Clark: May 30, 1806

Friday May 30th 1806. Lapage and Shabono (Charbonneau) set out early this morning to the Indian village in order to trade with them for roots. Sergeant Gass was sent this morning to obtain some goat's hair to stuff the pads of our saddles. He ascended the river on this side, and being unable to cross the river to the village he wished to visit, he returned in the evening unsuccessful. Shannon and Collins were permitted to cross the river in order to trade with the natives and lay in a store of roots and bread for themselves with their proportion of the merchandise, as others had done. On landing on the opposite shore, the canoe was driven broadside with the full force of a very strong current against some standing trees, and instantly filled with water and sank. Potts, who was with them, is a poor swimmer; it was with difficulty that he made the land. They lost three blankets, a blanket capote, and their small amount of merchandise. In our bare state of clothing this was a serious loss. I sent Sergeant Pryor and a party over in the Indian canoe in order to raise and secure ours, but the depth of the water and the strength of the current baffled every effort. I fear that we have also lost our canoe.

All our invalids are recovering. We gave the sick chief a severe sweat today, shortly after which he could move one of his legs and thighs and work his toes pretty well; the other leg he can move a little. His fingers and arms seem to be almost entirely restored. He seems highly delighted with his recovery. I begin to entertain strong hope of his recovering through these sweats. In the evening Joseph Fields returned in search of his horses, which had left him last evening and returned to camp. Fields informed us that he and his brother, whom he had left at their camp 6 miles distant on Collins Creek, had killed 3 deer.

The reptiles which I have observed in this quarter are: the rattlesnake of the species described on the Missouri, which is abundant in every part of the country and is the only poisonous snake we have met with since we left St. Louis; the second species of snake, of an innocent kind already described; the common black lizard; the horned lizard; a small green tree frog; the same frog which is common to our country, which sings in the spring of the year; and a large species of frog which resorts to the water, considerably larger than our bullfrog. Its shape seems to be a medium between the delicate and lengthy form of our bullfrogs and that of our land frog or toad, as they are sometimes called in the United States. Like the latter, their bodies are covered with little pustules or lumps, elevated above the ordinary surface of the body. I never heard them make any sound or noise. The moccasin snake or copperhead, a number of vipers, a variety of lizards, the toad, and bullfrog, etc., common to the U.S., are not to be found in this country.

Most of the insects common to the U.S. are found here: the butterfly, common house and blowing flies, and the horse flies, except the gold-colored ear fly. Though in stead of this fly we have a brown-colored fly about the same size which attaches itself to that part of the horse and is equally as troublesome. The silkworm is also found here. A great variety of beetles common to the Atlantic states are seen here likewise, except from this order the large cow beetle and the black beetle usually termed tumble bug, which are not found here. The hornet, the wasp, and the yellow wasp or yellow jacket, as they are frequently called, are not met with in this quarter. There is an insect which much resembles the latter, only a great deal larger, which is very numerous, particularly in the Rocky Mountains on the waters of the Columbia. These build in the ground, where they form a nest like the hornet with an outer covering to the comb in which they deposit their eggs and raise their young. The sheets of this comb are attached to each other as those of the hornets are. Their wings are four, of a dark brown color; the head is black; the body and abdomen are yellow, encircled with transverse rings of black. They are fierce and sting very severely. We found them troublesome in frightening our horses as we passed through the mountains. The honeybee is not found here. The bumblebee is.

One of the men brought me today some onions from the high plains, of a different species from those near the borders of the river, as they are also from the chive or small onion noticed below the Falls of the Columbia. These onions were as large as a nutmeg. They generally grow double, or two bulbs connected by the same tissue of rootlets. Each bulb has two long, linear, flat, solid leaves. The peduncle is solid and cylindrical and is crowned with an umbel of from 20 to 30 flowers. This onion is exceedingly crisp and delicately flavored indeed. I think it more sweet and less strong than any I ever tasted. It is not yet perfectly in bloom; the parts of the flower are not distinct.