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August 15, 1805
Thursday 15. Captain Lewis rose early, and having eaten
nothing yesterday except his scanty meal of flour and berries
felt the inconveniences of extreme hunger. On inquiry he found
that his whole stock of provisions consisted of two pounds of
flour. This he ordered to be divided into two equal parts, and
one half of it boiled with the berries into a sort of pudding:
and after presenting a large share to the chief, he and his
three men breakfasted on the remainder. Cameahwait was delighted
at this new dish; he took a little of the flour in his hand
tasted and examined it very narrowly, asking if it was made
of roots; Captain Lewis explained the process of preparing it,
and he said it was the best thing he had eaten for a long time.
This being finished, Captain Lewis now endeavored to hasten
the departure of the Indians who still hesitated, and seemed
reluctant to move, although the chief addressed them twice for
the purpose of urging them: on inquiring the reason, Cameahwait
told him that some foolish person had suggested that he was
in league with their enemies the Pahkees, and had come only
to draw them into ambuscade, but that he himself did not believe
it: Captain Lewis felt uneasy at this insinuation: he knew the
suspicious temper of the Indians, accustomed from their infancy
to regard every stranger as an enemy, and saw that if this suggestion
were not instantly checked, it might hazard the total failure
of the enterprise. Assuming therefore a serious air, he told
the chief that he was sorry to find they placed so little confidence
in him, but that he pardoned their suspicions because they were
ignorant of the character of white men, among whom it was disgraceful
to lie or entrap even an enemy by falsehood; that if they continued
to think thus meanly of us they might be assured no white men
would ever come to supply them with arms and merchandize; that
there was at this moment a party of white men waiting to trade
with them at the forks of the river; and that if the greater
part of the tribe entertained any suspicion, he hoped there
were still among them some who were men, who would go and see
with their own eyes the truth of what he said, and who, even
if there was any danger, were not afraid to die. To doubt the
courage of an Indian is to touch the tenderest string of his
mind, and the surest way to rouse him to any dangerous achievement.
Cameahwait instantly replied, that he was not afraid to die,
and mounting his horse, for the third time harangued the warriors:
he told them that he was resolved to go if he went alone, or
if he were sure of perishing; that he hoped there were among
those who heard him some who were not afraid to die, and who
would prove it by mounting their horses and following him. This
harangue produced an effect on six or eight only of the warriors,
who now joined their chief. With these Captain Lewis smoked
a pipe, and then fearful of some change in their capricious
temper set out immediately.
It was
about twelve o'clock when his small party left the camp, attended
by Cameahwait and the eight warriors; their departure seemed
to spread a gloom over the village; those who would not venture
to go were sullen and melancholy, and the woman were crying
and imploring the Great Spirit to protect their warriors as
if they were going to certain destruction: yet such is the wavering
inconstancy of these savages, that Captain Lewis's party had
not gone far when they were joined by ten or twelve more warriors,
and before reaching the creek which they had passed on the morning
of the 13th, all the men of the nation and a number of women
had overtaken them, and had changed from the surly ill temper
in which they were two hours ago, to the greatest cheerfulness
and gayety. When they arrived at the spring on the side of the
mountain where the party had encamped on the 12th, the chief
insisted on halting to let the horses graze; to which Captain
Lewis assented and smoked with them. They are excessively fond
of the pipe, in which however they are not able to indulge much
as they do not cultivate tobacco themselves, and their rugged
country affords them but few articles to exchange for it. Here
they remained for about an hour, and on setting out, by engaging
to pay four of the party, Captain Lewis obtained permission
for himself and each of his men to ride behind an Indian; but
he soon found riding without stirrup more tiresome than walking,
and therefore dismounted, making the Indian carry his pack.
About
sunset they reached the upper part of the level valley in the
cove through which he had passed, and which they now called
Shoshone cove. The grass being burnt on the north side of the
river they crossed over to the south, and encamped about four
miles above the narrow pass between the hills noticed as they
traversed the cove before. The river was here about six yards
wide, and frequently dammed up by the beaver. Drewyer had been
sent forward to hunt, but he returned in the evening unsuccessful,
and their only supper therefore was the remaining pound of flour
stirred in a little boiling water and then divided between the
four white men and two of the Indians.
In order not to exhaust the strength of the men, captain Clarke
did not leave his camp till after breakfast. Although, he was
scarcely half a mile below the Rattlesnake cliffs he was obliged
to make a circuit of two miles by water before he reached them.
The river now passed between low and rugged mountains and cliffs
formed of a mixture of limestone and a hard black rock, with
no covering except a few scattered pines. At the distance of
four miles is a bold little stream which throws itself from
the mountains down a steep precipice of rocks on the left. One
mile farther is a second point of rocks, and an island, about
a mile beyond which is a creek on the right, ten yards wide
and three feet three inches in depth, with a strong current:
we called it Willard's creek after one of our men, Alexander
Willard. Three miles beyond this creek, after passing a high
cliff on the right opposite to a steep hill, we reached a small
meadow on the left bank of the river. During its passage through
these hills to Willard's creek the river had been less torturous
than usual, so that in the first six miles to Willard's creek
we had advanced four miles on our route.
We continued
on for two miles, till we reached in the evening a small bottom
covered with clover and a few cottonwood trees: here we passed
the night near the remains of some old Indian lodges of brush.
The river is as it has been for some days shallow and rapid;
and our men, who are for hours together in the river, suffer
not only from fatigue, but from the extreme coldness of the
water, the temperature of which is as low as that of the freshest
springs in our country. In walking along the side of the river,
captain Clarke was very near being bitten twice by rattlesnakes,
and the Indian woman narrowly escaped the same misfortune. We
caught a number of fine trout; but the only game procured to-day
was a buck, which had a peculiarly bitter taste, proceeding
probably from its favorite food, the willow.
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