Clark: December 9, 1805

December 9th Monday 1805. It rained all last night and we are all wet. I sent 2 men in pursuit of the elk, and with the other 3 I set out with a view to find the ocean in our first direction, which can be at no great distance. I crossed 3 slashes by wading to my knees and was prevented from proceeding by the 4th, which was a pond of 200 yards wide. I went around it, and was stopped by a 5th, which appeared to be a running stream to the right. I then returned to the raft and recrossed, and proceeded down the stream I had first struck. About 2 miles on, I met 3 Indians, who informed me they lived on the seacoast a short distance away. I determined to accompany them to their village, and we set out. We crossed the stream, and 2 of the Indians took the canoe over the wavering open rich plains for 1/2 a mile, and we crossed the same stream, which ran to the left. We then left the canoe and proceeded to the same stream which runs to the right and empties itself into the sea. Here I found their village of 4 lodges on the west bank of this little river, which is here 70 yards wide. I crossed in a canoe and was invited to a lodge by a young chief, and was treated with great politeness. We had new mats to sit on, and he himself and his wife produced for us to eat fish, licorice, and black roots, on neat small mats, and cranberries and sacacomis berries in bowls made of horn, and soup made of a kind of bread made of berries common to this country, which they gave me in a neat wooden trencher, with a cockle shell to eat it with. It began to rain, with a tremendous storm from the S.W., which lasted until 10 o'clock P.M. When I was disposed to go to sleep, 2 neat mats were produced and I lay on them, but the fleas were so troublesome that I slept but little. These people have 2 games which they are fond of. One is with a bean which they pass from one hand into the other, and the opponent guesses; on this game the requisite number of the white beads, which is the principal property. The other game is with round pieces of wood much the shape of ____ backgammon, which they roll through between 2 pins.

Monday 9th December 1805. It rained all last night and we are all wet. I directed 2 hunters, Drewyer (Drouillard) and Shannon, to go in pursuit of the elk; with the other 3 men I determined to proceed on to the ocean, and set out in a westerly direction. I crossed 3 slashes and arrived at a creek which I could not cross, as it was deep and there was no wood to make a raft. I proceeded down this creek a short distance and found that I was in a fork of the creek. I then returned to the raft on which we had crossed the day before, crossed, and kept down about one mile, and met 3 Indians loaded with fresh salmon which they had gigged in the creek I had crossed yesterday in the hills. These Indians made signs that they had a town on the seacoast at no great distance, and invited me to go to their town. I accepted the invitation and accompanied them. They had a canoe hidden in the creek which I had just before rafted, which I had not observed. We crossed in this little canoe, just large enough to carry 3 men and their loads. After crossing, 2 of the Indians took the canoe on their shoulders and carried it across to the other creek, about 1/4 of a mile. We crossed the 2nd creek and proceeded on to the mouth of the creek, which makes a great bend. Above the mouth of this creek, or to the south, are 3 houses and about 12 families of the Clatsop nation. We crossed to those houses, which were built on the south exposure of the hill, sunk into the ground about 4 feet. The walls, roof, and gable ends are of split pine boards. The doors are small, with a ladder to descend to the inner part of the house. The fires are 2 in the middle of the house. Their beds are all around, raised about 2 1/2 feet from the bottom floor, all covered with mats, and under those beds was stored their bags, baskets, and useless mats. These people treated me with extraordinary friendship. One man attached himself to me as soon as I entered the hut, spread down new mats for me to sit on, and gave me fish, berries, roots, etc. on small neat platters of rushes to eat, which was repeated. All the men of the other houses came and smoked with me. These people appeared much neater in their diet than Indians are commonly, and frequently wash their faces and hands. In the evening an old woman presented a bowl made of a light-colored horn containing a kind of syrup made of dried berries which is common to this country, which the natives call shelewele. This syrup I thought was pleasant. They gave me cockle shells to eat with a kind of soup made of bread of the shelewele berries mixed with roots, which they presented in neat trenchers made of wood. A flock of brant lit in the creek, which was 70 yards wide. I took up my small rifle and shot one, which astonished those people very much. They plunged into the creek and brought the brant on shore. In the evening it began to rain, and continued, accompanied with a violent wind from the S.W., until 10 o'clock P.M. These people have a singular game which they are very fond of, and is performed with something about the size of a large bean, which they pass from one hand into the other with great dexterity, during which time they sing, and occasionally hold out their hands for those who choose to risk their property to guess which hand the bean is in. The individual who has the bean is a banker and opposed to all in the room. On this game they risk their beads and other parts of their most valuable effects. This amusement has occupied about 3 hours of this evening. Several of the lodge in which I am in have lost all the beads which they had about them. They have one other game which a man attempted to show me; I do not properly understand it. They make use of many pieces about the shape and size of backgammon pieces, which they roll through between two pins stuck up at certain distances, etc. When I was disposed to go to sleep, the man who had been most attentive, named Cus-ka-lah, produced 2 new mats and spread them near the fire, and directed his wife to go to his bed, which was the signal for all to retire, which they did immediately. I had not been long on my mats before I was attacked most violently by the fleas, and they kept up a close siege during the night.