from the Indians. Since the Indians themselves were scant of food, and the white men had no proper fishing tackle, it is not strange that Clark's followers began to fear starvation. They explored the Salmon River for fifty-two miles, but saw that progress that way was impossible, and, unsuccessful for once, they returned to join Lewis.

Meantime Lewis had had his own troubles. After promising horses and aid, the Indians threatened to leave him for a buffalo hunt on the eastern side of the mountains, and it was only by much tact and patience that he kept them with him.

On August 30 Clark returned from his unsuccessful search for a water way. A part of the baggage was hidden and the rest was packed on horses. Then the explorers went on slowly through the Bitter Root Mountains. The Indian guide lost his way completely. "The thickets through which we were obliged to cut our way required great labor; the road itself was over the steep and rocky sides of the hills, where the horses could not move

without danger of slipping down, while their feet were bruised by the rocks and stumps." They saw no game, and were obliged to resort to horseflesh for food. The nights were cold, and as they reached greater heights the trail was sometimes covered with snow. A few cans of soup and twenty pounds of bear's oil were all the food that they had left. No wonder that the men grew weak and ill.

But on September 20, half-starved and sick, after nearly three weeks of hardships in the Bitter Root Mountains, they emerged upon a plain where they found Indians and food. At last the barrier of the mountains had been broken through.

These Indians were the Nez Percés. Among the articles of food which they offered were various roots, including the quamash, which was ground and made into a cake called pasheco. This root is still eaten by the Nez Percés, and from quamash comes the name of Camas Prairie. It seemed a relief to have a comparative abundance of food. But this consisted principally of fish and roots, and

this strange diet, of which they naturally ate heartily after their privations, caused serious illness throughout the party. "Captain Lewis could hardly sit on his horse, while others were obliged to be put on horseback, and some, from extreme weakness and pain, were forced to lie down alongside of the road for some time."

While resting at the Nez Percé village near the present Pierce City, Idaho, they learned. all that they could of the country beyond. The Indian chief Twisted-hair drew a rude may of the rivers, showing the forks of the Kooskooskee, now the Clearwater, the junction with the Snake River, and the entrance of another large river, which was the Columbia.

Late in September, after obtaining provisions from the Indians, they moved on to a camp on the Kooskooskee River. In spite of continued illness they built five canoes. They concealed some of their goods, left their horses with the Indians, and, undaunted by their sufferings, started down the river in their canoes. on October 8. One canoe was sunk by striking a rock, and a halt was called to dry the

luggage and make repairs. Fish and even dogs were bought from the Indians for food.

Always alert for information, the explorers noted all the peculiarities of their hosts. There were the baths, or sweat houses, which were hollow squares in the river banks, where the bather steamed himself by pouring water on heated stones. Some of the Indians cooked salmon by putting hot stones into a bucket of water until it would boil the fish. Many of them were frightened by the coming of the white men with their guns. At one place Captain Clark, unperceived by them, shot a white crane, and seeing it fall they believed it to be the white men descending from the clouds. When Clark used his burning glass to light his pipe they were more than ever sure that their visitors were not mortal. But they were finally reassured by presents and the kindness and tact which the travelers showed in all their dealings with the savages. There were almost inconceivable multitudes of salmon" in the rivers. Many at that season were floating down stream, and the Indians.

were collecting, splitting, and drying them. on scaffolds.

One of the first camps was at the junction of the Koos kooskee and Snake, where the city of Lewiston, Idaho, now stands, — named for Captain Lewis. Then, entering the present state of Washington, they descended the Snake, where the wind and the rapids caused various accidents. On October 16 they reached the mighty Columbia, which had been called by the Indians the "Oregon," or "River of the West." This was to be their pathway to the sea.

They were now among the Sokulk Indians, from whom they purchased more dogs, since the salmon were poor and they had accustomed themselves to dog flesh. They noted the deerskin robes of the red men, and their method of gigging (spearing) salmon and drying them; the prevalence of sore eyes among the Indians, ascribed to the glare from the water; and their bad teeth, which they traced to a diet of gritty roots.

On October 23, two days after their first glimpse of Mt. Hood, they reached the first