[Lewis:]
Friday (Thursday) January 16th. 1806.
This evening we finished curing the meat. no occurrence
worthy of relation took place today. we have plenty of Elk
beef for the present and a little salt, our houses dry and comfortable,
and having made up our minds to remain until the
1st. of April, every one appears content with his situation and
his fare. it is true that we could even travel now on our
return as far as the timbered country reaches, or to the falls of
the river; but further it would be madness for us to attempt to
proceede untill April, as the indians inform us that the snows
lye knee deep in the plains of Columbia during the winter, and
in these plains we could scarcely get as much fuel of any kind
as would cook our provision as we descended the river; and
even were we happyly over these plains and again in the woody
country at the foot of the Rocky Mountains we could not
possibly pass that immence barrier of mountains on which the
snows ly in winter to the debth in many places of 20 feet; in
short the Indians inform us that they are impracticable untill
about the 1st. of June, at which time even there is an abundance
of snow but a scanty subsistence may be obtained for the horses.
we should not therefore forward ourselves on our homeward
journey by reaching the rocky mountains. early than the 1st. of
June, which we can easily effect by seting out from hence on
the 1st. of April.
The Clatsops Chinnooks &c. in fishing employ the common
streight net, the scooping or diping net with a long handle,
the gig, and the hook and line. the common net is of different
lengths and debths usually employed in taking the sammon,
Carr [cherr] and trout in the inlets among the marshey grounds
and the mouths of deep creeks the skiming or [s]cooping
net to take small fish in the spring and summer season; the
gig and hook are employed indiscriminately at all seasons in
taking such fish as they can procure by their means. their nets
and fishing lines are made of the silk-grass or white cedar bark;
and their hooks are generally of European manufactory, tho' before
the whites visited them they [ILLUSTRATION] made hooks
of bone and other substances formed in
the following manner A C, and C.B. are two
small pieces of bone about the size of a strong twine, these are
flattened and leveled off of their extremities near C. where
they are firmly attatched together with sinues and covered with
rosin. CA. is reduced to a sharp point at A where it is also
bent in a little; C B. is attatched to the line, for about half
it's length at the upper extremity B. the whole forming two
sides of an accute angled triangle.
