| OCR Text |
Show 280 over on a raft which he made for the purpose and spent th~ night at Shannon's camp, and the next morning, }fonday, 2,11, scnt'J. Fields up the river with orders to go four miles and return, whether be fouml the t. wo absent hunters or not; then descending the southwest side of Mcdi~ ~ine river, he crossc'l the Missouri in the canoe, and sent Shannon back to his camp to join I~~ields and IJring the meat which they had killed: this they did, and arrived in the evening at the camp on 'Vhitebcar islands. A part of the men from J>ortagc creek also arrived with two canoes and baggage. On going down yesterday captain Clarke cut off several angles of the former route so ai to shorten the Portage conside•·aiJly, and marked it with stakes: he al'l'iTed there in time to lJavc two of the canoes cart·ied up in the high I,laiu about a mile iu advance. Hc1'e they all repaired their moccasius, and put on double soah to IH'otect them from the }Wieldy p<"ar and from the shar11 points of earth which have bc<"n formed by the trampling of the buffaloe dUl·ing the late rains: this of itself is sufficient to render the portage disagreeable to one who had no burden; but as the men are loaded as heavily as their strength will permit, the Cl'Ossing is rcalJy painful: some are limping with the soreness of theh· feet, others are scarcely able to stand for more than a few minutes from the heat and fatigue: they arc all obliged to halt and rest frequently, and at almost every stopping place they fall and many of them are asleep in an instant; yet no one complains and they go on with great ohcerfulness. At their camp Drewyer and Fields joined them, and while captain Lewis was looking for them at Medicine river, they returned to report the absence of Shannon about whom they had been vea·y uneasy. They had killed several buffaloe at the bend or the Missouri above the falls: and dried about eight hundred J>Ounds of meat and got one hundred pounds of tallow: they had also killed some deea·, but had seen no elk. After getting the party in motion with the canoes captain Clarke returned to his camp at Portage ereek. lip the JJiissom•i. 281 We were now occupied in fitting up a boat of skins, the frame of which had beeu prepared fo1· the pur110se at Hat·pet ·'s fel'l'Y• It was made of il'on, thirty-six fret long, four feet anrl a half in the beam, and twenty-six inches wide in the bottom. Two men had been seut tbis morning for timber to complete it, but they could find scarcely any even toleraiJly straight sticks four and a half feet long, and as the cottonwood is too sort and brittle we were obliged to use the willow and box-alder. Tuesday, 25. The party returned to the lower camp. 'l,wo men wet•c sent on the large island to look for timber. J. Fields was sent up the ~fissoul'i to hunt elk; but he retnl'ned about noon and informed us that a few miles above he saw two white bear nea•· the t•iver, and in attempting to fire at them came smddenly on a third, who being only a few steps off immediately attacked him; that in running to escape from tile monstel' he leaped down a steep bank of the river, where falling on a bar of stone he cut his hand and knee and bent his gun; but fortunately for him the bank concealed him from his antagonist or he would have been most probably lost. The other two retur·ned with a small quantity of hark and timber, which was all they could find on the island; !Jut they had killed two elk: these were valuable, as we arc desirous of procu1~ing the skins of that animal in order to cover the boat, as they arc more strong and durable than those of the buffaloe, and do not shrink so much in drying. The party that went to the lower camp had one canoe and the baggage eat·ricd into the hjgh plain to be ready in the morning, and then all who could make use of their feet had a dance on the green to tbe music of a Yiolin. We have been unsuccessful in our attempt to catch fish, nor does there seem to be any in this part of the river. We observe a number of water terrapins. There are great '!Uantities of young blackbirds in these islands just beginning to fly. Among the vegetable productions· we observe a species of wild rye which is now beading: it rjses TOL. J. 00 |
