Lewis: April 19, 1806
The expedition spent the morning portaging canoes and baggage with four pack horses, completing the work by 3 P.M. and camping near the relocated Skillute village. The natives celebrated the arrival of the season's first salmon, ritually sharing a single fish among the children. Lewis acquired four more horses by trading away two kettles, leaving only one per mess of eight men. Captain Clark departed with four men for the Eneshur village at the grand falls to seek additional horses. Lewis reprimanded Willard for letting a horse wander off, and the restless, ungelded stallions required guarding all night.
Saturday Aprl. 19th 1806. This morning early we had our small canoes drawn
out, and employed all hands in transporting our baggage on their backs and
by means of the four pack horses, over the portage. This labour we had
accomplished by 3 P.M. and established our camp a little above the present
Skil-lute village which has been removed a few hundred yards lower down
the river than when we passed them last fall and like others below have
the floors of their summer dwellings on the surface of the earth instead
of those cellars in which they resided when we passed them. there was
great joy with the natives last night in consequence of the arrival of the
salmon; one of those fish was caught; this was the harbinger of good news
to them. they informed us that these fish would arrive in great quantities
in the course of about 5 days. this fish was dressed and being divided
into small peices was given to each child in the village. this custom is
founded in a supersticious opinon that it will hasten the arrival of the
salmon. with much difficulty we obtained four other horses from the
Indians today, we wer obliged to dispence with two of our kettles in order
to acquire those. we have now only one small kettle to a mess of 8 men. in
the evening Capt. Clark set out with four men to the Enesher village at
the grand falls in order to make a further attempt to procure horses.
these people are very faithless in their contracts. they frequently
receive the merchandize in exchange for their horses and after some hours
insist on some additional article being given them or revoke the exchange.
they have pilfered several small articles from us this evening.I
directed the horses to be hubbled & suffered to graize at a little
distance from our camp under the immediate eye of the men who had them in
charge. one of the men Willard was negligent in his attention to his horse
and suffered it to ramble off; it was not to be found when I ordered the
others to be brought up and confined to the picquits. this in addition to
the other difficulties under which I laboured was truly provoking. I
repremanded him more severely for this peice of negligence than had been
usual with me. I had the remaining horses well secured by picquits; they
were extreemly wrestless and it required the attention of the whole guard
through the night to retain them notwithstanding they were bubbled and
picquted. they frequently throwed themselves by the ropes by which they
were confined. all except one were stone horse for the people in this
neighbourhood do not understand the art of gelding them, and this is a
season at which they are most vicious. many of the natives remained about
our camp all night.
Read this entry in modern English AI-translated
Saturday April 19th 1806. Early this morning we had our small canoes pulled out, and put all hands to work transporting our baggage on their backs and by means of the four pack horses over the portage. We had accomplished this labor by 3 P.M. and established our camp a little above the present Skil-lute village, which has been moved a few hundred yards lower down the river than when we passed them last fall. Like others below, they now have the floors of their summer dwellings on the surface of the earth instead of in those cellars where they lived when we passed them before.
There was great joy among the natives last night because of the arrival of the salmon; one of these fish was caught, and this was the harbinger of good news to them. They informed us that these fish would arrive in great quantities within about 5 days. This fish was dressed and, being divided into small pieces, was given to each child in the village. This custom is based on a superstitious belief that it will hasten the arrival of the salmon.
With much difficulty we obtained four more horses from the Indians today; we were obliged to part with two of our kettles in order to acquire them. We now have only one small kettle for a mess of 8 men. In the evening Capt. Clark (Capt. Clark) set out with four men to the Enesher village at the grand falls to make a further attempt to procure horses. These people are very unreliable in their bargains. They frequently receive the merchandise in exchange for their horses and then, after some hours, insist on some additional article being given to them or take back the exchange. They have stolen several small articles from us this evening.
I directed the horses to be hobbled and allowed to graze a little distance from our camp under the immediate watch of the men in charge of them. One of the men, Willard, was careless in attending to his horse and let it wander off; it could not be found when I ordered the others to be brought up and tied to the pickets. This, in addition to the other difficulties I was laboring under, was truly provoking. I reprimanded him for this piece of negligence more severely than had been usual with me. I had the remaining horses well secured by pickets; they were extremely restless, and it required the attention of the whole guard through the night to keep them, even though they were hobbled and picketed. They frequently threw themselves down against the ropes by which they were tied. All except one were stallions, for the people in this neighborhood do not understand the art of gelding them, and this is a season when they are most vicious. Many of the natives stayed around our camp all night.
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