[Lewis:]
3rd of February Sunday 1805.[17]
a fine day; the blacksmith again commences his opperations.
we were visited by but few of the
natives today. the
situation of our boat and perogues is now allarming,
they are
firmly inclosed in the Ice and almost covered with snow—
the
ice which incloses them lyes in several stratas of unequal thicknesses
which are seperated by streams of
water. this [is]
peculiarly unfortunate because so soon as we cut through
the
first strata of ice the water rushes up and rises as high as the
upper surface of the ice and thus creates such a debth of water
as
renders it impracticable to cut away the lower strata which
appears firmly
attatched to, and confining the bottom of the
vessels. the instruments we
have hitherto used has been the
ax only, with which, we have made several
attempts that
proved unsuccessfull from the cause above mentioned. we
then determined to attempt freeing them from the ice by
means of
boiling water which we purposed heating in the
vessels by means of hot
stones, but this expedient proved also
fruitless, as every species of
stone which we could procure in
the neighbourhood partook so much of the
calcarious genus
that they burst into small particles on being exposed to
the
heat of the fire. we now determined as the dernier resort to
prepare a parsel of Iron spikes and attatch them to the end of
small
poles of convenient length and endeavour by means
of them to free the
vessels from the ice. we have already
prepared a large rope of Elk-skin
and a windless by means of
which we have no doubt of being able to draw
the boat on the
bank provided we can free [it] from the ice.
4th. February, Monday
1805.
This morning fair tho' could the thermometer stood at
18°. below Naught, wind from N.W. Capt Clark set out
with a
hunting party consisting of sixteen of our command
and two frenchmen who together with two others, have
established
a small hut and resided this
winter within the vicinity
of Fort Mandane under our protection. visited
by many of
the natives today. our stock of meat which we had procured
in the Months of November & December is now nearly exhausted;
a supply of this articles is at this
moment peculiarly
interesting as well for our immediate consumption, as
that we
may have time before the approach of the warm season to
prepare the meat for our voyage in the spring of the year.
Capt.
Clark therefore determined to continue his rout down
the river even as far
as the River bullet
[18]
unless he should find
a plenty of game nearer.
the men transported their baggage
on a couple of small wooden Slays drawn
by themselves, and
took with them 3 pack horses which we had agreed should
be
returned with a load of meat to fort mandane as soon as they
could procure it. no buffaloe have made their appearance in
our
neighbourhood for some weeks (
time shorter); and I am
informed that our Indian neighbours suffer extreemly at this
moment
for the article of
flesh. Shields killed two deer this
evening, both very lean—one a large buck, he had shed his
horns.
5th. February Tuesday 1805.
—
Pleasent morning wind from N.W. fair; visited by many
of the natives who brought a considerable quanty of corn in
payment
for the work which the blacksmith had done for
them they are pecu[1]arly
attatched to a battle ax formed in
a very
inconvenient manner in my opinion. it is fabricated
of iron only, the
blade is extreemly thin, from 7 to nine
inches in length and from 4
¾, to 6 Inches on it's edge, from
whence the sides proceed nearly
in a straight line to the eye
where it's width is generally not more than
an inch. the eye
is round & about one inch in diameter, the handle
seldom
more than fourteen inches in length, the whole weighing about
one pound the great length of the blade of this ax, added to
the
small size of the handle renders a stroke uncertain and
easily avoided, while the shortness of the handel must
render a
blow much less forceable if even well directed, and still more
inconvenient as they uniformly use this instrument in action
on
horseback. The oalder fassion is still more inconvenient,
it is somewhat
in the form of the blade of an Espantoon
[19]
but is
attatch
d. to a helve of the dementions before discribed
the blade is sometimes by way of ornament purforated
with two three or more small circular
holes the following is the general figure it is
from 12 to 15 inces
in length
6th. February Wednesday 1805.
Fair morning Wind from
N.W. had a sley prepared against
the return of the horses which Capt Clark
had promised to
send back as soon as he should be able to procure a load
of
meat. visited by many of the natives among others the Big
white,
the Coal, big-man, hairy horn and the black man, I
smoked with them, after
which they retired, a deportment not
common, for they usually pester us
with their good company
the ballance of the day after once being
introduced to our
apartment. Shields killed three antelopes this evening.
the
blacksmiths take a considerable quantity of corn today in payment
for their labour. the blacksmith's have
proved a happy
reso[r]ce to us in our present situation as I believe it
would
have been difficult to have devised any other method to have
procured corn from the natives. the Indians are extravegantly
fond
of sheet iron of which they form arrow-points and manufacter
into instruments for scraping and
dressing their buffaloe
robes. I permited the blacksmith to dispose of a
part of a
sheet iron callaboos (camboose,[20]
stove) which had been nearly
birnt out on our passage
up the river, and for each piece about
four inches square he obtained from
seven to eight gallons of
corn from the natives who appeared extreemly
pleased with
the exchange
7th. February
Thursday 1805.
This morning was fair Thermometer at 18°.
above naught
much warmer than it has been for some days; wind S.E. continue
to be visited by the natives. The Sergt. of the guard
reported that the Indian women (wives to
our interpreters)
were in the habit of unbaring the fort gate at any time
of night
and admitting their Indian visitors, I therefore directed a
lock to be put to the gate and ordered that no Indian but
those
attatched to the garrison should be permitted to remain
all night within
the fort or admitted during the period which
the gate had been previously
ordered to be kept shut, which
was from sunset untill
sunrise.
8th. February Friday 1805.
This morning was fair wind
S.E. the weather still warm and
pleasent. visited by the black-Cat the principal chief of the
Roop-tar-he, or
upper mandane village. this man possesses
more integrety, firmness,
inteligence and perspicuety of mind
than any indian I have met with in
this quarter, and I think
with a little management he may be made a
usefull agent in
furthering the views of our government. The black Cat
presented
me with a bow and apologized for
not having completed
the shield he had promised alledging that the weather
had been
too could to permit his making it, I gave him som small shot
6 fishing-hooks and 2 yards of ribbon his squaw also presented
me with 2 pair of mockersons for which
in return I
gave a small lookingglass and a couple of nedles. the chief
dined with me and left me in the evening. he informed me
that his
people suffered very much for the article of meat, and
that he had not
himself tasted any for several days.
9th. February Saturday
1805.
The morning fair and pleasent, wind from S.E. visited by
Mr. McKinzey one of the N.W.
Company's clerks. this evening
a man by the
name of Howard whom I had given permission
to go [to] the Mandane vilage returned after the gate was
shut and
reather than call to the guard to have it opened
scaled the works an
indian who was looking on shortly after
followed his example. I convinced the Indian of the
impropryety
of his conduct, and explained
to him the risk he had
run of being severely treated, the fellow appeared
much
allarmed, I gave him a small piece of tobacco and sent him
away
Howard I had comitted to the care of the guard with a
determineation to
have him tryed by a Court-martial for this
offence. this man is an old
soldier which still hightens this
offince.
10th February Sunday
1805.
This Morning was Cloudy after a slight Snow which fell in
the course of the night the wind blue very hard from N.W.
altho' the
thermometer stood at 18°. above naught the violence
of the wind caused
a degree of could that was much more unpleasent
than that of yesterday when thermometer stood at 10°.
only above
the same point. Mr. Mc.Kinzey left me
this morning.
Charbono returned with one of
the Frenchmen, and
informed me that he had left the three Horses and two
men
with the meat which Capt. Clark had sent at some
distance
below on the river he told me that the horses were heavy
loaded and that not being shod it was impossible for horses to
travel on the ice. I determined to send down some men with
two small
slays for the meat and accordingly I gave orders that
they should set out
early the next morning. two men were
also sent to conduct the horses by
way of the plain.
11th. February Monday 1805.
The party that were ordered
last evening set out early this
morning, the weather was fair and could
wind N.W. about
five Oclock this evening one of the wives of Charbono was
delivered of a fine boy.[21]
it is worthy of remark that this was
the first
child which this woman had boarn, and as is common
in such cases her
labour was tedious and the pain violent;
Mr. Jessome
informed me that he had freequently admininstered
a small portion of the rattle of
the rattle-snake, which he
assured
me had never failed to produce the desired effect, that
of hastening the
birth of the child; having the rattle of a
snake by me I gave it to him
and he administered two rings
of it to the woman broken in small pieces
with the fingers and
added to a small quantity of water. Whether this
medicine
was truly the cause or not I shall not undertake to determine,
but I was informed that she had not taken it more than ten
minutes
before she brought forth perhaps this remedy may
be worthy of future
experiments, but I must confess that I
want faith as to it's
efficacy.
12th. February Tuesday
1805.
The morning was fair tho' could, thermometer at 14°. below
naught wind S.E. ordered the Blacksmith to shoe the horses
and some
others to prepare some gears in order to send them
down with three slays
to join the hunting party and transport
the meat which they may have
procured to this place the
men whom I had sent for the meat left by
Charbono did not
return untill 4 OClock this evening. Drewyer arrived with
the horses about the same time, the horses appeared much
fatieged I
directed some meal brands [bran] given them
moisened with a little water
but to my astonishment found
that they would not eat it but prefered the
bark of the cotton
wood which forms the principall article of food usually
given
them by their Indian masters in the winter season; for this
purpose they cause the tree to be felled by their women and
the
horses feed on the boughs and bark of their tender
branches. the Indians
in our neighbourhood are freequently
pilfered of their horses by the
Recares, Souixs and Assinniboins
and
therefore make it an invariable rule to put their
horses in their lodges
at night. in this situation the only food
of the horse consists of a few
sticks of the cottonwood from
the size of a man's finger to that of his
arm. the Indians are
invariably severe riders, and frequently have
occasion for many
days together through the whole course of the day to
employ
their horses in pursueing the Buffaloe or transporting meat to
their vilages during which time they are seldom suffered to
tast
food; at night the Horse returned to his stall where his
food is what seems to me a scanty
allowance of wood. under
these circumstances it would seem that their
horses could not
long exist or at least could not retain their flesh and
strength,
but the contrary is the fact, this valuable anamall under all
those disadvantages is seldom seen meager or unfit for service.
A
little after dark this evening Cap
t. Clark arrived with the
hunting party since they set out they have killed forty Deer,
three
buffaloe bulls, & sixteen Elk, most of them were so
meager that they
were unfit for uce, particularly the Buffaloe
and male Elk the wolves also
which are here extreemly
numerous helped themselves to a considerable
proportion of
the hunt. if an anamal is killed and lyes only one night
exposed to the wolves it is almost invariably devoured by
them.
13th. February Wednesday 1805.
The morning cloudy
thermometer 2°. below naught wind
from S.E. visited by the Black-Cat
gave him a battle ax with
which he appeared much
gratifyed.
