had gone on to the coast he had had a quarrel with two other chiefs of his tribe, who were jealous of the fact that the white men's horses had been entrusted to his (Twisted-hair's) care, and in the trouble that ensued the horses had got scattered. He further

said, that, on the rise of the river in the Spring, the high waters had washed away the earth about the region of the cache and exposed the saddles, and that some of them were doubtless stolen and might not all be recovered. He, however, promised to put the party again in possession of them, and to collect, or make restitution for, the horses. This, after a parley, the chief did, much to the satisfaction of the leaders of the Expedition, though not all were recovered. Before proceeding on the journey, amity was restored in the party's relations with the chief and his tribe, and the latter was given his promised reward for the care of the horses and the Expedition's effects -two guns and a quantity of ammunition.

Here they were still west of the Bitter Root Mountains, and, these now being covered with snow, the party went into camp for a while until it would be safe to cross them and the other ranges of the Rockies. In the meantime, the Expedition's hunters killed a grizzly and brought it to camp, along with two squirrels and some pheasants, so that their immediate necessities were relieved, and ere long a move was made to the villages of the next tribe on the route-the Nez Percés. At the latter's lodges, foul weather detained them, together with pressing need of food for the party, since they had again been reduced to feeding on roots and herbs. Here they

remained for a month, that is, on as far in the season as June 10th, when they set out on a difficult trail which led to the mountains. Most of the time, the privations the explorers had to endure from want of adequate sustenance were great; while many suffered from sickness, due to the discomforts of the rainy season and a low diet. By administering medical relief to some sick Indians of the tribe, the party managed to get a share of what the natives subsisted on, added to what little their own hunters brought in for the camp-larder. By June 2nd, matters had somewhat improved in the diet line, for, it is related, that some men of the party brought to camp three bushels of edible roots and some bread, which, in their then situation, was deemed as important "as the arrival of an East Indiaman." Later on, some of the party having been sent on to the Lewis River, they returned with some roots of cows and seventeen salmon." It is added, however, that the distance whence they brought the salmon was so great as to spoil most of the fish, though such as continued fresh were, we are told, "extremely delicious, the flesh being of a fine rose color, with a small mixture of yellow, and so fat that they were cooked very well without the addition of any oil or grease."

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By the 10th of June, camp was broken, and the party proceeded eastward to the foothills of the Rockies, the hunters of the Expedition meanwhile keeping a good look-out for game. By the middle of the month, they were well within the heart of the Bitter Root range and ascending it with much toil, for it was still covered with snow. So deep was the

latter on the mountains (from twelve to fifteen feet), that the trail was frequently lost, entailing much, and often despairing, effort to recover it. This necessitated a halt, so as to send back for a guide, which, luckily, they were able to procure, and thus were enabled to pursue their course across the range in the direction of the Falls of the Missouri. The subsistence question continued still a serious one, owing to the scantiness of anything in the shape of game, though they were able to take a few trout, and, later on, a bear (in bad order, it is said), together with a deer. In the expeditions in search for food, the party were embarrassed for a time by the straying away of three men, who for a couple of days were lost in the high ridges of the region, but were subsequently found and brought into camp. With them they brought three Indians, who, for the compensation of two guns, were induced to guide them over the remaining portions of the mountain journey and bring the party to the Missouri Falls. Finally getting across the heights of the Divide, it was deemed prudent to break up the party, one section, consisting of Captain Lewis and nine men, proceeding by the most direct route to the Missouri Falls, while Captain Clark, with the remainder (now only ten men), went on to the Yellowstone, there to await the coming of the chief leader. This change in the Expedition's movements was determined on at the end of July (1806), with the design that Clark and his party should have time to build boats for the transportation of all down the Yellowstone and the Missouri. Instructions were further given Captain

Clark to despatch two mounted men of his following to the British posts on the Assiniboine, with a letter to its agent asking that official to induce some chiefs of the Sioux Indians to accompany the party in its return to St. Louis and Washington.

A. B., VOL V. — 10

CHAPTER XII

HOMEWARD ACROSS THE GREAT DIVIDE AND DOWN THE YELLOWSTONE

FROM the beginning of July to the middle of August the Expedition was now subdivided, each party, under its own leader, taking its own way over the Great Divide on the homeward journey. The design of Captain Lewis was to proceed by the shortest route across the Rockies, thence by the eastern branch of Clark's River to the forks of the Cokalahishkit. Here the course lay through the region called by the explorers the " Knobs of the Prairie,' by way of the present Montana City of Missoula, on to the Sun, or Medicine, River, which enters into the Missouri near the Falls, and so on to the former haunts of the party by the Maria River. The Clark section of the Expedition, of which the squaw Sacajawea, her husband and child formed a portion, proceeded by way of the Bitter Root River over the Continental Divide to the headwaters of the Wisdom, or Big Hole, River, thence to the forks of the Jefferson, a tributary of the Missouri. From here they were to go down the Jefferson, up the Gallatin, and over the ridges of the region to the Yellowstone,