n our
account, were also ready to depart. We took leave of the Shoshonees,
who set out on their visit to the Missouri at the same time that we,
accompanied by the old guide, his four sons, and another Indian, began
the descent of the Lemhi River, along the same road which Captain Clark
had previously pursued. After riding twelve miles we camped on the south
bank of this river, and as the hunters had brought in three deer early
in the morning, we did not feel the want of provisions."

Three days later, all the Indians, except the old guide, left them.
They now passed up Fish Creek, and finding no track leading over the
mountains they cut their way. Their journal says:--

"This we effected with much difficulty; the thickets of trees and brush
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 of trees. Accustomed as these
animals were to this kind of life, they suffered severely; several of
them fell to some distance down the sides of the hills, some turned over
with the baggage, one was crippled, and two gave out, exhausted with
fatigue. After crossing the creek several times we at last made five
miles, with great fatigue and labor, and camped on the left side of the
creek in a small stony low ground. It was not, however, till after dark
that the whole party was collected; and then, as it rained and we had
killed nothing, we passed an uncomfortable night. The party had been
too busily occupied with the horses to make any hunting excursion; and
though, as we came along Fish Creek, we saw many beaver-dams, we saw
none of the animals themselves."

The Indian guide appears here to have lost his way; but, not dismayed,
he pushed on through a trackless wilderness, sometimes travelling on
the snow that now covered the mountains. On the fourth of September, the
party came upon a large encampment of Indians, who received them with
much ceremony. The journal says:--

"September 5, we assembled the chiefs and warriors, and informed them
who we were, and the purpose for which we had visited their country. All
this was, however, conveyed to them through so many different languages,
that it was not comprehended without difficulty. We therefore proceeded
to the more intelligible language of presents, and made four chiefs by
giving a me