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 2

Page 56

8.0 bay, as wr.ll as of the seacoast, ancl covered with Uaicl tit;tuct• on the inner side, but open and grassy in the expmmre next the sea. From this <•ape a high point of land bears south 20° west, about twenty-fh·c miles di ·tant. In the ran~e IH~twecn these two eminences, is the opposite point of the bay, a very low ground, which has been vat·i­ou ly caHcd cape ll.oml by Lapeyrouse, and point Adams by Vancouver. 'l'he w~ttcr for a great distance off the mouth of the river, appears very shallow, and within the mouth nt>arest to point Adams, is a large sandbar, almost coverml at high tide. 'Ve could not ascertain the direction of thr. deepest channel, iot' the waves break with f remendous force the whole distance act·oss the bay, but the l ndians point t>arer to the optlositc side as the best passage. After re­maining for some time on this elevation, we descended across the low isthmus, ami reached the ocean at the foot of a high bill, about a mile in ch·eu mft>rcnce, nndtwojcct­ing into tbe sea. We crossed this hill~ which is open and has a growth of high coarse gt'ass, ancl eneamJ»Cd on the north side of it, having made nineteen miles. Beside~ the pounded fish and brant, we had for suppc1• a .fiountler, wl1ich we picked up on the beach. Tuesday 19. In the night it began to rain, anti continu­ed till eleven o'clock. 'l'wo hunters were sent on to kill something for breakfast, and the rest of the llarty after dt·y· ing their· blankets soon followed. At three miles we ovct•­took the hunters, and breakfasted on a small deer, whick they had been fortunate enough to ldll. '!'his, like all those we huve seen on this coast, are much darket· than our com­mon doer. Their bodies too, are deeper, their legs shorter. and their eyes largct•. The branches of' the horns at·e si­milar, but the upper part of the tail is black, from tbe root to the end, aml ihcy tlo not leap, but jump like a sheer, frightened. We then continued over· rugged hills and steet• hollows, near tl10 sea, on a course about north 20° west, ill a direct line from the cape, till at the distance of five miles~ 81 we rcacltcd a point of high land, bdow whirh a sandy beach extcntls, in a tlit·ection not·th 10° west, to anothrt· high point about twenty miles distant. 'l'his eminence we distinguish~ cd by the name of point Lewis. l tis thet'<) that the high­lands, which at the commencement ot' the sandy hcadt, re­cede tow~u·ds Chinnook J'ivcr·, again app1·oach the oecan. The intermediate eountry is low, with many small l)Onds, cr·owdcd with bil·ds, and watered by tho Chinnook, on the bot·dct•s of which t•csidos the nation of the same name. 'Ve went t'om· miles along the sa.mly heath to a small pine tt·ce, on whidt e~Jltain Clarke mat·ked his nam , with tlh~ year and da.v, and then r·ehu•n(•d to the foot of' the hilJs, pas8ing on the shore a stm·~;con ten feet lon;;, and several joints of the ba.ck bone of a whale, both which seem to have been thrown ashor·e a.nd foundct·ed. A l'tcr dining on the remains ofthe small tlecr, we Cl'osscd in a southeastern tlit·cction to the bay, wl1C\'e we arl'ived at the distance of two miles, then continued along the bay , er·osscd Chinnonk river, anti en~ camped on its uppct· side, in a sandy bottom. 'Vedncsday 20. It rained in the eout·sc of the ni~ht. A hunter dcspatt~hcd early to kill some food, returned wit11 eight duck~, on which we IH'eal-fa.stcd, and th<·n followt·d the cout·sc of the bay to the creek o1· outlf't of the ponds. I t was now h.igh title, the stream thr·ee hun(h·cd yat•ds wide,. a.nd no {lCrsou in the cabin to take us across. We tltcl'cfor·e made a small raft, on which one of the men passed and hl·ought a canoe to raL'l'Y u~ over. As we went alone .. the I> e·: tc I t we were ovct•takcn by several Indian ·, who ga"~e us dl'rcd sturgeon and wavpatoo roots, and soon met several pat·~ics of Chinnooks 1·eturning from the camp. 'Vben we at•t•nrcll there we found many Chionooks, and two oft hem be­ing chid's, \\C went through the ccrumony of giving to caclt a medal, and t.o the most distinguished a 1lag. Theil· names WCI'C Comcommoly and Cbillahlawil. One or the Indians hatl a rohe made of two sea-otter skins, the fm· of which was the most beautiful ' c hall cvct· :,ern; tbe owner r esisterl ' Of,. Tl. r