William Clark: August 17, 1806

Saturday 17th of August 1806 a cool morning gave some powder & Ball to Big White Chief Settled with Touisant Chabono for his services as an enterpreter the price of a horse and Lodge purchased of him for public Service in all amounting to 500$ 33⅓ cents. we were visited by all the principal Chiefs of the Menetarras to take their leave of us. at 2 oClock we left our encampment after takeing leave of Colter who also Set out up the river in company with Mess. Dickson & Handcock. we also took our leave of T. Chabono, his Snake Indian wife and their child [son] who had accompanied us on our rout to the pacific ocean in the capacity of interpreter and interprete[s]s. T. Chabono wished much to accompany us in the said Capacity if we could have provailed [upon] the Menetarre Chiefs to de[s]cend the river with us to the U. States, but as none of those Chiefs of whoes language he was Conversent would accompany us, his services were no longer of use to the U. States and he was therefore discharged and paid up. we offered to convey him down to the Illinois if he chose to go, he declined proceeding on at present, observing that he had no acquaintance or prospects of makeing a liveing below, and must continue to live in the way that he had done. I offered to take his little son a butifull promising child who is 19 months old to which they both himself & wife wer willing provided the child had been weened. they observed that in one year the boy would be sufficiently old to leave his mother & he would then take him to me if I would be so freindly as to raise the child for him in such a manner as I thought proper, to which I agreeed.

Source: Thwaites, Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1904–05). Public domain.