[Lewis:]
Friday July 5th. 1805.
This morning I had the boat removed to an open situation,
scaffold[ed] her off the ground, turned her keel to the sun and
kindled fires under her to dry her more expediciously. I then
set a couple of men to pounding of charcoal to form a composition
with some beeswax which we have and buffaloe tallow now
my only hope and resource for paying my boat; I sincerely
hope it may answer yet I fear it will not. the boat in every
other rispect completely answers my most sanguine expectation;
she is not yet dry and eight men can carry her with the
greatest ease; she is strong and will carry at least 8,000 lb
s. with
her suit of hands; her form is as complete as I could wish it.
the stitches begin to gape very much since she has began to
dry; I am now convinced this would not have been the case
had the skins been sewed with a sharp point only and the
leather not cut by the edges of a sharp nedle. about 8 A.M.
a large herd of buffaloe came near our camp and Cap
t. Clark
with a party of the hunters indeavoured to get a shoot at them
but the wind proved unfavourable and they ran off; the hunters
pursued and killed three of them; we had most of the meat
brought in and set a party to drying it. their skins were also
brought in and streached to dry for the purpose of covering
the baggage. 2 Wolves and three Antelopes also killed today.
we permitted three other men to visit the falls today; these
were the last of the party who had not as yet indulged themselves
with this grand and interesting seen. the buffaloe again
appear in great numbers about our camp and seem to be moving
down the river. it is somewhat remarkable that altho' you
may see ten or a douzen herds of buffaloe distinctly scattered
and many miles distant yet if they are undisturbed by pursuit,
they will all be traveling in one direction. the men who were
permitted to visit the falls today returned in the evening and
reported that the buffaloe were very numerous in that quarter;
and as the country is more broken near the river in that quarter
we conclude to dispatch a couple of canoes tomorrow with some
hunters to kill as many as will answer our purposes.
The plains in this part of the country are not so fertile as
below the entrance of the Cockkle or missel shell river and
from thence down the Missouri (Qu.) there is also much more
stone on the sides of the hills and on the broken lands than
below.
