History of the expedition under the command of Captains Lewis and Clark, to the sources of the Missouri, thence across the Rocky mountains and down the River Columbia to the Pacific Ocean : performed during the years 1804-5-6 by order of the government of the United States; Volume 1

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1JO d Understood no force except the command of mast, an , as we ' . . h . f ld have induced him to release lus hold. Like: tbe C Ie WOU • • • thc ot h er men tl~, e1'r bodies arc blackened, but thr.n~ tl•st.m - guishing mark is a collection of two or three raven skms fixed to the girdle behind the back in such a way.' that the tails stick out horizontally from the body. On his head too is a raven skin split into two parts, and tied so as to let the beak project from the forehead. Thursday, se1ltcmber 27. We rose early, and the two chiefs took off, as a matter of course and accor~ing to their custom the blanket on which they bad slept. 'l'o this Wt'l ' . added a peck of corn as a prcs~nt to each. Ca~tain Le~VJS and the chiefs went on shore to see a 1,art of the nation that was expected, but did not come. lie t·~turncd ~t ~WQ o'clock with four of the chiefs and a warriOr of distmc­tion c~lcd Wadrapa, (or on l1is guard); they examined the' boat and admired whatever was stt~auge, during ha~f an hour, when they left it with great reluctance. Capt~m Clarke accompanied them to the lodge of the gt~and ch•e.f, who invited them to a dance, where, bein~ joined uy captam Lewis, they remained till a late hour. 'l'he dance was very similar to that of yesterday. About twelve we left them, taking the second chief and one pt·incilml warrior on boa~d: as we came near the boat the man who steered the per1o~ gue, by mistake, brought her· broadside against the boat's cable, and broke it. We called up all hands to their oars; but our noise alarmed the two Indians: they called out to their com1mnions, and immediately the whole cam I> crowded to the shore; but after half an bout· they returned, leaving about sixty men near us. 'l'he alarm given by the chiefs was said to be that the Mahas had attacked us, and that th~y wet·e desirous of assisting us to repel it; but we sus­pected that they were aft·aid we meant to set sail, and in­tended to prevent us from doing so; for in the night the Maha pt·isoncrs had told one of our men, who understood the language, tbat we were to be stopped. 'Ve therefore, Up tlre JJiissouri. 9t without . giving any m. dI' car w n of our suspicion, prepared evet·y thmg for an attt~ek, as the loss of our anchor obliged to come to near a fallmg bank, very unfavourable for de­fence. ":e were not mistaken in these opinions; torwben in tbe mor·nmg, F'riday, September 28, after dragging unsuccessfully ~or the anchor, we wished to set sail, it was with great dif­ficulty that wo could make the chi~fs leave the boat. At length we got ~id of all except the great chief; when just as we were settmg out, several of the chief's soldiet~s sat on the rope which held the boat to the shore. Irritated at this 'fc got every thing ready to fire on them if they persisted, but the great chief said that these were his soldiers and only wanted some tobacco. We had already refused a flag a~d some t~bacco to the second chief, who had demanded it WJ~h great lmpot·tunity; but willing to leave them without gomg to extl'cmitics, we threw him a carrot of' t b • c o acco, saymg to him "You l&'l. t ld 1 ' • c vc o us t 1at you were a great ~an, and have Ulflucncc; now show yout· influence, by ta-kmg the rope from those Hlen, and we will then go without a.ny further trouble." This appeal to his }){'ide had the de­sued effect; he went out of the boat, gave the soldict·s the ~obacco, and pulling the rupe out of' their hands delivered It on board, and we then set sail under a breeze from th S .. E. _Aftet· sailing about two miles we observed th: ~Jurd clncf beckoning to us: we took him on boat·d, and he mformed ~s that the rope had been held by the ordct• of the second chief, who was a double-faced man. A little far·ther on we were joined by the son of the chief, who came on board ~o see his father. On his retur·n we sent a spee<'·h to the nation, cx.plaining wbat we had done, and advising them to peace~ ~ut 1f they pel~sistcd in theh· attempts to stop us, we ~ere .wllhng and able to defend ourselves. After making SIX mJlcs, during which we passed a willow island on the south and one sandbar, we encamped on another in the mid"