well-disposed to kill a few of them.”
By April 24, after days of bickering with the Indians, they were able to buy three more horses. Selling the two remaining canoes for a few strands of beads, they continued on horseback over the stony, barren uplands bordering the Columbia River.
A few days later, they were welcomed by the Walla Walla Indians they had met on the trip west, who not only fed them and sold them ten dogs - the party was living pretty much on fresh dog and dried elk - but also gave them three horses and sold them two more. A day after the explorers had left, the helpful Walla Walla chief sent three young men riding after them to return a steel trap they had forgotten.
The party followed the Columbia River until it turned north, and then cut directly across country to the east. As they neared Nez Percé territory, they were met by ten Nez Percé warriors led by their chief Weahkoonut, who had heard they were on their way back and had come to greet them. Soon they met Tetoharsky, the younger of the two chiefs who had guided the expedition safely past the Great Falls on its outbound journey. Tetoharsky was the son of the guide Clark had called “Old Toby.”
The next day, May 5, the Indians delivered Clark a horse the expedition had turned over for safekeeping to the chief they called Twisted Hair. If the rest of their mounts were in equally good condition, the explorers could count on having enough horses to carry them over the Divide.
The captains were relieved to be again among the friendly Nez Percé; however, the party had no food left, and the Indians had only roots to spare. With their trading goods nearly gone, the Americans cut the buttons from their remaining coats - no longer needed since the party was clad entirely in skins - and bartered them for something to eat.
Clark continued to offer the natives medical treatment in exchange for food. He salved his conscience by noting: “We take care to give them no article which can possibly injure them, and in maney cases can administer & give such medicine & sirgical aid as will effectually restore in simple cases &c.”
On May 8, they started out with a chief named Cut Nose - because of a nostril slit in battle - to find Twisted Hair and the horses he had been tending for them since the previous autumn. But when they located Twisted Hair, the two chiefs began arguing. It took the captains some time to discern the truth from the conflicting stories. It appeared that Twisted Hair’s men had hunted with the expedition’s horses and had misused the animals until Cut Nose and another chief, Broken Arm, had stepped in and taken charge of the mounts. Thanks to the captains’ diplomacy, the chiefs were reconciled, and most of the horses and saddles were recovered.
The next day, May 10, they moved some sixteen miles to the village of the principal Nez Percé chief Broken Arm, which Lewis described: “The village of the broken arm consists of one house or Lodge only which is 150 feet in length built in the usual form of sticks mat and dry grass. it contains twenty-four fires and about double that number of families. . . . the noise of their women pounding roots reminds me of a nail factory.”
Since several important chiefs had ridden there to see them, Lewis and Clark arranged a council to tell the Nez Percé about the United States government’s desire to bring peace and trade to its red brothers. It was not easy to convey the message. One of the captains would say a few phrases, which Drouillard or Labiche would translate into French for Charbonneau, who would then translate into Minnetaree for Sacagawea. She, in turn, would put them into Shoshone, while a Shoshone prisoner of the Nez Percé would make the final translation into Nez Percé. “[T]he interpretation being [tedious] it occupied the greater part of the day,” Clark wrote.
The council was a success. The chief, Lewis reported, “said the whitemen might be assured of their warmest
By April 24, after days of bickering with the Indians, they were able to buy three more horses. Selling the two remaining canoes for a few strands of beads, they continued on horseback over the stony, barren uplands bordering the Columbia River.
A few days later, they were welcomed by the Walla Walla Indians they had met on the trip west, who not only fed them and sold them ten dogs - the party was living pretty much on fresh dog and dried elk - but also gave them three horses and sold them two more. A day after the explorers had left, the helpful Walla Walla chief sent three young men riding after them to return a steel trap they had forgotten.
The party followed the Columbia River until it turned north, and then cut directly across country to the east. As they neared Nez Percé territory, they were met by ten Nez Percé warriors led by their chief Weahkoonut, who had heard they were on their way back and had come to greet them. Soon they met Tetoharsky, the younger of the two chiefs who had guided the expedition safely past the Great Falls on its outbound journey. Tetoharsky was the son of the guide Clark had called “Old Toby.”
The next day, May 5, the Indians delivered Clark a horse the expedition had turned over for safekeeping to the chief they called Twisted Hair. If the rest of their mounts were in equally good condition, the explorers could count on having enough horses to carry them over the Divide.
The captains were relieved to be again among the friendly Nez Percé; however, the party had no food left, and the Indians had only roots to spare. With their trading goods nearly gone, the Americans cut the buttons from their remaining coats - no longer needed since the party was clad entirely in skins - and bartered them for something to eat.
Clark continued to offer the natives medical treatment in exchange for food. He salved his conscience by noting: “We take care to give them no article which can possibly injure them, and in maney cases can administer & give such medicine & sirgical aid as will effectually restore in simple cases &c.”
On May 8, they started out with a chief named Cut Nose - because of a nostril slit in battle - to find Twisted Hair and the horses he had been tending for them since the previous autumn. But when they located Twisted Hair, the two chiefs began arguing. It took the captains some time to discern the truth from the conflicting stories. It appeared that Twisted Hair’s men had hunted with the expedition’s horses and had misused the animals until Cut Nose and another chief, Broken Arm, had stepped in and taken charge of the mounts. Thanks to the captains’ diplomacy, the chiefs were reconciled, and most of the horses and saddles were recovered.
The next day, May 10, they moved some sixteen miles to the village of the principal Nez Percé chief Broken Arm, which Lewis described: “The village of the broken arm consists of one house or Lodge only which is 150 feet in length built in the usual form of sticks mat and dry grass. it contains twenty-four fires and about double that number of families. . . . the noise of their women pounding roots reminds me of a nail factory.”
Since several important chiefs had ridden there to see them, Lewis and Clark arranged a council to tell the Nez Percé about the United States government’s desire to bring peace and trade to its red brothers. It was not easy to convey the message. One of the captains would say a few phrases, which Drouillard or Labiche would translate into French for Charbonneau, who would then translate into Minnetaree for Sacagawea. She, in turn, would put them into Shoshone, while a Shoshone prisoner of the Nez Percé would make the final translation into Nez Percé. “[T]he interpretation being [tedious] it occupied the greater part of the day,” Clark wrote.
The council was a success. The chief, Lewis reported, “said the whitemen might be assured of their warmest
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