Here Is An Entry In The Journal Of May 19 Which Will Give The Reader
Some Notion Of The Privations And The Pursuits Of The Party While Shut
Up In Camp For Weary Weeks In The Early Summer Of 1806:
-
"After a cold, rainy night, during a greater part of which we lay
in the water, the weather became fair; we then sent some men to a
village above us, on the opposite side, to purchase some roots.
They carried with them for this purpose a small collection of awls,
knitting-pins, and armbands, with which they obtained several
bushels of the root of cows, and some bread of the same material.
They were followed, too, by a train of invalids from the village,
who came to ask for our assistance. The men were generally afflicted with
sore eyes; but the women had besides this a variety of other disorders,
chiefly rheumatic, a violent pain and weakness in the loins, which is
a common complaint among them; one of them seemed much dejected,
and as we thought, from the account of her disease, hysterical.
We gave her thirty drops of laudanum, and after administering
eye-water, rubbing the rheumatic patients with volatile liniment,
and giving cathartics to others, they all thought themselves
much relieved and returned highly satisfied to the village.
We were fortunate enough to retake one of the horses on which we
[Captain Lewis] had crossed the Rocky Mountains in the autumn,
and which had become almost wild since that time."
A day or two later, the journal has this significant entry:
"On parcelling out the stores, the stock of each man was found
to be only one awl, and one knitting-pin, half an ounce of vermilion,
two needles, a few skeins of thread, and about a yard of ribbon -
a slender means of bartering for our subsistence; but the men have been
so much accustomed to privations that now neither the want of meat nor
the scanty funds of the party excites the least anxiety among them."
To add to their discomfort, there was a great deal of sickness in the camp,
owing to the low diet of the men. Sacajawea's baby was ill with mumps
and teething, and it is suggested that the two captains would have been
obliged to "walk the floor all night," if there had been any floor
to walk on; as it was, they were deprived of their nightly rest.
Here is an example of what the doctors would call heroic treatment
by Captain Clark, who conducted all such experiments: -
"With one of the men [Bratton] we have ventured an experiment
of a very robust nature. He has been for some time sick,
but has now recovered his flesh, eats heartily, and digests well,
but has so great a weakness in the loins that he cannot walk or even
sit upright without extreme pain. After we had in vain exhausted
the resources of our art, one of the hunters mentioned that he had
known persons in similar situations to be restored by violent sweats,
and at the request of the patient, we permitted the remedy to be applied.
For this purpose a hole about four feet deep and three in diameter was
dug in the earth, and heated well by a large fire in the bottom of it.
The fire was then taken out, and an arch formed over the hole
by means of willow-poles, and covered with several blankets
so as to make a perfect awning.
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