the finder; so that often a hunter secures scarcely any of the game he kills, if the arrow happens to fall off."

In another entry in the "Journal," we are informed that in these hunts the Indians are often joined by their women and children. An instance. of this is cited, under date January 13, 1805, when, as the "Journal" relates, "Nearly one-half of the Mandan nation passed down the river to hunt for several days. In these excursions, men, women, and children, with their dogs, all leave the village together, and, after discovering a spot convenient for the game, fix their tents; all the family bear their part in the labor, and the game is equally divided among the families of the tribe. When a single hunter returns from the chase with more than is necessary for his own immediate consumption, the neighbors are entitled by custom to a share of it; they do not, however, ask for it, but send a squaw, who, without saying anything, sits down by the door of the lodge till the master understands the hint, and gives her gratuitously a part for her family."

In the Expedition's sojourn among the Mandans, opportunity, of course, was taken, as in the case of visits to other tribes, to inform the Indians of the new, United States, masters of the territory. In the case of the Mandan tribes, the effect of the news was neutralized in no little degree by the hostility of stray French and English trappers and hunters, with whom the tribe had long had friendly dealings. These hunters were for the most part members of one or other of the two great Fur-trading Companies (the Hudson Bays, and the North-West Fur

Company of Canada), whose operations extended as far south as the Mandan country, and trade with whom the Fur Companies were naturally loth to surrender.

Of this matter, and all other important incidents that had befallen the Expedition since it had set forth on its mission, Messrs. Lewis and Clark were now to send report to Washington, when they despatched the batteau, with an extemporized crew, back to St. Louis. This they did on April 7th (1805), the escorting contingent that had joined the party at St. Louis returning on the barge at the same time. With extracts from the official Journal of the Expedition's proceedings, so far as it had gone, and the scientific reports and collections, advantage was taken of the return of the batteau to forward sundry presents for President Jefferson, consisting of stuffed specimens of the animals of the region, cases of plants, insects, etc., a variety of skins, buffalo robes, and some fine elk-horns, together with a collection of gay articles of Indian attire. These, in due time, reached the national capital, and were much appreciated, not only by the President, but by the curators of the Washington museums, where they were duly mounted, labelled, and placed on exhibition. When this had been done, the Expedition commanders now proceeded to resume their journey, all arrangements for doing so having by this time been completed; while the river was now open after its long winter sleep.

CHAPTER IV

ON THE UPPER MISSOURI TO THE JUNCTION OF THE YELLOWSTONE

THE Expedition, on parting from their comrades returning down the river to St. Louis, were now to set their own faces westward, and be lost to the ken of the outer world until their own return, in September, 1806. The date on which the main party continued their exploring journey from Fort Mandan was April 8th, 1805, almost a year after leaving St. Louis. The interval was an exciting one to the little band of explorers; while it was an anxious one to their friends at home, as well as to President Jefferson and the interested members of his Administration that had seen the Expedition go forth on its thrilling but important mission. With light hearts and high enthusiasm, the little party set out on their enterprise; while all were eager to learn what might befall them in probing their dark and untrodden way over the remaining portions of the journey, across the Great Divide and down the Columbia to the Western Sea. In addition to the original members of the party, the Expedition now took with it a Frenchman interpreter, named Chaboneau, his Indian wife and infant child, the wife having been a captive of the Mandans in a war the

tribe had had with the Snake Indians (the Shoshones) of the Rockies. Both husband and wife were to prove useful acquisitions to the party—the squaw especially so, as she had a gentle disposition, and was greatly attached to the whites, and hence earned much praise for herself from both leaders of the Expedition. Her name, which we shall meet with repeatedly, was Sacajawea, or, in English equivalent, the "Bird Woman." As the Expedition set forth, Captain Lewis, in his Journal, makes the following happy reference to its appearance:

"Our vessels," he observes, "consisted of six small canoes, and two large pirogues. This little fleet, although not quite so respectable as those of Columbus or Captain Cook, were still viewed by us with as much pleasure as those deservedly famed adventurers ever beheld theirs; and I daresay with quite as much anxiety for their safety and preservation. We were now about to penetrate a country at least two thousand miles in width, on which the foot of civilized man had never trodden; the good or evil it had in store for us was for experiment yet to determine, and these little vessels contained every article by which we were to expect to subsist or defend ourselves. However, as the state of mind in which we are, generally gives the coloring to events, when the imagination is suffered to wander into futurity, the picture which now presented itself to me was a most pleasing one. tertaining as I do the most confident hope of succeeding in a voyage which had formed a darling project of mine for the last ten years, I could but

En

esteem this moment of our departure as among the most happy of my life."

The undertaking, dear as we are told it was, to the chief leader of the Expedition, was nevertheless a serious and laborious one, as was further to be found in traversing the long and weary distance. that still lay between the Upper Missouri waters and the sea. There was, however, much that was novel, as well as interesting, to the explorers as they advanced; and minute was their observation of everything they saw, not only of the physical conformation and resources of the country they passed through, but of the variety of Indian and animal life they met with; and of the sport they had in killing the game requisite for their daily sustenance. Of this game, much was new to them, including not only the familiar elk and deer, of which they had had plentiful supplies while at Fort Mandan; but also the "grizzlies" of the near-by Rockies, the burrowing gopher, mountain antelope, buffalo, beaver, otter, and the Canada wild goose, which, in these high Western latitudes, they now met large. flocks of. The comparative nearness to the northern international boundary line brought the party not only to a knowledge of the Canada beaver and wild goose, but also to stray bands of the Assiniboine, of the far north, who were accustomed at this era to extend their hunting expeditions as far south as the country of the Dakotas. Of this tribe, the Assiniboines, the cruelty of which the Expedition, on its passage up the Missouri, had heard rueful tales of, the party was fortunate not to meet at