Tuesday February 4th. 1806.
Sergt. Pryor with a party of five men set out again in quest
of the Elk which Drewyer had killed. Drewyer and La Page
also returned to continue the chase in the same quarter. the
Elk are in much better order in the point near the praries than
they are in the woody country arround us or up the Netul.
in the praries they feed on grass and rushes, considerable quantities
of which are yet green and succule[n]t. in the woody
country their food is huckle berry bushes, fern, and an evergreen
shrub which resembles the lorel in some measure; the
last constitutes the greater part of their food and grows abundantly
through all the timbered country, particularly the hillsides
and more broken parts of it.
[18]
There are s[e]veral species
of fir in this neighbourhood which I shall discribe as well as
my slender botanicall skil wil enable me and for the convenience
of comparison with each other shal number them. (N°. 1.) a
species which grows to immence size; very commonly 27 feet
in the girth six feet above the surface of the earth, and in
several instances we have found them as much as 36 feet in
the girth or 12 feet diameter perfectly solid and entire. they
frequently rise to the hight of 230 feet, and one hundred and
twenty or 30 of that hight without a limb. this timber is
white and soft throughout and rives better than any other
species which we have tryed. the bark shales off in irregula[r]
rounded flakes and is of a redish brown colour particularly of
the younger growth. the stem of this tree is simple branching,
ascending, not very defuse, and proliferous. the leaf of this
tree is acerose, 1/10
th. of an In
h in width, and 3/4 of an Inch in
length; is firm, stif and accuminate; they are triangular, a
little declining, thickly scattered on all sides of the bough, but
rispect the three uppersides only and are also sessile growing
from little triangular pedestals of soft spungy elastic bark, at
the junction of the boughs, the bud-scales continued to incircle
their rispective twigs for several yea[r]s; at least three yea[r]s
is common and I have counted as many as the growth of four
years beyond these scales. this tree affords but little rosin.
it's cone I have not yet had an opportunity to discover altho'
I have sought it frequently; the trees of this kind which we
have felled have had no cones on them.
[19]
February 4th. 1806.
Observed Meridian Altitude of ☉'s U. L.
with Sextant by the direct observation |
55.° |
59.′ |
15.″ |
| Latitude deduced from this observation N. |
46.° |
10.′ |
16.3″ |
By the mean of several observations found
the error of the Sextant to be Subtractive |
—.° |
5.′ |
45.″ |
