Page:A History of the Pacific Northwest.djvu/72

 tion.

Instructions. The main object. Jefferson personally prepared the instructions which were to govern the leaders in their work. "The object of your mission," he wrote to Lewis, "is to explore the Missouri River and such principal stream of it as, by its course and communication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean, whether the Columbia, Oregon, Colorado, or some other river, may offer the most direct and practical water communication across the continent for the purpose of commerce."

Notes and records. They were to keep careful records da}- by day of the distances travelled and the points of interest along the route. All noteworthy geographical features, such as the mouths of tributary ttt'ers, rapids, falls, and islands, were to be accurately located with respect to latitude and longitude, so that a correct map of the rivers followed and the portages between them could be drawn from the explorersnotes. The President suggested that several copies of these notes should be made in order to guard against their loss by accident; and also "that one of these copies be on the cuticular membranes of the paperbirch as being less liable to injury from damp than common paper." The officers were urged to induce as many of the men as possible to keep diaries, and several of them did so.

Dealing with Indians. Full instructions were given about dealing with the Indian tribes along the route, the explorers being required to "treat them in the most friendly and conciliatory manner which their