Tuesday, 15. 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 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 believe 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 neighbourhood 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 yellowjacket 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 then 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 cathartics 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 mule-deer 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 procure 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 he 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. Those 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 score 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 of 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.