Lewis: May 13, 1806

Tuesday May 13th 1806. This morning Capt. C. as usual was busily engaged
with his patients untill eleven OCk. at 1 P.M. we collected our horses and
set out for the river escorted by a number of the natives on horseback. we
followed the creek downwards about two miles, passing a stout branch at 1
m. which flowed in on the wright. our course S. E. we now entered an
extensive open bottom of the Kooskooske R. through which we passed nearly
N. about 11/2 miles and halted on the bank of the river at the place
appointed to meet the canoe. the man had set out early this morning for
the purpose but had not yet arrived with the canoe we therefore unloaded
our horses and turned them out to graize. as the canoe did not arrive
untill after sunset we remained here all night; a number of the natives
continued with us. in the evening we tryed the speed of several of our
horses. these horses are active strong and well formed. these people have
immence numbers of them 50, 60 or a hundred hed is not unusual for an
individual to possess. The Chopunnish are in general stout well formed
active men. they have high noses and many of them on the acqueline order
with cheerfull and agreeable countenances; their complexions are not
remarkable. in common with other savage nations of America they extract
their beards but the men do not uniformly extract the hair below, this is
more particularly confined to the females. I observed several men among
them whom I am convinced if they had shaved their beards instead of
extracting it would have been as well supplyed in this particular as any
of my countrymen. they appear to be cheerfull but not gay; they are fond
of gambling and of their amusements which consist principally in shooting
their arrows at a bowling target made of willow bark, and in riding and
exercising themselves on horseback, racing &c. they are expert
marksmen and good riders. they do not appear to be so much devoted to
baubles as most of the nations we have met with, but seem anxious always
to obtain articles of utility, such as knives, axes, tommahawks, kettles
blankets and mockerson alls. blue beads however may form an exception to
this remark; this article among all the nations of this country may be
justly compared to goald or silver among civilized nations. They are
generally well cloathed in their stile. their dress consists of a long
shirt which reaches to the middle of thye, long legings which reach as
high as the waist, mockersons, and robes. these are formed of various
skins and are in all rispects like those particularly discribed of the
Shoshones. their women also dress like the Shoshones. their ornaments
consist of beads shells and peices of brass variously attatched to their
dress, to their ears arrond their necks wrists arms &c. a bando of
some kind usually surrounds the head, this is most frequently the skin of
some fir animal as the fox otter &c. tho they have them also of
dressed skin without the hair. the ornament of the nose is a single shell
of the wampum. the pirl and beads are suspended from the ears. beads are
woarn arround their wrists necks and over their sholders crosswise in the
form of a double sash. the hair of the men is cewed in two rolls which
hang on each side in front of the body as before discribed of other
inhabitants of the Columbia. collars of bears claws are also common; but
the article of dress on which they appear to bstow most pains and
ornaments is a kind of collar or brestplate; this is most commonly a strip
of otterskin of about six inches wide taken out of the center of the skin
it’s whole length including the head. this is dressed with the hair on; a
hole is cut lengthwise through the skin near the head of the animal
sufficiently large to admit the head of the person to pass. thus it is
placed about the neck and hangs in front of the body the tail frequently
reaching below their knees; on this skin in front is attatched peices of
pirl, beads, wampum peices of red cloth and in short whatever they
conceive most valuable or ornamental. I observed a tippit woarn by
Hohastillpilp, which was formed of human scalps and ornamented with the
thumbs and fingers of several men which he had slain in battle. their
women brade their hair in two tresses which hang in the same position of
those of the men. they also wear a cap or cup on the head formed of
beargrass and cedar bark. the men also frequently attatch some small
ornament to a small plat of hair on the center of the crown of their
heads.