iving at the village, the ceremony of smoking the pipe of peace
was solemnly observed; and the women and children of the tribe were
permitted to gaze with wonder on the first white men they had ever seen.
The Indians were not much better provided with food than were their
half-famished visitors. But some cakes made of service-berries and
choke-berries dried in the sun were presented to the white men "on
which," says Captain Lewis, "we made a hearty meal." Later in the day,
however, an Indian invited Captain Lewis into his wigwam and treated
him to a small morsel of boiled antelope and a piece of fresh salmon
roasted. This was the first salmon he had seen, and the captain was now
assured that he was on the headwaters of the Columbia. This stream was
what is now known as the Lemhi River. The water was clear and limpid,
flowing down a bed of gravel; its general direction was a little north
of west. The journal says:--

"The chief informed him that this stream discharged, at the distance
of half a day's march, into another (Salmon River) of twice its size,
coming from the southwest; but added, on further inquiry, that there
was scarcely more timber below the junction of those rivers than in
this neighborhood, and that the river was rocky, rapid, and so closely
confined between high mountains that it was impossible to pass down it
either by land or water to the great lake (Pacific Ocean), where, as he
had understood, the white men lived.

"This information was far from being satisfactory, for there was no
timber here that would answer the purpose of building canoes,--indeed
not more than just sufficient for fuel; and even that consisted of
the narrow-leaved cottonwood, the red and the narrow-leaved willow,
chokecherry, service-berry, and a few currant bushes, such as are common
on the Missouri. The prospect of going on by land is more pleasant, for
there are great numbers of horses feeding in every direction round the
camp, which will enable us to transport our stores, if necessary, over
the mountains."

While Captain Lewis was thus engaged, his companions in the canoes were
slowly and laboriously ascending the river on the other side of the
divide. The character of the stream was much as it had been for several
days, and the men were in the water three-fourths of the time, dragging
the boats over the shoals. They had but little success in killing game,
but caught, as they had done for some days before, numbers of fine
tr