They Had Killed Several Buffalo At The Bend Of
The Missouri Above The Falls, Dried About Eight Hundred Pounds Of Meat,
And Got One Hundred Pounds Of Tallow; They Had Also Killed Some Deer,
But Had Seen No Elk."
Under this date, too, Captain Lewis, who was with another branch
of the expedition, makes this note:
"Such as were able to shake
a foot amused themselves in dancing on the green to the music
of the violin which Cruzatte plays extremely well."
The journal continues: -
"We were now occupied [at White Bear camp] in fitting up a boat of skins,
the frame of which had been prepared for the purpose at Harper's Ferry
in Virginia. It was made of iron, thirty-six feet long, four and
one-half feet in the beam, and twenty-six inches wide in the bottom.
Two men had been sent this morning for timber to complete it,
but they could find scarcely any even tolerably straight sticks four
and one-half feet long; and as the cottonwood is too soft and brittle,
we were obliged to use willow and box-elder."
On the twenty-seventh, the main party, which was working on the upper
part of the portage, joined that of Captain Clark at the lower camp,
where a second cache, or place of deposit, had been formed,
and where the boat-swivel was now hidden under the rocks.
The journal says: -
"The party were employed in preparing timber for the boat, except two
who were sent to hunt. About one in the afternoon a cloud arose from
the southwest, and brought with it violent thunder, lightning, and hail.
Soon after it passed, the hunters came in, from about four miles above us.
They had killed nine elk and three bears. As they were hunting on
the river they saw a low ground covered with thick brushwood, where from
the tracks along shore they thought a bear had probably taken refuge.
They therefore landed, without making a noise, and climbed a tree
about twenty feet above the ground. Having fixed themselves securely,
they raised a loud shout, and a bear instantly rushed toward them.
These animals never climb, and therefore when he came to the tree and stopped
to look at them, Drewyer shot him in the head. He proved to be the largest
we had yet seen; his nose appeared to be like that of a common ox;
his fore feet measured nine inches across; the hind feet were seven
inches wide and eleven and three quarters long, exclusive of the talons.
One of these animals came within thirty yards of the camp last night,
and carried off some buffalo-meat which we had placed on a pole."
The party were very much annoyed here by the grizzlies
which infested their camp at night. Their faithful dog
always gave warning of the approach of one of these monsters;
but the men were obliged to sleep with their guns by their side,
ready to repel the enemy at a moment's notice.
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