Saturday April 13th..
Being disappointed in my observations of yesterday for
Longitude, I was unwilling to remain at the entrance of the
river another day for that purpose, and therefore determined
to set out early this morning; which we did accordingly; the
wind was in our favour after 9 A.M. and continued favourable
untill three 3. P. M. we therefore hoisted both the sails in the
White Perogue, consisting of a
small squar sail, and spritsail,
which carried her at a pretty good gate,
untill about 2 in the
afternoon when a suddon squall of wind struck us and
turned
the perogue so much on the side as to allarm Sharbono who
was
steering at the time, in this state of alarm he threw the
perogue with her
side to the wind, when the spritsail gibing
was as near overseting the
perogue as it was possible to have
missed. the wind however abating for an
instant I ordered
Drewyer to the helm and the sails to be taken in, which
was
instant[ly] executed and the perogue being steered before the
wind was agin plased in a state of security. this accedent was
very
near costing us dearly. beleiving this vessell to be the
most steady and
safe, we had embarked on board of it our
instruments, Papers, medicine and
the most valuable part of
the merchandize which we had still in reserve as
presents for
the Indians. we had also embarked on board ourselves, with
three men who could not swim and the squaw with the young
child, all
of whom, had the perogue overset, would most probably
have perished, as the waves were high, and
the perogue
upwards of 200 yards from the nearest shore; however we
fortunately escaped and pursued our journey under the square
sail,
which shortly after the accident I directed to be again
hoisted. our party
caught three beaver last evening; and the
French hunters 7. as there was
much appearance of beaver
just above the entrance of the little Missouri
these hunters
concluded to remain some days, we therefore left them
without
the expectation of seeing them again. just above the entrance
of the little Missouri the great Missouri is upwards of a mile
in
width, tho' immediately at the entrance of the former it is
not more than
200 yards wide and so shallow that the canoes
passed it with seting poles.
at the distance of nine miles passed
the mouth of a creek on the Star
d.
side which we called onion
creek from the quantity of wild onions which
grow in the plains
on it's borders. Capt. Clark who was on shore informed
me
that this creek was 16 yards wide a mile & a half above it's
entrance, discharges more water than creeks of it's size usually
do
in this open country, and that there was not a stick of
timber of any
discription to be seen on it's borders, or the
level plain country through
which it passes. at the distance
of 10 Miles further we passed the mouth
of a large creek, discharging
itself in the
center of a deep bend. of this creek and
the neighbouring country, Capt.
Clark who was on shore gave
me the following discription. "This creek I
took to be a
small river from it's size, and the quantity of water which
it
discharged; I ascended it 1 1/2 miles, and found it the discharge
of a pond or small lake, which had the appearance of having
formerly
been the bed of the Missouri. several small streams
discharge themselves
into this lake. the country on both sides
consists of beautifull level and
elivated plains; asscending as
they recede from the Missouri; there were a
great number
of Swan and gees in this lake and near it's borders I saw the
remains of 43, temperary Indian lodges, which I presume were
those
of the Assinniboins who are now in the neighbourhood
of the British
establishments on the Assinniboin river" This
lake and it's discharge we
call
goos Egg from the circumstance
of Capt. Clark
shooting a goose while on her nest in the top
of a lofty cotton wood tree,
from which we afterwards took one
egg. the wild gees frequently build
their nests in this manner,
at least we have already found several in
trees, nor have we as
yet seen any on the ground, or sand bars where I had
supposed
from previous information that they most commonly deposited
their eggs. saw some Buffaloe and Elk at a distance to-day
but
killed none of them. we found a number of carcases of
the Buffaloe lying
along shore, which had been drowned by
falling through the ice in winter
and lodged on shore by the
high water when the river broke up about the
first of this
month. we saw also many tracks of the white bear of enormous
size, along the river shore and about the
carcases of
the Buffaloe, on which I presume they feed. we have not
as yet seen one of these anamals,
tho' their tracks are so
abundant and recent. the men as well as ourselves
are
anxious to meet with some of these bear. the Indians give a
very
formidable account of the streng[t]h and ferocity of this
anamal, which
they never dare to attack but in parties of six
eight or ten persons; and
are even then frequently defeated
with the loss of one or more of their
party. the savages attack
this anamal with their bows and arrows and the
indifferent guns
with which the traders furnish them, with these they
shoot
with such uncertainty and at so short a distance, that (
unless
shot thro' head or heart wound not mortal) they
frequently mis
their aim & fall a sacrefice to the bear. two
Minetaries were
killed during the last winter in an attack on a white
bear. this
anamall is said more frequently to attack a man on meeting
with him, than to flee from him. When the Indians are about
to go in
quest of the white bear, previous to their departure,
they paint
themselves and perform all those supersticious rights
commonly observed
when they are about to make war uppon
a neighbouring nation. O[b]served
more bald eagles on this
part of the Missouri than we have previously
seen. saw the
small hawk, frequently called the sparrow hawk, which is
common to most parts of the U. States. great quantities of
gees are
seen feeding in the praries. saw a large flock of white
brant or gees with
black wings pass up the river; there were
a number of gray brant with
them; from their flight I presume
they proceed
much further still to the N.W. we have
never been enabled yet to shoot one
of these birds, and cannot
therefore determine whether the gray brant
found with the
white, are their brude of the last year or whether they are
the
same with the grey brant common to the Mississippi and lower
part of the Missouri. we killed 2 antelopes to-day which we
found
swiming from the S. to the N. side of the river; they
were very poor. We
encamped this evening on the Star
d. shore
in a
beautifull plain, elivated about 30 feet above the river.
The courses and
distances of this day are as
follow.
|
|
miles. |
| N .
18° W. |
to a point of wood on the L. side, point on the Lard.
at 1 1/2 miles |
7
1/2 |
| N. 10. W. |
to the upper point of a Low
bluff on the Stad. pass a
creek on Stard. side. |
5 |
| N. 45.
W. |
to a point of Woodland on Lard.
side |
4. |
| N. 28. W. |
to a point
of Woodland Stard.
side |
3. |
| S. 35. W. |
to a point
of Woodland on Std. side, passed a creek on
Stard. side near the commencement of this course
also, two
points on the Lard. side, the one at a mile,
and the
other 1/2 a mile further, also a large sand
bar in the river above the
entrance of the creek |
4. |
|
|
23
1/2 |
Note our encampment
was one mile short of the extremity of the last
course.—
