"The speech made a favorable impression; the chief in reply thanked us for our expressions of friendship towards himself and his nation, and declared their willingness to render us every service. He lamented that it would be so long before they should be supplied with firearms, but that till then they could subsist as they had heretofore done. He concluded by saying that there were not horses here sufficient to transport our goods, but that he would return to the village to-morrow, and bring all his own horses, and encourage his people to come over with theirs. The conference being ended to our satisfaction, we now enquired of Cameahwait what chiefs were among the party, and he pointed out two of them. We then distributed our presents; to Cameahwait we gave a medal of the small size, with the likeness of President Jefferson, and on the reverse a figure of hands clasped with a pipe and tomahawk; to this was added a uniform coat, a shirt, a pair of scarlet leggings, a carrot of tobacco, and some small articles. Each of the other chiefs received a small medal struck during the presidency of General Washington, a shirt, handkerchief, leggings, a knife, and some tobacco. Medals of the same sort were also presented to two young warriors, who though not chiefs were promising youths and very much respected in the tribe. These honorary gifts were followed by presents of paint, moccasins, awls, knives, beads and looking-glasses. We also gave them all a plentiful meal of Indian corn, of which the hull is taken off by being boiled in lye; and as this was the first they had ever tasted, they

were very much pleased with it. They had indeed abundant sources of surprise in all they saw; the appearance of the men, their arms, their clothing, the canoes, the strange looks of the negro, and the sagacity of our dog, all in turn shared their admiration, which was raised to astonishment by a shot from the air-gun; this operation was instantly considered as a great medicine, by which they as well as the other Indians mean something emanating directly from the Great Spirit, or produced by his invisible and incomprehensible agency. The display of all these riches had been intermixed with inquiries into the geographical situation of their country; for we had learnt by experience that to keep the savages in good temper their attention should not be wearied with too much business; but that the serious affairs should be enlivened by a mixture of what is new and entertaining. Our hunters brought in very seasonably four deer and an antelope, the last of which we gave to the Indians, who in a very short time devoured it. After the council was over, we consulted as to our future operations. The game does not promise to last here for a number of days, and this circumstance combined with many others to induce our going on as soon as possible. Our Indian information as to the state of the Columbia is of a very alarming kind, and our first object is of course to ascertain the practicability of descending it, of which the Indians discourage our expectations. It was therefore agreed that Captain Clark should set off in the morning with eleven men, furnished, besides their arms, with tools for making canoes; that

he should take Chaboneau and his wife to the camp of the Shoshones, where he was to leave them, in order to hasten the collection of horses; that he was then to lead his men down to the Columbia, and if he found it navigable, and the timber in sufficient quantity, begin to build canoes. As soon as he had decided as to the propriety of proceeding down the Columbia or across the mountains, he was to send back one of the men with information of it to Captain Lewis, who by that time would have brought up the whole party, and the rest of the baggage as far as the Shoshone village. Preparations were accordingly made this evening for such an arrangement."

CHAPTER VIII

ACROSS THE ROCKIES TO THE TRIBUTARIES OF THE COLUMBIA

HAVING reached, in the Shoshone country, the extreme navigable part of the Missouri, the anxiety of the Expedition commanders now was how best to get across the Rockies and meet some of the tributaries of the Columbia that would conduct the party to that river, thence down its waters to the Western Sea. Chats over the matter with the friendly Shoshones were not reassuring, for the chiefs of the tribe spoke alarmingly of the difficulties to be encountered by the way, and of the certain dearth of food supplies en route; while they deemed the season, comparatively early as it yet was, too far advanced to permit of the party getting across the mountains before snow fell and blocked or seriously delayed the passage. There was, it is true, the alternative of a water passage for the party to the Columbia, but that, the Shoshones said, was not only tedious and circuitous, but well nigh impracticable, owing to the wild cañons on the Lemhi and the Salmon Rivers and the turbulent channel of the Snake River, terrors which usually appalled even the hardiest boatmenadventurers. There was nothing therefore for it but

the trail over the Rockies, if the Expedition would risk the snow-blockades and the scarcity of game and other food supplies on the way. What were the difficulties that lay before the party may be gleaned from the following extracts from the "Journal," which narrate the efforts made by Captain Clark to ascertain the best course the Expedition should pursue in getting across the Great Divide. The tentative exploration was conducted with the aid of a guide, then visiting the Shoshone camp, who professed to be familiar with the region and the difficulties that must beset any party in getting across the Rockies to the Pacific Slope and the available waterways to the Western Sea.

"Captain Clark, in the meantime, made particular inquiries as to the situation of the country, and the possibility of soon reaching a navigable water. The chief began by drawing on the ground a delineation of the rivers, from which it appeared that his information was very limited. The river on which the camp is he divided into two branches just above us, which, as he indicated by the opening of the mountains, were in view; he next made it discharge itself into a larger river ten miles below, coming from the southwest; the joint stream continued one day's march to the northwest, and then inclined to the westward for two days' march farther. At that place he placed several heaps of sand on each side, which, as he explained them, represented vast mountains of rock always covered with snow, in passing through which the river was so completely hemmed in by the high rocks that there was no possibility of