ven of his party, and wait at its mouth till the rest
of the party join him. Sergeant Pryor, with two others, will then take
the horses by land to the Mandans. From that nation he will go to the
British posts on the Assiniboin with a letter to Mr. Alexander Henry,
to procure his endeavors to prevail on some of the Sioux chiefs to
accompany him to the city of Washington. . . .

"The Indians who had accompanied us intended leaving us in order to seek
their friends, the Ootlashoots; but we prevailed on them to accompany
Captain Lewis a part of his route, so as to show him the shortest road
to the Missouri, and in the mean time amused them with conversation and
running races, on foot and with horses, in both of which they proved
themselves hardy, athletic, and active. To the chief Captain Lewis gave
a small medal and a gun, as a reward for having guided us across the
mountains; in return the customary civility of exchanging names passed
between them, by which the former acquired the title of Yomekollick, of
White Bearskin Unfolded."

Chapter XXIV -- The Expedition Subdivided

On the third of July, accordingly, Captain Lewis, with nine of his men
and five Indians, proceeded down the valley lying between the Rocky
and the Bitter Root ranges of mountains, his general course being due
northwest of Clark's fork of the Columbia River. Crossing several small
streams that make into this river, they finally reached and crossed the
Missoula River from west to east, below the confluence of the St. Mary's
and Hell-gate rivers, or creeks; for these streams hardly deserve the
name of rivers. The party camped for the night within a few miles of the
site of the present city of Missoula, Montana. Here they were forced to
part from their good friends and allies, the Indians, who had crossed
the range with them. These men were afraid that they would be cut off by
their foes, the Pahkees, and they wanted to find and join some band
of the Indian nation with whom they were on terms of friendship. The
journal gives this account of the parting:--

"We now smoked a farewell pipe with our estimable companions, who
expressed every emotion of regret at parting with us; which they felt
the more, because they did not conceal their fears of our being cut off
by the Pahkees. We also gave them a shirt, a handkerchief, and a small
quantity of ammunition. The meat which they received from us was dried
and left at this place, as a store during the ho