Lewis: May 31, 1806
At their camp among the Nez Perce, Goodrich and Willard returned from visiting Indian villages, with Willard bringing a dressed bear skin purchased for Captain Clark. This prompted a detailed inquiry into Native classifications of bears, distinguishing the vicious, long-clawed Hoh-host (white and grizzly bears) from the smaller, tree-climbing Yack-kah. Lewis concluded these represent two distinct species. Joseph and Reubin Field returned with three deer, and the Indians brought back another stray horse, leaving only two missing from the original stock of sixty-five. Hunters killed a mule deer that swam across the river; an attempt to raise a sunken canoe failed.
Saturday May 31st 1806. Goodrich and Willard visited the indian Villages
this morning and returned in the evening. Willard brought with him the
dressed skin of a bear which he had purchased for Capt. C. this skin was
an uniform pale redish brown colour, the indians informed us that it was
not the Hoh-host or white bear, that it was the Yack-kah. this distinction
of the indians induced us to make further enquiry relative to their
opinons of the several speceis of bear in this country. we produced the
several skins of the bear which we had killed at this place and one very
nearly white which I had purchased. The white, the deep and plale red
grizzle, the dark bron grizzle, and all those which had the extremities of
the hair of a white or frosty colour without regard to the colour of the
ground of the poil, they designated Hoh-host and assured us that they were
the same with the white bear, that they ascosiated together, were very
vicisious, never climbed the trees, and had much longer nails than the
others. the black skins, those which were black with a number of intire
white hairs intermixed, the black with a white breast, the uniform bey,
brown and light redish brown, they designated the Yack-kah;-said that they
climbed the trees, had short nails and were not vicious, that they could
pursue them and kill them with safety, they also affirmed that they were
much smaller than the white bear. I am disposed to adopt the Indian
distinction with rispect to these bear and consider them two distinct
speceis. the white and the grizzly of this neighbourhood are the same of
those found on the upper portion of the Missouri where the other speceis
are not, and that the uniform redish brown black &c of this
neighbourhood are a speceis distinct from our black bear and from the
black bear of the Pacific coast which I believe to be the same with those
of the Atlantic coast, and that the common black bear do not exist here. I
had previously observed that the claws of some of the bear which we had
killed here had much shorter tallons than the variagated or white bear
usually have but supposed that they had woarn them out by scratching up
roots, and these were those which the indians called Yak-kah. on enquiry I
found also that a cub of an uniform redish brown colour, pup to a female
black bear intermixed with entire white hairs had climbed a tree. I think
this a distinct speceis from the common black bear, because we never find
the latter of any other colour than an uniform black, and also that the
poil of this bear is much finer thicker and longer with a greater
proportion of fur mixed with the hair, in other ispects they are much the
same.This evening Joseph and R. Feilds returned with the three deer
which they had killed. The Indians brought us another of our origional
Stock of horses; there are only two absent now of those horses, and these
the indians inform us that our 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 to 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,
Hohast-ill-pilp desired them to raise our canoe which was sunk on that
side of the river yesterday; they made the attempt but were unable to
effect it.
Read this entry in modern English AI-translated
Saturday, May 31st, 1806. Goodrich and Willard visited the Indian villages this morning and returned in the evening. Willard brought with him the dressed skin of a bear which he had purchased for Capt. C. (Capt. Clark). This skin was a uniform pale reddish brown color. The Indians informed us that it was not the Hoh-host, or white bear, but rather the Yack-kah. This distinction made by the Indians prompted us to inquire further about their opinions on the several species of bear in this country. We produced the several skins of the bears we had killed at this place, along with one nearly white skin which I had purchased. The white, the deep and pale red grizzle, the dark brown grizzle, and all those which had the tips of the hair white or frosty in color—regardless of the color of the underlying coat—they designated as Hoh-host. They assured us that these were all 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 entire white hairs intermixed, the black with a white breast, and the uniform bay, brown, and light reddish brown, they designated as the Yack-kah. They said these bears climbed trees, had short claws, and were not vicious, so that they could pursue and kill them safely. They also affirmed that these bears were much smaller than the white bear. I am inclined to adopt the Indian 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 portion of the Missouri, where the other species are not present. The uniform reddish brown, black, etc., of this neighborhood are a species distinct from 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; and the common black bear does not exist here. I had previously observed that the claws of some of the bears we had killed here were much shorter than those the variegated or white bear usually has, but I supposed that they had worn them down by scratching up roots. These were the bears the Indians called Yak-kah. On further inquiry, I also found that a cub of a uniform reddish brown color, born to a female black bear that was intermixed with entire white hairs, had climbed a tree. I think this is a distinct species from the common black bear, because we never find the latter in any color other than uniform black. Also, the coat 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 R. Fields returned with the three deer they had killed. The Indians brought us another of our original stock of horses; there are now only two of those horses absent, and the Indians inform us that our Shoshone guide rode them back when he returned. We have sixty-five horses at this time, most of them in excellent condition and fine, strong, active horses.
The Indians pursued a mule deer to the river opposite our camp this evening; the deer swam across and one of our hunters killed it. Since a large party of Indians had assembled on this occasion on the opposite side, Hohast-ill-pilp asked them to raise our canoe, which had sunk on that side of the river yesterday. They made the attempt but were unable to do it.
This modernization is AI-generated for accessibility. The original above is the authoritative version.
Entities mentioned in this entry
Auto-extracted from the entry text. Hover any entity for context.
