The Journals
of Lewis and Clark: Dates January 1, 1806 - January 2, 1806
The following
excerpts are taken from entries of the Journals of Lewis
and Clark. Dates: January 1, 1806 - January 2, 1806
January1, 1806
Wednesday, January 1, 1806. We were awaked at an early hour,
by a discharge of a volley of small arms, to salute the
new year. This is the only mode of doing honor to the day
which our situation permits, for though we have reason to
be gayer than we were at Christmas, our only dainties are
the boiled elk and wappatoo, enlivened by draughts of pure
water. We were visited by a few Clatsops, who came by water,
bringing roots and berries for sale. Among this nation we
have observed a man about twenty-five years old, of a much
lighter complexion than the Indians generally: his face
was even freckled, and his hair long, and of a color inclining
to red. He was in habits and manners perfectly Indian; but,
though he did not speak a word of English, he seemed to
understand more than the others of his party; and, as we
could obtain no account of his origin, we concluded that
one of his parents, at least, must have been completely
white.
These Indians staid with us during the night, and left the
fort next morning,
January 1, 1806
Thursday 2, having disposed of their cargo for fishing-hooks
and other trifling articles. The hunters brought in two
elk, and we obtained from the traps another. This animal,
as well as the beaver and the rackoon, are in plenty near
the seacoast, and along the small creeks and rivers as high
as the grand rapids, and in this country possess an extremely
good fur.
The birds which most strike our attention are the large
as well as the small or whistling swan, the sandhill crane,
the large and small geese, cormorants, brown and white brant,
duckaulnmallard, the canvass and several other species of
ducks. There is also a small crow, the blue crested corvus,
and the smaller corvus with a white breast, the little brown
wren, a large brown sparrow, the bald eagle, and the beautiful
buzzard of the Columbia. All these wild fowl continue with
us, though they are not in such numbers as on our first
arrival in this neighborhood.
January 3, 1806
Friday 3. At eleven o'clock we were visited by our
neighbour the Fia, or chief Comowool, who is also called
Croone, and six Clatsops. Besides roots, and berries, they
brought for sale three dogs and some fresh blubber. Having
been so long accustomed to live on the flesh of dogs, the
greater part of us have acquired a fondness for it, and
our original aversion for it is overcome, by reflecting
that while we subsisted on that food we were fatter, stronger,
and in general enjoyed better health than at any period
since leaving the buffalo country eastward of the mountains.
The blubber, which is esteemed by the Indians an excellent
food, has been obtained, they tell us, from their neighbors
the Kil-lamucks, a nation who live on the seacoast to the
southeast, and near one of whose villages a whale had recently
been thrown and foundered. Three of the hunters who had
been dispatched on the 28th, returned about dark; they had
been fifteen miles up the river to the east of us, which
falls into Meriwether's bay, and had hunted a considerable
distance to the east; but they had not been able to kill
more than a single deer, and a few fowls, scarcely sufficient
for their subsistence; an incident which teaches us the
necessity of keeping out several parties of hunters, in
order to procure a supply against any exigency.
January 4, 1806
Saturday 4. Comowool left us this morning with his
party, highly pleased with a present of an old pair of satin
breeches. The hunters were all sent in different directions,
and we are now becoming more anxious for their success since
our store of wappatoo is all exhausted.
January 5, 1806
Sunday 5. Two of the five men who had been dispatched
to make salt returned. They had carefully examined the coast,
but it was not till the fifth day after their departure
that they discovered a convenient situation for their manufacture.
At length they formed an establishment about fifteen miles
southwest of the fort, near some scattered houses of the
Clatsop and Killamuck nation, where they erected a comfortable
camp, and had killed a stock of provisions. The Indians
had treated them very kindly, and made them a present of
the blubber of the whale, some of which the men brought
home. It was white and not unlike the fat of pork, though
of a coarser and more spongy texture, and on being cooked
was found to be tender and palatable, and in flavor resembling
the beaver. The men also brought with them a gallon of the
salt, which was white, fine, and very good, but not so strong
as the rock salt common to the western parts of the United
States. It proves to be a most agreeable addition to our
food, and as the saltmakers can manufacture three or four
quarts a day, we have a prospect of a very plentiful supply.
The appearance of the whale seemed to be a matter of importance
to all the neighboring Indians, and as we might be able
to procure some of it for ourselves, or at least purchase
blubber from the Indians, a small parcel of merchandise
was prepared, and a party of the men held in readiness to
set out in the morning. As soon as this resolution was known,
Charbonneau and his wife requested that they might be permitted
to accompany us. The poor woman stated very earnestly that
she had traveled a great way with us to see the great water,
yet she had never been down to the coast, and now that this
monstrous fish was also to be seen, it seemed hard that
she should not be permitted to see neither the ocean nor
the whale. So reasonable a request could not be denied;
they were therefore suffered to accompany captain Clarke
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