Here we were more safe,
but still cold and wet; our clothes and bedding rotten as well as wet,
our baggage at a distance, and the canoes, our only means of escape from
this place, at the mercy of the waves. Still, we continued to enjoy good
health, and even had the luxury of feasting on some salmon and three
salmon trout which we caught in the brook. Three of the men attempted to
go round a point in our small Indian canoe, but the high waves rendered
her quite unmanageable, these boats requiring the seamanship of the
natives to make them live in so rough a sea."
It should be borne in mind that the canoes of the explorers were poor
dug-outs, unfit to navigate the turbulent waters of the bay, and the men
were not so expert in that sort of seamanship as were the Indians whom
they, with envy, saw breasting the waves and making short voyages in the
midst of the storms. It continued to rain without any intermission,
and the waves dashed up among the floating logs of the camp in a very
distracting manner. The party now had nothing but dried fish to eat,
and it was with great difficulty that a fire could be built. On
the fifteenth of the month, Captain Lewis having found a better
camping-place near a sandy beach, they started to move their luggage
thither; but before they could get under way, a high wind from the
southwest sprung up and they were forced to remain. But the sun came out
and they were enabled to dry their stuff, much of which had been spoiled
by the rain which had prevailed for the past ten days.
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