 Section 1 of the Journal of Lewis and Clark. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org, recording by Ava'i in May 2010. The Journal of Lewis and Clark by Mary Wether Lewis and William Clark. Section 1. The Journal of Lewis and Clark to the mouth of the Columbia River beyond the Rocky Mountains in the years 1804 to 5 and 6. Giving a faithful description of the river Missouri and its source of the various tribes of Indians through which they passed. Manneries and customs, soil, climate, commerce, gold and silver mines, animal and vegetable productions, etc. From Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States to Congress. Novel and arduous undertaking. The expedition of Messas Lewis and Clark for exploring the river Missouri and the best communication from that to the Pacific Ocean has had all the success which could be expected. They have traced the Missouri nearly to its source, descended the Columbia to the Pacific Ocean, ascertained with accuracy the geography of that interesting communication across the continent, learned the character of the country, its commerce and inhabitants, and it is by justice to say that Messas Lewis and Clark and their brave companions have by this arduous service deserved well of their country. Thomas Jefferson. An additional message to the Senate and House. In pursuance of a measure proposed to Congress by a message of January 19, 1803 and sanctioned by their approbation for carrying it into execution, Captain Mary Wether Lewis of the First Regiment of Infantry was appointed with a party of men to explore the river Missouri from its mouth to its source, and crossing the highlands by the shortest portage to seek the best water communication dense to the Pacific Ocean, and Lieutenant Clark was appointed second in command. They were to enter into conference with the Indian nations on the route, with a view to the establishment of commerce with them. They entered the Missouri May 14, 1804 and on the 1st of November took up their winter quarters near the Mandon towns, 1,609 miles above the mouth of the river. In latitude, 47 degrees, 21 minutes, 27 seconds north, and longitude, 99 degrees, 24 minutes, 56 seconds west from Greenwich. On the 8th of April, 1805, they proceeded up the river in pursuance of the objects prescribed to them. A letter of the preceding day, April 7, from Captain Lewis is herewith communicated. During his stay among the Mandans, he had been able to lay down the Missouri according to courses and distances taken on his passage up it, corrected by frequent observations of longitude and latitude, and to add to the actual survey of this portion of the river, a general map of the country between the Mississippi and the Pacific from the 34th to the 54th degrees of latitude. These additions are from information collected from Indians with whom he had the opportunities of communicating during his journey and residence with them. Copies of this map are now presented to both Houses of Congress. With these, I communicate also a statistical view procured and forwarded by him of the Indian nations inhabiting the territory of Louisiana and the countries adjacent to its northern and western borders of their commerce and of other interesting circumstances respecting them. End of Section 1. The advantages that arise from the discoveries of unknown regions are too numerous to be mentioned. They arise one after another in continual succession. Geography, civilization, humanity, and the arts and sciences receive aid from them. From the knowledge of geography accrues the most intrinsic advantages of any science extent. It not only feasts the imagination with the amusement of novel descriptions, but is the life of commerce whence the arts and sciences receive sucker and a reciprocal exchange. It cannot fail of giving pleasure to the philanthropic mind to behold implements of agriculture put in the hands of the uncivilized barbarian to provide and protect him from the precarious reliance on the chase for a scanty sustenance. The time is not far distant, in all moral probability, when the uncultivated wilds of the interior part of the continent, which is now only inhabited by the tawny sons of the forest and the howling beasts of prey, will be exchanged for the hearty votaries of agriculture, who will turn the sterile wilderness into rich cultivated and verdant fields. It may be suggested that the intolerable sufferings of the aborigines from the importation of foreign diseases and the more baneful influence of spirituous liquors more than counterbalance the benefits that they receive from civilization. These objections, it must be frankly confessed, are very powerful, but it is hoped that vigilant measures will be pursued by a government professed to be founded on the principles of humanity and wisdom to prohibit the introduction of spirituous liquors among them. The smallpox has raged when little or no communication was held with them. Provisions are already made to introduce vaccine inoculation among them, which will prevent those horrid ravages which are mentioned in the course of the work. Curiosity is often excited to contemplate that regions upwards of 3,000 miles in length bordering on a country inhabited by an inquisitive and enterprising people who could avail themselves of the benefits of a lucrative fur trade should remain so long unexplored. Many impediments have retarded the tour that has laid open to view a country hitherto hidden from the knowledge of the civilized American. Attempts have been made by the great discoverer, Captain Cook, to find a communication by water in the northern regions between the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. Whether the two great oceans are joined together in those regions remains an uncertainty, but the rigors of a frigid zone invents that though they joined it, it was impracticable to navigate between them. To travel among the Indians is but too often thought the road that inevitably leads the unfortunate venture to an untimely death. The barbarity of the Indians in war is proverbial, but in time of peace, hospitality and humanity are traits justly due to their character. It is a judicious saying of an eminent traveler among them that, in time of peace, no greater friends, in time of war, no greater enemies. Before the acquisition of Louisiana by the United States, the jealous disposition of the Spaniards debarred all adventures for discoveries from that quarter. These impediments would compel the discoveries of the western part of the continent to be made by a voyage by the way of Cape Horn, which would be too long, arduous and expensive to entice the enterprise. In the year 1789, the celebrated traveler Alexander McKenzie, embarked from Fort Chippewaian in latitude 58 north, longitude 110 west from Greenwich, and with the greatest fortitude under embarrassing and perilous circumstances, he, with aciduity, explored the northern region to nearly the 70th degree of north latitude, where obstruction by ice compelled him to return to Fort Chippewaian. Thence he ascended Peace River to its source, and thence to the Pacific Ocean, making many discoveries which he judiciously narrated in his journal. The following statement of the commerce of the Missouri is made by a gentleman, which will sufficiently show the advantages that arise from it. The products which are drawn from the Missouri are obtained from the Indians and the hunters in exchange for merchandise. They may be classed according to the sub-joined table. Caster, 12,281 pounds at $1.20 a pound. Total of $14,737.20. Otters, 1,267 skins at $4.00 a skin. Total of $5,068.00. Foxes, Pua Foxes, Tiger Cats, 802 skins at $0.50 a skin. Total of $401.00. Raccoons, 4,248 skins at $0.25 a skin. Total of $1,062.00. Bears, black, gray, and yellow. 2,541 skins at $2.00 a skin. Total of $5,082.00. Puses, no entry. Buffaloes, 1,714 skins at $3.00 a skin. Total of $5,142.00. Dressed, cow hides, 189 skins at $1.50 a skin. Total of $283.50. Shorn, deer skins, 96,926 pounds at $0.40 a pound. Total of $38,770.40. Deer skins with hair, 6,381 skins at $0.50 a skin. Total of $3,190.50. Tallow and fat, 8,313 pounds at $0.20 a pound. Total of $1,662.60. Bears, oil, 2,310 gallons at $1.28 a gallon. Total of $2,572.00. Muskrats, no entry. Martens, no entry. Total value, $77,971.20. The calculations in this table, drawn from the most correct accounts of the produce of the Missouri during 15 years, make the average of a common year $77,971. On calculating in the same proportion, the amount of merchandise entering the Missouri and given in exchange for peltries, it is found that it amounts $61,250 including expenses equal to one fourth of the value of the merchandise. The result is that this commerce gives an annual profit of $16,721 or about 27%. If the commerce of the Missouri without encouragement and badly regulated gives annually so great a profit, may we not rest assured that it will be greatly augmented should government direct its attention to it? It is also necessary to observe that the price of peltry fixed by this table is the current price in Illinois. If it were regulated by the prices of London deducting the expenses of transportation, the profit according to our calculations would be much more considerable. If the Missouri abandoned to savages and presenting by one branch of commerce yield such great advantages in proportion to the capital employed in it, what might we not hope if some merchants or companies with large capital and aided by a population extended along the borders of the river should turn their attention to other branches of the trade, which they might undertake, I dare say, with a certainty of success when we consider the riches buried in its banks and of which I have endeavored in these notes to give an idea? Estimate of the several mines. Mine at Burton or 550,000 pounds produced 66 2 thirds is 336,666 and 2 thirds pounds led at $5 is 18,333.33 to which add 30 on 120,000 pounds manufactured to each thousand is $3,600 zero cents. Subtotal 21,933.33. Old mines. 200,000 pounds mineral. Estimated to produce 66 2 thirds is 133,331 third pounds led at $5 per 100 weight is $6,666.67. Mine at Lamotte. 200,000 pounds led at $5 per 100 weight is $10,000 zero cents. Suppose at all the other mines, 30,000 pounds led at $5 is $1,500 zero cents. Subtotal $18,166.67. Total amount is $40,100 zero cents. When the manufacture of white and red lead is put into operation, the export valuation will be considerably augmented on the quality of lead. End of section 2. Section 3 of the Journal of Lewis and Clark. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Nadine Gertboulez. The Journal of Lewis and Clark by Mary Weather Lewis and William Clark. Chapter 1. Introduction. On the 14th of May, 1804, we embarked from St. Louis on our expedition. Having, previous to our setting out, provided ourselves with everything requisite for the persecution of the voyage, which consisted of large quantities of ammunition and firearms, for the purpose of protecting us from the hostile attacks of the natives, and for procuring us food. We likewise took a large quantity of ornaments, consisting of metals, trinkets, etc., for the purpose of gaining a favorable reception among the Indians and to procure us such articles of use as our situation required. Our company, consisting of 43, were generally divided into two companies, the one for hunting, who travelled by land, and overtook the other party at night, who were in our water convience, which consisted only of two small pierogues and a bateau. We were compelled to encamp by night on the banks of the river, our vessel being too light to sail except by day. The great object of our expedition was to aid commerce and promote immigration. The country bordering on the Missouri produces immense quantities of fur, which can be purchased of the Indians for a mere trifle, and which can be easily transported from the head of the Missouri to the Columbia River with very little expense, considering the low rate that horses can be purchased from the snake Indians, who inhabit the country at the head of the Missouri. To transport them to the Columbia River and thence to China by a very short route. This trade would give employment to an immense number of inhabitants, and the country is sufficiently luxuriant for the population of an immense colony. End of Section 3 The Journal of Lewis & Clark by Mary Wether Lewis and William Clark Chapter 2 The Missouri, length, color, various other rivers, Indian tribes, prairies on fire, obstructions in the river, trees their size, plants, products of the soil, salt springs, salt peter, stones, volcanoes, good spirit and evil spirit, oars, salines on the Arkansas, salt mines, etc. The Missouri is already ranked among the greatest rivers. It is an object of astonishment to the whole world. The curious mind admires its rapidity, length, salubrious water, and is astonished at its color, while the reflecting mind admires the innumerable riches scattered on its banks and foreseeing the future, beholds already this rival of the Nile, flowing through countries as fertile and populist and as extensive as those of Egypt. A traveler, however intelligent he may be, can give but a faint idea of the innumerable riches accumulated on its banks. This sketch will barely point out the most important. The Missouri joins the Mississippi five leagues above the town of St. Louis, about the 40th degree of North latitude. It is necessary to observe that after uniting with the Mississippi, it flows through a space of 1200 miles before it empties itself into the Gulf of Mexico. As this part of its course is well known, I shall speak of the Missouri only. I ascended about 600 leagues without perceiving a diminution either in its width or rapidity. The principal rivers which empty into the Missouri are, as you ascend, the Gasconad, the River of the Osages, the two Chariturns, the Great River, the River de Canips, Nichenan, Batoni, the Great and Little Nimaha, the River Platte, the River de Sioux, and low-key core. As far as 25 leagues above its junction with the Mississippi are to be found different settlements of American families, that is, at Bonhomme and Femme Osage, etc. Beyond this, its banks are inhabited only by savage nations. The Great and Little Osages settled 120 leagues on the river of that name, the Canips, the Autos, the Pannies, the Loupes or Pants Mahas, the Mahas, the Pocas, the Ricars, the Mandanes, and the Sioux. The last nation is not fixed on the banks of the Missouri, but habitually goes there to hunt. The banks of the Missouri are alternately woods and prairies. It is remarked that the higher you ascend this river, the more common are these prairies, and they seem to increase every year by the fires which are kindled every autumn by the savages or white hunters, either by chance or the design of facilitating their hunting. Footnote. We have no means of determining at what period the fires began to sweep over these plains because we know not when they began to be inhabited. It is quite possible that they might have been occasionally fired by lightning previous to the introduction of that element by human agency. At all events, it is very evident that as soon as the fire began to be used in this country by its inhabitants, the annual burning of the prairie must have commenced. One of the peculiarities of this climate is the dryness of its summers and autumns. A drought often commences in August, which with the exception of a few showers towards the close of that month continues with little interruption throughout the fall season. The autumnal months are almost invariably clear, warm, and dry. The immense mass of vegetation with which this fertile soil loads itself during the summer is suddenly withered, and the whole earth covered with combustible materials. This is especially true of the prairies, where the grass grows from two to ten feet high and being entirely exposed to the action of the sun and wind dries with great rapidity. A single spark of fire falling anywhere upon these plains at such a time instantly kindles a blaze that spreads on every side and continues its destructive course as long as it finds fuel. Travelers who have described these fires as sweeping with a rapidity which renders it hazardous even to fly before them and their children's books and school geographies are embellished with plates representing men, horses, and wild animals retreating at full speed and with every mark of terror before the devouring element. These are exaggerations. If instances of this kind of danger have ever occurred, they have been rare. There is not an authenticated case on record or in tradition in which a man or an animal has been burned by these fires unless he was drunk or wounded. The burning of several Indians mentioned by Lewis and Clark was probably the result of some unusual accident which they did not think necessary to explain. The thick squart of the prairie presents a considerable mass of fuel and offers a barrier to the progress of the flame not easily surmounted. The fire advances slowly and with power. The heat is intense. The flames often extend across a wide prairie and advance in a long line. No sight can be more sublime than to behold at night a stream of fire several miles in breadth advancing across these plains leaving behind it a black cloud of smoke and throwing before it a vivid glare which lights up the whole landscape with the brilliancy of noonday. A roaring and cracking sound is heard crushing of a hurricane. The flame which in general rises to the height of about 20 feet is seen sinking and darting upward in spires precisely as the waves dash against each other and as the spray flies up into the air. And the whole appearance is often that of a boiling and flaming sea violently agitated. The progress of the fire is so slow and the heat so great that every combustible material in its course is consumed. The root of the prairie grass alone by some peculiar adaptation of nature is spared. For of most other vegetables not only is the stem destroyed but the vital principle extinguished. Woe to the farmer whose ripe corn fields extend into the prairie and who has carelessly suffered the tall grass to grow in contact with his fences. The whole labor of the year is swept away in a few hours. But such accidents are comparatively unfrequent as the preventive is simple and easily applied. A narrow strip of bare ground prevents the fire from extending to the space beyond it. A beaten road of the width of a single wagon track arrests its progress. The treading of the domestic animals around the enclosures of the farmer affords often a sufficient protection by destroying the fuel in their vicinity. And in other cases a few furrows are drawn round the field with the plow or the wild grasses closely mowed down on the outside of the fence, end quote. Hall's statistics of the west. End footnote. The waters of the Missouri are muddy and contain throughout its course a sediment of very fine sand which soon precipitates. But the circumstance which renders them out of sight takes nothing from their solubility. Experience has proved that the waters of the Missouri are more wholesome than those of the Ohio or the upper Mississippi. The rivers and streams which empty into the Missouri below the river Platte are clear and limpid, but above this river they are as muddy as those of the Missouri itself. This is occasioned by beds of sand or hills of a very fine white earth where they take their rise. The bed of the Missouri is obstructed with banks sometimes of sand and sometimes gravel which frequently change their place and consequently render navigation always uncertain. Its course is generally west by northwest. To give a precise idea of the incalculable riches scattered on the banks of the Missouri would require unbounded knowledge. The flats are covered with huge trees. The liard or poplar, the sycamore out of one piece of which are made canoes which carry almost 18,000 hundred weight. The maple which affords the inhabitants a wholesome and agreeable sugar. The wild cherry tree and the red and black walnut so useful in joiner's work. The red and white elm necessary to cartwrights. The cantos which when well trimmed forms impenetrable hedges. The water willow, the white and red mulberry tree, et cetera, et cetera. On the shores are found in abundance the white and black oak proper for every kind of shipwrights and carpenters work. The pine so easily worked and the stony mountains the durable cedar. It would be impossible to detail all the species of trees even those unknown in other countries and the use that can be made of them of which we are still ignorant. The plants are still more numerous. I will pass lightly over this article for the want of sufficient botanical knowledge. The Indians are well acquainted with the virtues of many of them. They make use of them to heal their wounds and to poison their arrows. They also use different kinds of savoyanus to dye different collars. They have one which is a certain and prompt cure for the venereal disease. The lands on the borders of the Missouri are excellent and when cultivated are capable of yielding abundantly all the productions of the temperate and even some of the warm climates. Wheat, maize and every species of grain, Irish potatoes and excellent sweet potatoes hemp seems here to be an indigenous plant. Even cotton succeeds though not as well as in more southerly countries. Its culture however yields a real advantage to the inhabitants settled on the banks of the Missouri who raise from two acres sufficient for the wants of their families. The natural prairies are a great resource being of themselves excellent pasturages and facilitating the labors of the man who is just settled and who can thus enjoy with little labor from the first year a considerable crop. Clay fit for making brick is very common. There is also faience clay and every species of clay which in the opinion of intelligent persons is the real kaolin to which the porcelain of China owes the whole of its reputation. There are found on the borders of the Missouri many springs of salt water of every kind which will be more than sufficient for the consumption of the country to become inhabited. Salt Peter is found here in great abundance in numberless caves which are met with along the banks of the river. The stones are generally calcareous and gates. There is one found also which I believe to be peculiar to the banks of the Missouri. It is of blood red color, compact, soft under the chisel and hardens in the air and is susceptible of a most beautiful polish. The plants make use of it for their calamits and from the extent of its layers it may be easily employed in more important works. They have also quarries of marble of which we only know the color. They are streaked with red. One quarry is well known and easily worked namely a species of plaster which we are assured is of the same nature as that of Paris and of which the United States make a great use. We also found volcanic stones which demonstrate the ancient existence of unknown volcanoes. We are confirmed in the belief that there were volcanoes in some of their mountains by the intelligence that we received from the Indians who informed us that the evil spirit was mad at red people and caused the mountains to vomit fire, sand, gravel and large stones to terrify and destroy them the good spirit had compassion on them and put out the fire chased the evil spirit out of the mountains and left them unhurt but when they returned to their wickedness the great spirit had permitted the evil spirit to return to the mountains again and vomit up fire but on their becoming good and making sacrifices the great spirit chased away the evil spirit from disturbing them and for forty snows, forty years that permitted him to return end quote the short stay we generally made among the savage nations prevented us from making those researches which would have supplied us with more extensive information respecting the various mines found on the borders of the Missouri we know with certainty only those of iron, lead and coal there is however no doubt that there are some of tin of copper of silver and even of gold according to the account of the Indians who have found some particles or dust of these metals either on the surface of the earth or on the banks of small torrents I consider it a duty at the same time to give an idea of the salt mines and the salines which are found in the same latitude on the branches of the river Arkansas at about three hundred miles from the village of the great Osages in the westernly direction after having passed several branches of the river Arkansas we find a flat surrounded by hills of an immense extent and about fifteen leagues and diameter the soil is black sand very fine and so hard that the horses hardly leave a trace during a warm and dry season their exhales from this flat vapors which after being condensed fall on this black sand with an incrustation of salt very white and fine and about half an inch thick and rains destroy this phenomenon at about eighteen miles from this flat there are found mines of genuine salt near the surface of the earth the Indians who are well acquainted with them are obliged to use levers to break and raise it at about fifteen leagues from the flat of which we have just spoken and in the southerly direction there is a second mine of genuine salt of the same nature as the other these two mines differ only in color the first borders on a blue the second approaches a red in short much further south and still on the branches of the Arkansas is a saline which may be considered as one of the most interesting phenomena in nature on the declivity of a small hill there are five holes about a foot and a half in diameter and two in depth always full of salt water without ever overflowing if a person were to draw any of this salt water the hole would immediately fill itself and about ten feet lower there flows from this same hill a large stream of pure and sweet water if this country was peopled the working of these genuine salt mines would be very easy by means of the river Arkansas this species of salt is found by experience to be far preferable to any other for salting provisions should these notes imperfect and without order but in every respect founded on truth and observations made by myself cite the curiosity of men of intelligence capable of investigating the objects which they have barely suggested I do not doubt but that in calculable advantages would result in the survival of the nation. and Clark, by whom carried on, best market, country at the head of the Missouri and Columbia, big Indians, their wretchedness, food, character, personal appearance, price of a horse, flat heads, origin of the name, kindness, honesty, etc. It is impossible to give an exact account of the Peltries, which are brought down the Mississippi, as they are immediately transported to Canada, without passing any port of this country. We can obtain a true statement only from the settlements on the lakes. It is but a short time since the Red River was explored. After leaving the River Des Moines, the fur trade from the Upper Missouri is carried on by British houses, and almost the whole of the furs which are obtained from the other Indian traders are also sent to Canada, where they command much higher prices than at New Orleans, where, in fact, there is no demand for them. It is also necessary to observe that the further north we go, the greater the value for the Peltries. It is but a few years since Peltries were exported from America by the way of the Ohio. It is to be desired that the eastern part of America should encourage this exploitation by raising the prices of Peltries to nearly those of Canada. The country at the head of the Missouri and Columbia River bears a great similarity, being cold and very stable, except in pasture age only. At the foot of the mountain, at the head of the Missouri, lives a tribe of Indians called Serpentine or Snake Indians, who are the most object and miserable of the human race, having little besides the features of human beings. They live in a most wretched state of poverty, subsisting on berries and fish, the former they manufacture into a kind of bread, which is very palatable, but possesses very little nutritious quality. The only article of value which they possess is Horses, in which the country abounds, and in very severe winters they are compelled to subsist on them for the want of a better substitute for food. They are a very harmless, inoffensive people. When we first made our appearance among them, they were filled with terror, many of them fled, while the others who remained were in tears, but were soon pacified by tokens of friendship and by presence of beads, etc., which soon convinced them of our friendly disposition. The Snake Indians are in their stature crooked, which is a peculiarity, as it does not characterize any other tribe or Indians that came within the compass of our observation. To add to this deformity they have high cheekbones, leager light-coloured eyes, and are very meagre, which gives them a frightful aspect. With an axe we could purchase of them a good horse, we purchased twenty-seven from them, which did not cost more than one hundred dollars, which will be a favorable circumstance for transporting fur over to the Columbia River. At the head of the Columbia River resides a tribe by the name Palo de Palos or Flatheads. The latter name they derive from an operation which renders the top of the head flat, which is performed while they are infants when the bones of the cranium are soft and elastic and are easily brewed to the desired deformity. The operation is performed by tying boards, wound to a proper shape for the purpose, which they compress on the head. In performing this singular operation, many infants, I think, without doubt, lose their lives. The more they get the head misshapen, it is considered with them the greater beauty. They are very kind and hospitable people. We left in charge with them when descending the Columbia River, or horses, which they kept safely. They likewise found where we had concealed our ammunition in the earth, and had they not been an honest people and preserved it safe, our lives must have been inevitably lost. They delivered up the hole without wishing to reserve any or to receive for it a compensation. They, like the snake Indians abound in horses, which subsist in the winter season on the shrub, which they call evergreen, which bears a large leaf and is tolerably nutritious, they likewise feed upon the side of hills which gush out small springs of water, which melt the snow and afford pasture. In this manner, a horse is subsisted while going over the rocky mountains. The country inhabited by the snake and flathead Indians produces but very little game. Captain Clark kept an account of the distances of places from one to another, which were not kept by myself, for which reason I hope it will be a sufficient apology for subtying two of his statements. End of Section 5. Section 6 of the Journal of Lewis and Clark. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, visit LibriVox.org. The Journal of Lewis and Clark by Maryweather Lewis and William Clark. Chapter 4. Letter from Captain Clark to His Excellency, Governor Harrison. Fort Mandon, April 2nd. Dear sir, by the return of a party which we sent from this place with dispatches, I do myself the pleasure of giving you a summary view of the Missouri, etc. In ascending as high as the Kansas River, which is 334 miles up the Missouri, on the southwest side we met a strong current, which was five to seven miles an hour. The bottom is extensive and covered with timber. The high country is interspersed with rich, handsome prairies, well watered, and abound in deer and bears. In ascending as high as the river Platte, we met a current less rapid, not exceeding six miles an hour. In this distance we passed several small rivers on each side, which watered some finely diversified country, principally prairies, as between Vincennes and Illinois. The bottoms continue wide and covered with timber. This river is about 6,000 yards wide at the mouth, not navigable. It heads in the Rocky Mountains, with the North River and Yellowstone River, and passes through an open country. Fifteen leagues up this river, the Autos and 30 Missouri's live in one village and can raise two hundred men. Fifteen leagues higher up, the Panias and Pania Republicans live in one village, and can raise seven hundred men. Up the Wolf Fork of this river, Pepea Louisus live in one village, and can raise two hundred and eighty men. These Indians have partial ruptures frequently. River Platte is six hundred and thirty miles up the Missouri on the southwest side. Here we find the Antelope, or Goat. The next river of size ascending is the Stone River, commonly called by the Ingeces, Little River Desiris. It takes its rays in Lake Dispus, fifteen miles from the River Des Moores, and is sixty-four yards wide. Here commences the Sioux country. The next by note is the Big Sioux River, which heads with the St. Peter's and waters of Lake Winepie, in some high wooded country. About ninety miles still higher, the River Jacques falls on the same side, and about one hundred yards wide. This river heads with the Lake Winepie, at no great distance east from the place, the head of the River Daemon in Pelican Lake, between the Sioux Rivers and St. Peter's. The country on both sides of the Missouri, from the River Platte to that place, has very much the same appearance. Extensively fertile plains containing but little timber, and that little principally confined to the river bottoms and streams. The country east of this place, and off, from the Missouri as low as Stone River, contains a number of small streams, many of which are said to be so much impregnated with glober salt as to produce all its effects. Certain it is that the water and the small streams from the hill below on the southwest side possesses this quality. About the River Jacques Brough, the country contains a great quantity of mineral, cobalt, cenobar, alum, capris, and several other things. The Stone Coal, which is on the Missouri, is very indifferent. As ending fifty-two miles above the Jacques, the River Quicum falls on the southwest side of this river, is one thousand and twenty-six miles up, one hundred and fifty yards wide, not navigable. It heads in the black hills, which run nearly parallel with the Missouri, from about the head of the Kansas River, and ends southwest of this place. Quicum waters a broken country one hundred and twenty-two miles by water higher. White River fills in on the southwest side, and is three hundred yards wide and navigable, as all the other streams are, which are not particularly mentioned. This river heads in some small lakes short of the black hills. The Mayhan and Pocan nations rove on the heads of this river and the Quicum, and can raise two hundred and fifty men. They were very numerous a few years ago, but the smallpox and the Sioux had reduced them to their present state. The Sioux possessed the southwest side of the Missouri above White River, one hundred and thirty-two miles higher, and on the west side. Teton River falls into it. It is small, and heads in the open plains. Here we met a large band of Sioux, and the second which we have seen called Teton's. These are rascals, and may be justly termed the pirates of the Missouri. They made two attempts to stop us. They are subdivided and stretching on the river near to this place, having reduced the rockrace and mandins, and drove them from the country they now occupy. The Sioux bands rove in the country to the Mississippi. About forty-seven miles above the Teton River, the Cheyenne River falls in from the southwest, four thousand yards wide. It is navigable to the black hills in which it takes its rise, in the third range. Several bands of Indians, but little known, rove on the heads of this and the river-plat, and are stated to be as follows. Cheyenne three hundred men, Stéthans one hundred, Canayavitch four hundred, Caillanois and Watahato two hundred, Cajata seventy, Détame thirty, Memesun fifty, Castahana one thousand three hundred men. It is probable that some of these bands are the remains of the Padaucar nation. At fourteen hundred and forty miles up the Missouri, and a short distance above two handsome rivers, which take their rise in the black hills, the Cacarus live in three villages, and are the remains of ten different tribes of Penaeus, who have been reduced and driven from their country lower down by the Sioux. Their number is about five hundred men. They raise corn, beans, etc., and appear friendly and well-disposed. They were at war with the nations of this neighborhood, and we have brought about peace. Between the recars and this place, two rivers fall in on the southwest, and one on the northeast, not very long, and take their rise in the open country. This country abounds in a great variety of wild animals, but a few of which the Indians take. Many of these animals are uncommon in the United States, such as white, red, and gray bears, long-eared mules, or black-tailed deer, black at the end of the tail only, large hair, antelope, or goat, and red fox. The ground prairie dogs, who burrow in the ground, the brookah, which has a head like a dog, and the size of a small dog, the white brant, maple, calamite, eagle, etc., and many others are said to inhabit the rocky mountains. I have collected the following accounts of the rivers and country in advance of this to it. Two days march in advance of this. The little Missouri falls on the south side and heads at the northwest extremity of the Black Hills. Six days march further, a large river joins the Missouri, affording as much water as the main river. This river is rapid, without a fall, and navigable to the rocky mountains. Its branches head with the waters of the river Platte. The country in advance is said to be broken. The trade of the nations at this place is from the northwest, and Hudson's Bay establishments on the Asiniboine River, distant about 150 miles. Those traders are nearly at open war with each other, and better calculated to destroy than promote the happiness of those nations to which they laterally extended their trade, and intend to form an establishment near this place in the course of this year. Your most obedient servant, William Clark. End of section six, read by Dennis Sayers in Modesto, California for LibriVox. Section seven of the Journal of Lewis and Clark. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Leslie Howard. The Journal of Lewis and Clark by Maryweather Lewis and William Clark. Chapter five. Letter from Captain Clark to his brother. St. Louis, September 1806. Dear brother, we arrived at this place at 12 o'clock today from the Pacific Ocean, where we remain during the last winter near the entrance of the Columbia River. This station we left on the 27th of March last, and should have reached St. Louis early in August, had we not been detained by the snow which barred our passage across the Rocky Mountains until the 24th of June. In returning through those mountains, we divided ourselves into several parties, digressing from the route by which we went out in order the more effectually to explore the country and discover the most practicable route which does exist across the continent by the way of the Missouri and Columbia rivers. In this we were completely successful and have therefore no hesitation in declaring that such as nature has permitted, we have discovered the best route which does exist across the continent of North America in that direction. Such is that by way of the Missouri to the foot of the rapids below the great falls of that river, a distance of 2,575 miles, fence by land, passing by the Rocky Mountains to a navigable part of the Kauskowski, 340 and with the Kauskowski, 73 miles, Lewis's River, 154 miles and the Columbia, 413 miles to the Pacific Ocean, making the total distance from the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi to the discharge of the Columbia into the Pacific Ocean, 3,555 miles. The navigation of the Missouri may be deemed good. Its difficulties arise from its falling banks, the timber embedded in the mud of its channel, its sandbars and steady rapidity of its current, all which may be overcome by the necessary precaution. The passage by land of 340 miles from the falls of the Missouri to the Kauskowski is the most formidable part of the tract proposed across the continent. Of this distance, 200 miles is along a good road and 140 miles over tremendous mountains, which for 60 miles is covered with eternal snows. A passage over these mountains is however practicable from the latter part of June to the last of September and the cheap rate at which horses are to be obtained from the Indians of the Rocky Mountains and west of them reduces the expenses of transportation over this portage to a mere trifle. The navigation of the Kauskowski, Lewis's River and the Columbia is safe and good from the 1st of April to the middle of August by making three portages on the Ladder River. The first of which in descending is 1200 paces at the falls of Columbia, 261 miles up that river, the second of two miles at the Long Narrow, six miles below the falls, and a third also of two miles at the Great Rapids, 65 miles still lower down. The tide flows up the Columbia 183 miles and within seven miles of the Great Rapids, large slopes may with safety ascend as high as the tide water and vessels of 300 tons birthing reach the entrance of the Multumna River, a large southern branch of the Columbia, which takes its rise on the confines of New Mexico with the Colorado and Apostles Rivers discharging itself into the Columbia, 125 miles from its entrance into the Pacific Ocean. I consider this track across the continent of immense advantage to the fur trade as all the furs collected in nine-tenths of the most valuable fur country in America may be conveyed to the mouth of the Columbia and shipped from thence to the East Indies by the 1st of August in each year and will of course reach Canton earlier than the furs which are annually exported for Montreal arrive in Great Britain. In our outward bound passage we ascended to the foot of the rapids below the Great Falls of the Missouri where we arrived on the 14th of June 1805. Not having met with any of the natives of the Rocky Mountains we were of course ignorant of the passes by land which existed through those mountains to the Columbia rivers and had we even known the route we were destitute of horses which would have been indispensable necessary to enable us to transport the requisite quantity of ammunition and other stores to ensure the remaining part of our voyage down the Columbia. We therefore determined to navigate the Missouri as far as it was practicable or unless we met with some of the natives from whom we could obtain horses and information of the country. Accordingly we undertook a most laborious portage at the falls of the Missouri of 18 miles which we affected with our canoes and baggage by the 3rd of July. From hence ascending Missouri we penetrated the Rocky Mountains at the distance of 71 miles above the upper part of the portage and penetrated as far as the three forks of that river a distance of 180 miles further. Here the Missouri divides into three nearly equal branches at the same point the two largest branches are so nearly of the same dignity that we did not conceive that either of them could with propriety retain the name of the Missouri and therefore call these streams Jefferson's Madison's and Gallatin's rivers. The confluence of those rivers is 2858 miles from the mouth of the Missouri by the meanders of that river. We arrived at the three forks of the Missouri on the 27th of July. Not having yet been so fortunate as to meet with the natives, although I had previously made several excursions for that purpose, we were compelled still to continue our route by water. The most northerly of the three forks that to which we had given the name of Jefferson's river was deemed the most proper for our purpose and we accordingly ascended it 248 miles to the upper forks and its extreme navigable point making the total distance to which we had navigated the waters of the Missouri 3096 miles of which 429 lay within the Rocky Mountains. On the morning of the 17th of August 1805 I arrived at the forks of Jefferson's river where I met Captain Lewis who had previously penetrated with the party of three men to the waters of the Columbia. Discovered a band of the Shoshone Nation and had found means to induce 35 of their chiefs and warriors to accompany him to that place. From these people we learned that the river in which they resided was not navigable and that a passage through the mountains in that direction was impracticable. Being unwilling to confide in this unfavorable account of the natives it was concerted between Captain Lewis and myself that one of us should go forward immediately with the small party and explore the river while the other in the interim should lay up the canoes at that place and engage the natives with their horses to assist in transporting our stores and baggage to their camp. Accordingly I set out the next day past the dividing mountains between the waters of the Missouri and Columbia and descended the river which I call the east fork of Lewis River about 70 miles. Finding that the Indians account of the country in the direction of this river was correct I returned and rejoined Captain Lewis on the 29th of August at the Shoshone camp excessively fatigued as you may suppose. Having past mountains almost inaccessible and compelled to subsist on berries during the greater part of my route we now purchased 27 horses of these Indians and hired a guide who assured us that he could in 15 days take us to a large river and an open country west of these mountains by a route some distance to the north of the river on which they lived and that by which the natives west of the mountains visit the plains of the Missouri for the purpose of hunting the buffalo. Every preparation being made we set forward with our guide on the 31st of August through those tremendous mountains in which we continued until the 22nd of September before we reached the lower country beyond them on our way we met with the Ole Lockshoot a band of the touchpox from whom we obtained an accession of seven horses and exchanged eight or ten others. This proved of infinite service to us as we were compelled to subsist on horse beef about eight days before we reached the Kaus Kauskii. During our passage over those mountains we suffered everything which hunger cold and fatigue could impose nor did our difficulties with respect to provisions cease on our arrival at the Kaus Kauskii for although the Pella to Pollars a numerous nation inhabiting that country were extremely hospitable and for a few trifling articles furnished us with an abundance of roots and dried salmon the food to which they were accustomed we found that we could not subsist on these articles and almost all of us grew sick on eating them we were obliged therefore to have recourse to the flesh of horses and dogs as food to supply the deficiency of our guns which produced but little meat as gain was scarce in the vicinity of our camp on the Kaus Kauskii where we were compelled to remain in order to construct our parokes to descend the river at this season the salmon are meager informed but indifferent food while we remained here I was myself sick for several days and my friend Captain Lewis suffered a severe indisposition having completed four parokes and a small canoe we gave our horses in charge to the Pella to Pollars until we returned and on the seventh of October re-embarked for the Pacific Ocean we descended by the route I have already mentioned the water of the river being low at this season we experienced much difficulty in descending we found it obstructed by a great number of difficult and dangerous rapids and passing of which are parole several times filled and the men escaped narrowly with their lives however this difficulty does not exist in high water which happens within the period which I have previously mentioned we found the natives extremely numerous and generally friendly though we have on several occasions owed our lives in the fate of the expedition to our number which consisted of 31 men on the 17th of November we reached the ocean where various considerations induced us to spend the winter we therefore searched for an eligible situation for that purpose and selected a spot on the south side of a little river called by the natives Natale which discharges itself at a small bar on the south side of the Columbia and 14 miles within Port Adams here we constructed some log houses and defended them with the common stockade work this place we called Fort Clatsop afternation of that name for our nearest neighbors in this country we found an abundance of elk on which we subsisted principally during the last winter we left Fort Clatsop on the 27th of March on our homeward bound voyage being much better acquainted with the country we were enabled to take such precautions as in a great measure secured us from the want of provisions at any time and greatly lessened our fatigues when compared with those to which we were compelled to submit in our outward bound journey we have not lost a man since we left Mandon's a circumstance which i sure you is a pleasing consideration to me as i shall shortly be with you and the post is now waiting i deem it unnecessary here to attempt minutely to detail the occurrences of the last 18 months i am and etc your affectionate brother w m clark end of section seven recording by leslie howard section eight of the journal of louis and clark this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libra vox dot org recording by jk cayman the journal of louis and clark by meraweather louis and william clark chapter six indian treatment their dread of the smallpox inattention to future wants evil spirit murder indians restrained from murder by being threatened with the smallpox friendship indian prayer death of a comrade danger from wild beasts encounter with a snake similarity in the physical organization of indians of different tribes cause of their color hatred of beards dress boring the nose and ears decorating the head with silver plates huts or lodges movable houses beds utensils food mode of cooking meat devotional dance before and after eating mode of producing fire a parent want of affection fortitude manner of courting memory respect for old age money physicians mode of curing the fever etc etc the treatment that we received from the indians during nearly three years that we were with them was very kind and hospitable except the ill treatment that we received from the sue tribe who several times made attempts to stop us and we should have been massacred had we not terrified them from their murderous intention by threatening them with the smallpox in such a manner as would kill the whole tribe of them nothing could be more horrible to them than the bare mention of this fatal disease it was communicated to them by the americans and spread from tribe to tribe with an unabated pace until it extended itself across the continent quote this fatal infection spread around with a baneful rapidity which no flight could escape and with a fatal effect that nothing could resist it destroyed with its pestilential breath whole families and tribes and the hard sense presented to those who had the melancholy and affecting opportunity of beholding it a combination of the dead and dying and such is to avoid the hard fate of their friends around them prepared to disappoint the plague of its prey by terminating their own existence the habits and lives of those devoted people who provide not today for the wants of tomorrow must have heightened the pains of such an affliction by leaving them not only without remedy but even without alleviation but nothing was left them but to submit in agony and despair to aggravate the picture if aggravation was possible maybe added the sight of the helpless child beholding the putrid carcass of its beloved parents dragged by the wolves from their huts who were invited by the stench and with a ferocious ferocity satiate their hunger on the mangled corpse or in the same manner serve the dog with food from the body of his once beloved master nor was it uncommon for the father of a family whom the infection had just reached to call his family around him to represent the sufferings and cruel fate from the influence of some evil spirit who was preparing to extirpate their race and to invite them to baffle death with all its horrors with their own weapons and at the same time if their hearts failed in this necessary act he was himself ready to perform the deed of mercy with his own hand as the last act of his affection and instantly follow them to the chambers of death close quote footnote a western traveler end footnote the indians being destitute of physicians living on animal food plunging themselves into cold water on the first discovery of the disease rendered it generally mortal while we were at fort mandan the sue robbed several of our party when they were returning to the fort with the fruits of an excursion after game and murdered several of the mandan tribe in cold blood without provocation while reposing on the bosom of friendship on herring of this massacre captain clark and the greater part of us volunteered to avenge the murder but were deterred by not receiving sucker from the mandan warriors who declined to avenge the outrage committed on them the probability of their not enlisting was that they were afraid of the superior number of the sued to warrant an engagement soon after this massacre we received authentic intelligence that the sue had it in contemplation if their threats were true to murder us in the spring but were prevented from making the attack by our threatening to spread the smallpox with all its horrors among them they knowing that it first originated among the white people and having heard of inoculation and the mode of keeping the infection in vials which they had but an imperfect idea of that barely a threat filled them with horror and was sufficient to deter them from their resolute and bloody purpose this stratagem may appear insignificant to the reader but was of the greatest consequence to us for to it alone we owe not only the fate of the expedition but our lives most of the tribes of indians that we became acquainted with except the sue after being introduced by our interpreter and finding that our intentions were friendly towards them never failed of greeting us with many tokens of their friendly disposition soon after our interview we were invited to smoke the calumeta piece and to partake freely of their venison the women and children in particular were not wanting and showing tokens of friendship by endeavouring to make our stay agreeable on our first meeting they generally held a council as they term it when their chief delivers a quote talk close quote in which they give their sentiments respecting their new visitors which were filled with professions of friendship and often were very eloquent and abounded with sublime and figurative language when we departed after taking leave they would often put up a prayer of which the following is a sample which was put up for us by a mandan quote that the great spirit would favour us with smooth water with a clear sky by day and a bright starlight by night that we might not be presented with the red hatchet of war but that the great pipe of peace might ever shine upon us as the sun shines in an unclouded day and that we might be overshadowed by the smoke thereof that we might have sound sleep and that the bird of peace might whisper in our ears pleasant dreams that the deer might be taken by us in plenty and that the great spirit would take us home in safety to our squaws and children close quote these prayers were generally made with great fervency often smiting with great vehemence their hands upon their breast their eyes fixed an adoration towards heaven in this manner they would continue their prayers until we were out of sight in the four part of autumn we experienced slight typhus in dispositions caused by great vicissitudes of weather which at times were very damp our affectionate companion sergeant floyd was seized with a severe esthetic disease of which he fell a victim he was seized with an acute pain in his intestines accompanied with a great suppression of the pulmonary function every effort that our situation allowed was in vain used for his recovery we buried him in the most decent manner that our circumstance would admit he was universally lamented by us several times many of our party were in imminent danger of being devoured by wild beasts of prey but happily we escaped frequently we were annoyed by a kind of light colored bear of which the country near the head of the Missouri abounds after being attacked they give no quarter but rush with great fury towards their enemy one of our party shot at one of them and wounded him the bear instead of being intimidated by the smart of the wound was stimulated into rage and rushed with great fury to devour the assailant who saved his life by running headlong down a steep precipice that formed the bank of the river but was severely bruised by the precipitant retreat the following narrative of an encounter with a snake is told by a companion whose veracity can be relied on I will give it in his own words as he related it in a letter to his friend quote some time close quote says he quote before we reached Fort Mandan while I was out on an excursion of hunting one of the greatest monsters that ever shocked the mind with horror was presented to my sight when passing deliberately in a forest that bordered on a prairie I heard a rustling in the bushes I leaped towards the object delighted with the prospect of acquiring game but on proceeding a few paces further my blood was chilled with horror by the appearance of a serpent of enormous size on discovering me he immediately erected his head to a great height his color was of a yellower hue than the spots of a rattlesnake and on the top of his back were spots of a reddish color his eyes emitted fire his tongue darted as though he menaced my destruction he was evidently in the attitude of springing at me when I leveled my rifle at him but probably owing to my consternation I only wounded him but the explosion of the gun and the wound turned to flight the awful enemy perhaps you may think that my fright has magnified the description I can candidly ever that he was in bulk half as large as a middle-sized man close quote in the indian tribes there is so great a similarity in their stature color government and religious tenets that it will be requisite for perspicuity to rank them under one general head and when there is a contrast in course of the description it will be mentioned the indians are all except the snake indians tall and stature straight and robust it is very seldom they are deformed which has given rise to the supposition that they put to death their deformed children which is not the case their skin is of a copper color their eyes large black and of a bright and sparkling color indicative of a subtle and discerning mind their hair is of the same color and prone to grow long straight and seldom or never curled their teeth are large and white I never observed any decayed among them which makes their breath as sweet as the air they exhale the women are about the stature of the English women and much inclined to corpulency which is seldom the case with the other sex I shall not enter into a discussion about the cause of their hue I shall barely mention the suppositions that are made respecting it some have asserted that it is derived principally from their anointing themselves with fat in the summer season to prevent profuse perspiration and this combined with the influence of the sun has given the tincture of their complexion to support the hypothesis they assert that the repeated above mentioned causes give color to the parent who procreates his own likeness until it linked it is entailed on posterity but notwithstanding this curious reasoning others are of opinion that the hand of the creator gave the red issue to the indians the sable color to the african and that of white to the civilized nations they esteem a beard exceedingly unbecoming and take great pains to get rid of it nor is there ever any to be perceived on their faces except when they grow old and become inattentive to their appearance every crinos excrescence on other parts of their body is held in as great apporance by them and both sexes are equally careful to extirpate it in which they often employ much time the palo tiphalos serpentine mandan and other interior tribes of indians pluck them out with bent pieces of hardwood formed into a kind of nippers made for that purpose while those that have a communication with americans or europeans procure from them wire which they ingeniously make into an instrument resembling a screw which will take so firm a hold of the beard that with a sudden twitch they extirpate them out by the roots when considerable blood never fails to flow the dress of the indians varies according to the tribe that they belong to but in general it is very commodious not to encumber them in pursuing the chase or their enemy those that inhabit the Missouri I have often seen in cold weather without any apparel to screen themselves from the inclement sea of the weather the lower rank of the palo tiphalos and clatsops were nothing in the summer season but a small garment about their hips which is either manufactured out of bark or skins and which would vie with if not excel any european manufacturer being diversified with different colors which gave it a gray appearance their chiefs are generally dressed in robes that are made out of small skins which takes several hundred for a garment of different colors neatly tanned which they hang loosely over their shoulders in deep snows they wear skins which entirely cover their legs and feet and almost answer for breaches being held up by strings tied to the lower part of the waist their bodies in the winter season are covered with different kinds of skin which attend with the fur on which they wear next to the skin those of the men who wish to appear more gay than others pluck out the greatest part of their hair leaving only small locks as fancy dictates on which are hung different kinds of quills and feathers of elegant plumage superbly painted the sue and osage who traffic with the americans wear some of our apparel such as shirts and blankets the former they cannot bear tied at the wristbands and collar and the latter they throw loosely over their shoulders their chiefs dress very gay about their heads they wear all kinds of ornaments that can well be bestowed upon them which are curiously wrought and in the winter long robes of the richest fur that trail on the ground in the summer there is no great peculiarity only what the higher rank wear is excessively ornamented the indians paint their heads and faces yellow green red and black which they esteem very ornamental they also paint themselves when they go to war but the method they make use of on this occasion differs from that which they wear merely as a decoration the chip away young men who are emulous of excelling their companions in finery slit the outward rim of both ears at the same time they take care not to separate them entirely but leave the flesh thus cut still untouched at both extremities around this spongy substance from the upper to the lower part they twist brass wire till the weight draws the amputated rim and a bow of five or six inches diameter and draws it down almost to the shoulder this decoration is esteem gay in becoming it is also accustomed among them to bore their noses and wear in them pendants of different sorts shells are often worn which when painted are reckoned very ornamental the dress of the Indians who inhabit the borders of Louisiana is for their legs a kind of stocking either of skins or cloth these are sewed up as much as possible in the shape of their leg so as to admit of being drawn on and off the edges of the stuff on which they are composed are left annexed to the seams and hang loose about the breadth of a hand and this part which is placed on the outside of the leg is generally ornamented with lace and ribbons and often with embroidery and porcupine quills variously colored the hunters from Louisiana find these stockings much more convenient than any others their shoes are made of the skins of deer or elk these after being dressed with the hair on are cut into shoes and fashioned so as to be easy to their feet and convenient for walking the edges around the ankle are decorated with pieces of brass or tin fixed around a leather string about an inch long which being placed very thick make a delight some noise when they walk or dance the dress of the women in the summer season consists only of a petticoat that does not reach down to their knees in the winter they wear a shift made of skins which answers a very good purpose when they stand erect as it is sufficiently low but when they bend over they often put modesty to the blush their feet and legs are covered similarly to the other sex most of the female Indians who dwell on the west side of the Mississippi near its confluence with the Missouri decorate their heads by enclosing their hair in plates of silver it is a costly ornament and is made use of by the highest rank only those of the lower rank make use of the bones which they manufacture to resemble that of silver the silver made use of is formed into thin plates of about four or five inches broad and several of which they can find their hair that plate which is nearest the head is of considerable width the next narrower and made so as to pass a little way under the other and gradually tapering till they get to a very inconsiderable magnitude this proves to be of great expense for they often wear it on the backside of the head extending to the full length of their hair which is commonly very long the women of every nation generally paint a spot against each about the size of a crown piece some of them paint their hair and sometimes a spot on the middle of the forehead the Indians have no fixed habitations when they are hunting but build their houses where convenience he presents which are made so small that it obliges the inhabitants to grope about in them being so low as not to admit one to stand erect and are without windows those that are built for permanent residents are much more substantial they are built of logs and bark large enough to contain several apartments those built for the chiefs are often very elegant that of the chief warrior of the mahas is at least sixty feet in circumference and lined with furs and painting the furs are of various colors many of which I had never seen before and were extremely beautiful the variety in color formed a contrast that much added to its elegance the paintings were elegant and would adorn the dwellings of an opulent European Prince but the houses of the common people are very different they have also movable houses which they use for fishing and sometimes for hunting which are made of deer skins or birch bark sewed together which they cover over poles made for that purpose they are bent over to form a semi circle which resembled those bent by the Americans for beans or hops to grow on and are covered over as before mentioned which are very light and easily transported when necessity requires the best of their cabins have no chimneys but a small hole to let the smoke through which they are compelled to stop up in stormy weather and when it is too cold to put out their fire their huts are filled with clouds of smoke which render them insupportable to any but an Indian the common people lie on bare skins which are spread on the floor their chiefs sleep on beaver skins which are sometimes elevated their utensils are few and in point of usefulness very defective those to hold water in are made of the skins of animals and the naughty excesses of hardwood their spoons are manufactured out of wood or the bones of a buffalo and are tolerably comodious and I have often seen them elegant and sometimes painted the flat heads and clad sobs make baskets out of brushes that will hold water if they are not very dry these two nations appear to have more of a mechanical genius than any other people that I've ever been acquainted with and I think they are not rivaled by any nation on earth when taking into consideration their very limited mechanical instruments many of the Indian nations make no use of bread salt and spices and many leave to be old without seeing or tasting of either those that live near the snowy mountains live in a great measure on berries which clothe the fields in great abundance the Tao keys and other eastern tribes where Indian corn grows take green corn and beans boil them together with bears flesh the fat of which gives flavor and renders it beyond comparison delicious they call this dish Sakatash in general they have no idea of the use of milk although great quantities might be collected from buffalo and elk they only consider it proper for the nourishment of the young of these beasts in their tender state it cannot be perceived that any inconvenience arises from the disuse of articles so much esteemed by civilized nations which they used to give a relish and flavor to their food but on the contrary the great healthiness of the Indians and the unhealthiness of the sons of Epicurus proved that the diet of the former is the most salutary they preserve their meat by exposing it to the sun in the summer and in the winter by putting it between cakes of ice which keep it sweet and free from any putrefactive quality their food consists in a great measure of the flesh of the bear buffalo and deer those that reside near the head of the Missouri and Columbia rivers chiefly make use of the buffalo and elk which are often seen from fifty two and hundred in a drove when there are plenty of the last two mentioned beasts there are but a few of the former and where there are many of the former but few of the latter the mode of roasting their meat is by burning it underground on the side of a hill placing stones next to the meat the mode of building to heat it somewhat resembles the fire made under a lime kill in this manner they roast the largest of their animals the mode of cooking smaller pieces is to roast it in stones that are hewn out for the purpose the flatheads and clats ops procure a root about the size of a potato which grows spontaneously and in great abundance and is tolerably palatable and perfectly agrees with the natives but made us all sick while we were among them before we descended the Columbia River we were unable to procure game and had recourse to the flesh of dogs and horses to preserve life as those roots would without doubt have destroyed us and we were unable to procure any other kind of food many of the tribes of Indians are extremely dirty I have seen the Maha Indians bring water in the paunches of animals that were very dirty and in other things equally so but the Maha chiefs are very neat and cleanly in their tents apparel and food the Indians commonly eat in large parties so that their meals may with propriety be termed feasts they have not set hours for their meals but obey the dictates of nature many of the tribes dance before or after their meals in devotion to the great spirit for the blessings they receive being informed of the mode of our same grace they answered that they thought we were stupid and ungrateful not to exercise our bodies for the great benefits that we received but muttering with our lips they thought was an unacceptable sacrifice to the great spirit and the stupid mode of the ceremony ridiculous in the extreme in their feasts the men and women eat apart but in the domestic way of living they promiscuously eat together instead of getting together and drinking as the Americans do they make use of feasting as a substitute when their chiefs are assembled together on any occasion they always conclude with a feast at which their hilarity and cheerfulness no no bounds no people on earth or more hospitable kind and free than the Indians they will readily share with any of their own tribe the last part of their provisions and even those of a different nation though they do not keep one common stock yet the community of goods is so prevalent among them and their generous dispositions render it nearly of the same effect they strike fire by rubbing together two sticks of wood of a particular kind which they procure with ease from other kinds it is impossible to procure fire they are extremely circumspect and deliberate in every word and action there is nothing that hurries them into any intemperate wrath but that inveteracy of their enemies which is rooted in every Indians breast and never can be eradicated in all other instances they are cool and deliberate taking care to suppress the emotions of the heart if any Indian has discovered that a friend of his is in danger of being cut off by a lurking enemy he does not inform him of his danger in direct terms as though he was in fear but he first coolly asks him which way he is going that day and having his answer with the same indifference tells him that he has been informed that an obnoxious beast lies on the route where he is going which might probably do him mischief this hint proves sufficient and his friend avoids the danger with as much caution as though every design and motion of his enemy had been pointed out to him this apathy often shows itself on occasions that would draw forth the fervor of a susceptible heart if an Indian had been absent from his family for several months either on a war or hunting party and his wife and children meet him at some distance from his habitation instead of the affectionate sensations that naturally arise in the breast of more refined beings and are productive of mutual congratulations he continues his course without looking to the right or left without paying the least attention to those around him till he arrives at his house he there sits down and with the same unconcern as if he had not been absent a day smokes his pipe those of his friends who followed him do the same perhaps it is several hours before he relates to them the incidents that have befallen him during the absence though perhaps he has left a father a brother or a son dead on the field whose loss he ought to have lamented or has been successful in the undertaking that called him from home if an Indian has been engaged for several days in the chase or any other laborious expedition and by accident continued along without food when he arrives with the hut of a friend where he knows that his wants will be immediately supplied he takes care not to show the least symptoms of impatience or betray the extreme hunger that he is tortured with but on being invited in sits contendantly down and smokes his pipe with as much composure as if his appetite was cloyed and he was perfectly at ease he does the same if among strangers this custom is strictly adhered to by every tribe and the esteemative proof of fortitude and think the reverse would entitle them to the appellation of old women if you tell an Indian that his children have greatly signalized themselves against an enemy have taken many scalps and brought home many prisoners he does not appear to feel any great emotions of pleasure on the occasion his answer generally is quote they have done well end quote and makes but very little inquiry about it on the contrary if you inform him that his children are slain or taken prisoners he makes no complaints he only replies quote it is unfortunate unquote and for some time asks no questions about how it happened this seeming indifference however does not proceed from a want of the natural affections for not withstanding their esteemed savages I never saw among any other people greater proofs of filial tenderness and although they meet their wives after a long absence with historical indifference just mentioned they are not in general void of conjugal affection another peculiarity is observable in their manner of paying visits if an Indian goes to visit a particular person in a family he mentions to whom his visit is intended and the rest of the family immediately retired to the other end of the hut or tent and are careful not to come near enough to interrupt him during the whole conversation the same method is pursued when a young man goes to pay his addresses to a young woman but then he must be careful not to let love be the subject of his discourse while the daylight remains they discover an amazing sagacity and acquire with the greatest readiness anything that depends upon the attention of the mind by experience and an acute observation they attain many perfections to which the Americans are strangers for instance they will cross a forest or a plane which is two hundred miles in breadth and reach with great exactness the point at which they intend to arrive keeping during the whole of that space in a direct line without any material deviations and this they will do with the same ease let the weather be fair or cloudy with equal acuteness they will point to that part of the heavens the sun is in though it will be intercepted by clouds or fogs besides this they are able to pursue with incredible facility the traces of man or beast either on leaves or grass and on this account it is with great difficulty that a flying enemy escapes discovery they are indebted for these talents not only to nature but to an extraordinary command of the intellectual faculties which can only be acquired by an unremitted attention and by experience they are in general very happy in a retentive memory they can recapitulate every particular that has been treated of in councils and remember the exact time when they were held their belts of wampum preserve the substance of the treaties they have concluded with the neighboring tribes for ages back to which they will appeal and refer with as much perspicuity and readiness as Europeans can to their written records every nation pays great respect to old age the advice of a father will never receive any extraordinary attention from the young Indians probably they receive it with only a bear ascent but they will tremble before a grandfather and submit to his injunctions with the utmost alacrity the words of the ancient part of the community are esteemed by the young as oracles if they take during hunting parties any game that is reckoned by them uncommonly delicious it is immediately presented to the eldest of their relations they never suffer themselves to be overburdened with care but live in a state of perfect tranquility and contentment being naturally indolent if provisions just sufficient for their subsistence can be procured with little trouble and near at hand they will not go far or take any extraordinary pains for it though by so doing they might acquire greater plenty and have a more estimable kind having much leisure time they indulge this indolence to which they are prone by sleeping or rambling about among their tents but when necessity obliges them to take the field either to oppose an enemy or to procure themselves food they are alert and indefatigable many instances of their activity on these occasions will be given when we treat of their wars the greatest blemish in their character is that savage disposition which impels them to treat their enemies with a severity that every other nation shutters at but if they are this barbarous to those with whom they are at war they are friendly hospital and humane in peace it may with truth be said of them that they are the worst enemies and the best friends of any people in the world they are in general strangers to the passion of jealousy and brand a man with folly that is distrustful of his wife among some tribes the very idea is not known as the most abandoned of their young man very rarely attempt the virtue of married women nor do these put themselves in the way of solicitations yet the Indian women in general are of an amorous disposition and before they are married are not the less esteemed for the indulgence of their passions the Indians in their common state are strangers to all distinction of property except in the articles of domestic use which everyone considers as his own and increase as circumstances admit they are extremely liberal to each other and supply the deficiency of their friends with any superfluity of their own in dangers they readily give assistance to any of their band that stand in need of it without any expectation of return except those just rewards that are always conferred by the Indians on merit governed by the plain and equitable laws of nature everyone is rewarded according to his desserts and their equality of condition manners and privileges with that constant and social familiarity which prevails through every Indian nation animates them with a pure and patriotic spirit that tends to the general good of the society to which they belong if any of their neighbors are bereaved by death or by an enemy of their children those who are possessed of the greatest number of prisoners who are made slaves supply the deficiency and these are adopted by them and treated in every respect as if they really were the children of the person to whom they are presented the Indians conform to themselves no idea of the value of money they consider it when they are made acquainted with the uses to which it is applied by other nations as the source of innumerable evils to it they attribute all the mischiefs that are prevalent among Europeans such as treasury plundering devastation and murder they esteem it irrational that one man should be possessed of a greater quantity than another and are amazed that any honor should be annexed to the possession of it but that the want of this useless metal should be the cause of depriving persons of their liberty and that on account of this particular distribution of it great numbers should be shut up within the dreary walls of a prison cut off from society of which they constitute a part exceeds their belief nor do they fail on hearing this part of the united state system of government related to charge the instituters of it with a total want of humanity and to brand them with the names of savages brews they show almost an equal degree of indifference for the productions of art when any of these are shown them they say quote it is pretty I like to look at it unquote and are not inquisitive about the construction of it neither can they form proper conceptions of its use but if you tell them a person runs with great agility is skilled at hunting can direct with an airing aim a gun or bends with ease a bow can dexterously work a canoe understands the art of war is acquainted with the situations of the country and can make his way without a guide through an immense forest subsisting during this on a small quantity of provisions they are in raptures they will listen with great attention to the pleasing tale and bestow the highest commendation on the hero of it they make but very little use physicians and medicine and consequently they have but very few diseases among them there is seldom an indian but what blooms with the appearance of health they have no midwives among them and among several tribes the mother is without the assistance of any person to being with her at the time of her delivery not even a female attendance soon after the birth of a child it is placed on a board which is covered with the skin stuffed with soft moss the child is laid on its back and tied to it to these machines are tied strings by which they hang them to branches of trees or if they do not find trees handy they lean them against a stump or stone while they dress the deer or fish or do any other domestic business in this position they are kept until they are several months old when taken out they are suffered to go naked and are daily bathed in cold water which render them vigorous and active the diseases manufactured by the modern sons of dissipation were unknown to them these hearty disciples of health do not hear of the powerful and painful eloquence of the gout consumption and the rest of the long catalog of typhus diseases which is preached to the votaries of Epicurus and Bacchus when their repentance is too late an indian child is generally kept at the breast until it is two years old and sometimes though rarely until three years the indians often occasion inflammatory disease by excessive eating after a fast of three or four days when you're treating from or pursuing an enemy the inequality of riches the disappointment of ambition and merciless oppressions are not with them exciting causes of insanity I made great inquiry but was not able to learn that a single case of melancholy or madness was ever known among them the dreadful havoc that the smallpox has made has necessarily been mentioned the mode of curing a fever is by profuse perspiration which is affected by the patients being confined in a close tent or wigwam over a hole in the earth in which red hot stones are placed a quantity of hot water is then thrown upon the stones which involves the patient in a cloud of vapors and sweat in this situation he ruches out and plunges into a river of water and from hence he retires into a warm bed they never think of giving medicine until they have first made an attempt to remove the disease by sacrifices and prayer and if the patient recovers soon it is attributed to the holy management of the priest and if medicine is to be used as the last alternative they never administer it without it's being accompanied with prayer and a large quantity of meat which they consume on the fire for a sacrifice they have a plant among them which has the power of producing abortion it is related by Mr. Jefferson in his notes on Virginia that the Indians inhabiting the frontiers possess a plant that produces the same effect end of section eight section nine of the journal of Lewis and Clark this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by the Rat King the journal of Lewis and Clark by Maryweather Lewis and William Clark chapter seven Indian mode of counting time names of the different months Indian charts mode of reckoning distance knowledge of arithmetic civil divisions names of the different tribes chiefs democracy of government hereditary succession of the chief style of language and debate or speech young men not allowed to speak etc considering their ignorance of astronomy time is very rationally divided by the Indians those in the interior parts and those i would generally be understood to speak count their years by the winters or as they express themselves by snows some nations among them reckon their years by moons and make them consist of 12 synodical or lunar months observing when 30 moons have waned to add a supernumer everyone which they term the lost moon and then begin to count as before they pay a great regard to the first appearance of every moon and on the occasion always repeat some joyful sounds stretching at the same time their hands toward it every month has with them a name expressive of its season for instance they call the month of March in which their year generally begins at the first new moon after the vernal equinox the worm month or moon because at this time the worms quit the retreats in the bark of the trees would etc where they have sheltered themselves during the winter the month of April is turned by them the month of plants may the month of flowers June the hot moon July the buck moon the reason for thus denominating these is obvious August the sturgeon moon because this month they catch great numbers of that fish September the corn moon because in that month they gather in their Indian corn October the traveling moon as they leave at this time their villages and travel towards the place where they intend to hunt during the winter November the beaver moon for in this month the beavers begin to take shelter in their houses having laid up a sufficient store of provisions for the winter season December the hunting moon because they employ this month in pursuit of their game January the cold moon as generally freezes harder and the cold is more intense in this than in any other month February they call the snow moon because more snow commonly falls during this month than any other in the winter when the moon does not shine they say the moon is dead and some call the last three days of it the naked days the moon's first appearance they termed is coming to life again they make no division of weeks but days they count by sleeps half days by pointing to the sun at noon and quarters by the rising and setting of the sun to express which in their traditions they make use of very significant hieroglyphics the Indians are totally unskilled in geography as well as all of the sciences and yet they draw on their birch bark very exact charts or maps of the countries they are acquainted with the latitude and longitude is only wanting to make them tolerably complete their sole knowledge and astronomy consists of being able to point out the pole star by which they regulate their course when they travel in the night they reckon the distance of places not by miles or leagues but by a day's journey which according to the best calculations I can make appears to be about 20 English miles these they also divide into halves and quarters and will demonstrate them in their maps with great exactness by the hieroglyphics just mentioned when they regulate in council their war parties or their most distant hunting excursions they have no idea of arithmetic and though they are able to count any number figures as well as letters appear mysterious to them and above their comprehension every separate body of Indians is divided into bands or tribes which band or tribe forms a little community with the nation to which it belongs as the nation has some particular symbol by which it is distinguished from others so each tribe has a badge from which it is denominated as that of the eagle the panther the tiger the buffalo etc one band is represented by a snake another a tortoise a third a squirrel a fourth a wolf and a fifth a buffalo throughout every nation they particularize themselves in the same manner and the meanest person among them will remember his lineal descent and distinguish himself by his respective family did not many circumstances tend to confute the supposition i should be almost induced to conclude from the distinction of tribes and the particular attachment of the indians to them that they derive their origin as some have asserted from the israelites besides this every nation distinguishes itself by the manner of constructing its tents or huts and so well versed are all indians in this distinction that though they appear to be no difference on the nicest observations made by an american yet they will immediately discover from the position of a pole left in the ground what nation has encamped on the spot many months before every band has a chief who is termed the great chief or chief warrior and of his approved valor to direct their military operations and to regulate all concerns belonging to that department but this chief is not considered as the head of state besides the great warrior who is elected for his warlike qualifications there is another who enjoys preeminence as a hereditary right and has the more immediate management of their civil affairs this chief might with great propriety be denominated their sachem whose assent is necessary in all convences and treaties to which he affixes the mark of the tribe or nation though these two were considered as the heads of the band and the latter is usually denominated their king yet the indians are sensible of neither civil nor military subordination as every one of them entertains a high opinion of his consequence and is extremely tenacious of his liberty all injunctions that carry with them the appearance of a positive command are instantly rejected with scorn on this account it is seldom that their leaders are so indiscreet as to give out any of their orders in a preemptory style a bare hint from a chief that he thinks such a thing necessary to be done instantly arouses an emulation among the inferior ranks and it is immediately executed with great alacrity by this method the disgustful part of the command is evaded and then authority that falls a little short of absolute sway instituted in its room among the indians no visible form of government is established they allow of no such distinction as magistrate and subject everyone appearing to enjoin independence that cannot be controlled the object of government among them is rather foreign than domestic for their attention seem more be employed in preserving such a union among members of the tribes as will enable them to watch the motion of their enemies and acts against them in concert in vigor than to maintain interior order by any public regulations if a scheme that appears to be of service to the community is proposed by the chief everyone is at liberty to choose whether he will assist in carrying it on they have no compulsory laws that lay them under any restrictions if violence is committed or blood is shed the right of revenging these misdemeanors is left to the family of the injured the chiefs assume neither the power of inflicting or moderating the punishment some nations where the dignity is hereditary limit the succession to the female line on the death of a chief his sister's son sometimes succeeds him in preference to his own son and if he happens to have no sister the nearest female relation assumes the dignity this accounts for a woman being at the head of the winnebago nation which before i was acquainted with their laws appeared strange to me each family has a right to appoint one of its chiefs to be an assistant chief and without whose consent nothing about public nature can be carried into execution these are generally chosen for their ability in speaking and such only are permitted to make orations in their councils and general assemblies in this body with the hereditary chief at its head the supreme authority appears to be lodged as by its determination every transaction relative to their hunting to their making war or peace and to all their public concerns are regulated next to these the body of warriors which comprehends all that are able to bear arms hold their rank this division has sometimes at its head a chief of the nation if he has signalized himself by any renowned action if not some chief that has rendered himself famous in their councils which are held by the foregoing members every affair of consequence is debated and no enterprise of the least moment undertaken unless it there meets with general approbation of the chiefs they commonly assemble in a hunt or tent appropriated for this purpose and being seated in a circle on the ground the eldest chief rises and makes a speech when he has concluded another gets up and thus they speak if necessary by turns on this occasion their language is nervous and their manner of expression and fatical their style is adorned with images comparisons and strong metaphors and is equal in allegories to that of any of the eastern nations in all their said speeches they express themselves with much vehemence but in common discourse according to our usual method of speech the young men are suffered to be present at the councils though they are not allowed to make a speech till they are regularly admitted they however listen with great attention and show that they both understand and approve of the resolutions taken by the assembled chiefs they frequently exclaim that is right that is good the customary mode among all ranks of expressing their assent and which they repeat at the end of almost every period is by uttering a kind of forcible aspiration which seems like a union of the letters oab end of section nine recording by the rat king in medicine hat alberta