Tuesday (Monday) January 20th. 1806.
Visited this morning by three Clatsops who remained with
us all day; the object of their visit is mearly to smoke the pipe.
on the morning of the eighteenth we issued 6 lbs. of jirked Elk
pr. man, this evening the Sergt. reported that it was all exhausted;
the six lbs. have therefore lasted two days and a half
only. at this rate our seven Elk will last us only 3 days
longer, yet no one seems much concerned about the state of the
stores; so much for habit. we have latterly so frequently had
our stock of provisions reduced to a minimum and sometimes
taken a small touch of fasting that three days full allowance
excites no concern. In those cases our skill as hunters afford
us some consolation, for if there is any game of any discription
in our neighbourhood we can track it up and kill it. most of
the party have become very expert with the rifle. The Indians
who visited us today understood us sufficiently to inform us
that the whites did not barter for the pounded fish; that it was
purchased and consumed by the Clatsops, Chinnooks, Cathlahmahs
and Skillutes. The native roots which furnish a considerable
proportion of the subsistence of the indians in our
neighbourhood are those of a species of Thistle, fern, and rush;
the Liquorice, and a small celindric root the top of which I
have not yet seen, this last resembles the sweet pittatoe very
much in it's flavor and consistency.
