Lewis: February 21, 1806
Three Clatsop visitors spent the day at the fort begging; Lewis gave one some needles before they left in the evening. Heavy rain forced Drewyer and Collins to abandon their elk hunt, though Drewyer spotted a fisher that escaped. Sergeant Ordway returned with the party from the now-evacuated salt camp, bringing about 20 gallons of salt, 12 of which were stored in iron-bound kegs for the return voyage. Willard and Bratton received Scott's pills, and Gibson continued recovering on bark. Lewis described the tyger cat, black fox/fisher, silver fox, and red foxes of the region.
Friday February 21st 1806. Visited this morning by 3 Clatsop who remained
with us all day; they are great begers; I gave one of them a few nedles
with which he appeared much gratifyed. in the evening late they departed.
Drewyer and Collins went in pursuit of some Elk, the tracks of which
Collins had discovered yesterday; but it rained so hard that they could
not pursue them by their tracks and returned unsuccessfull. Drewyer saw a
fisher black fox but it escaped from him among the fallen timber. Sergt.
Ordway returned with the party from the salt camp which we have now
evacuated. they brought with them the salt and eutensils. our stock of
salt is now about 20 Gallons; 12 gallons of which we secured in 2 small
iron bound kegs and laid by for our voyage. gave Willard and bratton each
a doze of Scotts pills; on the former they operated and on the latter they
(lid not. Gibson still continues the barks three times a day and is on the
recovery fast.-
The tyger Cat is found on the borders of the plains and in the woody
country lying along the Pacific Ocean. this animal is about the size or
reather larger than the wild cat of our country and is much the same in
form, agility and ferosity. the colour of the back neck and sides is a
redish brown irregularly variegated with small spots of dark brown the
tail is about two inches long nearly white except the extremity which is
black; it terminates abruptly as if it had been cut off. the belly is
white with small black spots, beautifully variagated. the legs are of the
same colour with the sides and back marked with transverse stripes of
black the ears are black on the outer side covered with fine short hair
except at the upper point which furnished with a pensil of fine, streight,
black hair, = 3/4 of an inch in length. the fur of this anamal is long and
fine, much more so than the wild cat of the United States but less so than
that of Louservea of the N. West. the natives in this quarter make great
use of the skins of this Cat to form the robes which they wear; four skins
is the compliment usuly employed in each robe. the Black fox, or as they
most frequently called in the neighbourhood of Detroit, Fisher is found in
the woody country on this coast. how this animal obtained the name of
fisher I know not, but certain it is, that the name is not appropriate, as
it dose not prey on fish or seek it as a prey. they are extreemly active
strong and prepared for climbing, which they do with great agility, and
bound from tree to tree in pursuit of the squirrel or Rackoon their
natural and most usual food. their colour is a jut black except a small
spot of white on the breast. the body is long, legs short and formed
something like the ternspit dog with a remarkable long tail. it dose not
differ here from those of the United States. The Silver fox this animal is
very rare even in the country where it exists; I have never seen more than
the Skins of this anamal and those were in the possession of the natives
of the woody Country below the great falls of the Columbia from which I
think that it is most probably the inhabtant of the woody country
exclusively. from the skin it appeared to be about the size of the large
red fox of the plains and much of it’s form with a large tail. the legs I
think somewhat longer. it has a fine long deep fur poll. the poil is of a
dark lead colour and the long hairs intermixed with it are either white or
black at the lower part and white at the top, the whole mixture forming a
beatifull silver grey. I think this the most beautifull of all the Foxes
except species of which I saw one only on the Missouri near the natural
walls. the large red fox of the plains and the Kit fox are the same which
we met with on the Missouri and are the inhabitants almost exclusively of
the open plains, or of the cops of brush within the pain country. The
common red fox of the United States is also found in the woody country on
this coast nor dose it appear to be altered in rispect to it’s fur colour
or any other particular
Read this entry in modern English AI-translated
Friday, February 21st, 1806. We were visited this morning by 3 Clatsop, who remained with us all day. They are great beggars. I gave one of them a few needles, with which he appeared much gratified. Late in the evening they departed. Drewyer (Drouillard) and Collins went in pursuit of some elk, whose tracks Collins had discovered yesterday, but it rained so hard that they could not follow the tracks and returned unsuccessful. Drewyer saw a fisher (black fox), but it escaped from him among the fallen timber. Sergeant Ordway returned with the party from the salt camp, which we have now abandoned. They brought with them the salt and utensils. Our stock of salt is now about 20 gallons, 12 gallons of which we secured in 2 small iron-bound kegs and set aside for our voyage. I gave Willard and Bratton each a dose of Scott's pills; they worked on the former but did not on the latter. Gibson is still taking the bark three times a day and is recovering quickly.
The tiger cat is found on the borders of the plains and in the wooded country along the Pacific Ocean. This animal is about the size of, or rather larger than, the wildcat of our country, and is much the same in form, agility, and ferocity. The color of the back, neck, and sides is a reddish brown, irregularly variegated with small spots of dark brown. The tail is about two inches long, nearly white except at the extremity, which is black; it ends abruptly, as if it had been cut off. The belly is white with small black spots, beautifully variegated. The legs are the same color as the sides and back, marked with transverse stripes of black. The ears are black on the outer side, covered with fine short hair except at the upper point, which is furnished with a pencil of fine, straight, black hair, about 3/4 of an inch in length. The fur of this animal is long and fine, much more so than that of the wildcat of the United States, but less so than that of the loup-cervier (louservea) of the Northwest. The natives in this region make great use of the skins of this cat to make the robes that they wear; four skins is the usual number used in each robe.
The black fox, or, as they are most frequently called in the neighborhood of Detroit, the fisher, is found in the wooded country on this coast. How this animal obtained the name of fisher I do not know, but certainly the name is not appropriate, as it does not prey on fish or seek fish as prey. They are extremely active, strong, and well prepared for climbing, which they do with great agility, bounding from tree to tree in pursuit of the squirrel or raccoon, their natural and most usual food. Their color is jet black, except for a small spot of white on the breast. The body is long, the legs short and formed something like the turnspit dog, with a remarkably long tail. It does not differ here from those of the United States.
The silver fox: this animal is very rare even in the country where it exists. I have never seen more than the skins of this animal, and those were in the possession of the natives of the wooded country below the Great Falls of the Columbia, from which I think it is most probably an inhabitant of the wooded country exclusively. From the skin, it appeared to be about the size of the large red fox of the plains, and much of its form, with a large tail. The legs, I think, are somewhat longer. It has a fine, long, deep fur pelt. The pelt is of a dark lead color, and the long hairs intermixed with it are either white, or black at the lower part and white at the top, the whole mixture forming a beautiful silver gray. I think this the most beautiful of all the foxes, except for a species of which I saw only one on the Missouri near the Natural Walls. The large red fox of the plains and the kit fox are the same that we met with on the Missouri, and are inhabitants almost exclusively of the open plains, or of the patches of brush within the plains country. The common red fox of the United States is also found in the wooded country on this coast, nor does it appear to be altered in respect to its fur, color, or any other particular.
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