At This Place They
Discovered A Large Herd Of Elk, And After Pursuing Them For Three Miles
Over Bad Swamps And Small Ponds, Killed One Of Them.
The agility
with which the elk crossed the swamps and bogs seems almost incredible;
as we followed their track
The ground for a whole acre would shake at
our tread and sometimes we sunk to our hips without finding any bottom.
Over the surface of these bogs is a species of moss, among which are
great numbers of cranberries; and occasionally there rise from the swamp
small steep knobs of earth, thickly covered with pine and laurel.
On one of these we halted at night, but it was scarcely large enough
to suffer us to lie clear of the water, and had very little dry wood.
We succeeded, however, in collecting enough to make a fire; and having
stretched the elk-skin to keep off the rain, which still continued,
slept till morning."
Next day the party were met by three Indians who had been fishing
for salmon, of which they had a goodly supply, and were now on their way
home to their village on the seacoast. They, invited Captain Clark
and his men to accompany them; and the white men accepted the invitation.
These were Clatsops. Their village consisted of twelve families living in
houses of split pine boards, the lower half of the house being underground.
By a small ladder in the middle of the house-front, the visitors
reached the floor, which was about four feet below the surface.
Two fires were burning in the middle of the room upon the earthen floor.
The beds were ranged around the room next to the wall, with spaces
beneath them for bags, baskets, and household articles.
Captain Clark was received with much attention, clean mats were spread
for him, and a repast of fish, roots, and berries was set before him.
He noticed that the Clatsops were well dressed and clean, and that they
frequently washed their faces and hands, a ceremony, he remarked, that is
by no means frequent among other Indians. A high wind now prevailed,
and as the evening was stormy, Captain Clark resolved to stay all night
with his hospitable Clatsops. The narrative proceeds: -
"The men of the village now collected and began to gamble.
The most common game was one in which one of the company was banker,
and played against all the rest. He had a piece of bone,
about the size of a large bean, and having agreed with any individual
as to the value of the stake, would pass the bone from one hand
to the other with great dexterity, singing at the same time to divert
the attention of his adversary; then holding it in his hands,
his antagonist was challenged to guess in which of them the bone was,
and lost or won as he pointed to the right or wrong hand.
To this game of hazard they abandoned themselves with great ardor;
sometimes everything they possess is sacrificed to it; and this evening
several of the Indians lost all the beads which they had with them.
This lasted for three hours; when, Captain Clark appearing disposed
to sleep, the man who had been most attentive, and whose name was Cuskalah,
spread two new mats near the fire, ordered his wife to retire to her
own bed, and the rest of the company dispersed at the same time.
Captain Clark then lay down, but the violence with which the fleas
attacked him did not leave his rest unbroken."
Next morning, Captain Clark walked along the seashore,
and he observed that the Indians were walking up and down,
examining the shore and the margin of a creek that emptied here.
The narrative says:
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