Wet;
our clothes are rotting with constant exposure, and we
have 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 were 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."
Of course, in the midst of such violent storms, it was impossible
to get game, and the men were obliged to resort once more to a diet
of dried fish, This food caused much sickness in the camp, and it became
imperatively necessary that efforts should again be made to find game.
On the second of December, to their great joy an elk was killed,
and next day they had a feast. The journal says;
"The wind was from the east and the morning fair; but, as if one whole
day of fine weather were not permitted, toward night it began to rain.
Even this transient glimpse of sunshine revived the spirits
of the party, who were still more pleased when the elk killed
yesterday was brought into camp. This was the first elk we had
killed on the west side of the Rocky Mountains, and condemned as we
have been to the dried fish, it formed a most nourishing food.
After eating the marrow of the shank-bones, the squaw chopped them fine,
and by boiling extracted a pint of grease, superior to the tallow
itself of the animal. A canoe of eight Indians, who were carrying
down wappatoo-roots to trade with the Clatsops, stopped at our camp;
we bought a few roots for small fish-hooks, and they then left us.
Accustomed as we were to the sight, we could not but view
with admiration the wonderful dexterity with which they guide
their canoes over the most boisterous seas; for though the waves
were so high that before they had gone half a mile the canoe
was several times out of sight, they proceeded with the greatest
calmness and security. Two of the hunters who set out yesterday
had lost their way, and did not return till this evening.
They had seen in their ramble great signs of elk and had killed six,
which they had butchered and left at a great distance.
A party was sent in the morning."
On the third of December Captain Clark carved on the trunk of a great pine
tree this inscription: -
"WM. CLARK DECEMBER 3D 1805 BY LAND FROM THE
U. STATES IN 1804 & 5."
A few days later, Captain Lewis took with him a small party and set
out to find a suitable spot on which to build their winter camp.
He did not return as soon as he was expected, and considerable
uneasiness was felt in camp on that account.
