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Show { Lewis and Clm·ke's Expedition was obliged to make a circuit of two miles by water before l1e reached them. The river now passrd between low and rugged mountains and cJiffs formed o-f a mixture oflimeslone and a hard black rock, with no covering <>xcept a few scattered pines. At the distance or four lHiles is a bold litt.le strt·~u~ which throws its<~lffrom the mountains down a steep prf'('lpice of •·ocks on the len. One mile fm·ther is a second poinl of' •·ocks, and an island, ahout a mi1e beyond which is a creek on the right, ten yar·us wide and three feet thl'ce inches in depth. with a strong CUt'l'(.'nt: we ralled it 'Yillard's Cr(.'ck after one of out· men, Alexander 'Villm·tl. Thr·ce miles beyond this creek, after passing a high clifr on the •·ight Ol>posite to a steep hi11, we •·eachcd a sma11 meadow on ~he left bank of the river. During its passage tJu·ough these lulls to 'Villard·s creek the river had been Jess tortuous than usual, so th1.t in the ft1·st six mHes to 'ViJI:U'd's creek we had advanced four miles on om· route. 'Vc continued on for two miles, till we reached in the evening a small bottom covered with clover and a few cottonwood trees: here '"c passed the night ncar the remain» of some old Indian lodges of brush. The rher is as it bas been for some days shallow and rapid; and our men, who a1·c for l10urs together in the river, suffer not only from fatigue, but from the extreme coldness of the water, the tcmpci·ature of which is as low as that of the f1•eshest sprino·s in our • b country. In walkmg along the side of the rivet·, captain Clarke was very near being bitten twice by rattlesnakes, and the Indian woman narrowly escaped the same misfortune. We caught a number of fine tt·out; but the only game procured to day was a buck, which had a peculiarly bilter taste, proceeding probably from its favourite food, tl1e wil· low. Fri~ay, 16. As neither our party nor the Indians had any thmg to eat, captain Lewis sent two of his hunters a_hcad this ID!H·ning to pPocure some provision: at the same tJme he l'equest.ed Cameahwait to prevent his young men I .Up the Missouri. 37.6 from going out, lest by their noise they might alarm the game; but this measure immediately revived their suspicions: it now began to be believed that these men were sent forward in order· to appt·ise the enemy of their coming. and as captain Lewis was fear·ful of exciting any furthet• uneasi· ness, he made no objection on seeing a small party of Indi· ans go on each side of the valley under pretence or hunting, but in reality to watch the movements of our two mf'n: even this pr·ecaution however did not quiet the alarms of the In· dians, a consider·ablc part of whom ref u1•ned home. leaving only twenty-eight men and thr·ec women'. Aftet· the hunters had been gone about an bout·, captain Lewis again mount· cd with one of the Indians behind him. and the whole party set out; but just as they passed thr·ough the narr·ows they saw one of the spies coming back at full speed across the plain: the chief stoplled and seemed uneasy, the whole band we1•e moved with fresh suspicions, and captain Lewis himself was much disconcerted, lest by some unfortunate accident some of their enemies might have perhaps straggled that way. The young Indian had scarcely breath to say a few words as he came up, when the whole t1·oop dashed forwa1·d as fast as their ho1·ses could carry them; and captain Lewis astonished at this movement w.as borne along for nearly a mile before be learnt with great satisfactiou that it was all caused by the spy's having come to announce that one of the white men h~d killed a deer. Relieved from his anxiety he now found the jolting very uncomfot'table; tor the Indian behind him being af•·aid of not getting his share of the feast had lashed the horse at every step since they set off; he therefore reined him in and ord('red the Indian to stop beating him. The fellow had no idea of losing time in disputing the point, and jumping off the hot•sc ran for a mile at full speed. Captain Lewis slackened his pace. and followed at a sufficient distance to observe them. When they reached the place where Drewyer had tht·own out the intestines, thry all dismounted in confusion and ran tum- .. |