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Show 160 Lewis and Clar·T~e's .EXjJedition high that although the thermometer was 18° above o, the day was eooler than yesterday, 'vhcn it was only too above the same point. 1\fJ•. 1\'1' Kenzie left us, and Chaboneau returned with information that our horses loaded with meat were below, but could not cross the i<'e nut being shod. Monday 11. We sent down a party with sleds, to relieve the horses from their loads; the weathet• fair and cold, with aN. ,V. wind. About five o'clock one of the wives of Chaboncau was delivered of a boy; this being her first child she \vas suffering considerable, when 1\lt·. Jessaume told captain Lewis that he had frequently administored to persons in her ~ituation, a small dose of the rattle of the rattlesnake which had never failed to hasten the delivery. Having some of the rattle, captain Lewis gave it to Mr. Jessaume 'vho crumbled two of the rings of it between his Hngers, and mixing it with a small quantity of water gave it to her. 'Vhat effect it may really have had it might be difficult to determine, but captain Lewis was informed that she had not taken it more than ten minutes before the delivery took place. Tuesday 1~. The morning is fair though cold, the mercm ·y being 14° below o, the wind from the S. E. About four o'clock the horses were brought in much fatigued; on giving them meal bran moistened with water they would not eat it, but preferred the bark of the cottonwood, which as is already observed forms their principal food during tbe wintct·. 1'hc hot•ses of the Mandans are so often stolen by the Sioux, Ricaras, and Assiniboins, that the invariable rule uow is to put the horses every night in the same lodge with the family. In the summct• they ramble in the plains in the vicinity of the camp, and feed on the grass, but during cold weather the squaws cut down the cottonwood tt•ces as they at·e wanted, and the horses feed on the boughs and bark of the tender branches, which are also broug11t into the lodges at night and placccl ncar them. These animals are very se· verely b·eatcd; fol' whole days they are pursuing the buffa· loc, or burdened with the fruits of the ebace, during which Up the .Missouri. 16,1 they scnt•cely ever taste food, and at night return to a scanty allowance of wood; yet the spil'it of this valuable animal sustains him through all these difficulties, and he is rarely deficient either in flesh or vigour. Wednesday iS. 'l'he morning was cloudy, the thermometer at 2° below o, the wind from the southeast. Captain Clarke returned last evening with all his hunting party: during their excursion they had killed forty deer, three buffaloc, and sixteen elk; but most of the game was too lean for use, and the wolves, lvho regard wl1atever lies out at night as their own, had appropriated a large part of it: when he left the fort on the 4th instant, IJC descended on the ice twenty-two miles to New Mandan island, neat· some of theit' old vilJages, and encamped, having killed nothing, and therefore without food for the night. Eal'ly on the 6th, the hunters went out and killed two huftaloe and a deer, but the last only could be used, the others being too lean. After breakfast they proceeded down to an Indian lodge and hunted during the day: the next morning, 6th, tlaey cncam1ted forty-four miles from the fo1·t on a sand point ncar the mouth of a creek on the southwest side, which they call llunting creek, and during this and the following day hunted through all the adjoining plains, with much success, having killed a number of dcet• and elk. On the 8th, the best of the meat was sent with the horses to tbc fort, and such parts of the remainder as were fit for use were b1·ought to a 11oint of the river three miles below, and after the bones were taken out, secured in pens built of' logs, so as to keel) off the wolves, ravens and magpies, who are very numerous and constantly disaJ>point the hunter of his prey; they then went to the low gt·ounds ncar the Chissbctaw river where they encamped, but saw nothing exc1ei> t some wolves on the hills, and a number of buffaloe to() poo1· to be worth hunting. 'fhe next morning 9th, as there was no game and it would have been inconvenient to send it back sixty·wiles to tlw fort, they returned np the river, and VOL. l. y |