Monday 2nd. December 1805
Cloudy with Some rain this morning I Send out three men
to hunt & 2 & my man York in a Canoe up the Ke-ke-mar-que
Creek in serch of fish and fowl. I feel verry unwell, and have
entirely lost my appetite for the Dried pounded fish which is
in fact the cause of my disorder at present. The men are
generally complaining of a lax and gripeing. In the evening
Joseph Field came in with the Marrow bones of a elk which
he killed at 6 miles distant, this welcome news to us. I dispatched
Six men in a empty Canoe with Jo: imediately for the
elk which he Said was about 3 miles from the Water this is
the first Elk which has been killd on this Side of the rockey
mountains Jo. Fields givs me an account of a great deel of
Elk Sign & says he Saw 2 Gangs of those animals in his rout,
but it rained So hard that he could not Shoot them. The
party up the Creek returned without any thing and informs me
they could not See any fish in the Creek to kill and the fowls
were too wild to be killed, this must be owing to their being
much hunted and pursued by the Indians in their Canoes.
