The Journals of Lewis & Clark: Clark, November 30, 1805

Updated May 14, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

Clark, November 30, 1805

Saturday 30th of November 1805

Some rain and hail with intervales of fair weather for the Space of one or two hours at a time dureing the night untill 9 oClock this morning, at which time it Cleared away and the Sun Shewn for ____ hours, Several men out hunting I Send 5 men in the bend above to hunt fowl &c. in a Canoe, employ all the others in drying our wet articles by the fire Several men Complain of a looseness and gripeing which I contribute to the diet, pounded fish mixed with Salt water, I derect that in future that the party mix the pounded fish with fresh water- The Squar gave me a piece of bread made of flour which She had reserved for her child and carefully Kept untill this time, which has unfortunately got wet, and a little Sour- this bread I eate with great Satisfaction, it being the only mouthfull I had tasted for Several months past. my hunters killed three Hawks, which we found fat and delicious, they Saw 3 Elk but Could not get a Shot at them. The fowlers killed 3 black Ducks with Sharp White beeks keep in large flocks & feed on Grass, they have no Craw and their toes are Seperate, Common in the U. States

The Chinnooks Cath ldh mah & others in this neighbourhood bury their dead in their Canoes. for this purpose 4 pieces of Split timber are Set erect on end, and sunk a fiew feet in the ground, each brace having their flat Sides opposit to each other and Sufficiently far assunder to admit the width of the Canoe in which the dead are to be deposited; through each of those perpindicular posts, at the hight of 6 feet a mortice is Cut, through which two bars of wood are incerted; on those Cross bars a Small Canoe is placed, in which the body is laid after beaing Carefully roled in a robe of Some dressed Skins; a paddle is also deposited with them; a larger Canoe is now reversed, overlaying and imbracing the Small one, and resting with its gunnals on the Cross bars; one or more large mats of flags or rushes are then rold. around the Canoe and the whole Securely lashed with a long Cord usially made of the bark of the arbar vita or white Cedar. on the Cross bars which Support the Canoes is frequently hung or laid various articles of Clothing Culinary utensils &c. we cannot understand them Sufficiently to make any enquiries relitive to their religious opinions, from their depositing Various articles with their dead, beleve in a State of future ixistance.

I walked on the point and observed rose bushes different Species of pine, a Spcies of ash, alder, a Species of wild Crab Loral and Several Species of under Broth Common to this lower part of the Columbia river- The hills on this Coast rise high and are thickly covered with lofty pine maney of which are 10 & 12 feet through and more than 200 feet high. hills have a Steep assent.