We then proceeded on for a
mile, and anchored off a willow island, which, from the circumstances
which had just occurred, we called Bad-humored Island."
The policy of firmness and gentleness, which Lewis and Clark always
pursued when treating with the Indians, had its good results at this
time. What might have been a bloody encounter was averted, and next day
the Indians contritely came into camp and asked that their squaws and
children might see the white men and their boats, which would be to them
a novel sight. This was agreed to, and after the expedition had sailed
up the river and had been duly admired by a great crowd of men, women,
and children, the Tetons invited the white men to a dance. The journal
adds:--
"Captains Lewis and Clark, who went on shore one after the other, were
met on landing by ten well-dressed young men, who took them up in a robe
highly decorated and carried them to a large council-house, where they
were placed on a dressed buffalo-skin by the side of the grand chief.
The hall or council-room was in the shape of three-quarters of a circle,
covered at the top and sides with skins well dressed and sewed together.
Under this shelter sat about seventy men, forming a circle round the
chief, before whom were placed a Spanish flag and the one we had given
them yesterday. This left a vacant circle of about six feet diameter,
in which the pipe of peace was raised on two forked sticks, about six
or eight inches from the ground, and under it the down of the swan was
scattered.
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