Here, too, they parted from some of their comrades who were to return
to "the United States," as the explorers fondly termed their native
country, although the strange lands through which they were voyaging
were now a part of the American Republic. The despatches sent to
Washington by these men contained the first official report from Lewis
and Clark since their departure from St. Louis, May 16, 1803; and they
were the last word from the explorers until their return in September,
1806. During all that long interval, the adventurers were not heard of
in the States. No wonder that croakers declared that the little party
had been cut off to perish miserably in the pathless woods that cover
the heart of the continent.
But they set out on the long journey with light hearts. In his journal,
whose spelling and punctuation are not always models for the faithful
imitation of school-boys, Captain Lewis set down this observation:--
"Our vessels consisted of six small canoes, and two large perogues. This
little fleet altho' not quite so respectable as those of Columbus or
Capt. Cook, were still viewed by us with as much pleasure as those
deservedly famed adventurers ever beheld theirs; and I dare say with
quite as much anxiety for their safety and preservation. We were now
about to penetrate a country at least two thousand miles in width, on
which the foot of civilized man had never trodden; the good or evil
it had in store for us was for experiment yet to determine, and these
little vessels contained every article by which we were to expect to
subsist or defend ourselves.
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