University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XII.

Tuesday, 13. Our medical visits occupied us till a late
hour, after which we collected our horses and proceeded for
two miles in a southeastern direction, crossing a branch
from the right, at the distance of a mile. We then turned
nearly north, and crossing an extensive open bottom, about
a mile and a half wide, reached the bank of the Kooskooskee.
Here we expected the canoe which they had promised;
but although a man had been despatched with it at the
appointed time, he did not arrive before sunset. We therefore
encamped, with a number of Indians who had followed
us from the village, and in the morning,

Wednesday 14, after sending out some hunters, transported
the baggage by means of the canoe, and then drove
our horses into the river, over which they swam without accident,
although it is one hundred and fifty yards wide, and
the current very rapid. We then descended the river about

half a mile, and formed our camp on the spot which the Indians
had recommended. It was about forty paces from the
river, and formerly an Indian habitation; but nothing remained
at present but a circle thirty yards in diameter, sunk
in the ground about four feet, with a wall round it of nearly
three and a half feet in height. In this place we deposited
our baggage, and round its edges formed our tents of
sticks and grass. This situation is in many respects advantageous.
It is an extensive level bottom, thinly covered
with long-leafed pine, with a rich soil, affording excellent
pasture, and supplied, as well as the high and broken hills
on the east and northeast, with the best game in the neighbourhood;
while its vicinity to the river makes it convenient
for the salmon, which are now expected daily. As
soon as we had encamped, Tunnachemootoolt and Hohastilpilp,
with about twelve of their nation, came to the opposite
side and began to sing, this being the usual token of
friendship on similar occasions. We sent the canoe for
them, and the two chiefs came over with several of the party,
among whom were the two young men who had given us the
two horses in behalf of the nation. After smoking some
time, Hohastilpilp presented to captain Lewis an elegant
gray gelding, which he had brought for the purpose, and
was perfectly satisfied at receiving in return a handkerchief,
two hundred balls, and four pounds of powder.

The hunters killed some pheasants, two squirrels, and a
male and a female bear, the first of which was large and
fat, and of a bay colour; the second meagre, grisly, and of
smaller size. They were of the species common to the upper
part of the Missouri, and might well be termed the variegated
bear, for they are found occasionally of a black
grisly brown or red colour. There is every reason to be
lieve them to be of precisely the same species. Those of different
colours are killed together, as in the case of these two,
and as we found the white and bay associated together on
the Missouri; and some nearly white were seen in this neighhood

by the hunters. Indeed, it is not common to find any
two bears of the same colour, and if the difference in colour
were to constitute a distinction of species, the number would
increase to almost twenty. Soon after they killed a female
bear with two cubs. The mother was black, with a considerable
intermixture of white hairs and a white spot on the
breast. One of the cubs was jet black, and the other of a
light reddish brown, or bay colour. The foil of these variegated
bears, are much finer, longer, and more abundant than
that of the common black bear: but the most striking difference
between them is, that the former are larger, have longer
tusks, and longer as well as blunter talons; that they
prey more on other animals; that they lie neither so long nor
so closely in winter quarters, and never climb a tree, however
closely pressed by the hunters. This variegated bear,
though specifically the same with those we met on the
Missouri, are by no means so ferocious, probably, because
of the scarcity of game, and the habit of living on roots may
have weaned them from the practices of attacking and devouring
animals. Still, however, they are not so passive as
the common black bear, which are also to be found here; for
they have already fought with our hunters, though with less
fury than those on the other side of the mountain.

A large part of the meat we gave to the Indians, to whom
it was a real luxury, as they scarcely taste flesh once in a
month. They immediately prepared a large fire of dried
wood, on which were thrown a number of smooth stones
from the river. As soon as the fire went down, and the stones
were heated, they were laid next to each other, in a level
position, and covered with a quantity of branches of pine, on
which were placed flitches of the bear, and thus placing the
boughs and flesh alternately for several courses, leaving a
thick layer of pine on the top. On this heap was then poured
a small quantity of water, and the whole covered with
earth to the depth of four inches. After remaining in this
state about three hours, the meat was taken off, and was

really more tender than that which we had boiled or roasted,
though the strong flavour of the pine, rendered it disagreeable
to our palates. This repast gave them much satisfaction,
for though they sometimes kill the black bear, yet they
attack very reluctantly the furious variegated bear, and
only when they can pursue him on horseback, through the
plains, and shoot him with arrows.

The stone horses we found so troublesome that we have
endeavoured to exchange them for either mares or geldings;
but although we offered two for one, they were unwilling
to barter. It was therefore determined to castrate them;
and being desirous of ascertaining the best method of performing
this operation, two were gelded in the usual manner,
while one of the natives tried the experiment in the Indian
way, without tying the string of the stone (which he
assured us was much the better plan) and carefully scraping
the string clean and separating it from the adjoining veins
before cutting it. All the horses recovered; but we afterwards
found that those on which the Indian mode had been
tried, although they bled more profusely at first, neither
swell nor appear to suffer as much as the others, and recovered
sooner, so that we are fully persuaded that the Indian
method is preferable to our own.

May 15. As we shall now be compelled to pass some time
in this neighbourhood, a number of hunters were sent in
different directions, and the rest were employed in completing
the camp. From this labour we, however, exempted
five of the men, two of whom are afflicted with cholic, and
the others complain of violent pains in the head, all which
are occasioned, we presume, by the diet of roots, to which
they have recently been confined. We secured the baggage
with a shelter of grass, and made a kind of bower of the under
part of an old sail, the leathern tent being now too rotten
for use, while the men formed very comfortable huts in
the shape of the awning of a wagon, by means of willow
poles and grass. Tunnachemootoolt and his young men left

us this morning on their way home; and soon after we were
visited by a party of fourteen Indians on horseback, armed
with bows and arrows going on a hunting excursion. The
chief game is the deer, and whenever the ground will permit,
the favourite hunt is on horseback; but in the woodlands,
where this is impracticable, they make use of a decoy.
This consists of the skin of the head and upper part of the
neck of a deer, kept in its natural shape by a frame of small
sticks on the inside. As soon as the hunter perceives a deer
he conceals himself, and with his hand moves the decoy so
as to represent a real deer in the act of feeding, which is
done so naturally that the game is seduced within reach of
their arrows.

We also exercised our horses by driving them together,
so as to accustom them to each other, and incline them the
less to separate. The next morning,

Friday 16, an Indian returned with one of them, which had
strayed away in the night to a considerable distance, an instance
of integrity and kindness by no means singular
among the Chopunnish. Hohastilpilp, with the rest of the
natives left us to-day. The hunters who have as yet come
in, brought nothing, except a few pheasants, so that we
still place our chief reliance on the mush made of roots
(among these the cows and the quamash are the principal)
with which we use a small onion, which grows in great abundance,
and which corrects any bad effects they may have on
the stomach. The cows and quamash, particularly, incline
to produce flatulency, to obviate which we employ a kind of
fennel, called by the Shoshonees, yearhah, resembling anniseed
in flavour, and a very agreeable food.

In the course of the day two other hunters brought in a
deer. The game they said was scarce; but they had wounded
three bear as white as sheep. The last hunters who had
left us yesterday, also came in to-night, with information,
that at the distance of five or six miles, they attempted to
cross Collins's creek, on the other side, where game is

most abundant, but that they could not ford it with their
horses, on account of its depth, and the rapidity of the
current.

Saturday, 17. It rained during the greater part of the
night, and our flimsy covering being insufficient for our protection,
we lay in the water most of the time. What was
more unlucky, our chronometer became wet, and, in consequence,
somewhat rusty, but by care we hope to restore
it. The rain continued nearly the whole day, while on
the high plains the snow is falling, and already two or
three inches in depth. The bad weather confined us to the
camp and kept the Indians from us, so that for the first time
since we left the narrows of the Columbia, a day has passed
without our being visited by any of the natives.

The country along the Rocky mountains for several hundred
miles in length and about fifty wide, is a high level plain;
in all its parts extremely fertile, and in many places covered
with a growth of tall long-leafed pine. This plain is chiefly
interrupted near the streams of water, where the hills are
steep and lofty; but the soil is good, being unincumbered by
much stone, and possess more timber than the level country.
Under shelter of these hills, the bottom lands skirt the margin
of the rivers, and though narrow and confined, are still
fertile and rarely inundated. Nearly the whole of this wide
spread tract is covered with a profusion of grass and plants,
which are at this time as high as the knee. Among these
are a variety of esculent plants and roots, acquired without
much difficulty, and yielding not only a nutritious, but a very
agreeable food. The air is pure and dry, the climate quite
as mild, if not milder, than the same parallels of latitude
in the Atlantic states, and must be equally healthy, for all
the disorders which we have witnessed, may fairly be imputed
more to the nature of the diet than to any intemperance
of climate. This general observation is of course to be
qualified, since in the same tract of country, the degrees of
the combination of heat and cold obey the influence of situation.

Thus the rains of the low grounds near our camp, are
snows in the high plains, and while the sun shines with intense
heat in the confined bottoms, the plains enjoy a much
colder air, and the vegetation is retarded at least fifteen
days, while at the foot of the mountains the snows are still
many feet in depth; so that within twenty miles of our camp
we observe the rigours of winter cold, the cool air of spring,
and the oppressive heat of midsummer. Even on the plains,
however, where the snow has fallen, it seems to do but little
injury to the grass and other plants, which, though apparently
tender and susceptible, are still blooming, at the height of
nearly eighteen inches through the snow. In short, this district
affords many advantages to settlers, and if properly cultivated,
would yield every object necessary for the subsistence
and comfort of civilized man.

The Chopunnish themselves are in general stout, well
formed, and active; they have high, and many of them aqueline
noses, and the general appearance of the face is cheerful
and agreeable, though without any indication of gayety
and mirth. Like most of the Indians they extract their
beards; but the women only pluck the hair from the rest of
the body. That of the men is very often suffered to grow,
nor does there appear to be any natural deficiency in that
respect; for we observe several men, who, if they had adopted
the practice of shaving, would have been as well supplied
as ourselves. The dress of both sexes resembles that of the
Shoshonees, and consists of a long shirt reaching to the
thigh, leggings as high as the waist, moccasins and robes,
all of which are formed of skins.

Their ornaments are beads, shells, and pieces of brass
attached to different parts of the dress, or tied round the
arms, neck, wrists, and over the shoulders: to these are
added pearls and beads, suspended from the ears, and a single
shell of wampum through the nose. The head-dress of
the men is a bandeau of fox or otter skin, either with or
without the fur, and sometimes an ornament is tied to a

plait of hair, falling from the crown of the head: that of the
women is a cap without rim, formed of bear grass and cedar
bark; while the hair itself, of both sexes, falls in two rows
down the front of the body. Collars of bears' claws are also
common. But the personal ornament most esteemed is a
sort of breastplate, formed of a strip of otter skin, six inches
wide, cut out of the whole length of the back of the animal,
including the head; this being dressed with the hair on,
a hole is made at the upper end, through which the head of
the wearer is placed, and the skin hangs in front with the
tail reaching below the knee, and ornamented with pieces
of pearl, red cloth, and wampum; or, in short, any other fanciful
decoration. Tippets also are occasionally worn. That
of Hohastilpilp was formed of human scalps, and adorned
with the thumbs and fingers of several men slain by him in
battle.

The Chopunnish are among the most amiable men we
have seen. Their character is placid and gentle, rarely
moved into passion, yet not often enlivened by gayety. Their
amusements consist in running races, shooting with arrows
at a target, and they partake of the great and prevailing
vice of gambling. They are, however, by no means so much
attached to baubles as the generality of Indians, but are
anxious to obtain articles of utility, such as knives, tomahawks,
kettles, blankets, and awls for moccasins. They
have also suffered so much from the superiority of their
enemies, that they are equally desirous of procuring arms
and ammunition, which they are gradually acquiring, for
the band of Tunnachemootoolt have already six guns, which
they acquired from the Minnetarees.

The Chopunnish bury their dead in sepulchres, formed
of boards, constructed like the roof of a house. The body
is rolled in skins and laid one over another, separated by a
board only, both above and below. We have sometimes seen
their dead buried in wooden boxes, and rolled in skins in
the manner above mentioned. They sacrifice their horses,

canoes, and every other species of property to their dead;
the bones of many horses are seen lying round their sepulchres.

Among the reptiles common to this country are the two
species of innocent snakes already described, and the rattlesnake,
which last is of the same species as that of the Missouri,
and though abundant here, is the only poisonous snake
we have seen between the Pacific and the Missouri. Besides
these there are the common black lizard and horned lizard.
Of frogs there are several kinds, such as the small green tree
frog, the small frog common in the United States, which sings
in the spring of the year, a species of frog frequenting the
water, much larger than the bull-frog, and in shape between
the delicate length of the bull-frog, and the shorter
and less graceful form of the toad like; the last of which,
however, its body is covered with little pustules, or lumps:
we have never heard it make a noise of any kind. Neither
the toad bull-frog; the moccasin-snake, nor the copperhead-snake
are to be found here. Captain Lewis killed a snake
near the camp three feet and eleven inches in length, and
much the colour of the rattlesnake. There was no poisonous
tooth to be found. It had two hundred and eighteen
scuta on the abdomen, and fifty-nine squama or half-formed
scuta on the tail. The eye was of a moderate size: the iris
of a dark yellowish brown, and the pupil black. There was
nothing remarkable in the form of the head, which was not
so wide across the jaws as that of the poisonous class of
snakes usually are.

There is a species of lizard, which we have called the
horned lizard, about the size and much resembling in figure
the ordinary black lizard. The belly is, notwithstanding,
broader, the tail shorter, and the action much slower than
the ordinary lizard. It crawls like the toad, is of a brown colour,
and interspersed with yellowish brown spots; it is covered
with minute shells, interspersed with little horny projections
like prickles on the upper part of the body. The belly
and throat resemble the frogs, and are of a light yellowish

brown. The edge of the belly is regularly beset with these
horny projections, which give to those edges a serrate figure;
the eye is small and of a dark colour. Above and behind
the eyes are several projections of the bone, which being
armed at the extremities with a firm black substance, having
the appearance of horns sprouting from the head, has
induced us to call it the horned lizard. These animals are
found in great abundance in the sandy parts of the plains,
and after a shower of rain are seen basking in the sun. For
the greatest part of the time they are concealed in holes.
They are found in great numbers on the banks of the Missouri,
and in the plains through which we have passed
above the Wollawollahs.

Most of the insects common to the United States are
seen in this country: such as the butterfly, the common
housefly, the blowingfly, the horsefly, except one species of
it, the gold-coloured earfly, the place of which is supplied by
a fly of a brown colour, which attaches itself to the same
part of the horse, and is equally troublesome. There are
likewise nearly all the varieties of beatles known in the Atlantic
states, except the large cow beatle, and the black beatle,
commonly called the tumblebug. Neither the hornet,
the wasp, nor the yellow jacket inhabit this part of the country,
but there is an insect resembling the last of these,
though much larger, which is very numerous, particularly
in the Rocky mountains and on the waters of the Columbia;
the body and abdomen are yellow, with transverse circles
of black, the head black, and the wings, which are four
in number, of a dark brown colour: their nests are built in
the ground, and resemble that of the hornet, with an outer
covering to the comb. These insects are fierce, and sting
very severely, so that we found them very troublesome in
frightening our horses as we passed the mountains. The
silkworm is also found here, as well as the humble-bee,
though the honey-bee is not.

May 18. Twelve hunters set out this morning after the
bear, which are now our chief dependence; but as they are
now ferocious, the hunters henceforward never go except in
pairs. Soon after they left us, a party of Chopunnish erected
a hut on the opposite side of the river in order to watch
the salmon, which is expected to arrive every day. For this
purpose they have constructed with sticks, a kind of wharf,
projecting about ten feet into the river, and three feet above
its surface, on the extremity of which one of the fishermen
exercised himself with a scooping net, similar to that used in
our country; but after several hours' labour he was still unsuccessful.
In the course of the morning three Indians called
at our camp and told us that they had been hunting near the
place where we met the Chopunnish last autumn, and which
is called by them the quamash grounds, but after roaming
about for several days had killed nothing. We gave them
a small piece of meat, which they said they would keep for
their small children, which they said were very hungry, and
then, after smoking, took leave of us. Some of our hunters
returned almost equally unsuccessful. They had gone
over the whole country between Collins's creek and the
Kooskooskee, to their junction, at the distance of ten miles,
without seeing either a deer or bear, and at last brought in
a single hawk and a salmon dropped by an eagle. This
last was not in itself considerable, but gave us hopes of soon
seeing that fish in the river, an event which we ardently desire,
for though the rapid rise of the river denotes a great
decrease of snow on the mountains, yet we shall not be able
to leave our camp for some time.

Monday, 19. After a cold rainy night, during a greater
part of which we lay in the water, the weather became fair,
and we then sent some men to a village above us, on the opposite
side, to purchase some roots. They carried with
them for this purpose a small collection of alls, knitting
pins, and armbands, with which they obtained several bushels
of the root of cows, and some bread of the same material.

They were followed too by a train of invalids from
the village, who came to ask for our assistance. The men
were generally afflicted with sore eyes, but the women had
besides this a variety of other disorders, chiefly rheumatic,
a violent pain and weakness in the loins, which is a common
complaint among the females, and one of them seemed
much dejected, and as we thought, from the account of her
disease, hysterical. We gave her thirty drops of laudanum,
and after administering eye-water and rubbing the rheumatic
patients with volatile linament, and giving catharties to
others, they all thought themselves much relieved, and returned
highly satisfied to the village. We were fortunate
enough to retake one of the horses on which we crossed the
Rocky mountains in the autumn, and which had become almost
wild since that time.

Tuesday, 20. Again it rained during the night, and the
greater part of this day. Our hunters were out in different
directions, but though they saw a bear and a deer or two,
they only killed one of the latter, which proved to be of the
muledeer species. The next day,

Wednesday 21, finding the rain still continue we left our
ragged sail tent, and formed a hut with willow poles and
grass. The rest of the men were occupied in building a canoe
for present use, as the Indians promise to give us a horse
for it when we leave them. We received nothing from our
hunters except a single sandhill crane, which are very abundant
in this neighbourhood, and consumed at dinner the last
morsel of meat which we have. As there now seems but
little probability of our procuring a stock of dried meat, and
the fish is as yet an uncertain resource, we made a division
of all our stock of merchandise, so as to enable the men to
purchase a store of roots and bread for the mountains. We
might ourselves collect those roots, but as there are several
species of hemlock growing among the cows, and difficult
to be distinguished from that plant, we are afraid to suffer
the men to collect them, lest the party might be poisoned

by mistaking them. On parcelling out the stores, the stock
of each man was found to consist of only one awl and one
knitting-pin, half an ounce of vermillion, two needles, a few
skeins of thread, and about a yard of riband—a slender
means of bartering for our subsistence; but the men have
been now so much accustomed to privations, that neither
the want of meat, nor the scanty funds of the party, excite
the least anxiety among them.

Thursday, 22, We availed ourselves of the fair weather
to dry our baggage and store of roots, and being still without
meat, killed one of our colts, intending to reserve the
other three for the mountains. In the afternoon we were
amused by a large party of Indians, on the opposite side of
the river, hunting on horseback. After riding at full speed
down the steep hills, they at last drove the deer into the river,
where we shot it, and two Indians immediately pursued
it on a raft, and took it. Several hunters, who had
gone to a considerable distance near the mountains, returned
with five deer. They had purchased also two red salmon
trout, which the Indians say remain in this river during the
greater part of the winter, but are not good at this season,
as it in fact appeared, for they were very meagre. The salmon,
we understand, are now arrived at no great distance,
in Lewis's river, but some days will yet elapse before they
come up to this place. This, as well as the scarcity of game,
made us wish to remove lower down; but on examination we
found that there was no place in that direction calculated for
a camp, and therefore resolved to remain in our present position.
Some uneasiness has been excited by a report, that
two nights ago a party of Shoshonees had surrounded a Chopunnish
house, on the south side of Lewis's river, but the
inhabitants having discovered their intentions, had escaped
without injury.

Friday, 23. The hunters were sent out to make a last effort
to precure provisions, but after examining the whole
country between Collins's creek and the Kooskooskee, they

found nothing except a few pheasants of the dark brown
kind. In the meantime we were visited by four Indians who
had come from a village on Lewis's river, at the distance of
two days' ride, who came for the purpose of procuring a little
eye-water: the extent of our medical fame is not a little
troublesome, but we rejoice at any circumstance which enables
us to relieve these poor creatures, and therefore willingly
washed their eyes, after which they returned home.

Saturday, 24. This proved the warmest day we have had
since our arrival here. Some of our men visited the village
of the Brokenarm, and exchanged some awls, which they
had made of the links of a small chain belonging to one of
their steel traps, for a plentiful supply of roots.

Besides administering medical relief to the Indians, we
are obliged to devote much of our time to the care of our
own invalids. The child of Sacajawea is very unwell; and
with one of the men we have ventured an experiment of a
very robust nature. He has been for some time sick, but
has now recovered his flesh, eats heartily and digests well,
but has so great a weakness in the loins that he cannot walk
nor even sit upright without extreme pain. After we had
in vain exhausted the resources of our art, one of the hunters
mentioned that he had known persons in similar situations
restored by violent sweats, and at the request of the
patient, we permitted the remedy to be applied. For this
purpose, a hole about four feet deep and three in diameter
was dug in the earth, and heated well by a large fire in the
bottom of it. The fire was then taken out, and an arch
formed over the hole by means of willow poles, and covered
with several blankets, so as to make a perfect awning.
The patient being stripped naked, was seated under
this on a bench, with a piece of board for his feet, and with
a jug of water sprinkled the bottom and sides of the hole, so
as to keep up as hot a steam as he could bear. After remaining
twenty minutes in this situation, he was taken out,
immediately plunged twice in cold water, and brought back

to the hole, where he resumed the vapour bath. During
all this time he drank copiously a strong infusion of horsemint,
which was used as a substitute for the seneca root,
which our informant said be had seen employed on these occasions,
but of which there is none in this country. At the
end of three quarters of an hour, he was again withdrawn
from the hole, carefully wrapped, and suffered to cool gradually.
This operation was performed yesterday, and this
morning he walked about, and is nearly free from pain.
About eleven o'clock a canoe arrived with three Indians,
one of whom was the poor creature who had lost the use of
his limbs, and for whose recovery the natives seem very
anxious, as he is a chief of considerable rank among them.
His situation is beyond the reach of our skill. He complains
of no pain in any peculiar limb, and we therefore think his
disorder cannot be rheumatic, as his limbs would have been
more diminished if his disease had been a paralytic affection.
We had already ascribed it to his diet of roots, and had recommended
his living on fish and flesh, and using the cold
bath every morning, with a dose of cream of tarter, or flowers
of sulphur, every third day. These prescriptions seem
to have been of little avail, but as he thinks himself somewhat
better for them, we concealed our ignorance by giving
him a few drops of laudanum and a little portable soup, with
a promise of sweating him, as we had done our own man. On
attempting it however, in the morning,

Sunday 25, we found that he was too weak to sit up or be supported
in the hole: we therefore told the Indians that we knew
of no other remedy except frequent perspirations in their own
sweat-houses, accompanied by drinking large quantities of
the decoction of horsemint, which we pointed out to them.
Three hunters set out to hunt towards the Quamash flats if
they could pass Collins's creek. Others crossed the river
for the same purpose, and one of the men was sent to a village
on the opposite side, about eight miles above us. Nearly
all the inhabitants were either hunting, digging roots, or

fishing in Lewis's river, from which they had brought several
fine salmon. In the course of the day, some of our hunters
wounded a female bear with two cubs, one of which was
white and the other perfectly black.

The Indians who accompanied the sick chief are so
anxious for his safety that they remained with us all night,
and in the morning,

Monday 26, when we gave him some cream of tartar,
and portable soup, with directions how to treat him, they
still lingered about us in hopes we might do something effectual,
though we desired them to take him home.

The hunters sent out yesterday returned with Hohastilpilp,
and a number of inferior chiefs and warriors. They
had passed Commearp creek at the distance of one and a
half miles, and a larger creek three miles beyond; they
then went on till they were stopped by a large creek ten
miles above our camp, and finding it too deep and rapid to
pass, they returned home. On their way, they stopped at a
village four miles up the second creek, which we have never
visited, and where they purchased bread and roots on very
moderate terms; an article of intelligence very pleasing at
the present moment, when our stock of meat is again exhausted.
We have however still agreeable prospects, for
the river is rising fast, as the snows visibly diminish, and
we saw a salmon in the river to-day. We also completed
our canoe.

Tuesday 27. The horse which the Indians gave us some
time ago, had gone astray; but in our present dearth of provisions
we searched for him and killed him. Observing that
we were in want of food, Hohastilpilp informed us that
most of the horses which we saw running at large belonged
to him or his people, and requested that whenever we wished
any meat we would make use of them without restraint. We
have, indeed, on more than one occasion, had to admire the
generosity of this Indian, whose conduct presents a model
of what is due to strangers in distress. A party was sent to

the village discovered yesterday, and returned with a large
supply of bread and roots. Sergeant Ordway and two men
were also despatched to Lewis's river, about half a day's ride
to the south, where we expect to obtain salmon, which are
said to be very abundant at that place. The three men who
had attempted to go to the Quamah flats, returned with five
deer; but although they had proceeded some distance up
Collins's creek, it continued too deep for them to cross. The
Indians who accompanied the chief, were so anxious to have
the operation of sweating him performed under our inspection,
that we determined to gratify them by making a second
attempt. The hole was therefore enlarged, and the
father of the chief, a very good looking old man, went in
with him, and held him in a proper position. This strong
evidence of feeling is directly opposite to the received opinions
of the insensibility of savages, nor are we less struck
by the kindness and attention paid to the sick man by those
who are unconnected with him, which are the more surprising,
as the long illness of three years might be supposed to
exhaust their sympathy. We could not produce as complete
a perspiration as we desired, and after he was taken
out, he complained of suffering considerable pain, which we
relieved with a few drops of laudanum, and he then rested
well. The next morning,

Wednesday 28, he was able to use his arms, and feels
better than he has done for many months, and set up during
the greater part of the day.

We sent to the village of Tunnachemootolt for bread and
roots, and a party of hunters set out to hunt up a creek,
about eight miles above us. In the evening, another party,
who had been so fortunate as to find a ford across Collins's
creek, returned from the Quamah flats with eight deer, of
which they saw great numbers, though there were but few
bears. Having now a tolerable stock of meat, we were occupied
during the following day,

Thursday 29, in various engagements in the camp. The
Indian chief is still rapidly recovering, and for the first time
during the last twelve months, had strength enough to wash
his face. We had intended to repeat the sweating to-day,
but as the weather was cloudy, with occasional rain, we declined
it. This operation, though violent, seems highly efficacious;
for our own man, on whom the experiment was
first made, is recovering his strength very fast, and the restoration
of the chief is wonderful. He continued to improve,
and on the following day,

Friday 30, after a very violent sweating, was able to
move one of his legs and thighs, and some of his toes; the fingers
and arms being almost entirely restored to their former
strength. Parties were sent out as usual to hunt and trade
with the Indians. Among others, two of the men who
had not yet exchanged their stock of merchandise for roots,
crossed the river for that purpose, in our boat. But as they
reached the opposite shore, the violence of the current drove
the boat broadside against some trees, and she immediately
filled and went to the bottom. With difficulty one of the
men was saved, but the boat itself, with three blankets, a
blanket-coat, and their small pittance of merchandise, were
irrevocably lost.

Saturday, 31. Two men visited the Indian village, where
they purchased a dressed bear skin, of a uniform pale reddish
brown colour, which the Indians called yackah in contradistinction
to hohhost, or the white bear. This remark induced
us to inquire more particularly into their opinions as
to the several species of bears; and we therefore produced
all the skins of that animal which we had killed at this
place, and also one very nearly white, which we had purchased.
The natives immediately classed the white, the
deep and the pale grizly red, the grizly dark brown, in short,
all those with the extremities of the hair of a white or frosty
colour, without regard to the colour of the ground of the
foil, under the name of hohhost. They assured us, that

they were all of the same species with the white bear; that
they associated together, had longer nails than the others,
and never climbed trees. On the other hand, the black skins,
those which were black, with a number of entire white hairs
intermixed, or with a white breast, the uniform bay, the
brown, and light reddish brown, were ranged under the class
yackkah, and were said to resemble each other in being
smaller, and having shorter nails than the white bear, in
climbing trees, and being so little vicious that they could
be pursued with safety. This distinction of the Indians
seems to be well founded, and we are inclined to believe,

First, That the white or grizly bear of this neighbourhood
form a distinct species, which moreover is the same
with those of the same colour on the upper part of the Missouri,
where the other species are not found.

Second, That the black and reddish brown, &c. is a second
species, equally distinct from the white bear of this
country, as from the black bear of the Atlantic and Pacific
oceans, which two last seem to form only one species. The
common black bear are indeed unknown in this country; for
the bear of which we are speaking, though in most respects
similar, differs from it in having much finer, thicker, and
longer hair, with a greater proportion of fur mixed with it,
and also in having a variety of colours, while the common
black bear has no intermixture or change of colour, but is
of a uniform black.

In the course of the day the natives brought us another
of our original stock of horses, of which we have now recovered
all except two, and those, we are informed, were
taken back by our Shoshonee guide, when he returned home.
They amount to sixty-five, and most of them fine strong active
horses, in excellent order.

Sunday, June 1. Two of our men who had been up the
river to trade with the Indians, returned quite unsuccessful.
Nearly opposite to the village, their horse fell with
his load, down a steep cliff, into the river, across which he
swam. An Indian on the opposite side, drove him back to

them, but in crossing most of the articles were lost, and the
paint melted. Understanding their intentions, the Indians
attempted to come over to them, but having no canoe, were
obliged to use a raft, which struck on a rock, upset, and
the whole store of roots and bread were destroyed. This
failure completely exhausted our stock of merchandise; but
the remembrance of what we suffered from cold and hunger
during the passage of the Rocky mountains, makes us anxious
to increase our means of subsistence and comfort when
we again encounter the same inconvenience. We therefore
created a new fund, by cutting off the buttons from
our clothes, preparing some eye-water, and basilicon, to
which were added some phials, and small tin boxes, in which
we had once kept phosphorus. With this cargo two men
set out in the morning,

Monday 2, to trade, and brought home three bushels of
roots and some bread, which, in our situation, was as important
as the return of an East India ship. In the meantime,
several hunters went across Collins's creek to hunt on the
Quamash grounds, and the Indians informed us that there
were great quantities of moose to the southeast of the east
branch of Lewis's river, which they call the Tommanamah.
We had lately heard that some Indians who reside at some
distance, on the south side of the Kooskooskee, are in possession
of two tomahawks, one of which was left at our camp
at Musquitoe creek, the other had been stolen while we
were encamped at the Chopunnish last autumn. This last
we were anxious to obtain, in order to give to the relations
of our unfortunate companion, serjeant Floyd, to
whom it once belonged. We therefore sent Drewyer yesterday
with Neeshnepahkeeook and Hohastilpilp, the two
chiefs, to demand it. On their arrival, it seemed that the
present owner, who had purchased it from the thief, was
himself at the point of death; so that his relations were unwilling
to give it up, as they meant to bury it in the grave
with the deceased. But the influence of Neeshnepahkeeook

at length succeeded; and they consented to surrender the
tomahawk on receiving two strands of beads and a handkerchief,
from Drewyer, and from each of the chiefs a horse,
to be killed at the funeral of the deceased, according to the
custom of the country.

Soon after their return, serjeant Ordway and his party,
for whose safety we had now become extremely anxious,
came home from Lewis's river, with some roots of cows
and seventeen salmon. The distance, however, from which
they were brought, was so great, that most of them were
nearly spoiled; but such as continued sound, were extremely
delicious, the flesh being of a fine rose colour, with a small
mixture of yellow, and so fat that they were cooked very
well without the addition of any oil or grease.

When they set out on the 27th, they had hoped to reach
the salmon fishery in the course of that day, but the route
by which the guides led them was so circuitous, that they
rode seventy miles before they reached their place of destination,
in the evening of the twenty-ninth. After going
for twenty miles up the Commearp creek, through an open
plain, broken only by the hills and timber along the creek,
they then entered a high, irregular, mountainous country,
the soil of which was fertile, and well supplied with
pine. Without stopping to hunt, although they saw great
quantities of deer, and some of the bighorn, they hastened
for thirty miles across this district to the Tommanamah, or
east branch of Lewis's river; and not finding any salmon,
descended that stream for twenty miles, to the fishery at a
short distance below its junction with the south branch. Both
these forks appear to come from or enter a mountainous
country. The Tommanamah itself, they said, was about
one hundred and fifty yards wide; its banks, for the most
part, formed of solid perpendicular rocks, rising to a great
height, and as they passed along some of its hills, they found
that the snow had not yet disappeared, and the grass was
just springing up. During its whole course it presented one

continued rapid, till at the fishery itself, where the river
widens to the space of two hundred yards, the rapid is nearly
as considerable as at the great rapids of the Columbia.
Here the Indians have erected a large house of split timber,
one hundred and fifty feet long, and thirty-five wide,
with a flat roof; and at this season is much resorted to by
the men, while the women are employed in collecting roots.
After remaining a day, and purchasing some fish, they returned
home.

Tuesday, 3. Finding that the salmon has not yet appeared
along the shores, as the Indians assured us they would
in a few days, and that all the salmon which they themselves
use, are obtained from Lewis's river, we begin to lose our
hopes of subsisting on them. We are too poor, and at too
great a distance from Lewis's river, to purchase fish at that
place, and it is not probable that the river will fall sufficiently
to take them before we leave this place. Our Indian
friends sent an express to-day over the mountains to Traveller's-rest,
in order to procure intelligence from the Ootlashoots,
a band of Flatheads who have wintered on the east
side of the mountains, and the same band which we first
met on that river. As the route was deemed practicable
for this express, we also proposed setting out, but the Indians
dissuaded us from attempting it, as many of the creeks,
they said, were still too deep to be forded; the roads very
deep and slippery, and no grass as yet for our horses; but
in twelve or fourteen days we shall no longer meet with the
same obstacles: we therefore determined to set out in a few
days for the Quamash flats, in order to lay in a store of provisions,
so as to cross the mountains about the middle of the
month.

For the two following days we continued hunting in our
own neighbourhood, and by means of our own exertions, and
trading with the Indians for trifling articles, succeeded in
procuring as much bread and roots, besides other food, as
will enable us to subsist during the passage of the mountains.

The old chief in the meantime gradually recovered
the use of his limbs, and our own man was nearly restored
to his former health. The Indians who had been with us,
now returned, and invited us to their village on the following
day,

Friday, June 6, to give us their final answer to a number
of proposals which we had made to them. Neeshnepahkeeook
then informed us, that they could not accompany
us, as we wished, to the Missouri; but that in the latter
end of the summer they meant to cross the mountain and
spend the winter to the eastward. We had also requested
some of their young men to go with us, so as to effect
a reconciliation between them and the Pahkees, in case
we should meet these last. He answered, that some of their
young men would go with us, but they were not selected for
that purpose, nor could they be until a general meeting of
the whole nation, who were to meet in the plain on Lewis's
river, at the head of Commearp. This meeting would take
place in ten or twelve days, and if we set out before that
time, the young men should follow us. We therefore depend
but little on their assistance as guides, but hope to engage
for that purpose, some of the Ootlashoots near Traveller's-rest
creek. Soon after this communication, which
was followed by a present of dried quamash, we were visited
by Hohastilpilp and several others, among whom were the
two young chiefs who had given us horses some time ago.