Three Indian boys
were discovered hiding in the grass, in great alarm.
Captain Clark at once
dismounted from his horse, and, making signs of amity, went after the boys.
He calmed their terrors, and, giving them some bits of ribbon, sent them home.
"Soon after the boys reached home, a man came out to meet the party,
with great caution; but he conducted them to a large tent
in the village, and all the inhabitants gathered round to view
with a mixture of fear and pleasure these wonderful strangers.
The conductor now informed Captain Clark, by signs,
that the spacious tent was the residence of the great chief,
who had set out three days ago with all the warriors to attack
some of their enemies toward the southwest; that he would not
return before fifteen or eighteen days, and that in the mean time
there were only a few men left to guard the women and children.
They now set before them a small piece of buffalo-meat,
some dried salmon, berries, and several kinds of roots.
Among these last is one which is round, much like an onion
in appearance, and sweet to the taste. It is called quamash,
and is eaten either in its natural state, or boiled into a kind
of soup, or made into a cake, which is then called pasheco.
After the long abstinence this was a sumptuous treat.
They returned the kindness of the people by a few small presents,
and then went on in company with one of the chiefs to a second
village in the same plain, at the distance of two miles.
Here the party were treated with great kindness, and passed the night.
The hunters were sent out, but, though they saw some tracks
of deer, were not able to procure anything."
The root which the Indians used in so many ways is now known as camas;
it is still much sought for by the Nez Perces and other wandering tribes
in the Northwest, and Camas Prairie, in that region, derives its name
from the much-sought-for vegetable.
Captain Clark and his men stayed with these hospitable Indians
several days. The free use of wholesome food, to which he had not
lately been accustomed, made Clark very ill, and he contented himself
with staying in the Indian villages, of which. there were two.
These Indians called themselves Chopunnish, or Pierced Noses;
this latter name is now more commonly rendered Nez Perces, the French
voyageurs having given it that translation into their own tongue.
But these people, so far as known, did not pierce their noses.
After sending a man back on the trail to notify Captain Lewis
of his progress, Captain Clark went on to the village
of Chief Twisted-hair. Most of the women and children,
though notified of the coming of the white man, were so scared
by the appearance of the strangers that they fled to the woods.
The men, however, received them without fear and gave them a plentiful
supply of food. They were now on one of the upper branches
of the Kooskooskee River, near what is the site of Pierce City,
county seat of Shoshonee County, Idaho. The Indians endeavored,
by means of signs, to explain to their visitors the geography
of the country beyond.
"Among others, Twisted-hair drew a chart of the river on
a white elk-skin. According to this, the Kooskooskee forks
[confluence of its North fork] a few miles from this place;
two days toward the south is another and larger fork [confluence
of Snake River], on which the Shoshonee or Snake Indians fish;
five days' journey further is a large river from the northwest
[that is, the Columbia itself] into which Clark's River empties;
from the mouth of that river [that is, confluence of the Snake
with the Columbia] to the falls is five days' journey further;
on all the forks as well as on the main river great numbers
of Indians reside."
On the twenty-third of September, Captain Lewis and his party having
come up, the white men assembled the Indians and explained to them
where they came from and what was their errand across the continent.
The Indians appeared to be entirely satisfied, and they sold their
visitors as much provisions as their half-famished horses could carry.
The journal here says: -
"All around the village the women are busily employed in gathering
and dressing the pasheco-root, of which large quantities
are heaped in piles over the plain. We now felt severely
the consequence of eating heartily after our late privations.
Captain Lewis and two of the men were taken very ill last evening;
to-day he could hardly sit on his horse, while others were obliged
to be put on horseback, and some, from extreme weakness and pain,
were forced to lie down alongside of the road for some time.
At sunset we reached the island where the hunters had been
left on the 22d. They had been unsuccessful, having killed
only two deer since that time, and two of them were very sick.
A little below this island is a larger one on which we camped,
and administered Rush's pills to the sick."
The illness of the party continued for several days, and not much
progress was made down-stream. Having camped, on the twenty-seventh
of September, in the Kooskooskee River, at a place where plenty of good
timber was found, preparations for building five canoes were begun.
From this time to the fifth of October, all the men capable of labor
were employed in preparing the canoes. The health of the party
gradually recruited, though they still suffered severely from want
of food; and, as the hunters had but little success in procuring game,
they were obliged on the second to kill one of their horses.
Indians from different quarters frequently visited them, but all that
could be obtained from them was a little fish and some dried roots.
This diet was not only unnutritious, but in many cases it caused
dysentery and nausea.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 52 of 105
Words from 53562 to 54584
of 110166
