He then began an harangue, setting forth the result of the
deliberations among the chiefs, and after exhorting them to unanimity,
concluded with an invitation to all who acquiesced in the proceedings
of the council to come and eat; while those who were of a different
mind were requested to show their dissent by not partaking of the feast.
During this animated harangue, the women, who were probably uneasy at
the prospect of forming this proposed new connection with strangers,
tore their hair, and wrung their hands with the greatest appearance of
distress. But the concluding appeal of the orator effectually stopped
the mouths of every malecontent, and the proceedings were ratified, and
the mush devoured with the most zealous unanimity.
"The chiefs and warriors then came in a body to visit us as we were
seated near our tent; and at their instance, two young men, one of whom
was a son of Tunnachemootoolt, and the other the youth whose father
had been killed by the Pahkees, presented to us each a fine horse. We
invited the chiefs to be seated, and gave every one of them a flag, a
pound of powder, and fifty balls, and a present of the same kind to the
young men from whom we had received the horses. They then invited us
into the tent, and said that they now wished to answer what we had
told them yesterday, but that many of their people were at that moment
waiting in great pain for our medical assistance."
It was agreed, therefore, that Captain Clark, who seems to have been
their favorite physician, should attend to the sick and lame, while
Captain Lewis should conduct a council with the chiefs and listen to
what they had to say.
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