He Then Went Off;
M'Neal Being Released Came Down, And Having Found His Horse,
Which Had Strayed Off To The
Distance of two miles, returned to camp.
These animals are, indeed, of a most extraordinary ferocity,
and it is matter
Of wonder that in all our encounters we have had
the good fortune to escape. We are now troubled with another enemy,
not quite so dangerous, though even more disagreeable-these
are the mosquitoes, who now infest us in such myriads that we
frequently get them into our throats when breathing, and the dog
even howls with the torture they occasion."
The intention of Captain Lewis was to reach the river sometimes
known as Maria's, and sometimes as Marais, or swamp. This stream
rises near the boundary between Montana and the British possessions,
and flows into the Missouri, where the modern town of Ophir is built.
The men left at the great falls were to dig up the canoes and baggage
that had been cached there the previous year, and be ready to carry around
the portage of the falls the stuff that would be brought from the two
forks of the Jefferson, later on, by Sergeant Ordway and his party.
It will be recollected that this stuff had also been cached at the forks
of the Jefferson, the year before. The two parties, thus united,
were to go down to the entrance of Maria's River into the Missouri,
and Captain Lewis expected to join them there by the fifth of August;
if he failed to meet them by that time, they were to go on down the river
and meet Captain Clark at the mouth of the Yellowstone.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 312 of 362
Words from 95278 to 95556
of 110166
