They first parch
and then pound it between two stones, until it is reduced to a fine meal.
Sometimes they add a portion of water, and drink it thus diluted;
at other times they add a sufficient proportion of marrow-grease to reduce
it to the consistency of common dough, and eat it in that manner.
This last composition we preferred to all the rest, and thought it
at that time a very palatable dish."
They also feasted on a great variety of wild berries, purple, yellow,
and black currants, which were delicious and more pleasant to the palate than
those grown in their Virginia home-gardens; also service-berries, popularly
known to later emigrants as "sarvice-berries." These grow on small bushes,
two or three feet high; and the fruit is purple-skinned, with a white pulp,
resembling a ripe gooseberry.
The journal, next day, has the following entry: -
"This morning early, before our departure, we saw a large
herd of the big-horned animals, which were bounding among
the rocks on the opposite cliff with great agility.
These inaccessible spots secure them from all their enemies,
and their only danger is in wandering among these precipices,
where we would suppose it scarcely possible for any animal to stand;
a single false step would precipitate them at least five hundred
feet into the water.
"At one and one fourth miles we passed another single cliff on the left;
at the same distance beyond which is the mouth of a large river
emptying from the north. It is a handsome, bold, and clear stream,
eighty yards wide - that is, nearly as broad as the Missouri - with a
rapid current, over a bed of small smooth stones of various figures.
The water is extremely transparent; the low grounds are narrow,
but possess as much wood as those of the Missouri. The river has
every appearance of being navigable, though to what distance we
cannot ascertain, as the country which it waters is broken and mountainous.
In honor of the Secretary of War we called it Dearborn's River."
General Henry Dearborn, who was then Secretary of War,
in Jefferson's administration, gave his name, a few years later,
to a collection of camps and log-cabins on Lake Michigan;
and in due time Fort Dearborn became the great city
of Chicago. Continuing, the journal says:
"Being now very anxious to meet with the Shoshonees or Snake Indians,
for the purpose of obtaining the necessary information of our route,
as well as to procure horses, it was thought best for one of us
to go forward with a small party and endeavor to discover them,
before the daily discharge of our guns, which is necessary
for our subsistence, should give them notice of our approach.
If by an accident they hear us, they will most probably retreat
to the mountains, mistaking us for their enemies, who usually
attack them on this side." . . . . . . . . .
Captain Clark was now in the lead with a small party,
and he came upon the remains of several Indian camps formed
of willow-brush, Traces of Indians became more plentiful.
The journal adds:
