ads are the articles
most in request; the white occupy the next place in their estimation;
but they do not value much those of any other color. We succeeded at
last in purchasing their whole cargo for a few fish-hooks and a small
sack of Indian tobacco, which we had received from the Shoshonees."

The winter camp was made up of seven huts, and, although it was not so
carefully fortified as was the fort in the Mandan country (during the
previous winter), it was so arranged that intruders could be kept out
when necessary. For the roofs of these shelters they were provided with
"shakes" split out from a species of pine which they called "balsam
pine," and which gave them boards, or puncheons, or shakes, ten feet
long and two feet wide, and not more than an inch and a half thick. By
the sixteenth of December their meat-house was finished, and their meat,
so much of which had been spoiled for lack of proper care, was cut up
in small pieces and hung under cover. They had been told by the Indians
that very little snow ever fell in that region, and the weather,
although very, very wet, was mild and usually free from frost. They did
have severe hailstorms and a few flurries of snow in December but the
rain was a continual cause of discomfort. Of the trading habits of the
Clatsops the journal has this to say:--

"Three Indians came in a canoe with mats, roots, and the berries of the
sacacommis. These people proceed with a dexterity and finesse in their
bargains which, if they have not learned it from their foreign visitors,
may show how nearly allied is the cunning of savages to the little arts
of traffic. They begin by asking double or treble the value of what they
have to sell, and lower their demand in proportion to the greater or
less degree of ardor or knowledge of the purchaser, who, with all his
management, is not able to procure the article for less than its real
value, which the Indians perfectly understand. Our chief medium of trade
consists of blue and white beads, files,--with which they sharpen their
tools,--fish-hooks, and tobacco; but of all these articles blue beads
and tobacco are the most esteemed."

But, although their surroundings were not of a sort to make one very
jolly, when Christmas came they observed the day as well as they could.
Here is what the journal says of the holiday:--

"We were awaked at daylight by a discharge of firearms, which was
followed by a song from the men, as a compliment to us on