Under Date Of December 12,
The Journal Has This Entry:
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"We continued to work in the rain at our houses. In the evening there
arrived two canoes of Clatsops, among whom was a principal chief,
called Comowol. We gave him a medal and treated his companions with
great attention; after which we began to bargain for a small sea-otter skin,
some wappatoo-roots, and another species of root called shanataque.
We readily perceived that they were close dealers, stickled much for trifles,
and never closed the bargain until they thought they had the advantage.
The wappatoo is dear, as they themselves are obliged to give a high price
for it to the Indians above. Blue beads are the articles most in request;
the white occupy the next place in their estimation; but they do not value
much those of any other color. We succeeded at last in purchasing their
whole cargo for a few fish-hooks and a small sack of Indian tobacco,
which we had received from the Shoshonees."
The winter camp was made up of seven huts, and, although it was
not so carefully fortified as was the fort in the Mandan country
(during the previous winter), it was so arranged that
intruders could be kept out when necessary. For the roofs
of these shelters they were provided with "shakes" split
out from a species of pine which they called "balsam pine,"
and which gave them boards, or puncheons, or shakes, ten feet long
and two feet wide, and not more than an inch and a half thick.
By the sixteenth of December their meat-house was finished,
and their meat, so much of which had been spoiled for lack
of proper care, was cut up in small pieces and hung under cover.
They had been told by the Indians that very little snow
ever fell in that region, and the weather, although very,
very wet, was mild and usually free from frost.
They did have severe hailstorms and a few flurries of snow
in December but the rain was a continual cause of discomfort.
Of the trading habits of the Clatsops the journal has this to say:
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