Original journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1806 printed from the original manuscripts in the library of the American Philosophical Society and by direction of its committee on historical documents |
 |
|
| I. |
| II. |
 | III. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
| VII. |
| VIII. |
 | Chapter VII Original journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1806 |  |
30th. (29) of March Sunday (Friday) 1805—
The obstickle broke away
above & the ice came down in
great quantities the river rose 13 inches
the last 24 hours I
observed extrodanary dexterity of the Indians in
jumping from
one cake of ice to another, for the purpose of Catching the
they pass over are not two feet square. The Plains are on fire
in View of the fort on both Sides of the River, it is Said to be
common for the Indians to burn the Plains near their Villages
every Spring for the benefit of their hors[e]s, (Qu) and to
induce the Buffalow to come near to them.
Biddle describes the
manner in which the Indians capture baffaloes which, trying
to cross the river, have become isolated on
ice-floes. Mackenzie (ut supra, p. 337)
states that
the Indians on the Missouri also search eagerly for the carcasses of buffaloes
and other drowned animals that float down the river in the spring season;
these,
although rotten and of intolerable stench, "are preferred by the
Natives to any other
kind of food. . . . So fond are the Mandanes of
putrid meat that they bury animals
whole in the winter for the consumption
of the spring."—Ed.
| Chapter VII Original journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1806 | |