ld
be of service to scientific travelers. So far as sure knowledge of it
was concerned, the land was virgin, and Lewis and Clark were to be its
discoverers.

They were directed to explore it in detail. Observations of latitude
and longitude were to be made at all points of particular interest. The
native nations and tribes encountered along the way were to be studied
with care, and record preserved of their names and numbers; the extent
and boundaries of their possessions; their relations with other tribes
and nations; their language, traditions, and monuments; their
occupations, implements, food, clothing, and domestic accommodations;
their diseases and methods of cure; their physical, social, moral, and
religious peculiarities and customs; their ideas and practice of
commerce, and the possibility of extending among them the influences of
civilization,--in short, every circumstance was to be noted which might
render future relations with these people intelligent. Particular
attention was to be given to the state of feeling toward the whites, in
those tribes which had had experience with the traders. Should the
expedition succeed in reaching the Pacific, the conditions of trade
upon the coast were to form a subject of special inquiry. Along the
route full observations were directed to be made concerning the face of
the country,--the contour of the land; the character and course of
streams, their suitability as avenues of commerce, and the means of
communication between them; and also the points best adapted to the
establishment of trading-stations and fortifications. The conditions of
agricultural development were to be noted as fully as might be,--soil,
water-supply, climate, and change of seasons; and also the natural
resources of the country, vegetable, animal, and mineral. Nothing was
to be neglected, knowledge of which might contribute to the success or
security of later enterprise.

"In all your intercourse with the natives," wrote Mr. Jefferson, "treat
them in the most friendly and conciliatory manner which their own
conduct will admit; allay all jealousies as to the object of your
journey; satisfy them of its innocence; make them acquainted with the
position, extent, character, peaceable and commercial dispositions of
the United States; of our wish to be neighborly, friendly, and useful
to them, and of our dispositions to a commercial intercourse with them;
confer with them on the points most convenient as mut