The Party
Tarried Here Long Enough To Secure From The Indians A Tolerably Correct
Description Of The River Upon Which They Were About To Embark.
One Of The Chiefs Drew Upon The Skin-Side Of A Buffalo Robe A Sketch Of
The Columbia.
And this was transferred to paper and put into the journal.
That volume adds here:
-
"Having completed the purposes of our stay, we now began to lay in
our stores. Fish being out of season, we purchased forty dogs, for which we
gave small articles, such as bells, thimbles, knitting-needles, brass wire,
and a few beads, an exchange with which they all seemed perfectly satisfied.
These dogs, with six prairie-cocks killed this morning, formed a plentiful
supply for the present. We here left our guide and the two young men
who had accompanied him, two of the three being unwilling to go any further,
and the third being of no use, as he was not acquainted with the river below.
We therefore took no Indians but our two chiefs, and resumed our journey
in the presence of many of the Sokulks, who came to witness our departure.
The morning was cool and fair, and the wind from the southeast."
They now began again to meet Indians who had never before seen white men.
On the nineteenth, says the journal: -
"The great chief, with two of his inferior chiefs and a third
belonging to a band on the river below, made us a visit at
a very early hour. The first of these was called Yelleppit, -
a handsome, well-proportioned man, about five feet eight inches high,
and thirty-five years of age, with a bold and dignified countenance;
the rest were not distinguished in their appearance.
We smoked with them, and after making a speech, gave a medal,
a handkerchief, and a string of wampum to Yelleppit, but a string
of wampum only to the inferior chiefs. He requested us to remain
till the middle of the day, in order that all his nation
might come and see us; but we excused ourselves by telling him
that on our return we would spend two or three days with him.
This conference detained us till nine o'clock, by which time
great numbers of the Indians had come down to visit us.
On leaving them we went on for eight miles, when we came to an
island near the left shore, which continued six miles in length.
At its lower extremity is a small island on which are
five houses, at present vacant, though the scaffolds of fish
are as usual abundant. A short distance below are two
more islands, one of them near the middle of the river.
On this there were seven houses, but as soon as the Indians,
who were drying fish, saw us, they fled to their houses,
and not one of them appeared till we had passed; when they came
out in greater numbers than is usual for houses of that size,
which induced us to think that the inhabitants of the five lodges
had been alarmed at our approach and taken refuge with them.
We were very desirous of landing in order to relieve
their apprehensions, but as there was a bad rapid along the island
all our care was necessary to prevent injury to the canoes.
At the foot of this rapid is a rock on the left shore,
which is fourteen miles from our camp of last night and resembles
a hat in shape."
Later in the day, Captain Clark ascended a bluff on the river bank,
where he saw "a very high mountain covered with snow." This was
Mount St. Helen's, in Cowlitz County, Washington. The altitude
of the peak is nine thousand seven hundred and fifty feet.
"Having arrived at the lower ends of the rapids below the bluff
before any of the rest of the party, be sat down on a rock
to wait for them, and, seeing a crane fly across the river,
shot it, and it fell near him. Several Indians had been
before this passing on the opposite side towards the rapids,
and some who were then nearly in front of him, being either alarmed
at his appearance or the report of the gun, fled to their houses.
Captain Clark was afraid that these people had not yet heard
that the white men were coming, and therefore, in order to allay
their uneasiness before the rest of the party should arrive, he got
into the small canoe with three men, rowed over towards the houses,
and, while crossing, shot a duck, which fell into the water.
As he approached no person was to be seen except three men
in the plains, and they, too, fled as he came near the shore.
He landed in front of five houses close to each other, but no
one appeared, and the doors, which were of mat, were closed.
He went towards one of them with a pipe in his hand, and,
pushing aside the mat, entered the lodge, where he found
thirty-two persons, chiefly men and women, with a few children,
all in the greatest consternation; some hanging down their heads,
others crying and wringing their hands. He went up to them,
and shook hands with each one in the most friendly manner;
but their apprehensions, which had for a moment subsided,
revived on his taking out a burning-glass, as there was no
roof to the house, and lighting his pipe: he then offered
it to several of the men, and distributed among the women
and children some small trinkets which he had with him,
and gradually restored a degree of tranquillity among them.
"Leaving this house, and directing each of his men to visit a house,
he entered a second. Here he found the inmates more terrified than
those in the first; but he succeeded in pacifying them, and afterward
went into the other houses, where the men had been equally successful.
Retiring from the houses, he seated himself on a rock, and beckoned
to some of the men to come and smoke with him; but none of them
ventured to join him till the canoes arrived with the two chiefs,
who immediately explained our pacific intention towards them.
Soon after the interpreter's wife [Sacajawea] landed, and her
presence dissipated all doubts of our being well-disposed,
since in this country no woman ever accompanies a war party:
they therefore all came out, and seemed perfectly reconciled;
nor could we, indeed, blame them for their terrors, which were
perfectly natural.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 57 of 105
Words from 58762 to 59858
of 110166
