Camp at Fort Clatsop was broken on the 23rd of March (1806), but the explorers did not withdraw from the region until the 1st of April. Before doing so, Captain Lewis left a packet with the Indians to be given to the commander of any vessel that might make a call at the port, to be forwarded to the Washington authorities, informing them of the Expedition's reaching the goal of the enterprise, and of its set out homeward, by the route by which it had come. As it happened, one vessel did call during the forthcoming summer-the brig Lydia (Captain Hill in command),—and to its commander was given the Lewis and Clark despatches; but as his ship was first bound for Canton, the package did not reach the United States capital from China until far on in the year 1807, and, of course, after the return of the Expedition itself.

CHAPTER XI

THE EXPEDITION SETS OUT HOMEWARD

THE return journey, which, as we have related, began at the opening of April, was, at the outset, naturally a toilsome one, owing to the arduous effort, in going up the Columbia, to make headway upstream, with its many obstructions in the way of falls and rapids. To overcome these, great expenditure of labor was necessitated at the many portages met with, though the Expedition was now lightened of many stores it had been burdened with on its way to the sea. Aside from the toil of getting over the many portages, that of dragging the loaded canoes against the stream was considerable; and for this purpose resort was had to the Indians met with for horses and dogs en train, to do the towing. Unfortunately, the Expedition leaders' experience in bartering for these was not an easy or pleasant one, as many of the tribes met with were unfriendly as well as hard bargain-drivers; while such of them as curiosity brought to the white men's camp were, unlike the Coast Indians, incorrigible thieves. At this point we make a digression to relate to the reader an instructive account, given by Lewis and Clark in

their "Journal," of the character of the Clatsops of the Coast, in contrast, to some extent, with those they had now experience of on the voyage up the Columbia. We quote the passage with more eagerness, as it affords an interesting view of the Indian treatment of their women and old men :

"The Clatsops and other nations at the mouth of the Columbia have visited us with great freedom, and we have endeavored to cultivate their intimacy, as well for the purpose of acquiring information as to leave behind us impressions favorable to our country. In their intercourse with us, having acquired much of their language, we are enabled with the assistance of gestures, to hold conversations with ease. We find them inquisitive and loquacious, with understandings by no means deficient in acuteness, and with very retentive memories; and though fond of feasts, and generally cheerful, they are never gay. Everything they see excites their attention and inquiries, but having been accustomed to see the whites nothing appeared to give them more astonishment than the air-gun. To all our inquiries they answer with great intelligence, and the conversation rarely slackens, since there is a constant discussion of the events, and trade, and politics, in the little but active circle of Killamucks, Clatsops, Cathlamahs, Wahkiacums, and Chinnooks. Among themselves, the conversation generally turns on the subjects of trade, or smoking, or eating, or connection with females, before whom this last is spoken of with a familiarity which would be in the highest degree indecent, if custom had not rendered it inoffensive.

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The treatment of women is often considered as the standard by which the moral qualities of savages are to be estimated. Our own observation, however, induced us to think that the importance of the female in savage life has no necessary relation to the virtues of the men, but is regulated wholly by their capacity to be useful. The Indians whose treatment of the females is mildest, and who pay most deference to their opinions, are by no means the most distinguished for their virtues; nor is this deference attended by any increase of attachment, since they are equally willing, with the most brutal husband, to prostitute their wives to strangers. On the other hand, the tribes among whom the women are very much debased possess the loftiest sense of honor, the greatest liberality, and all the good qualities of which their situation demands the exercise. Where the women can aid in procuring subsistence for the tribe, they are treated with more equality, and their importance is proportioned to the share which they take in that labor; while in countries where subsistence is chiefly procured by the exertions of the men, the women are considered and treated as burdens. Thus, among the Clatsops and Chinnooks, who live upon fish and roots, which the women are equally expert with the men in procuring, the former have a rank and influence very rarely found among Indians. The females are permitted to speak freely before the men, to whom indeed they sometimes address themselves in a tone of authority. On many subjects their judgments and opinions are respected, and, in matters of trade, their advice is generally asked and

pursued. The labors of the family, too, are shared almost equally. The men collect wood and make fires, assist in cleansing the fish, make the houses, canoes, and wooden utensils; and whenever strangers are to be entertained, or a great feast prepared, the meats are cooked and served up by the men. The peculiar province of the female is to collect roots, and to manufacture the various articles which are formed of rushes, flags, cedar-bark, and bear-grass; but the management of the canoes, and many of the occupations, which elsewhere devolve wholly on the female, are here common to both sexes.

"The observation with regard to the importance of females applies with equal force to the treatment of old men. Among tribes who subsist by hunting, the labors of the chase, and the wandering existence to which that occupation condemns them, necessarily throws the burden of procuring provisions on the active young men. As soon, therefore, as a man is unable to pursue the chase, he begins to withdraw something from the precarious supplies of the tribe. Still, however, his counsels may compensate for his want of activity; but in the next stage of infirmity, when he can no longer travel from camp to camp, as the tribe roams about for subsistence, he is then found to be a burden. In this situation they are abandoned among the Sioux, Assiniboines, and the hunting tribes on the Missouri. As they are setting out for some new excursion, where the old man is unable to follow, his children, or nearest relations, place before him a piece of meat and some water, and telling him that he has lived long enough, that it is now