Clark: August 10, 1806

Tuesday 10th August 1806 had the flesh of the elk hung on poles to dry,
and Sent out the the hunters. wind blew hard from the East all day. in the
after part of the day it was cloudy & a fiew drops of rain. I finished
a Copy of my Sketches of the River Rochejhone. Shields killed a black tail
deer & an antilope. the other hunters killed nothing. deer are very
Scerce on this part of the river. I found a Species of Cherry in the
bottom the Srub or bush which are differant from any which I have ever
Seen and not very abundant even in this Small tract of country to which it
Seems to be confined. the Stem is compound erect and subdivided or
branching without any regular order. it rises to the hight of 8 or 10 feet
Seldom putting out more than one Stem from the Same root not growing in
cops as the Choke Cherry does. the bark is Smooth and of a dark brown
colour. the leaf is petialate, oval accutely pointed at it’s apex, from 1
and a 1/4 to one and a 1/2 inch in length and from a half to 3/4 of an
inch in wedth, finely or manutely Serrate, pale green and free from
bubessance. The fruit is a globular berry about the Size of a buck Shot of
a fine Scarlet red; like the cherries cultivated in the U. States each is
supported by a Seperate Celindric flexable branch peduncle which issues
from the extremities of the boughs. the peduncle of this cherry Swells as
it approaches the fruit being largest at the point of insertion. the pulp
of this fruit is of an agreeable ascid flavour and is now ripe. the Style
and Stigma are permanent. I have never Seen it in blume. it is found on
the high Stiff lands or hill Sides-. the men dug great parcel of the root
which the Nativs call Hankee and the engagees the white apple which they
boiled and made use of with their meat. This is a large insipid root and
very tasteless. the nativs use this root after it is dry and pounded in
their Seup.