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

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~iS Lewis and C'ln l'l•c's E,1.'l1Cd!LIIm o~· cows, which we .purchasc·u of the Indi_ans. Late in the afternoon, the Twnstedhait· a·etm·ned with about }1a)f the saddles we had len in the autumn, awl some powclet· a d lea~ which was budcd at. the same place. Soon afte1·~ ·t;~e Indmns brought liS twenty-one or our horst-s, the g'l 'f'ater part of whom were in excellent ol'clet·, thouf.;'h som(' Jaad uot yet. reoovct·ed from hat·u usag<', and three had sore hat·ks. ~Vc were however very glad to proem·<> O•em in any condi­tiOn. Several Indians came down feom the villa!;C oi'Tun­nachemootoolt., anu paSSf)d the night wjl h us. 'rhe Cntnosc and Twist~dhaia· sef'm now perfcetly a·f•corw iled, fo J• t hry both slept m the hou e of the Jatt<·r. 'l'lw wan who had im­posed himself npon us as a brolltrr or the Twi tedhait·, also came and renewed his advances, but we now found IJmt 110 wa~ an impertinent proud fellow, of no I'C'SJlcetauility ju the natwn, and we thct·efore felt no iodination to cultivate his intimacy. Our camp was in an open pJaiu, and soon hccamo very uncomfortable, for the wind was high and cold, and ~be rain and hail which IJegau aiJout. seven o'cloek, changed m about two hoUI'S to a hcavyfallof snow, which coutinued till after six o'clock Saturday, 10, the next morning, when it. ceased, afrrl' covering the ground eight inches de€'p, a.nd lc~lYing the air keen and cold. '" c soon colJcctcd om· hot•ses, and aft<>t' a scanty bl'eakfast of roots, set out on a couJ·se S. 35° E. across the plains, the soil of which being coveJ•ecl with suow, we could onlyJ'udooc from b · 1 · • 1:) o servmg t 1at nenr the t'a.Ytlws, wher~ Jt la~d melted, the mud was deep, black, and well SU})phed WI~b quamash. 'rhe t•oa.d wa.s vc•·y slippery, and the snow stuck to the horses' feet a.nd made them slip down vcr·y ft•cqu. ently• After oP 'Oin g a b on t s:·· xtccn ma· les, we caJ.Ur to the.~ lulls of Commcarr• creek, which arc six lmnrh·cd feet in height, but the tops of which only at·e covered with snow, •he lower pal'ts as well as the battoms flf the creek haviug 279 ha.d uothi111g but t•ain \\ hile it sno\n·d in tlH~ high plains. On dt·sccnc.lint; tht•:c hills to the r.l·cc·k, "c JTa.dtct.l aiJout four o'cloc·l\, the.· hou'ic.' of'l'unn~u·lwmootooH, wlH·rc " a.s disj)lay­cd the flag \\'hid1 \H~ had ~i\'C ll hi111, ra.i q•(\ una staff: utHleL' this we \\ Ct 'C l'('et:ivccl ' ' i th due l'onu, am\ t hen conducted a ::;llOl't ui stanC'(.\ to a ~;oocl spot fol' au encampment. on Com­nwat ·p CI"rch. ' " {· soon t'ollcctt·d the mtu or considct·ation, and ~l'lc t· sm ol\ iu ~~· t'XJllaincd how ucstitutt· we wcl'c ofpro­y1s1ons. T he <: hi 'f spoke to the ptoplc , who immedi­ately lH'ought about t.wo hushds or ul'i('(\ q uamash roots, 0111c cakes of t lte r oots of <·c)" s, and a drinl ~almon trout: we· thanlitd t ht·m l'ol' this supply, but obst.· nred that, not be­it~~,. accuslouwd to lin~ on r oots alone, we fear ed that such h did might mak<: ou1· mtu sid\ . and then·l'ol·e 1woposed to ex-flltau!!; e one of our gootl hol'~c~, which was t•athei' I>Oot·, for one that was fatter, and which we mit;ht l\.ill. '!'he hospi­tality ol' the rhict' was offcn<lctl at. tho idea of an exchange; he ol>scl·vcd that his pcolllc had an abundance of young hor­ses, anti that if we were di~pus d to use t.lmt food, we might have as many as we wa nted. Accordingly, they soon 4 ga.ve us two fat young hor:es, with out a.s;.Jng any thing m 1·ctu•·n, an a ct or lihcr~1.L hospitality much greater than any we have witucs~ed since crossing the J{ocl\.y mountains, if it be not in l':.te l the only really hospitable tt·eatmcnt we Lave l'('ccived iu this pm·t of the wodd. \Vc ldlled one of the hOl·~cs, an<l tbcu tclliug the nativc.·s that we were fatigued and hungry~ and tuat as soon as v.'e wca·c rcl't·eshetl, we wonltl communica te l'1·ccly with thc.·m, bt•gan to prcva•·e our repast. })ut•ing tlais time, a lH'iocipal chief, c.a llNl Il~ha ·­tillpil1), came fa·om hi!i village about si.x miles d1staut, wttl~ a party of Jifty ruen, fo1· t l.ac pur})OSC of vis1tin~ us. 'Ye Ill- . l 1 · · · 1 ·• I1e ali,.·htcd and smo)'-cd YJlN lHU mto ou1· cll'c e, anu ~ with us while his retinue, who hatl {i\·e ckgant horses, con. ' . tinued mounted at a short c.li t a.ncc. \\'bile this was gomg on, uu~ chief had a large leatbel'n t t~nt spread for us, aml desired that we would mal\e that ou1· home whilst w