"We Had Scarcely Fixed The Camp And Got The Fires Prepared,
When A Chief Came From The Indian Camp About
A quarter of a mile
up the Columbia, at the head of nearly two hundred men.
They formed a regular
Procession, keeping time to the music,
or, rather, noise of their drums, which they accompanied
with their voices; and as they advanced, they ranged themselves
in a semicircle around us, and continued singing for some time.
We then smoked with them all, and communicated, as well as we
could by signs, our friendly intentions towards every nation,
and our joy at finding ourselves surrounded by our children.
After this we proceeded to distribute presents among them,
giving the principal chief a large medal, a shirt, and a handkerchief;
to the second chief, a medal of a smaller size; and to a third,
who had come down from some of the upper villages, a small
medal and a handkerchief. This ceremony being concluded,
they left us; but in the course of the afternoon several
of them returned, and remained with us till a late hour.
After they had dispersed, we proceeded to purchase provisions,
and were enabled to collect seven dogs, to which some of the Indians
added small presents of fish, and one of them gave us twenty
pounds of fat dried horse-flesh."
The explorers were still in the country which is now the State of Washington,
at a point where the counties of Franklin, Yakima, and Walla Walla
come together, at the junction of the Snake and the Columbia.
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