University of Virginia Library

[Lewis:]

Tuesday August 20th. 1805.

This morning I sent out the two hunters and employed the
ballance of the party pretty much as yesterday. I walked
down the river about 3/4 of a mile and scelected a place near
the river bank unperceived by the Indians for a cash, which I
set three men to make, and directed the centinel to discharge
his gun if he pereceived any of the Indians going down in that
direction which was to be the signal for the men at work on

the cash to desist and separate, least these people should discover
our deposit and rob us of the baggage we intend leaving
here. by evening the cash was completed unperceived by the
Indians, and all our packages made up. the Pack-saddles and
harnes is not yet complete. in this operation we find ourselves
at a loss for nails and boards; for the first we substitute
throngs of raw hide which answer verry well, and for the last
[had] to cut off the blades of our oars and use the plank of
some boxes which have heretofore held other articles and put
those articles into sacks of raw hide which I have had made for
the purpose. by this means I have obtained as many boards
as will make 20 saddles which I suppose will be sufficient for
our present exegencies. The Indians with us behave themselves
extreemly well; the women have been busily engaged
all day making and mending the mockersons of our party. In
the evening the hunters returned unsuccessfull. Drewyer went
in search of his trap which a beaver had taken off last night;
he found the beaver dead with the trap to his foot about 2 miles
below the place he had set it. this beaver constituted the
whole of the game taken today. the fur of this animal is as
good as I ever saw any, and beleive that they are never out of
season on the upper part of the Missouri and it's branches
within the mountains. Goodrich caught several douzen fine
trout today. I made up a small assortment of medicines,
together with the specemines of plants, minerals, seeds &c,
which, I have collected betwen this place and the falls of the
Missouri which I shall deposit here. the robe woarn by the
Sho-sho-nees is the same in both sexes and is loosly thrown
about their sholders, and the sides at pleasure either hanging
loose or drawn together with the hands; sometimes if the
weather is cold they confine it with a girdel arround the waist;
they are generally about the size of a 2 1/2 point blanket for
grown persons and reach as low as the middle of the leg. this
robe forms a garment in the day and constitutes their only
covering at night. with these people the robe is formed most
commonly of the skins of Antelope, Bighorn, or deer, dressed
with the hair on, tho' they prefer the buffaloe when they can
procure them. I have also observed some robes among them
of beaver, moonox,[9] and small wolves. the summer robes of
both sexes are also frequently made of the Elk's skin dressed
without the hair. The shirt of the men is really a commodious
and decent garment. it [is] roomy and reaches nearly half
way the thye, there is no collar, the apperture being sufficiently
large to admit the head and is left square at top, or most frequently,
both before and behind terminate[s] in the tails of the
animals of which they are made and which foald outwards being
frequently left entire, or somtimes cut into a fring[e] on the
edges and ornimented with the quills of the Porcupine. the
sides of the shirt are sewed, deeply fringed, and ornamented in
a similar manner from the bottom upwards, within six or eight
inches of the sleve from whence it is left open as well as the
sleve on it's under side to the elbow nearly. from the elbow
the sleve fits the arm tight as low as the wrist and is not
ornimented with a fringe as the side and under parts of the
sleve are above the elbow. the sholder straps are wide and on
them is generally displayed the taste of the manufacterer in a
variety of figures wrought with the quills of the porcupine of
several colours; beads when they have them are also displayed
on this part. the tail of the shirt is left in the form which the
fore legs and neck give it with the addition of a slight fringe.
the hair is usually left on the tail, & near the hoofs of the
animal; part of the hoof is also retained to the skin and is
split into a fring by way of orniment. these shirts are generally
made of deer's, Antelope's Bighorn's, or Elk's skins dressed
without the hair. the Elk skin is less used for this purpose
than either of the others. their only thread used on this or
any other occasion is the sinews taken from the back and loins
of the deer Elk buffaloe &c. their legings are most usually
formed of the skins of the Antelope dressed without the hair.
in the men they are very long and full each leging being
formed of a skin nearly entire. the legs, tail and neck are also
left on these, and the tail woarn upwards, and the neck deeply
fringed and ornimented with porcupine qu[i]lls drags or trails
on the ground behind the heel. the skin is sewn in such
manner as to fit the leg and thye closely; the upper part being
left open a sufficient distance to permit the legs of the skin in to
be dra[w]n underneath a girdle both before and behind and
the wide part of the skin to cover the buttock and lap before
in such manner that the breechcloth is unnecessary. they are
much more decent in concealing those parts than any nation on
the Missouri the sides of the legings are also deeply fringed
and ornimented. sometimes this part is ornimented with little
fassicles of the hair of an enimy whom they have slain in battle.
The tippet of the Snake Indians is the most eligant peice of
Indian dress I ever saw. the neck or collar of this is formed
of a strip of dressed Otter skin with the fur. it is about four or
five inches wide and is cut out of the back of the skin the nose
and eyes forming one extremity and the tail the other. begining
a little behind the ear of the animal at one edge of this
collar and proceeding towards the tail, they attatch from one to
two hundred and fifty little roles of Ermin skin formed in the
following manner. the skin is first dressed with the fur on it
and a narrow strip is cut out of the back of the skin reaching
from the nose and imbracing the tail. this is sewed arround a
small cord of the silk-grass[10] twisted for the purpose and regularly
tapering in such manner as to give it a just proportion to
the tail which is to form the lower extremity of the stran[d].
thus arranged they are confined at the upper point in little
bundles of two, three, or more as the disign may be to make
them more full; these are then attatched to the collars as before
mentioned, and to conceal the connection of this part which
would otherwise have a course appearance they attatch a broad
fringe of the Ermin skin to the collar overlaying that part.
little bundles of fine fringe of the same materials is fastened to
the extremity of the tails in order to shew their black extremities
to greater advantage. the center of the otterskin collar is
also ornamented with the shells of the perl oister.[11] the collar
is confined aro[u]nd the neck and the little roles of Ermin
skin about the size of a large quill covers the solders and body
nearly to the waist and has the appearance of a short cloak and
is really handsome. these they esteem very highly, and give
or dispose of only on important occasions. the ermin whic[h]
is known to the traiders of the N.W. by the name of the white
weasel is the genuine ermine,[12] and might no doubt be turned
to great advantage by those people if they would encourage
the Indians to take them. they are no doubt extreemly plenty,
and readily taken, from the number of these tippets which I
have seen among these people and the great number of skins
employed in the construction of each tippet. scarcely any of
them have employed less than one hundred of these skins in
their formation. This morning Capt. Clark set out at 6 in the
morning and soon after arrived near their camp they [the Shoshones]
having removed about 2 miles higher up the river than
the camp at which they were when I first visited them. the
chief requested a halt, which was complyed with, and a number
of the indians came out from the village and joined them after
smoking a few pipes with them they all proceeded to the village
where Capt. C. was conducted to a large lodge prepared in
the center of the encampment for himself and party. here they
gave him one salmon and some cakes of dryed berries. he now
repeated to them what had been said to them in council at this
place which was repeated to the village by the Cheif. when he
had concluded this address he requested a guide to accompany
him down the river and an elderly man was pointed out by the
Chief who consented to undertake this task. this was the old
man of whom Cameahwait had spoken as a person well acquainted
with the country to the North of this river. Capt. C.
[had Conversations][13]

I now prevailed on the Chief to instruct me with respect to
the geography of his country. this he undertook very cheerfully,
by delienating the rivers on the ground. but I soon
found that his information fell far short of my expectation or
wishes. he drew the river on which we now are [i. e., Lemhi]
to which he placed two branches just above us, which he
shewed me from the openings of the mountains were in view;
he next made it discharge itself into a large river which flowed
from the S.W. about ten miles below us, then continued this
joint stream in the same direction of this valley or N.W. for
one days march and then enclined it to the West for 2 more
days march. here he placed a number of heaps of sand on
each side which he informed me represented the vast mountains
of rock eternally covered with snow through which the
river passed. that the perpendicular and even juting rocks so
closely hemned in the river that there was no possibil[it]y of
passing along the shore; that the bed of the river was obstructed
by sharp pointed rocks and the rapidity of the stream
such that the whole surface of the river was beat into perfect
foam as far as the eye could reach. that the mountains were
also inaccessible to man or horse. he said that this being the
state of the country in that direction that himself nor none of
his nation had ever been further down the river than these
mountains. I then enquired the state of the country on either
side of the river but he could not inform me. he said there
was an old man of his nation a days march below who could
probably give me some information of the country to the
N.W. and refered me to an old man then present for that to
the S.W. the Chief further informed me that he had understood
from the persed nosed[14] Indians who inhabit this river
below the rocky mountains that it ran a great way toward the
seting sun and finally lost itself in a great lake of water which
was illy taisted, and where the white men lived. I next commenced
my enquiries of the old man to whom I had been
refered for information relative the country SW. of us. this

he depicted with horrors and obstructions scarcely inferior to
that just mentioned. he informed me that the band of this
nation to which he belonged resided at the distance of 20 days
march from hence not far from the white people with whom
they traded for horses mules cloth metal beads and the shells
which they woar as orniment being those of a species of perl
oister. that the course to his relations was a little to the West
of South. that in order to get to his relations the first seven
days we should be obliged to climb over steep and rocky
mountains where we could find no game to kill nor anything
but roots such as a ferce and warlike nation lived on whom he
called the broken mockersons or mockersons with holes, and
said inhabited those mountains and lived like the bear of other
countries among the rocks and fed on roots or the flesh of
such horses as they could take or steel from those who passed
through their country. that in passing this country the feet
of our horses would be so much wounded with the stones
many of them would give out. the next part of the rout was
about 10 days through a dry and parched sandy desert in
which [there is] no food at this season for either man or
horse, and in which we must suffer if not perish for the want
of water. that the sun had now dryed up the little pools of
water which exist through this desert plain in the spring
season and had also scorched all the grass. that no animal
inhabited this plain on which we could hope to subsist. that
about the center of this plain a large river passed from S.E. to
N.W. which was navigable but afforded neither Salmon nor
timber. that beyond this plain th[r]ee or four days march
his relations lived in a country tolerable fertile and partially
covered with timber on another large river which ran in the
same direction of the former. that this last discharged itself
into a large river on which many numerous nations lived with
whom his relations were at war but whether this last discharged
itself into the great lake or not he did not know. that from
his relations it was yet a great distance to the great or stinking
lake as they call the Ocean. that the way which such of his
nation as had been to the Stinking lake traveled was up the
river on which they lived and over to that on which the white
people lived which last they knew discharged itself into the
Ocean, and that this was the way which he would advise me
to travel if I was determined to proceed to the Ocean but
would advise me to put off the journey untill the next spring
when he would conduct me. I thanked him for his information
and advise and gave him a knife with which he appeared
to be much gratifyed. from this narative I was convinced that
the streams of which he had spoken as runing through the
plains and that on which his relations lived were southern
branches of the Columbia, heading with the rivers Apostles
and Collorado, and that the rout he had pointed out was to
the Vermillion Sea or gulph of Callifornia. I therefore told
him that this rout was more to the South than I wished to
travel, and requested to know if there was no rout on the left
of this river on which we now are, by means of which, I could
intercept it below the mountains through which it passes; but
he could not inform me of any except that of the barren plain
which he said joined the mountain on that side and through
which it was impossible for us to pass at this season even if we
were fortunate enough to escape from the broken mockerson
Indians. I now asked Cameahwait by what rout the Pierced
nosed indians, who he informed me inhabited this river below
the mountains, came over to the Missouri; this he informed
me was to the north, but added that the road was a very bad
one as he had been informed by them and that they had
suffered excessively with hunger on the rout being obliged to
subsist for many days on berries alone as there was no game
in that part of the mountains which were broken rockey and
so thickly covered with timber that they could scarcely pass.
however knowing that Indians had passed, and did pass, at
this season on that side of this river to the same below the
mountains, my rout was instantly settled in my own mind,
p[r]ovided the account of this river should prove true on an
investigation of it, which I was determined should be made
before we would undertake the rout by land in any direction.
I felt perfectly satisfyed, that if the Indians could pass these
mountains with their women and Children, that we could also
pass them; and that if the nations on this river below the
mountains were as numerous as they were stated to be that
they must have some means of subsistence which it would be
equally in our power to procure in the same country. they
informed me that there was no buffaloe on the West side of
these mountains; that the game consisted of a few Elk deer
and Antelopes, and that the natives subsisted on fish and
roots principally. in this manner I spent the day smoking
with them and acquiring what information I could with respect
to their country. they informed me that they could pass to
the Spaniards by the way of the yellowstone river in 10 days.
I can discover that these people are by no means friendly to
the Spaniards. their complaint is, that the Spaniards will not
let them have fire arms and amunition, that they put them off
by telling them that if they suffer them to have guns they will
kill each other, thus leaving them defenceless and an easy prey
to their bloodthirsty neighbours to the East of them, who
being in possession of fire arms hunt them up and murder
them without rispect to sex or age and plunder them of their
horses on all occasions. they told me that to avoid their
enemies who were eternally harrassing them that they were
obliged to remain in the interior of these mountains at least
two thirds of the year where the[y] suffered as we then saw
great heardships for the want of food sometimes living for
weeks without meat and only a little fish roots and berries.
but this added Câmeahwait, with his ferce eyes and lank jaws
grown meager for the want of food, would not be the case if
we had guns, we could then live in the country of buffaloe and
eat as our enimies do and not be compelled to hide ourselves
in these mountains and live on roots and berries as the bear
do. we do not fear our enimies when placed on an equal footing
with them. I told them that the Minnetares Mandans &
recares of the Missouri had promised us to desist from making
war on them & that we would indevour to find the means of
making the Minnetares of fort d Prarie or as they call them
Pahkees desist from waging war against them also. that after
our finally returning to our homes towards the rising sun
whitemen would come to them with an abundance of guns and
every other article necessary to their defence and comfort,
and that they would be enabled to supply themselves with
these articles on reasonable terms in exchange for the skins of
the beaver Otter and Ermin so abundant in their country.
they expressed great pleasure at this information and said they
had been long anxious to see the whitemen that traded guns;
and that we might rest assured of their friendship and that they
would do whatever we wished them.[15]

Capt C. [then] encouraged the Indians to come over with
their horses and assist me over with the baggage. he distrubuted
some presents among the Indians. about half the
men of the village turned out to hunt the antelope but were
unsuccessfull. at 3 P.M. Capt. Clark departed, accompanyed
by his guide and party except one man whom he left with
orders to purchase a horse if possible and overtake him as soon
as he could. he left Charbono and the indian woman to return
to my camp with the Indians. he passed the river about four
miles below the Indians, and encamped on a small branch,
eight miles distant. on his way he met a rispectable looking
indian who returned and continued with him all night; this
indian gave them three salmon. Capt. C. killed a cock of the
plains or mountain cock. it was of a dark brown colour with
a long and pointed tail, larger than the dunghill fowl and had
a fleshey protuberant substance about the base of the upper
chap, something like that of the turkey tho' without the snout.

This day I observed time and distance of ☉'s. and D's. nearest Limbs
with Sextant. ☉ East.

                   

	Time	Distance.		Time	Distance
	h m s	o ′ ″		h m s	o ′ ″
A.M.	8. 16. 0	53. 35. 30.	A.M.	8. 33. 29.	53. 27. 45.
	". 18. 36.	". 33. 30.		". 34. 14.	". 27. 30.
	". 21. 37.	". 31. 45.		". 35. 31.	". 27. –.
	". 23. 12.	". 31. 30.		". 36. 43.	". 26. 45.
	". 25. –.	". 30. 45		". 37. 12.	". 26. –.
	". 27. 32.	". 29. 30		". 39. 20.	". 25. 15.
	". 29. 5.	". 29. –.		". 40. 32.	". 25. –.
	". 30. 11.	". 28. 45.

         

Longitude deduced from this observation.
West of Greenwich [blank space in MS.]
Latitude N. deduced from the Hor. 〈 of the P.M.	o ′ ″
Observation of ☉'s. center	44. 33. 50.5
Observed Equal Altitudes with Sextant of the Sun.

     

A.M.	8. 45. 30.	P.M.	3. 55. 40.	Altitude by Sextant at the time of obsert.
	". 47. 4.		". 57. 16.
	". 49. 40.		". 58. 50.	68°. 30′.—″.

       

Observed Meridian Altitude of ☉'s L.L. with	o ′ ″
Octant by the back observation	70.—.—.
	° ′ ″
Latitude deduced from this observation.	N. 44. 39. 43.