Lewis: August 1, 1806
Traveling through steady rain, the party made good progress along the river. Around 9 A.M., Lewis and Drouillard shot a brown bear swimming between an island and shore. They passed the mouth of the Musselshell River at 11 A.M. and stopped about 15 miles below it to dry valuable bighorn sheep skins in some abandoned Indian lodges. A white bear approached camp and was killed, yielding several gallons of oil. Hunters also took an elk, four deer, and a beaver. Lewis noted observations on bear fat and elk behavior.
Friday August 1st 1806. The rain still continuing I set out early as usual
and proceeded on at a good rate. at 9 A.M. we saw a large brown bear
swiming from an island to the main shore we pursued him and as he landed
Drewyer and myself shot and killed him; we took him on board the perogue
and continued our rout. at 11 A.M. we passed the entrance of Mussel shell
river. at 1 in the evening we arrived at a bottom on S. W. side where
there were several spacious Indian lodges built of sticks and an excellent
landing. as the rain still continued with but little intermission and
appearances seemed unfavorable to it’s becomeing fair shortly, I
determined to halt at this place at least for this evening and indeavour
to dry my skins of the bighorn which had every appearance of spoiling, an
event which I would not should happen on any consideration as we have now
passed the country in which they are found and I therefore could not
supply the deficiency were I to loose these I have. I halted at this place
being about 15 ms. below Missel shell river, had fires built in the lodges
and my skins exposed to dry. shortly after we landed the rain ceased tho
it still continued cloudy all this evening. a white bear came within 50
paces of our camp before we perceived it; it stood erect on it’s hinder
feet and looked at us with much apparent unconsern, we seized our guns
which are always by us and several of us fired at it and killed it. it was
a female in fine order, we fleesed it and extracted several gallons of
oil. this speceis of bar are rearly as poor at this season of the year as
the common black bear nor are they ever as fat as the black bear is found
in winter; as they feed principally on flesh, like the wolf, they are most
fatt when they can procure a sufficiency of food without rispect to the
season of the year. the oil of this bear is much harder than that of the
black bear being nearly as much so as the lard of a hog. the flesh is by
no means as agreeable as that of the black bear, or Yahkah or
partycoloured bear of the West side of the rocky mountains. on our way
today we killed a buck Elk in fine order the skins and a part of the flesh
of which we preserved. after encamping this evening the hunters killed 4
deer and a beaver. The Elk are now in fine order particularly the males.
their horns have obtained their full growth but have not yet shed the
velvet or skin which covers them. the does are found in large herds with
their young and a few young bucks with them. the old bucks yet herd
together in parties of two to 7 or 8.-
Read this entry in modern English AI-translated
Friday, August 1st, 1806. The rain still continuing, I set out early as usual and proceeded on at a good rate. At 9 A.M. we saw a large brown bear swimming from an island to the main shore. We pursued him, and as he landed, Drewyer and myself shot and killed him. We took him on board the pirogue and continued our route. At 11 A.M. we passed the entrance of Mussel shell (Musselshell) river. At 1 in the evening we arrived at a bottom on the SW side, where there were several spacious Indian lodges built of sticks and an excellent landing.
As the rain still continued with but little intermission, and appearances seemed unfavorable to its becoming fair shortly, I determined to halt at this place at least for this evening and endeavor to dry my skins of the bighorn, which had every appearance of spoiling—an event which I would not allow to happen on any consideration, as we have now passed the country in which they are found, and I therefore could not supply the deficiency were I to lose these I have. I halted at this place, being about 15 miles below Mussel shell (Musselshell) river, had fires built in the lodges, and my skins exposed to dry. Shortly after we landed, the rain ceased, though it still continued cloudy all this evening.
A white bear came within 50 paces of our camp before we perceived it. It stood erect on its hind feet and looked at us with much apparent unconcern. We seized our guns, which are always by us, and several of us fired at it and killed it. It was a female in fine order. We skinned it and extracted several gallons of oil. This species of bear is rarely as poor at this season of the year as the common black bear, nor are they ever as fat as the black bear is found in winter. As they feed principally on flesh, like the wolf, they are most fat when they can procure a sufficiency of food without respect to the season of the year. The oil of this bear is much harder than that of the black bear, being nearly as much so as the lard of a hog. The flesh is by no means as agreeable as that of the black bear, or Yahkah, or particolored bear of the west side of the Rocky Mountains.
On our way today we killed a buck elk in fine order, the skins and a part of the flesh of which we preserved. After camping this evening, the hunters killed 4 deer and a beaver. The elk are now in fine order, particularly the males. Their horns have obtained their full growth but have not yet shed the velvet or skin which covers them. The does are found in large herds with their young, and a few young bucks with them. The old bucks yet herd together in parties of two to 7 or 8.
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