Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 5.djvu/266

256 tunity of drying it, I deemed it imprudent to lie down to sleep, and accordingly spent the night sitting over the fire. The following day found me so broken down with fatigue and starvation, and my knee so much worse, that I could not stir out. We fared most scantily on the roots of Sagittaria sagittifolia and Lupinus littoralis, called in the Chenook language Somuchtan , till, crawling out a few steps with my gun, I providentially saw some wild birds, and killed five ducks at one shot. These were soon cooked, though one of the Indians ate his share raw. To save time in plucking the fowl, I singed off the feathers, and, with a basin of tea, made a good supper on one of them. I had certainly been very hungry, yet strange to say, as soon as I saw the birds fall, my appetite fled, and I could hardly persuade myself I had been in such want.

Our fire having attracted the attention of my guide's friends living on the other side of the bay, who were looking out for him, they sent a canoe. Arriving at midnight, I was asleep, and did not know of the fortunate circumstance till he woke me in the morning, for he had not allowed them to make any noise to disturb me, since I had taken little or no rest during three preceding nights. As we were crossing the bay together I killed two gulls, one large and white, with a bluish hue on the wings, which were tipped with black, the other of equal size, but all mottled with gray; also a species of Colymbus; but I had no opportunity of preserving them. I reached my guide's house at dusk, and remained there several days, partaking of whatever I they could spare, and treated with all the kindness and hospitality which Indian courtesy could suggest. During this time I procured a little seed of Helonias tenax, though not so much as I could wish, owing to the lateness of the season, with abundance of the seeds of a splendid Carex, and a Lupine (L. littoralis). The roots of the latter plant are collected by the natives, and roasted on the embers, and they are the Liquorice alluded to by Lewis and Clark; they contain much farinaceous sub-