enquiry that there was but little more timber below the junction
of those rivers than I saw here, and that the river was
confined between inacessable mountains, was very rapid and
rocky insomuch that it was impossible for us to pass either by
land or water down this river to the great lake where the white
men lived as he had been informed. this was unwelcome
information but I still hoped that this account had been exagerated
with a view to detain us among them. as to timber
I could discover not any that would answer the purpose of
constructing canoes or in short more than was bearly necessary
for fuel consisting of the narrow leafed Cottonwood and willow,
also the red willow Choke Cherry service berry and a few currant
bushes such as were common on the Missouri. these
people had been attacked by the Minetares of Fort de prarie
this spring and about 20 of them killed and taken prisoners.
on this occasion they lost a great part of their horses and all
their lodges except that which they had erected for our accomodation;
they were now living in lodges of a conic figure made
of willow brush. I still observe a great number of horses
feeding in every direction around their camp and therefore entertain
but little doubt but we shall be enable[d] to furnish
ourselves with an adiquate number to transport our stores even
if we are compelled to travel by land over these mountains.
on my return to my lodge an indian called me in to his bower
and gave me a small morsel of the flesh of an antelope boiled,
and a peice of a fresh salmon roasted; both which I eat with a
very good relish. this was the first salmon I had seen and
perfectly convinced me that we were on the waters of the
Pacific Ocean. the course of this river is a little to the North
of west as far as I can discover it; and is bounded on each side
by a range of high Mountains. tho' those on the E. side are
lowest and more distant from the river.

This evening the Indians entertained us with their dancing
nearly all night. at 12 O'Cp I grew sleepy and retired to
rest leaving the men to amuse themselves with the Indians.
I observe no essential difference between the music and manner
of dancing among this nation and those of the Missouri.
I was several times awoke in the course of the night by their
yells but was too much fortiegued to be deprived of a tolerable
sound night's repose.

This morning Capt Clark set out early having previously
dispatched some hunters ahead. it was cool and cloudy all
the forepart of the day, at 8 A.M. they had a slight rain.
they passed a number of shoals over which they were obliged

to drag the canoes; the men in the water 3/4ths. of the day,
the[y] passed a bold runing stream 7 yds. wide on the Lard. side
just below a high point of Limestone rocks. this stream we
call Mc. Neal's Creek after Hugh Mc. Neal one of our party.
this creek heads in the Mountains to the East and forms a
handsome valley for some miles between the mountains.1 from
the top of this limestone Clift above the creek The beaver's
head boar N 24 E.12.M the course of Wisdom river or
that which the opening of it's valley makes through the mountains
is N.25.W. to the gap through which Jefferson's river
enters the mountains above is S 18° W 10.M. they killed
one deer only today. saw a number of Otter some beaver
Antelopes ducks gees and Crains. they caught a number of
fine trout as they have every day since I left them. they
encamped on Lr[10] . in a smooth level prarie near a few cottonwood
trees, but were obliged to make use of the dry willow
brush for fuel.

Courses and distances travelled by Capt. Clark. August 13th. 1805.

     

South	1.	to a point of rocks about 70 feet high on Stard. distance by water 4 M. passing the head of the Island. at 2½ M opposite to which we encamped last evening. also the entrance of a bold Creek 7 Yds. wide on Lard. behind an Isld. this we called Mc. Neal's Creek, after Hugh McNeal of our party.
S. 30. W.	4.	to a Clift of high rocks on the Stard. side distance by water 12. M. passing several islds and bayous on either
Miles.	5	side the river very crooked and bends short.