By The Tenth Of June The Party Had Entered The Country Of The
Ayauway Nation.
This was an easy way of spelling the word now
familiar to us as "Iowa." But before that spelling was reached,
it was Ayaway, Ayahwa, Iawai, Iaway, and soon.
The remnants of this
once powerful tribe now number scarcely two hundred persons.
In Lewis and Clark's time, they were a large nation, with several
hundred warriors, and were constantly at war with their neighbors.
Game here grew still more abundant, and in addition to deer and bear
the hunters brought in a raccoon. One of these hunters brought into
camp a wild tale of a snake which, he said, "made a guttural noise
like a turkey." One of the French voyageurs confirmed this story;
but the croaking snake was never found and identified.
On the twenty-fourth of June the explorers halted to prepare some of the meat
which their hunters brought in. Numerous herds of deer were feeding
on the abundant grass and young willows that grew along the river banks.
The meat, cut in small strips, or ribbons, was dried quickly in the hot sun.
This was called "jirked" meat. Later on the word was corrupted into "jerked,"
and "jerked beef" is not unknown at the present day. The verb "jerk"
is corrupted from the Chilian word, charqui, meaning sun-dried meat;
but it is not easy to explain how the Chilian word got into the Northwest.
As the season advanced, the party found many delicious wild fruits,
such as currants, plums, raspberries, wild apples, and vast quantities
of mulberries.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 16 of 362
Words from 4351 to 4617
of 110166
