[Lewis:]
Wednesday May 21st. 1806.
It rained a few hours this morning. Sheilds and Gibson
set out to hunt towards the mountains. Collins came to camp
at noon and remained about 2 hours; he has killed nothing
since he left us last. we set five men at work to make a canoe
for the purpose of fishing and passing the river. the Indians
have already promised us a horse for this canoe when we have
no longer any uce for her. as our tent was not sufficient to
shelter us from the rain we had a lodge constructed of willow
poles and grass in the form of the orning of a waggon closed
at one end. this we had made sufficiently large to sleep in
and to shelter the most important part of our baggage. it is
perfectly secure against the rain sun and wind and affords
us much the most comfortable shelter we have had since we
left Fort Clatsop. today we divided the remnant of our store
of merchandize among our party with a view that each should
purchase therewith a parsel of roots and bread from the natives
as his stores for the rocky mountains for there seems but little
probability that we shall be enabled to make any dryed meat
for that purpose and we cannot as yet form any just idea what
resource the fish will furnish us. each man's stock in trade
amounts to no more than one awl, one Knitting pin, a half an
ounce of vermillion, two nedles, a few scanes of th[r]ead and
about a yard of ribbon; a slender stock indeed with which
to lay in a store of provision for that dreary wilderness. we
would make the men collect these roots themselves but there
are several speceis of hemlock[10]
which are so much like the
cows that it is difficult to discriminate them from the cows
and we are affraid that they might poison themselves. the
indians have given us another horse to kill for provision which
we keep as a reserved store. our dependence for subsistence
is on our guns, the fish we may perhaps take, the roots we
can purchase from the natives and as the last alternative our
horses. we eat the last morsel of meat which we had for
dinner this evening, yet nobody seems much conserned about
the state of provision. Willard, Sergt. Ordway and Goodrich
were permitted to visit the village today; the former returned
in the evening with some roots and bread, the two last remaining
all night. one of our party brought in a young sandhill
crain it was about the size of a pateridge and of a redish
brown colour, it appeared to be about 5 or six days old; these
crains are abundant in this neighbourhood.
[11]
