II. The Books and Papers as Deposited.
I do not find quite all of the Biddle deposit, as itemized in the receipt
given him by the Society; for example, no vocabularies and no maps.
The "Meteorological Register" he specifies is simply certain leaves
detached from the red books, and thus already accounted for. All the
loose manuscript above specified is supposed to be included in the Biddle
deposit. But I find four books from other sources remaining to be
accounted for.
[3]
As to their deposits, therefore, the Lewis and Clark
manuscripts fall into the following arrangement:
1.
The Biddle deposit, fourteen bound volumes, viz.: Two of the
four small marble books; the one brown book; and eleven of the thirteen
red books. With these belong all the loose papers, as above said.
2.
The Jefferson deposit, consisting of three bound volumes. Two
of these are small marble books, matching the other two deposited by
Biddle. Each is by both Lewis and Clark, and each consists of miscellaneous
field notes, mainly on zoölogy and botany. They now form
Codices Q, R. The third volume is one of the red books. It is a
Clark, and contains miscellaneous notes, chiefly on natural history. It
is now Codex P. These three were deposited by Mr. Jefferson in
November,[4]
1817, as appears by memorandum in each of them, in
Biddle's hand.
3.
Unknown deposit: One of the thirteen red books without record
of source whence obtained. This is a Lewis, and consists of certain
astronomical observations and geographical notes. It is now Codex O.[5]