There was no covering over this fabric, in the centre of which were
the remains of a large fire, and around it the marks of about eighty
leathern lodges. He also saw a number of turtle-doves, and some pigeons,
of which he shot one, differing in no respect from the wild pigeon of
the United States. . . ."
"The buffalo have not yet quite gone, for the hunters brought in three,
in very good order. It requires some diligence to supply us plentifully,
for as we reserve our parched meal for the Rocky Mountains, where we do
not expect to find much game, our principal article of food is meat, and
the consumption of the whole thirty-two persons belonging to the
party amounts to four deer, an elk and a deer, or one buffalo, every
twenty-four hours. The mosquitoes and gnats persecute us as violently as
below, so that we can get no sleep unless defended by biers (nets), with
which we are all provided. We here found several plants hitherto unknown
to us, of which we preserved specimens."
On the fourteenth of July, the boats were finally launched, and next day
the journal records this important event:
"We rose early, embarked all our baggage on board the canoes, which,
though eight in number, are heavily loaded, and at ten o'clock set out
on our journey. . . . At the distance of seven and a half miles we came
to the lower point of a woodland, at the entrance of a beautiful river,
which, in honor of the Secretary of the Navy, we called Smith's River.
This stream falls into a bend on the south side of the Missouri, and
is eighty yards wide.
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