Clark: May 31, 1806

Saturday, May 31st, 1806. Goodrich and Willard visited the Indian village this morning and returned in the evening. Willard brought with him the dressed skin of a bear which he had purchased for me. This skin was of a uniform pale reddish brown color. The Indians inform us that it was not the Hoh-host, or white bear, but that it was the Yack-kah. This distinction made by the Indians induced us to make further inquiry relative to their opinions of the different species of bear in this country. We produced the several skins of the bear which our hunters had killed at this place, and one nearly white which Capt Lewis (Capt. Lewis) had purchased. The white, the deep and pale red grizzle, the dark brown grizzle, and all those that had the extremities of the hair of a white or frosty color without regard to the color of the ground of the pelt, they designated Hoh-host. They assured us that these were the same as the white bear, that they associated together, were very vicious, never climbed trees, and had much longer claws than the others. The black skins, those which were black with a number of entirely white hairs intermixed, the black with a white breast, the uniform bay, brown, and light reddish brown, they designated the Yack-kah. They said that these climbed trees, had short claws, and were not vicious, that they could pursue and kill them in safety. They also affirmed that they were much smaller than the white bear. I am disposed to adopt the Indians' distinction with respect to these bears and consider them two distinct species. The white and the grizzly of this neighborhood are the same as those found on the upper part of the Missouri, where the other species is not found; and the uniform reddish brown, black, etc., of this neighborhood are a species distinct from both species of our black bear and from the black bear of the Pacific coast, which I believe to be the same as those of the Atlantic coast. I believe the common black bear does not exist here. I had previously observed that the claws of some of the bears which we had killed here had much shorter talons than the variegated or white bear usually has, but I supposed they had worn them out by scratching out roots; these were those which the Indians call Yahkah. On inquiry, I found also that a cub of a uniform reddish brown color, pup to a female black bear intermixed with entirely white hairs, had climbed a tree. I think this is a distinct species from the common black bear, because we never find the latter of any other color than a uniform black, and also because the pelt of this bear is much finer, thicker, and longer, with a greater proportion of fur mixed with the hair. In other respects they are much the same.

This evening, Joseph and Reuben Fields returned with the three deer they had killed. The Indians brought us another of our original stock of horses; there are only two absent now of these horses, and these the Indians inform us that our Sho-Sho-ne (Shoshone) guide rode back when he returned. We have sixty-five horses at this time, most of them in excellent order and fine, strong, active horses.

The Indians pursued a mule deer to the river opposite our camp this evening; the deer swam over and one of our hunters killed it. There being a large party of Indians assembled on this occasion on the opposite side with Tin-nach-e-moo-tolt, they attempted to raise our canoe, which was sunk on that side of the river yesterday. They made the attempt but were unable to do so.