The Pieces Of Wood
Were Then Laid On The Fire, And Several Round Stones Placed Upon Them.
One Of The
Squaws now brought a bucket of water, in which was a large
salmon about half dried, and, as the stones
Became heated, they were
put into the bucket till the salmon was sufficiently boiled for use.
It was then taken out, put on a platter of rushes neatly made, and laid
before Captain Clark, while another was boiled for each of his men.
During these preparations he smoked with such about him as would
accept of tobacco, but very few were desirous of smoking, a custom
which is not general among them, and chiefly used as a matter
of form in great ceremonies.
"After eating the fish, which was of an excellent flavor, Captain Clark
set out and, at the distance of four miles from the last island,
came to the lower point of another near the left shore, where he halted
at two large mat-houses. Here, as at the three houses below,
the inhabitants were occupied in splitting and drying salmon.
The multitudes of this fish are almost inconceivable.
The water is so clear that they can readily be seen at the depth
of fifteen or twenty feet; but at this season they float in such
quantities down the stream, and are drifted ashore, that the Indians
have only to collect, split, and dry them on the scaffolds.
Where they procure the timber of which these scaffolds are composed
he could not learn; but as there is nothing but willow-bushes
to be seen for a great distance from this place, it rendered
very probable what the Indians assured him by signs, that they
often used dried fish as fuel for the common occasions of cooking.
From this island they showed him the entrance of the western branch
of the Columbia, called the Tapteal, which, as far as could be seen,
bears nearly west and empties about eight miles above into the Columbia,
the general course of which is northwest."
The Tapteal, as the journal calls it, is now known as the Yakima, a stream
which has its source in the Cascade range of mountains, Washington.
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