He first arrived,
and he was afterward known among the Shoshonees by the name of Cameahwait."
On the thirtieth of August, the whole expedition being now reunited,
and a sufficient number of horses having been purchased of
the Shoshonees, the final start across the mountains was begun.
The journal says:
"The greater part of the band, who had delayed their journey
on our account, were also ready to depart. We took leave
of the Shoshonees, who set out on their visit to the Missouri at
the same time that we, accompanied by the old guide, his four sons,
and another Indian, began the descent of the Lemhi River,
along the same road which Captain Clark had previously pursued.
After riding twelve miles we camped on the south bank of this river,
and as the hunters had brought in three deer early in the morning,
we did not feel the want of provisions."
Three days later, all the Indians, except the old guide, left them.
They now passed up Fish Creek, and finding no track leading over
the mountains they cut their way. Their journal says: -
"This we effected with much difficulty; the thickets of trees and brush
through which we were obliged to cut our way required great labor;
the road itself was over the steep and rocky sides of the hills,
where the horses could not move without danger of slipping down,
while their feet were bruised by the rocks and stumps of trees.
Accustomed as these animals were to this kind of life,
they suffered severely; several of them fell to some distance
down the sides of the hills, some turned over with the baggage,
one was crippled, and two gave out, exhausted with fatigue.
After crossing the creek several times we at last made five miles,
with great fatigue and labor, and camped on the left side of the creek
in a small stony low ground. It was not, however, till after
dark that the whole party was collected; and then, as it rained
and we had killed nothing, we passed an uncomfortable night.
The party had been too busily occupied with the horses to make
any hunting excursion; and though, as we came along Fish Creek,
we saw many beaver-dams, we saw none of the animals themselves."
The Indian guide appears here to have lost his way;
but, not dismayed, he pushed on through a trackless wilderness,
sometimes travelling on the snow that now covered the mountains.
On the fourth of September, the party came upon a large
encampment of Indians, who received them with much ceremony.
The journal says: -
"September 5, we assembled the chiefs and warriors, and informed them
who we were, and the purpose for which we had visited their country.
All this was, however, conveyed to them through so many different languages,
that it was not comprehended without difficulty.
