December 27, 1805
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Aug 30, 1803 Sep 30, 1806

December 27, 1805

 

rained last night as usial and the greater part of this day, the men Complete Chimneys & Bunks to day, in the evening a Chief and 4 men Come of the Clotsop nation, Chief [another spelling of name blotted out] Co-ma-wool 〈We order〉 we Sent out R. Fields & Collins to hunt and order Drewyer, Shannon & Labiach to Set out early to morrow to hunt,—    Jo Fields, Bratten, & Gibson to make Salt at Point Addams,—    Willard & Wiser, to assist them in carrying the Kittles &c to the Ocian, and all the others to finish the Pickets and gates.    worm weather    I Saw a Musquetor [1] which I Showed Capt. Lewis—    Those Indians gave is, a black root they Call 〈Shan-nâ-tock-we〉 Shan-na-tah que a kind of Licquerish which they rostin embers and Call Cul ho-mo, a black berry the Size of a Cherry & Dried which they call Shel-well,—    all of which they prise highly and make use of as food to live on, 〈tho〉 for which Capt Lewis gave the chief a Cap of Sheep Skin and I his Son, ear bobs, Piece of riben, a pice of brass, and 2 Small fishing hooks, of which they were much pleased—    Those roots & berres, are greatfull to our Stomcks as we have nothing to eate but Pore Elk meet, nearly Spiled; & this accident of Spoiled meet, is owing to wormth & the repeeted rains, which cause the meet to tante before we Can get it from the woods    Musquetors troublesom

 

rained last night as usial and the greater part of this day. In the evening Co-mo wool the Chief and 4 men of the Clat Sop nation the[y] presented us a root [2] which resembles the licquirish in Size and taste, which they roste like a potato which they Call Cul ho-mo, also a black root which is cured in a kill like the pash-a-co above; this root has a Sweet taste and the natives are verry fond of it—    they Call this root Shaw-na-tâh-que. also a dried berry about the size of a Chery which they Call Shele well all those roots those Indians value highly and give them verry Spearingly. in return for the above roots Capt Lewis gave the Chief a Small piece of Sheap Skin to Ware on his head, I gave his Son a par of ear bobs and a pece of ribon, and a Small piece of brass for which they were much pleased.

Those roots and berries are timely and extreamly greatfull to our Stomachs, we as have nothing to eate but Spoiled Elk meat, I Showed Capt L. 2 Musquetors to day, or an insect So much the Size Shape and appearance of a Musquetor that we Could observe no kind of differance.

 

Friday 27th Decr. 1805.    we built backs and enside chimneys in our huts which made them much more comfortable than before.    in the evening Several Savages came to the fort. [3]    hard rain all day.—

 

Friday Decmr. 27th    It continued raining hard during the whole of this day.    We were all employed in building Chimneys in our huts, which we compleated, & found our huts comfortable & without smoak.    In the Evening some Indians [4] came to our Fort, they informed us by signs, that a large Fish was drove by the Wind & waves on the shore near to where their lodges were, & we all suppose from the description they gave of it, that it must be a Whale.—

1. Perhaps crane flies, family Tipulidae. (back)
2. A line is drawn through this passage about roots. The "pash-a-co" mentioned here is camas, Camassia quamash (Pursh) Greene. See above, September 20, 1805, for linguistic information. (back)
3. The group included Coboway again, according to Clark. (back)
4. Coboway and others, says Clark. (back)