Lewis: July 17, 1805

Wednesday July 17th 1805. The sunflower is in bloom and abundant in the
river bottoms. The Indians of the Missouri particularly those who do not
cultivate maze make great uce of the seed of this plant for bread, or use
it in thickening their scope. they most commonly first parch the seed and
then pound them between two smooth stones until) they reduce it to a fine
meal. to this they sometimes mearly add a portion of water and drink it in
that state, or add a sufficient quantity of marrow grease to reduce it to
the consistency of common dough and eate it in that manner. the last
composition I think much best and have eat it in that state heartily and
think it a pallateable dish. there is but little of the broad leafed
cottonwood above the falls, much the greater portion being of the narrow
leafed kind. there are a great abundance of red yellow perple & black
currants, and service berries now ripe and in great perfection. I find
these fruits very pleasent particularly the yellow currant which I think
vastly preferable to those of our gardens. the shrub which produces this
fruit rises to the hight of 6 or 8 feet; the stem simple branching and
erect. they grow closly ascociated in cops either in the oppen or timbered
lands near the watercouses. the leaf is petiolate of a pale green and
resembles in it’s form that of the red currant common to our gardens. the
perianth of the fructification is one leaved, five cleft, abreviated and
tubular, the corolla is monopetallous funnel-shaped; very long, superior,
withering and of a fine orrange colour. five stamens and one pistillum; of
the first, the fillaments are capillare, inserted into the corolla, equal,
and converging; the anther ovate, biffid and incumbent. with rispect to
the second the germ is roundish, smoth, inferior pedicelled and small; the
style, long, and thicker than the stamens, simple, cylindrical, smooth,
and erect, withering and remains with the corolla untill the fruit is
ripe. stigma simple obtuse and withering.the fruit is a berry about
the size and much the shape of the red currant of our gardins, like them
growing in clusters supported by a compound footstalk, but the peduncles
which support the several berries are longer in this species and the
berries are more scattered. it is quite as transparent as the red current
of our gardens, not so ascid, & more agreeably flavored. the other
species differ not at all in appearance from the yellow except in the
colour and flavor of their berries. I am not confident as to the colour of
the corolla, but all those which I observed while in blume as we came up
the Missouri were yellow but they might possibly have been all of the
yellow kind and that the perple red and black currants here may have
corollas of different tints from that of the yellow currant.The
survice berry differs somewhat from that of the U States the bushes are
small sometimes not more than 2 feet high and scarcely ever exceed 8 and
are proportionably small in their stems, growing very thickly ascosiated
in clumps. the fruit is the same form but for the most part larger more
lucious and of so deep a perple that on first sight you would think them
black.there are two species of goosbirris here allso but neither of
them yet ripe. the choke cherries also abundant and not yet ripe. there is
Box alder, red willow and a species of sumac here also. there is a large
pine tree situated on a small island at the head of these rappids above
our camp; it being the first we have seen for a long distance near the
river I called the island pine island. This range of the rocky mountains
runs from S E to N. W.at 8 A.M. this morning Capt. Clark arrived
with the party. we took breakfast here, after which I had the box which
contained my instruments taken by land arround tower rock to the river
above the rappid; the canoes ascended with some difficulty but without
loss or injury, with their loads.

After making those observations we proceed, and as the canoes were still
heavy loaded all persons not employed in navigating the canoes walled on
shore. the river clifts were so steep and frequently projecting into the
river with their perpendicular points in such manner that we could not
pass them by land, we wer therefore compelled to pass and repass the river
very frequently in the couse of the evening. the bottoms are narrow the
river also narrow deep and but little current. river from 70 to 100 yds.
wide. but little timber on the river aspin constitutes a part of that
little. see more pine than usual on the mountains tho still but thinly
scattered. we saw some mountain rams or bighorned anamals this evening,
and no other game whatever and indeed there is but little appearance of
any. in some places both banks of the river are formed for a short
distance of nearly perpendicular rocks of a dark black grannite of great
hight; the river has the appearance of having cut it’s passage in the
course of time through this solid rock. we ascended about 6 miles this
evening from the entrance of the mountain and encamped on the Stard. side
where we found as much wood as made our fires. musquetoes still
troublesome knats not as much so.Capt. C. now informed me that
after I left him yesterday, he saw the poles of a large lodge in praire on
the Stard. side of the river which was 60 feet in diameter and appeared to
have been built last fall; there were the remains of about 80 leather
lodges near the place of the same apparent date. This large lodge was of
the same construction of that mentioned above the white bear Islands. the
party came on very well and encamped on the lower point of an island near
the Stard. shore on that evening. this morning they had set out early and
proceeded without obstruction untill they reached the rappid where I was
encamped.