tely, there was among these Wollwaollahs a prisoner belonging
to a tribe of Shoshonee or Snake Indians, residing to the south of the
Multnomah and visiting occasionally the heads of Wollawollah Creek.
Our Shoshonee woman, Sacajawea, though she belonged to a tribe near the
Missouri, spoke the same language as this prisoner; by their means we
were able to explain ourselves to the Indians, and answer all their
inquiries with respect to ourselves and the object of our journey. Our
conversation inspired them with much confidence, and they soon brought
several sick persons, for whom they requested our assistance. We
splintered (splinted) the broken arm of one, gave some relief to
another, whose knee was contracted by rheumatism, and administered what
we thought beneficial for ulcers and eruptions of the skin on various
parts of the body which are very common disorders among them. But our
most valuable medicine was eye-water, which we distributed, and which,
indeed, they required very much.

"A little before sunset the Chimnapoos, amounting to one hundred men
and a few women, came to the village, and, joining the Wollawollahs, who
were about the same number of men, formed themselves in a circle round
our camp, and waited very patiently till our men were disposed to dance,
which they did for about an hour, to the music of the violin. They then
requested the Indians to dance. With this they readily complied; and the
whole assemblage, amounting, with the women and children of the village,
to several hundred, stood up, and sang and danced at the same time.
The exercise was not, indeed, very violent nor very graceful; for the
greater part of them were formed into a solid column, round a kind
of hollow square, stood on the same place, and merely jumped up at
intervals, to keep time to the music. Some, however, of the more active
warriors entered the square and danced round it sideways, and some of
our men joined in with them, to the great satisfaction of the Indians.
The dance continued till ten o'clock."

By the thirtieth of April the expedition was equipped with twenty-three
horses, most of which were young and excellent animals; but many of them
were afflicted with sore backs. All Indians are cruel masters and
hard riders, and their saddles are so rudely made that it is almost
impossible for an Indian's horse to be free from scars; yet they
continue to ride after the animal's back is scarified in the most
horrible manner.

The