Meriwether Lewis and William Clark - History of the Expedition under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark, Vol. I.

M >> Meriwether Lewis and William Clark >> History of the Expedition under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark, Vol. I.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39

Friday 11. We despatched three hunters to join the same number whom we
had sent below about seven miles to hunt elk. Like that of yesterday the
weather to-day was cold and clear, the thermometer standing at 38
degrees below 0. Poscopsahe and Shotahawrora visited us, and past the
night at the fort.

Saturday 12. The weather continues very cold, the mercury at sunrise
being 20 degrees below 0. Three of the hunters returned, having killed
three elk.

Sunday 13. We have a continuation of clear weather, and the cold has
increased, the mercury having sunk to 34 degrees below 0. Nearly one
half of the Mandan nation passed down the river to hunt for several
days; in these excursions men, women and children, with their dogs, all
leave the village together, and after discovering a spot convenient for
the game, fix their tents; all the family bear their part in the labour,
and the game is equally divided among the families of the tribe. When a
single hunter returns from the chase with more than is necessary for his
own immediate consumption, the neighbours are entitled by custom to a
share of it: they do not however ask for it, but send a squaw, who
without saying any thing, sits down by the door of the lodge till the
master understands the hint, and gives her gratuitously a part for her
family. Chaboneau who with one man had gone to some lodges of
Minnetarees near the Turtle mountain, returned with their faces much
frostbitten. They had been about ninety miles distant, and procured
from the inhabitants some meat and grease, with which they loaded the
horses. He informs us that the agent of the Hudson bay company at that
place, had been endeavouring to make unfavourable impressions with
regard to us on the mind of the great chief, and that the N.W. company
intend building a fort there. The great chief had in consequence spoken
slightly of the Americans, but said that if we would give him our great
flag he would come and see us.

Monday 14. The Mandans continue to pass down the river on their hunting
party, and were joined by six of our men. One of those sent on Thursday
returned, with information that one of his companions had his feet so
badly frostbitten that he could not walk home. In their excursion they
had killed a buffaloe, a wolf, two porcupines and a white hare. The
weather was more moderate to-day, the mercury being at 16 degrees below
0, and the wind from the S.E. we had however some snow, after which it
remained cloudy.

Tuesday 15. The morning is much warmer than yesterday, and the snow
begins to melt, though the wind after being for some time from the S.E.
suddenly shifted to N.W. Between twelve and three o'clock A.M. there was
a total eclipse of the moon, from which we obtained a part of the
observation necessary for ascertaining the longitude.

We were visited by four of the most distinguished men of the
Minnetarees, to whom we showed marked attentions, as we knew that they
had been taught to entertain strong prejudices against us; these we
succeeded so well in removing, that when in the morning,

Wednesday 16, about thirty Mandans, among whom six were chiefs came to
see us, the Minnetarees reproached them with their falsehoods, declaring
that they were bad men and ought to hide themselves. They had told the
Minnetarees that we would kill them if they came to the fort, yet on the
contrary they had spent a night there and been treated with kindness by
the whites, who had smoked with them and danced for their amusement.
Kagohami visited us and brought us a little corn, and soon afterwards
one of the first war chiefs of the Minnetarees came accompanied by his
squaw, a handsome woman, whom he was desirous we should use during the
night. He favoured us with a more acceptable present, a draft of the
Missouri in his manner, and informed us of his intention to go to war in
the spring against the Snake Indians; we advised him to reflect
seriously before he committed the peace of his nation to the hazards of
war; to look back on the numerous nations whom war has destroyed, that
if he wished his nation to be happy he should cultivate peace and
intercourse with all his neighbours, by which means they would procure
more horses, increase in numbers, and that if he went to war he would
displease his great father the president, and forfeit his protection. We
added that we had spoken thus to all the tribes whom we had met, that
they had all opened their ears, and that the president would compel
those who did not voluntarily listen to his advice. Although a young man
of only twenty-six years of age, this discourse seemed to strike him. He
observed that if it would be displeasing to us he would not go to war,
since he had horses enough, and that he would advise all the nation to
remain at home, until we had seen the Snake Indians, and discovered
whether their intentions were pacific. The party who went down with the
horses for the man who was frostbitten returned, and we are glad to find
his complaint not serious.

Thursday 17. The day was very windy from the north; the morning clear
and cold, the thermometer at sunrise being at 0: we had several Indians
with us.

Friday 18. The weather is fine and moderate. Messrs. Laroche and
M'Kenzie, two of the N.W. company's traders, visited us with some of the
Minnetarees. In the afternoon two of our hunters returned, having killed
four wolves and a blaireau.

Saturday 19. Another cloudy day. The two traders set out on their
return, and we sent two men with the horses thirty miles below to the
hunting camp.

Sunday 20. The day fair and cold. A number of Indians visit us with corn
to exchange for articles, and to pay for repairs to their household
utensils.

Monday 21. The weather was fine and moderate. The hunters all returned,
having killed during their absence three elk, four deer, two porcupines,
a fox and a hare.

Tuesday 22. The cold having moderated and the day pleasant, we attempted
to cut the boats out of the ice, but at the distance of eight inches
came to water, under which the ice became three feet thick, so that we
were obliged to desist.

Wednesday 23. The cold weather returned, the mercury having sunk 2
degrees below 0, and the snow fell four inches deep.

Thursday 24. The day was colder than any we have had lately, the
thermometer being at 12 degrees below 0. The hunters whom we sent out
returned unsuccessful, and the rest were occupied in cutting wood to
make charcoal.

Friday 25. The thermometer was at 25 degrees below 0, the Wind from N.W.
and the day fair, so that the men were employed in preparing coal, and
cutting the boats out of the ice. A band of Assiniboins headed by their
chief, called by the French, Son of the Little Calf, have arrived at the
villages.

Saturday 26. A fine warm day: a number of Indians dine with us: and one
of our men is attacked with a violent pleurisy.

Sunday 27. Another warm and pleasant day: we again attempted to get the
boat out of the ice. The man who has the pleurisy was blooded and
sweated, and we were forced to take off the toes of the young Indian who
was frostbitten some time since. Our interpreter returned from the
villages, bringing with him three of Mr. Laroche's horses which he had
sent in order to keep them out of the way of the Assiniboins, who are
very much disposed to steal, and who have just returned to their camp.

Monday 28. The weather to-day is clear and cold: we are obliged to
abandon the plan of cutting the boat through the ice, and therefore made
another attempt the next day,

Tuesday 29, by heating a quantity of stones so as to warm the water in
the boat, and thaw the surrounding ice: but in this too we were
disappointed, as all the stones on being put into the fire cracked into
pieces: the weather warm and pleasant: the man with the pleurisy is
recovering.

Wednesday 30. The morning was fair, but afterwards became cloudy. Mr.
Laroche the trader from the northwest company paid us a visit, in hopes
of being able to accompany us on our journey westward, but this proposal
we thought it best to decline.

Thursday 31. It snowed last night, and the morning is cold and
disagreeable, with a high wind from the northwest: we sent five hunters
down the river. Another man is taken with the pleurisy.

Friday, February 1. A cold windy day: our hunters returned having killed
only one deer. One of the Minnetaree war chiefs, a young man named
Maubuksheahokeah or Seeing Snake, came to see us and procure a war
hatchet: he also requested that we would suffer him to go to war against
the Sioux and Ricaras who had killed a Mandan some time ago: this we
refused for reasons which we explained to him. He acknowledged that we
were right, and promised to open his ears to our counsels.

Saturday 2. The day is fine: another deer was killed. Mr. Laroche who
has been very anxious to go with us left the fort to-day, and one of the
squaws of the Minnetaree interpreter is taken ill.

Sunday 3. The weather is again pleasant: disappointed in all our efforts
to get the boats free, we occupied ourselves in making iron spikes so as
to prize them up by means of long poles.

Monday 4. The morning fair and cold, the mercury at sunrise being 18
degrees below 0, and the wind from the northwest. The stock of meat
which we had procured in November and December being now nearly
exhausted, it became necessary to renew our supply; captain Clarke
therefore took eighteen men, and with two sleighs and three horses
descended the river for the purpose of hunting, as the buffaloe has
disappeared from our neighbourhood, and the Indians are themselves
suffering for want of meat. Two deer were killed to-day but they were
very lean.

Tuesday 5. A pleasant fair morning with the wind from northwest: a
number of the Indians come with corn for the blacksmith, who being now
provided with coal has become one of our greatest resources for
procuring grain. They seem particularly attached to a battle axe, of a
very inconvenient figure: it is made wholly of iron, the blade extremely
thin, and from seven to nine inches long; it is sharp at the point and
five or six inches on each side, whence they converge towards the eye,
which is circular and about an inch in diameter, the blade itself being
not more than an inch wide, the handle is straight, and twelve or
fifteen inches long; the whole weighing about a pound. By way of
ornament, the blade is perforated with several circular holes. The
length of the blade compared with the shortness of the handle render it
a weapon of very little strength, particularly as it is always used on
horseback: there is still however another form which is even worse, the
same sort of handle being fixed to a blade resembling an espontoon.

Wednesday, February 6. The morning was fair and pleasant, the wind N.W.
A number of Indian chiefs visited us and withdrew after we had smoked
with them contrary to their custom, for after being once introduced into
our apartment they are fond of lounging about during the remainder of
the day. One of the men killed three antelopes. Our blacksmith has his
time completely occupied, so great is the demand for utensils of
different kinds. The Indians are particularly fond of sheet iron, out of
which they form points for arrows and instruments for scraping hides,
and when the blacksmith cut up an old cambouse of that metal, we
obtained for every piece of four inches square seven or eight gallons of
corn from the Indians, who were delighted at the exchange.

Thursday 7. The morning was fair and much warmer than for some days, the
thermometer being at 18 degrees above 0, and the wind from the S.E. A
number of Indians continue to visit us; but learning that the
interpreter's squaws had been accustomed to unbar the gate during the
night, we ordered a lock put on it, and that no Indian should remain in
the fort all night, nor any person admitted during the hours when the
gate is closed, that is from sunset to sunrise.

Friday 8. A fair pleasant morning, with S.E. winds. Pocopsahe came down
to the fort with a bow, and apologized for his not having finished a
shield which he had promised captain Lewis, and which the weather had
prevented him from completing. This chief possesses more firmness,
intelligence, and integrity, than any Indian of this country, and he
might be rendered highly serviceable in our attempts to civilize the
nation. He mentioned that the Mandans are very much in want of meat, and
that he himself had not tasted any for several days. To this distress
they are often reduced by their own improvidence, or by their unhappy
situation. Their principal article of food is buffaloe-meat, their corn,
beans, and other grain being reserved for summer, or as a last resource
against what they constantly dread, an attack from the Sioux, who drive
off the game and confine them to their villages. The same fear too
prevents their going out to hunt in small parties to relieve their
occasional wants, so that the buffaloe is generally obtained in large
quantities and wasted by carelessness.

Saturday 9. The morning was fair and pleasant, the wind from the S.E.
Mr. M'Kenzie from the N.W. company establishment visited us.

Sunday 10. A slight snow fell in the course of the night, the morning
was cloudy, and the northwest wind blew so high that although the
thermometer was 18 degrees above 0, the day was cooler than yesterday,
when it was only 10 degrees above the same point. Mr. M'Kenzie left us,
and Chaboneau returned with information that our horses loaded with meat
were below, but could not cross the ice not being shod.

Monday 11. We sent down a party with sleds, to relieve the horses from
their loads; the weather fair and cold, with a N.W. wind. About five
o'clock one of the wives of Chaboneau was delivered of a boy; this being
her first child she was suffering considerable, when Mr. Jessaume told
captain Lewis that he had frequently administered to persons in her
situation, a small dose of the rattle of the rattlesnake which had never
failed to hasten the delivery. Having some of the rattle, captain Lewis
gave it to Mr. Jessaume who crumbled two of the rings of it between his
fingers, and mixing it with a small quantity of water gave it to her.
What effect it may really have had it might be difficult to determine,
but captain Lewis was informed that she had not taken it more than ten
minutes before the delivery took place.

Tuesday 12. The morning is fair though cold, the mercury being 14
degrees below the wind from the S.E. About four o'clock the horses were
brought in much fatigued; on giving them meal bran moistened with water
they would not eat it, but preferred the bark of the cottonwood, which
as is already observed forms their principal food during the winter. The
horses of the Mandans are so often stolen by the Sioux, Ricaras, and
Assiniboins, that the invariable rule now is to put the horses every
night in the same lodge with the family. In the summer they ramble in
the plains in the vicinity of the camp, and feed on the grass, but
during cold weather the squaws cut down the cottonwood trees as they are
wanted, and the horses feed on the boughs and bark of the tender
branches, which are also brought into the lodges at night and placed
near them. These animals are very severely treated; for whole days they
are pursuing the buffaloe, or burdened with the fruits of the chase,
during which they scarcely ever taste food, and at night return to a
scanty allowance of wood; yet the spirit of this valuable animal
sustains him through all these difficulties, and he is rarely deficient
either in flesh or vigour.

Wednesday 13. The morning was cloudy, the thermometer at 2 degrees below
0, the wind from the southeast. Captain Clarke returned last evening
with all his hunting party: during their excursion they had killed forty
deer, three buffaloe, and sixteen elk; but most of the game was too lean
for use, and the wolves, who regard whatever lies out at night as their
own, had appropriated a large part of it: when he left the fort on the
4th instant, he descended on the ice twenty-two miles to New Mandan
island, near some of their old villages, and encamped, having killed
nothing, and therefore without food for the night.

Early on the 5th, the hunters went out and killed two buffaloe and a
deer, but the last only could be used, the others being too lean. After
breakfast they proceeded down to an Indian lodge and hunted during the
day: the next morning, 6th, they encamped forty-four miles from the fort
on a sand point near the mouth of a creek on the southwest side, which
they call Hunting creek, and during this and the following day hunted
through all the adjoining plains, with much success, having killed a
number of deer and elk. On the 8th, the best of the meat was sent with
the horses to the fort, and such parts of the remainder as were fit for
use were brought to a point of the river three miles below, and after
the bones were taken out, secured in pens built of logs, so as to keep
off the wolves, ravens and magpies, who are very numerous and constantly
disappoint the hunter of his prey: they then went to the low grounds
near the Chisshetaw river where they encamped, but saw nothing except
some wolves on the hills, and a number of buffaloe too poor to be worth
hunting. The next morning 9th, as there was no game and it would have
been inconvenient to send it back sixty miles to the fort, they returned
up the river, and for three days hunted along the banks and plains, and
reached the fort in the evening of the twelfth much fatigued, having
walked thirty miles that day on the ice and through the snow in many
places knee deep, the moccasins too being nearly worn out: the only game
which they saw besides what is mentioned, was some growse on the
sandbars in the river.

Thursday 14. Last night the snow fell three inches deep; the day was,
however, fine. Four men were despatched with sleds and three horses to
bring up the meat which had been collected by the hunters. They returned
however, with intelligence that about twenty-one miles below the fort a
party of upwards of one hundred men, whom they supposed to be Sioux,
rushed on them, cut the traces of the sleds, and carried off two of the
horses, the third being given up by intercession of an Indian who seemed
to possess some authority over them; they also took away two of the
men's knifes, and a tomahawk, which last however they returned. We sent
up to the Mandans to inform them of it, and to know whether any of them
would join a party which intended to pursue the robbers in the morning.
About twelve o'clock two of their chiefs came down and said that all
their young men were out hunting, and that there were few guns in the
village. Several Indians however, armed some with bows and arrows, some
with spears and battle-axes, and two with fusils, accompanied captain
Lewis, who set out,

Friday 15, at sunrise with twenty-four men. The morning was fine and
cool, the thermometer being at 16 degrees below 0. In the course of the
day one of the Mandan chiefs returned from captain Lewis's party, his
eye-sight having become so bad that he could not proceed. At this season
of the year the reflexion from the ice and snow is so intense as to
occasion almost total blindness. This complaint is very common, and the
general remedy is to sweat the part affected by holding the face over a
hot stone, and receiving the fumes from snow thrown on it. A large red
fox was killed to-day.

Saturday 16. The morning was warm, mercury at 32 degrees above 0, the
weather cloudy: several of the Indians who went with captain Lewis
returned, as did also one of our men, whose feet had been frostbitten.

Sunday 17. The weather continued as yesterday, though in the afternoon
it became fair. Shotawhorora and his son came to see us, with about
thirty pounds of dried buffaloe meat and some tallow.

Monday 18. The morning was cloudy with some snow, but in the latter part
of the day it cleared up. Mr. M'Kenzie who had spent yesterday at the
fort now left us. Our stock of meat is exhausted, so that we must
confine ourselves to vegetable diet, at least till the return of the
party: for this, however, we are at no loss, since both on this and the
following day,

Tuesday 19, our blacksmith got large quantities of corn from the Indians
who came in great numbers to see us. The weather was fair and warm, the
wind from the south.

Wednesday, 20th. The day was delightfully fine; the mercury being at
sunrise 2 degrees and in the course of the day 22 degrees above 0, the
wind southerly. Kagohami came down to see us early: his village is
afflicted by the death of one of their eldest men, who from his account
to us must have seen one hundred and twenty winters. Just as he was
dying, he requested his grandchildren to dress him in his best robe when
he was dead, and then carry him on a hill and seat him on a stone, with
his face down the river towards their old villages, that he might go
straight to his brother who had passed before him to the ancient village
under ground. We have seen a number of Mandans who have lived to a great
age; chiefly however the men, whose robust exercises fortify the body,
while the laborious occupations of the women shorten their existence.

Thursday 21. We had a continuation of the same pleasant weather. Oheenaw
and Shahaka came down to see us, and mentioned that several of their
countrymen had gone to consult their medicine stone as to the prospects
of the following year. This medicine stone is the great oracle of the
Mandans, and whatever it announces is believed with implicit confidence.
Every spring, and on some occasions during the summer, a deputation
visits the sacred spot, where there is a thick porous stone twenty-feet
in circumference, with a smooth surface. Having reached the place the
ceremony of smoking to it is performed by the deputies, who alternately
take a whiff themselves and then present the pipe to the stone; after
this they retire to an adjoining wood for the night, during which it may
be safely presumed that all the embassy do not sleep; and in the morning
they read the destinies of the nation in the white marks on the stone,
which those who made them are at no loss to decypher. The Minnetarees
have a stone of a similar kind, which has the same qualities and the
same influence over the nation. Captain Lewis returned from his
excursion in pursuit of the Indians. On reaching the place where the
Sioux had stolen our horses, they found only one sled, and several pair
of moccasins which were recognised to be those of the Sioux. The party
then followed the Indian tracks till they reached two old lodges where
they slept, and the next morning pursued the course of the river till
they reached some Indian camps, where captain Clarke passed the night
some time ago, and which the Sioux had now set on fire, leaving a little
corn near the place in order to induce a belief that they were Ricaras.
From this point the Sioux tracks left the river abruptly and crossed
into the plains; but perceiving that there was no chance of overtaking
them, captain Lewis went down to the pen where captain Clarke had left
some meat, which he found untouched by the Indians, and then hunted in
the low grounds on the river, till he returned with about three thousand
pounds of meat, some drawn in a sled by fifteen of the men, and the rest
on horseback; having killed thirty-six deer, fourteen elk, and one wolf.

Friday, 22nd. The morning was cloudy and a little snow fell, but in the
afternoon the weather became fair. We were visited by a number of
Indians, among whom was Shotawhorora, a chief of much consideration
among the Mandan, although by birth a Ricara.

Saturday, 23d. The day is warm and pleasant. Having worked industriously
yesterday and all this morning we were enabled to disengage one of the
periogues and haul it on shore, and also nearly to cut out the second.
The father of the boy whose foot had been so badly frozen, and whom we
had now cured, came to-day and carried him home in a sleigh.

Sunday, 24th. The weather is again fine. We succeeded in loosening the
second periogue and barge, though we found a leak in the latter. The
whole of the next day,

Monday, 25th, we were occupied in drawing up the boats on the bank: the
smallest one we carried there with no difficulty, but the barge was too
heavy for our elk-skin ropes which constantly broke. We were visited by
Orupsehara, or Black Moccasin, and several other chiefs, who brought us
presents of meat on the backs of their squaws, and one of the
Minnetarees requested and obtained permission for himself and his two
wives to remain all night in the fort. The day was exceedingly pleasant.

Tuesday 26. The weather is again fine. By great labour during the day we
got all the boats on the bank by sunset, an operation which attracted a
great number of Indians to the fort.

Wednesday 27. The weather continues fine. All of us employed in
preparing tools to build boats for our voyage, as we find that small
periogues will be much more convenient than the barge in ascending the
Missouri.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39