Thursday May 22nd 1806.
A fine morning we exposed all our baggage to air and dry
as well as our store of roots and bread purchased from the
natives. permited Windsor and Mc.Neal to go to the indian
village. Sergt. Ordway and Goodrich returned this morning
with a good store of roots and bread. about noon 2 indian
men came down the river on a raft and continued at our camp
about 3 hours and returned to their village. we sent out
Shannon and Colter to hunt towards the mountains. we
sent Sergt. Pryor down to the entrance of Collins's Creek to
examine the country and look out for a good position for an
encampment on the river below that Creek, having determined
to remove our camp below that crek if it continues high, as
soon as we have completed our canoe, as the country to which
we are confined to hunt at present is limited by this creek and
river to a very narrow tract, and game have already become
scarce. if we can obtain a good situation below the entrance
of this creek it will be much more eligible as the hunting
country is more extensive and game more abundant than
above. The horse which the indians have given us to kill
was driven away yesterday by the natives with a gang of their
horses I presume in mistake; being without meat at noon we
directed one of the largest of our colts to be killed. we found
the flesh of this animal fat tender and by no means illy
flavoured. we have three others which we mean to reserve
for the rocky mountains if we can subsist here without them.
my horse which was castrated the day before yesterday wounded
his thigh on the inner side with the rope by which he was confined
that evening and is now so much swolen with the wound
the castraiting and the collection of vermen that he cannot
walk, in short he is the most wretched specticle; I had his
wounds clensed of the vermen by washing them well with a
strong decoction of the bark of the roots & leaves of elder but
think the chances are against his recovery. at 3 P.M. we
observed a large party of Indians on horseback in pursuit of
a deer which they ran into the river opposite to our camp;
Capt. C. Myself & three of our men shot and killed the deer
in the water; the indians pursued it on a raft and caught it.
it is astonishing to see these people ride down those steep hills
which they do at full speed.
[12]
on our return to camp we found
Drewyer the two Feildses Gibson and Sheilds just arrived with
five deer which they had killed at a considerable distance
towards the mountains. they also brought with them two
red salmon trout which they had purchased from some indians
whom they had met with on their return to camp. Two
Indians who were just arrived at our camp informed us that
these salmon trout remained in this river the greater part of
the winter, that they were not good at this season which we
readily discovered, they were very meagre. these indians also
informed us that there were at this time a great number of salmon
at no great distance from hence in Lewis's river which had just
arrived and were very fat and fine, they said it would be some
days yet before they would ascend this river as high as this
place. a party of the natives on the opposite shore informed
those with us that a party of the Shoshones had two nights
past surrounded a lodge of their nation on the South side of
Lewis's river, that the inhabitants having timely discovered
the enimy effected their retreat in the course of the night and
escaped. Charbono's Child is very ill this evening; he is
cuting teeth, and for several days past has had a violent lax,
which having suddonly stoped he was attacked with a high
fever and his neck and throat are much swolen this evening.
we gave him a doze of creem of tartar and flour of sulpher and
applyed a poltice of boiled onions to his neck as warm as he
could well bear it. Sergt. Pryor returned late in the evening
and informed us that he had been down the river eight miles
and that the clifts set in so abruptly to the river he could get
no further without returning several miles back and ascending
the hills and that he had thought it best to return and ride
down tomorrow on the high plain as he believed the mouth
of the creek was a considerable distance. Drewyer who has
been at the place informs us that it is about 10 m
s. and that
there is no situation on the river for some distance below this
creek which can possibly answer our purposes. we dryed our
baggage &c. perfectly and put it up.
