niper also. From Frazier's creek we went three and
three quarter miles, and encamped on the left side, having come thirteen
miles. Directly opposite our camp is a large creek which we call Field's
creek, from Reuben Fields, one of our men. Soon after we halted two of
the hunters went out and returned with five deer, which, with one
bighorn, we killed in coming through the mountain on which we dined; and
the elk left by captain Lewis. We were again well supplied with fresh
meat. In the course of the day we saw a brown bear but were not able to
shoot him.

Friday, August 2. Captain Lewis, who slept in the valley a few miles
above us, resumed his journey early, and after making five miles and
finding that the river still bore to the south, determined to cross it
in hopes of shortening the route: for the first time therefore he waded
across it, although there are probably many places above the falls where
it might be attempted with equal safety. The river was about ninety
yards wide, the current rapid, and about waist deep: the bottom formed
of smooth pebble with a small mixture of coarse gravel. He then
continued along the left bank of the river till sunset and encamped,
after travelling twenty-four miles. He met no fresh tracks of Indians.
Throughout the valley are scattered the bones and excrement of the
buffaloe* of an old date, but there seems no hope of meeting the animals
themselves in the mountains: he saw an abundance of deer and antelope,
and many tracks of elk and bear. Having killed two deer they feasted
sumptuously, with a desert of currants of different colours; two species
of red, others yellow, deep purple, and black: to these were added black
gooseberries and deep purple serviceberries, somewhat larger than ours,
from which it differs also in colour, size, and the superior excellence
of its flavour. In the low grounds of the river were many beaver-dams
formed of willow brush, mud, and gravel, so closely interwoven that they
resist the water perfectly: some of them were five feet high and
overflowed several acres of land.

In the meantime we proceeded on slowly, the current being so strong as
to require the utmost exertions of the men to make any advance even with
the aid of the cord and pole, the wind being from the northwest. The
river is full of large and small islands, and the plain cut by great
numbers of bayous or channels, in which are multitudes of beaver. In the
course of the day we passed some vil