[Lewis:]
Saturday February 15th. 1806.
Drewyer and Whitehouse set out this morning on a hunting
excurtion towards the praries of Point Adams. we have heard
our hunters over the Netul fire several shot today, but have
had no account from them as yet. about 3 P.M. Bratton arrived
from the salt works and Informed us that Sergt. Pryor and
party were on their way with Gibson who is so much reduced
that he cannot stand alone and that they are obliged to carry
him in a litter. Bratton himself appears much reduced with
his late indisposition but is now recovering fast. Bratton informed
that the cause of Sergt. Pryor's delay was attributeable
to the winds which had been so violent for several days as to
render it impossible to get a canoe up the creek to the point
where it was necessary to pass with Gibson. the S.W. winds
are frequently very violent on the coast when we are but little
sensible of them at Fort Clatsop. in consequence of the lofty
and thickly timbered fir country which surrounds us on that
quarter from the South to the North East. after dark Sergt.
Pryor arrived with Gibson. we are much pleased in finding
him by no means as ill as we had expected. we do no[t] conceive
him in danger by any means, tho' he has yet a fever and
is much reduced. we beleive his disorder to have orriginated
in a violent cold which he contracted in hunting and pursuing
Elk and other game through the swam[p]s and marshes about
the salt works. he is nearly free from pain tho' a good deel
reduced and very languid. we gave him broken dozes of
diluted nitre and made him drink plentifully of sage tea, had
his feet bathed in warm water and at 9 P.M. gave him 35 drops
of laudanum.
The quadrupeds of this country from the Rocky Mountains
to the pacific Ocean are 1st. the domestic animals, consisting of
the horse and the dog only; 2ed.ly the native wild animals, consisting
of the Brown white or grizly bear, (which I beleive to
be the same family with a mearly accedental difference in point
of colour) the black bear, the common red deer, the black
tailed fallow deer, the Mule deer, Elk, the large brown wolf,
the small woolf of the plains, the large wolf of the plains, the
tiger cat, the common red fox, black fox or fisher, silver fox,
large red fox of the plains, small fox of the plains or kit fox,
Antelope, sheep, beaver, common otter, sea Otter, mink, spuck,
seal, racoon, large grey squirrel, small brown squirrel, small
grey squirrel, ground squirrel, sewelel, Braro, rat, mouse, mole,
Panther, hare, rabbit, and polecat or skunk. all of which shall
be severally noticed in the order in which they occur as well as
shuch others as I learn do exist and which [have] not been
here recapitulated. The horse is confined principally to the
nations inhabiting; the great plains of Columbia extending from
Latitude 40°. to 50°. N. and occupying the tract of country
lying between the rocky Mountains and a range [Cascade] of
Mountains which pass the Columbia river about the great
falls or from Longitude 116 to 121 West. in this exte[n]sive
tract of principally untimbered country so far as we have
lea[r]nt the following natives reside (viz) the Sosone or snake
Indians, the Chopunnish, Sokulks, Cutssahnims, Chymnapums,
E[c]helutes, Eneshuh & Chilluckkittequaws. all of whom
enjoy the bennefit of that docile, generous and valuable anamal
the horse, and all of them except the three last have immence
numbers of them. Their horses appear to be of an excellent
race; they are lofty eligantly formed active and durable; in
short many of them look like the fine English coarsers and
would make a figure in any country. some of those horses
are pided [pied] with large spots of white irregularly scattered
and intermixed with the black brown bey or some other dark
colour, but much the larger portion are of an uniform colour
with stars snips and white feet, or in this rispect marked much
like our best blooded horses in Virginia, which they resemble as
well in fleetness and bottom as in form and colours. the
natives suffer them to run at large in the plains, the grass of
which furnishes them with their only subsistence their masters
taking no trouble to lay in a winters store for them, but they
even keep fat if not much used on the dry grass of the plains
during the winter. no rain scarcely ever falls in these plains
and the grass is short and but thin. The natives (
except those
near the R. Monts) appear to take no pains in scelecting their
male horses from which they breed, in short those of that
discription which I have noticed appeared much the most indifferent.
whether the horse was orrigeonally a native of this
country or not it is out of my power to determine as we cannot
understand the language of the natives sufficiently to ask
the question. at all events the country and climate appears
well adapted to this anamal. horses are said to be found wild
in many parts of this extensive plain country. the several
tribes of Sosones who reside towards Mexico on the waters of
Clark's (
Multnomah) river or particularly one of them called
Shâ-bo-bó-ah have also a great number of mules, which among
the Indians I find are much more highly prized than horses.
an eligant horse may be purchased of the natives in this
country for a few beads or other paltry trinkets which in the
U' States would not cost more than one or two dollars. This
abundance and cheapness of horses will be extremely advantageous
to those who may hereafter attem[p]t the fir trade
to the East Indies by way of the Columbia river and the
Pacific Ocean. the mules in the possession of the Indians are
principally stolen from the Spaniards of Mexeco; they appear
to be large and fine such as we have seen. Among the Sosones
of the upper part of the S. E. fork of the Columbia we saw
several horses with Spanish brands on them which we supposed
had been stolen from the inhabitants of Mexeco.
