Lewis: August 24, 1805

Saturday August 24th 1805. As the Indians who were on their way down the
Missouri had a number of spare hoses with them I thought it probable that
I could obtain some of them and therefore desired the Cheif to speak to
them and inform me whether they would trade. they gave no positive answer
but requested to see the goods which I was willing to give in exchange. I
now produced some battle axes which I had made at Fort Mandan with which
they were much pleased. knives also seemed in great demand among them. I
soon purchased three horses and a mule. for each horse I gave an ax a
knife handkercheif and a little paint; & for the mule the addition of
a knife a shirt handkercheif and a pair of legings; at this price which
was quite double that given for the horses, the fellow who sold him made a
merit of having bestoed me one of his mules. I consider this mule a great
acquisition. These Indians soon told me that they had no more horses for
sale and I directed the party to prepare to set out. I had now nine horses
and a mule, and two which I had hired made twelve these I had loaded and
the Indian women took the ballance of the baggage. I had given the
Interpreter some articles with which to purchase a horse for the woman
which he had obtained. at twelve Oclock we set out and passed the river
below the forks, directing our rout towards the cove along the track
formerly mentioned. most of the horses were heavily laden, and it appears
to me that it will require at least 25 horses to convey our baggage along
such roads as I expect we shall be obliged to pass in the mountains. I had
now the inexpressible satisfaction to find myself once more under way with
all my baggage and party. an Indian had the politeness to offer me one of
his horses to ride which I accepted with cheerfullness as it enabled me to
attend better to the march of the party. I had reached the lower part of
the cove when an Indian rode up and informed me that one of my men was
very sick and unable to come on. I directed the party to halt at a small
run which falls into the creek on Lard. at the lower part of the Cove and
rode back about 2 Miles where I found Wiser very ill with a fit of the
cholic. I sent Sergt. Ordway who had remained with him for some water and
gave him a doze of the essence of Peppermint and laudinum which in the
course of half an hour so far recovered him that he was enabled to ride my
horse and I proceeded on foot and rejoined the party. the sun was yet an
hour high but the Indians who had for some time impatiently waited my
return at length unloaded and turned out their horses and my party had
followed there ex-ample. as it was so late and the Indians had prepared
their camp for the night I thought it best to acquiess and determined also
to remain. we had traveled only about six miles. after we encamped we had
a slight shower of rain. Goodrich who is our principal fisherman caught
several fine trout. Drewyer came to us late in the evening and had not
killed anything. I gave the Indians who were absolutely engaged in
transporting the baggage, a little corn as they had nothing to eat. I told
Cameahwait that my stock of provision was too small to indulge all his
people with provision and recommended it to him to advise such as were not
assisting us with our baggage to go on to their camp to morrow and wait
our arrival; which he did accordingly. Cameahwait literally translated is
one who never walks. he told me that his nation had also given him another
name by which he was signalized as a warrior which was Too-et’-te-con’-e
or black gun. these people have many names in the course of their lives,
particularly if they become distinguished characters. for it seems that
every important event by which they happen to distinguish themselves
intitles them to claim another name which is generally scelected by
themselves and confirmed by the nation. those distinguishing acts are the
killing and scalping an enemy, the killing a white bear, leading a party
to war who happen to be successfull either in destroying their enemies or
robing them of their horses, or individually stealing the horses of an
enemy. these are considered acts of equal heroism among them, and that of
killing an enemy without scalping him is considered of no importance; in
fact the whole honour seems to be founded in the act of scalping, for if a
man happens to slay a dozen of his enemies in action and others get the
scalps or first lay their hand on the dead person the honor is lost to him
who killed them and devolves on those who scalp or first touch them. Among
the Shoshones, as well as all the Indians of America, bravery is esteemed
the primary virtue; nor can any one become eminent among them who has not
at some period of his life given proofs of his possessing this virtue.
with them there can be no preferment without some warelike achievement,
and so completely interwoven is this principle with the earliest Elements
of thought that it will in my opinion prove a serious obstruction to the
restoration of a general peace among the nations of the Missouri. while at
Fort Mandan I was one day addressing some cheifs of the Minetares wo
visited us and pointing out to them the advantages of a state of peace
with their neighbours over that of war in which they were engaged. the
Chiefs who had already geathered their havest of larals, and having
forceably felt in many instances some of those inconveniences attending a
state of war which I pointed out, readily agreed with me in opinon. a
young fellow under the full impression of the Idea I have just suggested
asked me if they were in a state of peace with all their neighhours what
the nation would do for Cheifs?, and added that the cheifs were now oald
and must shortly die and that the nation could not exist without cheifs.
taking as granted that there could be no other mode devised for making
Cheifs but that which custom had established through the medium of warlike
acievements.

The few guns which the Shoshones have are reserved for war almost
exclusively and the bow and arrows are used in hunting. I have seen a few
skins among these people which have almost every appearance of the common
sheep. they inform me that they finde this animals on the high mountains
to the West and S. W. of them. it is about the size of the common sheep,
the wool is reather shorter and more intermixed with long hairs
particularly on the upper part of the neck. these skins have been so much
woarn that I could not form a just Idea of the animal or it’s colour. the
Indians however inform me that it is white and that it’s horns are lunated
comprest twisted and bent backward as those of the common sheep. the
texture of the skin appears to be that of the sheep. I am now perfectly
convinced that the sheep as well as the Bighorn exist in these mountains.

The usual caparison of the Shoshone horse is a halter and saddle. the 1st
consists either of a round plated or twisted cord of six or seven strands
of buffaloe’s hair, or a throng of raw hide made pliant by pounding and
rubing. these cords of bufaloe’s hair are about the size of a man’s finger
and remarkably strong. this is the kind of halter which is prefered by
them. the halter of whatever it may be composed is always of great length
and is never taken from the neck of the horse which they commonly use at
any time. it is first attatched at one end about the neck of the horse
with a knot that will not slip, it is then brought down to his under jaw
and being passed through the mouth imbaces the under jaw and tonge in a
simple noose formed by crossing the rope inderneath the jaw of the horse.
this when mounted he draws up on the near side of the horse’s neck and
holds in the left hand, suffering it to trail at a great distance behind
him sometimes the halter is attatched so far from the end that while the
shorter end serves him to govern his horse, the other trails on the grond
as before mentioned. they put their horses to their full speed with those
cords trailing on the ground. when they turn out the horse to graze the
noose is mearly loosed from his mouth. the saddle is made of wood and
covered with raw hide which holds the parts very firmly together. it is
made like the pack saddles in uce among the French and Spaniards. it
consists of two flat thin boards which fit the sides of the horses back,
and are held frirm by two peices which are united to them behind and
before on the outer side and which rise to a considerable hight
terminating sometimes in flat horizontal points extending outwards, and
alwas in an accute angle or short bend underneath the upper part of these
peices. a peice of buffaloe’s skin with the hair on, is usually put
underneath the saddle; and very seldom any covering on the saddle.
stirrups when used are made of wood and covered with leather. these are
generally used by the elderly men and women; the young men scarcely ever
use anything more than a small pad of dressed leather stuffed with hair,
which is confined with a leather thong passing arond the body of the horse
in the manner of a girth. they frequently paint their favorite horses, and
cut their ears in various shapes. they also decorate their mains and
tails, which they never draw or trim, with the feathers of birds, and
sometimes suspend at the breast of the horse the finest ornaments they
possess. the Spanish bridle is prefered by them when they can obtain them,
but they never dispence with the cord about the neck of the horse, which
serves them to take him with more ease when he is runing at large. They
are excellent horsemen and extreemly expert in casting the cord about the
neck of a horse. the horses that have been habituated to be taken with the
cord in this way, however wild they may appear at first, surrender the
moment they feel the cord about their necks.There are no horses in
this quarter which can with propriety be termed wild. there are some few
which have been left by the indians at large for so great a length of time
that they have become shye, but they all shew marks of having been in
possession of man. such is that one which Capt. Clark saw just below the
three forks of the Missouri, and one other which I saw on the Missouri
below the entrance of the Mussle shell river.Capt. Clark set out
very early this morning on his return, he traveled down the creek to it’s
entrance by the same Indian track he had ascended it; at the river he
marked his name on a pine tree, then ascended to the bottom above the
second creek, and brekfasted on burries, which occupyed them about one
hour. he now retraced his former track and joined the party where he had
left them at 4 P.M. on his way Capt. C. fell from a rock and injured one
of his legs very much. the party during his absence had killed a few
pheasants and caught a few small fish on which together with haws and
Serviceburies they had subsisted. they had also killed one cock of the
Mountains Capt. Clark now wrote me a discription of the river and country,
and stated our prospects by this rout as they have been heretofore
mentioned and dispatched Colter on horseback with orders to loose no time
reaching me. he set out late with the party continued his rout about two
miles and encamped. Capt Clark had seen some trees which would make small
canoes but all of them some distance below the Indian Caps which he passed
at the entrance of fish Creek.