[Lewis:]
Thursday May 16th.
The morning was fair and the day proved favorable to our
operations; by 4 oClock in the evening our Instruments,
Medicine, merchandize provision &c, were perfectly dryed,
repacked and put on board the perogue. the loss we sustained
was not so great as we had at first apprehended; our medicine
sustained the greatest injury, several articles of which were
intirely spoiled, and many others considerably injured, the
ballance of our losses consisted of some gardin seeds, a small
quantity of gunpowder, and a few culinary articles which fell
overboard and sunk. the Indian woman to whom I ascribe
equal fortitude and resolution, with any person onboard at the
time of the accedent, caught and preserved most of the light
articles which were washed overboard. all matters being now
arranged for our departure we lost no time in seting out; proceeded
on tolerably well about seven miles and encamped on
the Stard. side. in the early part of the day two of our men
fired on a panther, a little below our encampment, and wounded
it; they informed us that it was very large, had just killed a
deer partly devoured it, and in the act of concealing the ballance
as they discovered him. we caught two Antelopes at our
encampment in attempting to swim the river; these anamals
are but lean as yet, and of course not very pleasant food. I
walked on shore this evening and killed a buffaloe cow and
calf, we found the calf most excellent veal. the country on
either side of the river is broken and hills much higher than
usual; the bottoms now become narrow and the timber more
scant; some scattering pine and cedar on the steep declivities
of the hills. this morning a white bear toar Labuiche's coat
which he had left in the plains.
Courses and distances May 16th.
| S. 80°. W. |
to a point of woodland on the Lard. side passing a low
bluff on Stard |
2 1/2 |
| S. 70°. W. |
to a point of woodland on Stard. near which we encamped for the night |
4 1/2 |
|
Miles. |
7. |
Point of observation No. 19. May 16th 1805.
at our encampment of this morning on the Star.d side
which we called Panther camp observed Meridian Altitude
of ☉'s. L. L. with Octant by the back observation 62 3—
Latitude deduced from this observation. [blank space in MS.]
