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Journals of Lewis and Clark: Dates November 1805 - Part Eight

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The Journals of Lewis and Clark: Dates November 26, 1805 - November 30, 1805
The following excerpts are taken from entries of the Journals of Lewis and Clark. Dates: November 26, 1805 - November 30, 1805

November 26, 1805
Tuesday 26, it rained. We set out with the wind from east northeast, and a short distance above the rock, near our camp, began to cross the river. We passed between some low, marshy islands, which we called the Seal islands, and reached the south side of the Columbia at a bottom three miles below a point, to which we gave the name of point Samuel. After going along the shore for five miles, we entered a channel two hundred yards in width, which separates from the main land a large, but low island. On this channel, and at the foot of some highlands, is a village, where we landed. It consists of nine large wooden houses, inhabited by a tribe called Cathlamahs, who seem to differ neither in dress, language, nor manners, from the Chinnooks and Wahkiacums: like whom they live chiefly on fish and wappatoo roots. We found, however, as we hoped, some elk meat: after dining on some fresh fish and roots, which we purchased from them at an immoderate price, we coasted along a deep bend of the river towards the south, and at night encamped under a high hill; all the way from the village the land is high, and has a thick growth of pine balsam, and other timber; but as it was still raining very hard, it was with difficulty we procured wood enough to make fires. Soon after we landed, three Indians from the Cathlawah village came down with wappatoo roots, some of which we purchased with fish-hooks. At daylight the next morning,

November 27, 1805
Wednesday 27, eleven more came down with provisions, skins and mats for sale, but the prices were too high for our reduced finances, and we bought nothing. As we were preparing to set out we missed an axe, which was found under the robe of one of the Indians, and they were all prohibited in consequence from following us. We went on in the rain, which had continued through the night, and passing between a number of islands came to a small river, called by the Indians Kekemahke. We afterwards came to a very remarkable knob of land, projecting about a mile and a half towards Shallow bay, and about four miles round, while the neck of land which connects it to the main shore is not more than fifty yards wide. We went round this projection, which we named point William; but the waves then became so high that we could not venture any farther, and we therefore landed on a beautiful shore of pebbles of various colors, and encamped near an old Indian hut on the isthmus. In drawing our canoes in shore, we had the misfortune to make a split two feet long in one of them. This isthmus opposed a formidable barrier to the sea, for we now found that the water below is salt, while that above is fresh and well tasted. It rained hard during the whole day; it continued all night

November 28, 1805
In the morning, Thursday 28, began more violently, attended with a high wind from the southwest. It was now impossible to proceed on so rough a sea. We therefore sent several men to hunt, and the rest of us remained during the day, in a situation the most cheerless and uncomfortable. On this little neck of land we are exposed with a miserable covering, which does not deserve the name of a shelter to the violence of the winds; all our bedding and stores, as well as our bodies are completely wet, our clothes rotting with constant exposure, and no food except the dried fish brought from the falls, to which we are again reduced. The hunters all returned hungry, and drenched with rain, having seen neither deer nor elk, and the swan and brant too shy to be approached. At noon the wind shifted to the northwest, and blew with such tremendous fury that many trees were blown down near us. This gale lasted with short intervals during the whole night; but towards morning,

November 29, 1805
Friday, 29th, the wind lulled, though the rain continued, and the waves were still high. Captain Lewis took the Indian canoe, which is better calculated for rough weather, and with five men went down to a small bay below us, where we expect to find elk. Three other men set out at the same time to hunt in different directions, and the rest remained round the smoke of our fires drying leather, in order to make some new clothes. The night brought only a continuation of rain and hail, with short intervals of fair weather, till in the morning,

November 30, 1805
Saturday, 30th, it cleared up about nine o'clock, and the sun shone for several hours. Other hunters were now sent out, and we passed the remainder of the day in drying our merchandise so long exposed. Several of the men complain of disorders in their bowels, which can be ascribed only to their diet of pounded fish mixed with salt-water: and they are therefore directed to use for that purpose, the fresh water above the point. The hunters had seen three elk, but could not obtain any of them: they however brought in three hawks and a few black ducks, of a species common in the United States, living in large flocks, and feeding on grass: they are distinguished by a sharp white beak, toes separated, and by having no craw. Besides these wild fowls, there are in this neighborhood a large kind of buzzard with white wings, the gray and the bald eagle, the large red-tailed hawk, the blue magpie, and great numbers of ravens and crows. We observe, however, few small birds, the one which has most attracted our attention being a small brown bird, which seems to frequent logs and the roots of trees. Of other animals there is a great abundance. We see great quantities of snakes, lizards, worms, and spiders, as well as small bugs, flies, and insects of different kinds. The vegetable productions are also numerous. The hills along the coast are high and steep, and the general covering is a growth of lofty pines of different species, some of which rise more than two hundred feet, and are ten or twelve feet in diameter near the root. Besides these trees we observe on the point a species of ash, the alder, the laurel, one species of the wild crab, and several kinds of underbrush, among which the rosebushes are conspicuous.

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