Title: The Bird-Woman of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
Author: Chandler, Katherine
Language: English
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THE BIRD-WOMAN OF THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION

A SUPPLEMENTARY READER FOR
FIRST AND SECOND GRADES

BY KATHERINE CHANDLER

Author of
"Habits of California Plants" and "In the Reign of Coyote: Folk-Lore
from the Pacific"

1905


To my friend
GENEVRA SISSON SNEDDEN
whose interest in this little book has encouraged its completion



PREFACE.

Because children invariably ask for "more" of the stories they find
interesting, this little book of continuous narrative has been written.
Every incident is found in the Lewis and Clark Journals, so that the
child's frequent question, "Is it true?" can be answered in the
affirmative.

The vocabulary consists of fewer than 700 words. Over half of these are
found in popular primers. Therefore, the child should have no difficulty
in reading this historical story after completing a first reader.

The illustrations on pages 13, 15, 29, 64, and the last one on page 79,
are redrawn from Catlin's "Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs,
and Conditions of the North-American Indians."

My acknowledgments are due Miss Lilian Bridgman, of San Francisco, for
help in arranging the vocabulary.

KATHERINE CHANDLER.

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.
July 1, 1905.



CONTENTS

THE BIRD-WOMAN
WHO THE WHITE MEN WERE
WHY SACAJAWEA WENT WEST
AT FORT MANDAN
THE BLACK MAN
SACAJAWEA'S BABY
MAKING FRIENDS WITH THE INDIANS
SACAJAWEA SAVES THE CAPTAINS' GOODS
SACAJAWEA'S RIVER
THE FIRST SIGHT OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS
SACAJAWEA IS ILL
HOW THE INDIANS HUNTED BUFFALO
THE FALLS OF THE MISSOURI
THE CACHE NEAR THE FALLS OF THE MISSOURI
HOW SACAJAWEA CURED RATTLESNAKE BITES
GOING AROUND THE FALLS
GRIZZLY BEARS
AT THE TOP OF THE FALLS
THE CLOUD-BURST
AT THE SOURCE OF THE MISSOURI
SACAJAWEA FINDS ROOTS AND SEED
SACAJAWEA'S PEOPLE
SACAJAWEA'S BROTHER
SACAJAWEA'S PEOPLE WILL SHOW THE WAY
THE INDIANS TRY TO LEAVE THE WHITES
CROSSING THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS
AT THE COLUMBIA RIVER
HOW THE INDIANS DRIED SALMON
THE WAPPATOO
TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN
THE PACIFIC OCEAN
SACAJAWEA ON THE OCEAN BEACH
THE WHALE
SACAJAWEA'S BELT
AT FORT CLATSOP
THE START HOME
AT CAMP CHOPUNNISH
OVER THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS GOING HOME
EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS AGAIN
SACAJAWEA SAYS GOOD-BYE TO THE SOLDIERS
THE CENTENNIAL



[Illustration: THE STATUE OF SACAJAWEA, THE BIRD WOMAN, UNVEILED AT THE
LEWIS AND CLARK CENTENNIAL, IN PORTLAND, OREGON, IN 1905]



a go   hun dred   Sa ca ja we a   years


THE BIRD-WOMAN.

The Bird-Woman was an Indian.
She showed the white men the way into the West.
There were no roads to the West then.
That was one hundred years ago.
This Indian woman took the white men across streams.
She took them over hills.
She took them through bushes.
She seemed to find her way as a bird does.
The white men said, "She goes like a bird.
We will call her the Bird-Woman."
Her Indian name was Sacajawea.



Clark   A mer i can   Lew is
met   cap tains   part
sol diers   twen ty nine   peo pie
Mis sou ri Riv er


WHO THE WHITE MEN WERE.

The white men Sacajawea went with were soldiers.
There were twenty-nine soldiers.
There were two captains.
The name of one captain was Lewis.
The name of the other captain was Clark.
They were American soldiers.

[Illustration: CAPTAIN CLARK.]
[Illustration: CAPTAIN LEWIS.]

They carried the American flag into the West.
No white men knew about that part of the West then.
The captains wished to learn all about the West.
They wished to tell the people in the East about it.
They had been going West a long time before they met Sacajawea.
They had rowed up the Missouri River.
They had come to many little streams.
They did not know what the Indians called these streams.
So they gave them new names for the white men.


camp   Fourth of Ju ly   Man dan
cheered   French man   rest ed
ice   In de pend ence   creek
hus band   Kan sas   snow


On Fourth of July they named one stream Fourth of July Creek.
They named another Independence Creek.
We still call this stream by that name.
You can find it on the map of Kansas.
On Fourth of July the men rested.
The soldier who woke first fired a gun.
Then they all woke up and cheered for the Fourth of July.
At night they fired another gun.
Then the soldiers danced around the camp fire.
After a time the ice and snow would not let them go on.
They made a winter camp near the Mandan Indians.
Here they met Sacajawea and her husband.
Her husband was a Frenchman who knew a little about the West.
Sacajawea was the only one there who had been to the far West.
Lewis and Clark told the Frenchman they would pay him to go with them.
He said he would go.
Then he and Sacajawea came to live at the soldiers' camp.



be longed   roots   tribe
mar ried   Snake   twelve
Rocky Mountains   thought   war


WHY SACAJAWEA WENT WEST.

Sacajawea belonged in the West.
Her tribe was called the Snake Indians.
They lived in the Rocky Mountains.
Sacajawea lived in the Mountains until she was twelve years old.
Then her tribe went to war with the Mandans from the East.
One day Sacajawea and some other girls were getting roots.
They were down by a stream.
Some Mandans came upon them.
The girls ran fast to get away.

[Illustration: MANDAN DRAWING ON A BUFFALO ROBE]

Sacajawea ran into the stream.
An Indian caught her.
He took her up on his horse.
He carried her away to the East, to the country of the Mandans.
There she married the Frenchman.
There the Americans found her.
She was glad when her husband said he would go West with Lewis and
Clark.
She thought she would see her own tribe again.



an i mals    coun try    friends
med i cine    read y    chiefs
froz en   plants   wrote
fort   sweat   house


AT FORT MANDAN.

The soldiers called their winter camp Fort Mandan.  They had a hard
winter there.
It was so cold that many men were ill.
They had no time to be ill.
They had to work to be ready to go West when Spring opened.
The captains wrote in their books about the Indians and animals and
plants they had seen.
They made maps of the country they had come through.
They had long talks with the Indian chiefs.
They made friends with the Indians by giving them medicine.
An Indian boy had his feet frozen near the soldiers' camp.
The captains kept him until his feet were well again.
His people all came and thanked the captains.

[Illustration: AN INDIAN SWEAT-HOUSE]

The Indians told each other about the white men's medicine.
They said, "The white men's medicine is better than our sweat-house."
So they came for miles to the white camp to get the medicine.
They gave the captains food.
They wanted to be friends with them.


ar rows   din ner   hunt ed
mon ey   beads   fid dle
knives   pie ces   blan kets
gal lons   med als   stove


The soldiers hunted animals for food and for their skins.
One soldier cut an old stove into pieces.
The Indians wanted these pieces to make arrows and knives.
They would give eight gallons of corn for one piece.
The Indians did not know what money was.
The captains did not carry money with them.
They took flags and medals, knives and blankets, looking-glasses and
beads, and many other things.
With these they could get food from the Indians.
On Christmas Day, 1804, the soldiers put the American flag up over the
fort.
They told the Indians not to come to see them on that day.
They said it was the best day of their year.
It was a cold day, with much ice and snow.
They had a good dinner and after dinner the soldiers danced.
On New Year's Day, 1805, they fired off all their guns.
The captains let the soldiers go to the Mandan camp.
They took their fiddle and danced for the Indians.
One soldier danced on his hands with his head down.
The Indians liked this dancing very much.
They gave the soldiers some corn and some skins.



sur prised   hair   paint ed   stran ger
fin ger   wa ter   helped   York


THE BLACK MAN.

Captain Clark had his black man, York, with him.
The Indians were always surprised to see the black man.
They thought he was stranger than the white men.
One Mandan chief said, "This is a white man painted black."
He wet his finger and tried to wash the black off York's skin.
The black would not come off.
Then York took off his hat.
The chief had not seen such hair before.
Then the chief said, "You are not like a white man.
You are a black man."
The Indians told each other of this black man.
They came from far to see him.
York helped make them friends with the whites.
The captains named a river for York.
The river had only a little water in it.
They named it York's Dry River.



bas ket   laugh   weeks
born    su gar


SACAJAWEA'S BABY.

At Fort Mandan, Sacajawea's baby boy was born.
He was only eight weeks old when the white men began to go to the far
West.
Sacajawea made a basket of skins for her baby.
She put it on her back.
The baby could sleep in the basket as Sacajawea walked.
The soldiers liked the baby.
They gave it sugar.
They made it playthings of wood.
They danced to make it laugh.
Indian babies do not laugh much and they do not cry much.
Once in the West the baby was ill.
Then the soldiers camped for some days.
They were very still.
Captain Lewis gave the baby medicine.
This made the baby well again.
Then the men laughed.
They said, "Let us sing and dance for the baby."
The baby laughed as it looked at the men.


A pril    par ty   shot
broke    shoot    warm


The warm April sun broke up the ice in the Missouri River.
Then the party got into their boats and rowed on up the river.
From this time on, Sacajawea and her baby were a help to the soldiers.
When the Indians saw a woman and a baby with the men, they knew it was
not a war party.
Indians would not take a woman and baby to war.
Only men go to war.
The Indians did not shoot at the men.
They came up to see what they wanted.
If Sacajawea had not been there, they would have shot the white men.
The Indians thought that all strangers wanted war.
They thought this until the strangers showed that they were friends.



bare foot ed    cov ered       prick ly
threw           cor ners       pears
same            moc ca sins    true


MAKING FRIENDS WITH THE INDIANS.

Sacajawea showed the captains how to make friends with the Indians.
The Indians on the upper Missouri River and in the Rocky Mountains
showed that they wanted to be friends in the same way.
When they saw strangers, they stood still and talked to each other.
If they wished to be friends, the chief walked out ahead of his people.
He took off his blanket.
He took hold of it by two corners.
He threw it up high.
Then he put it on the ground.
This showed that he was putting down a skin for a friend to sit on.
He did this three times.
Then the strangers came up to him.
They sat down together.
They took off their moccasins.
This showed that they wished to be true friends.
If they were not true friends, they would go barefooted all their days.
They thought it hard to go barefooted.
The ground was covered with prickly pears.
The prickly pears would hurt their feet.



great    pres ents    smoked
pipes    send         Wash ing ton


When the strangers had their moccasins off, they smoked some pipes
together.
Then they gave each other presents.
Then they told each other why they had come together.
Captain Lewis and Captain Clark always told the Indians:

"We have come from the Great Father in Washington.
He sends you these presents.
He wants you to be friends with the white men.
He wants you to be friends with the other Indians.
When you all are friends, the men can get many animals and the women can
get many roots.
The Great Father will send you out the white men's goods when you are
all friends."

The Indians always said to Lewis and Clark:

"We are glad to hear from the Great Father in Washington.
We like his presents.
We shall be glad to get the white men's goods.
We will be friends with all men with Indians and with white men."



a fraid    com pass    canoe
straight ened    turned    hit
rud der


SACAJAWEA SAVES THE CAPTAINS' GOODS.

Going up the Missouri, the compass, the books, and the maps were in one
canoe.
The captains had the compass to find the West.
One day a big wind hit this canoe and turned it nearly over.
Sacajawea's husband was at the rudder.
He was afraid and let go. The water came into the canoe.
The maps and books came up to the top of the water.
Sacajawea saw them going out into the river.
She took the compass into her lap.
She caught the books.
She called to her husband.
He took the rudder again.
He straightened the boat again.
Then Sacajawea caught the maps that were on top of the river.



Crook ed   Mon ta na   wide
hand some   saved   yards


SACAJAWEA'S RIVER.

As the maps and books were wet, the soldiers had to camp two days.
They put the maps and the books and the compass in the sun.
When these were dry, they went on again.
Ten days after, they came to a river that no white man had seen before.
Captain Lewis wrote in his book, "It is a handsome river about 50 yards
wide."
They did not know the Indian name for it.
The captains were so glad Sacajawea had saved their things that they
named it for her.
They said, "We will call it the Sacajawea or Bird-Woman's River."
This river is still running.
Look on a map of Montana.
Do you see a stream named "Crooked Creek?"
That is the stream Lewis and Clark named Sacajawea's River.
Which do you think is the prettier name?
Which do you think we should call it?



blew   elk   pleas ure
cross   plains   steep
buf fa lo   mos qui toes   sight


THE FIRST SIGHT OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.

Going up the Missouri, the party had to drink the river water.
It was not good and it made them ill.
The sand blew in their eyes.
The mosquitoes bit them all the time.
But still the soldiers were happy.
They carried their goods in boats.
They walked when they wished to.
They hunted buffalo and elk on the plains near the river.
They had all they wanted to eat.
One day in May, Captain Lewis was out hunting.
He went up a little hill.
Then far off to the West he saw the Rocky Mountains high and steep.
Captain Lewis was the first white man to see these mountains.
He wrote in his book that he felt a great pleasure on first seeing them.
He knew they would be very hard to cross.
They were all white with snow.
But he was ready to go on so as to get to the West.
He went back to the boats and told the others about the mountains.
The men were happy and worked harder to get near them.



grew   fell   hot   sul phur    worse


SACAJAWEA IS ILL.

Going up the Missouri, Sacajawea fell ill.
She could not eat.
She grew worse each day.
Captain Clark gave her some medicine.
It did not make her well.
The soldiers had to camp until she could go on.
They could not go on without her.
They wanted her with them to make friends with her tribe.
One day the soldiers found a hot sulphur spring.
They carried Sacajawea to this spring.
The water made her well.
In a week she could go on.



bank    killed    hole    to ward


HOW THE INDIANS HUNTED BUFFALO.

On the plains of the Missouri there were many buffaloes.
Sacajawea told the soldiers how the Indians hunted them.
An Indian put on a buffalo skin.
The buffalo's head was over his head.
He walked out to where the buffaloes were eating.
He stood between them and a high bank of the river.
The other Indians went behind the buffaloes.
The buffaloes ran toward the man in the buffalo skin.
He ran fast toward the river.
Then the buffaloes ran fast toward the river.
At the high bank the man ran down and hid in a hole.
The buffaloes came so fast that they could not stop at the bank.
They fell over the bank on to the rocks near the river.
Many were killed.
Then the Indians came around the bank.
They skinned the buffaloes.
They dried the meat.
They dried the skins to make blankets and houses.



June   won der ful   draw
pic ture   spray   write   cache


THE FALLS OF THE MISSOURI.

One June day Captain Lewis was walking ahead of the boats.
He heard a great noise up the River.
He pushed on fast.
After walking seven miles, he came to the great Falls of the Missouri.
He was the first white man to see these Falls.
He sat down on a rock and watched the water dash and spray.
He tried to draw a picture of the Falls.
He tried to write about it in his book.
But he said it was so wonderful that he could not draw it well nor
picture it in words.
When the men came up, they could not take their boats near the Falls.
The Falls are very, very high.
The highest fall is eighty-seven feet high, and the water comes down
with a great rush.
So the soldiers had to go around the Falls.
That was a long, long way.
It would be hard to carry all their things around the Falls.
The captains said, "We will make a cache here.
"We will put in the skins and plants and maps.
"We can get them all again when we are coming home."
The soldiers made two caches.
In these they hid all the things they could do without.
Without so much to carry, it would not be so hard to go around the
Falls.



dried   dug   ring   sod
bot tom   branch es   earth   sides


THE CACHE NEAR THE FALLS OF THE MISSOURI.

To make a cache, the soldiers made a ring on the ground.
They took up the sod inside the ring.
They dug straight down for a foot.
They put dried branches on the bottom and at the sides of this hole.
They put dried skins over the branches.
Then they put their goods into the hole, or cache.
They put dried skins over the goods.
Then they put the earth in.
Then they put the sod on.
The ring did not look as if it had been dug up.
The Indians would not think to look there for goods.



bite    fresh   rat tle snakes
cure   morn ing   sev en teen
   beat


HOW SACAJAWEA CURED RATTLESNAKE BITES.

Near the Falls of the Missouri, the party met many rattlesnakes.
The snakes liked to lie in the sun on the river banks.
Some times they went up trees and lay on the branches.
One night Captain Lewis was sleeping under a tree.
In the morning he looked up through the tree.
He saw a big rattlesnake on a branch.
It was going to spring at him.
He caught his gun and killed it.
It had seventeen rattles.
Sometimes the soldiers had to go barefooted.
The snakes bit their bare feet.
Sacajawea knew how to cure the bite.
She took a root she called the rattlesnake root.
She beat it hard.
She opened the snake bite.
She tied the root on it.
She put fresh root on two times a day.
It cured the snake bite.
The root would kill a man if he should eat it, but it will cure a snake
bite.



ax les   even   hail   tongues
bears   e nough   knocked   wheels
griz zly   cot ton wood   mast   wil low


GOING AROUND THE FALLS.

The party had to go up a high hill to get around the Falls.
It would take too long to carry the canoes on their backs.
They could see only one big tree on the plains.
It was a cottonwood.
The soldiers cut it down.
They cut wheels and tongues from it.
The cottonwood is not hard enough for axles.
The soldiers cut up the mast of their big boat for axles.
They began to go up the hill.
In a little time the axles broke.
They put in willow axles.
Then the cottonwood tongues broke.
Then the men had to carry the goods on their backs.
It was very hot.
The mosquitoes and blow-flies bit them all the time.
The prickly pear hurt their feet.
It hurt them even through their moccasins.
If they drank water, they were ill.
One day it hailed hard.
The hail knocked some of the men down.
At night the grizzly bears took their food.



load   point ed   large   safe
mouth   roared   fierce   waist


GRIZZLY BEARS.

After many hard days, they got all the goods to the top of the Falls.
The party saw many grizzly bears near the Falls.
They were the first white men to see the grizzly bear.
They found it a very large and very fierce bear.
One day Captain Lewis was out hunting.
He had killed a buffalo for dinner.
He turned around to load his gun again.
He saw a big bear coming after him.
It was only twenty feet away.
He did not have time to load his gun.
There was no tree near.
There was no rock near.
The river bank was not high.
Captain Lewis ran to the river.
The bear ran after him with open mouth.
It nearly caught him.
Captain Lewis ran into the river.
He turned around when the water was up to his waist.
He pointed his gun at the bear.
It stopped still.
Then it roared and ran away.
Captain Lewis did not know why the bear roared and ran, but he was glad
to be safe.


body    de feat ed    shoul der
brave   ly ing        angry


One day six of the soldiers saw a big bear lying on a little hill near
the river.
The six soldiers came near him.
They were all good shots.
Four shot at him.
Four balls went into his body.
He jumped up.
He ran at them with open mouth.
Then the two other men fired.
Their balls went into his body, too.
One ball broke his shoulder.
Still he ran at them.
The men ran to the river.
Two jumped into their canoe.
The others hid in the willows.
They loaded their guns as fast as they could.
They shot him again.
The shots only made him angry.
He came very near two of the men.
They threw away their guns and jumped down twenty feet into the river.
The bear jumped in after them.
He nearly caught the last one.
Then one soldier in the willows shot the bear in the head.
This shot killed him.
The soldiers pulled the bear out of the river.
They found eight balls in him.
They took his skin to show the captains.
They said he was a brave old bear.
They named a creek near-by for him.
They called it "The Brown-Bear-Defeated Creek."


be cause   fright ened
climb   kicked    wait


One day a grizzly bear ran after a soldier.
The soldier tried to shoot the bear.
His gun would not go off.
The gun was wet because he had been in the river all day.
He ran to a tree.
He got to the tree just in time.
As the soldier climbed, he kicked the bear.
The grizzly bear can not climb a tree.
This grizzly sat at the foot of the tree to wait until the soldier would
come down.
The soldier called out loud.
Two other soldiers heard him.
They came running to help him.
They saw the man in the tree.
They saw the bear at the foot of the tree.
They shot off their guns and made a big noise.
The grizzly grew frightened.
It ran away.
Then the soldier came down from the tree.
He was glad that his friends had come to his help.



a ble   beans   su et
ba con   dump lings   played
a mused   them selves   shake


AT THE TOP OF THE FALLS.

After the men had carried all the goods to the top of the Falls, they
made canoes to take them up the river.
They were camping at the top of the Falls on the Fourth of July, 1805.
Captain Lewis wrote that they had a good dinner that day.
He said they had as good as if they were at home.
They had "bacon, beans, buffalo meat, and suet dumplings."
After dinner a soldier played the fiddle.
Captain Lewis wrote: "Such as were able to shake a foot amused
themselves in dancing on the green."



burst   fif teen   ra vine
cloud   clothes   wave


THE CLOUD-BURST.

One day Captain Clark took Sacajawea and her husband with him to look
over the top of the Falls.
Sacajawea's baby was in his basket on her back.
Captain Clark saw a black cloud.
He said, "It will rain soon.
Let us go into that ravine."
They sat under some big rocks.
Sacajawea took off the baby's basket and put it at her feet.
All the baby's clothes were in the basket.
Sacajawea took the baby in her lap.
It began to rain a little.
The rain did not get to them.
It rained harder.
Then the cloud burst just over the ravine.
The rain and hail made a big wave in the little ravine.
Captain Clark saw the wave coming.
He jumped up and caught his gun in his left hand.
With his right hand he pushed Sacajawea up the bank.
The wave was up to their waists.
They ran faster and got to the top of the bank.
Then the wave was fifteen feet high.
It made a big noise as it ran down the ravine.
Soon it would have caught them and carried them over the Falls.
It did carry away the baby's basket and his clothes, and Captain Clark's
compass.
The next day a soldier found the compass in the mud.



a live   be stride   min er als   be gin ning
ra pid   nar row   source   Co lum bia


AT THE SOURCE OF THE MISSOURI.

When the canoes were ready, the party started up the river above the
Falls.
As they reached the mountains, the river grew narrow.
It was not deep, but it was rapid.
The soldiers had to pull the canoes with ropes.
The river did not run straight.
One day the men dragged the canoes twelve miles.
Then they were only four miles from where they had started.
They had to walk in the river all day.
Their feet were cut by the rocks.
They were ill from being wet so much.
It was hot in the day and cold at night.
They had no wood but willow.
They could not make a good fire.
But they had enough to eat.
Then the river grew very narrow.
The canoes could not go up it.
The soldiers put the canoes under water with rocks in them.
They made another cache.
In it they put skins, plants, seeds, minerals, maps, and some medicines.
Captain Lewis and some men went ahead.
They were looking for Indians.
They wanted to buy some horses.
After a time the river grew so narrow that a soldier put one foot on one
bank and his other foot on the other bank.
Then he said, "Thank God, I am alive to bestride the mighty Missouri."
Before this, people did not know where the Missouri began.
A little way off was the beginning of the mighty Columbia River.
The soldiers reached this place in August.
Captain Lewis was very happy as he drank some cold water from the
beginnings of these two rivers.
Captain Clark and the other men were coming behind.
Sacajawea was with them.
They had all the goods and walked slowly.



a nise      grease        pound
bread       mixed         pow der
hun gry     mush          roast ed
tastes      um brel la    yamp


SACAJAWEA FINDS ROOTS AND SEEDS.

Far up on the Missouri, Sacajawea knew the plants that were good to
eat.
The captains and soldiers were glad that she did.
They had only a little corn left, and there were not many animals
near.
Sacajawea told Captain Clark all about the yamp plant, as her tribe knew
it.
It grew in wet ground.
It had one stem and deeply cut leaves.
Its stem and leaves were dark green.
It had an umbrella of white flowers at the top of the stem.
The Indian women watched the yamp until the stem dried up.
Then they dug for the roots.
The yamp root is white and hard.
The Indians eat it fresh or dried.
When it is dry, they pound it into a fine white powder.
The Indian women make the yamp powder into a mush.
Indian children like yamp mush as much as white children like candy.
It tastes like our anise seed.
The soldiers liked the yamp mush that Sacajawea made.
Sacajawea also made a sunflower mush.
She roasted sunflower seeds.
Then she pounded them into a powder and made a mush with hot water.
She made a good drink of the sunflower powder and cold water.
She mixed the sunflower powder with bear grease and roasted it on hot
rocks.
This made a bread the soldiers liked very much.
Without Sacajawea the soldiers would have been hungry.
They did not know the plants.
Some plants would kill them.
But Sacajawea knew those good to eat.



meet    sang    sucked
own     short   taken

SACAJAWEA'S PEOPLE.

One day near the head of the Missouri, Sacajawea stopped short as she
walked.
She looked hard to the West.
She saw far away some Indians on horseback.
She began to dance and jump.
She waved her arms.
She laughed and called out.
She turned to Captain Clark and sucked her fingers.
This showed that these Indians were her own people.
She ran ahead to meet them.
After a time a woman from the Indians ran out to meet Sacajawea.
When they came together, they put their arms around each other.
They danced together.
They cried together.
This woman had been Sacajawea's friend from the time when they were
babies.
She had been taken East by the same Indians that took Sacajawea.
On the way East she got away from these Indians.
She found her way home.
She had been afraid she would never see Sacajawea again.
Now they were happy to meet.
They danced and sang and cried and laughed with their arms around each
other.



broth er      sent       tied
         sell       shells


SACAJAWEA'S BROTHER.

The party went with Sacajawea's people to their camp.
Captain Clark was taken to the chief's house.
The house was made of a ring of willows.
The chief put his arms about Captain Clark.
He made him sit on a white skin.
He tied in his hair six shells.
Each one then took off his moccasins.
Then they smoked without talking.
When they wanted to talk, they sent for Sacajawea.
She came into the house and sat down.
She looked at the chief.
She saw that he was her brother.
She jumped up and ran to him.
She threw her blanket over his head.
She cried aloud in joy.
He was glad to see her.
He did not cry nor jump.
He did not like to show that he was glad.
Sacajawea told him about the white men.
She said they wanted to go across the Rocky Mountains to the Big Water
in the West.
She did not know the way across the mountains.
The Indians could help them.
They could sell them horses and show them the way across the steep
mountain tops.


Ca me ah wa it     kind


Sacajawea said the white men had many things the Indians would like.
If they found a good way over the mountains, the white men would send
these things to the Indians each summer.
Sacajawea said the white men were kind to her and her baby.
If they had not taken care of her when she was ill, she would not have
seen her brother again.
Her brother said he was glad that the white men had been kind to her.
He would help them over the mountains.
He would talk to his men about it.
He said to Captain Clark: "You have been kind to Sacajawea.
I am your friend until my days are over.
You shall own my house.
You shall sit on my blanket.
You shall have what I kill.
You shall bear my name.
My name belonged to me only, but now it is yours.
You are Cameahwait."
After that, all this tribe called Captain Clark "Cameahwait."



Ah hi e!      death     oars     pleased
bought        nev er    sad dles


SACAJAWEA'S PEOPLE WILL SHOW THE WAY.

Cameahwait told his people how good the white men were.
He told them what good things they had.
He said, "If we sell them horses and take them over the mountains, they
can get back soon.
No goods will come to us until they go back to their home.
If we do not help them, they cannot cross the mountains.
They do not know the way.
They cannot carry food enough.
They will meet death in the mountains.
Then we shall never get their goods.
Shall we help them, my brothers?"

And the people said, "Ah hi e! Ah hi e!"
That means, "We are pleased."
They got horses to carry the goods.
They could not get enough horses to give the men to ride.
The captains bought a horse for Sacajawea  to ride.
The soldiers made saddles from the oars tied together with pieces of
skins.
Then they started up the steep mountain.



heard    must    to-night    slipped


THE INDIANS TRY TO LEAVE THE WHITES.

When they were in the mountain tops, Sacajawea overheard some Indians
talking.
They said: "We do not want to go across the mountains with the whites.
We want to go down to the plains and hunt buffalo.
We are hungry here.
On the plains are many buffalo.
We must hunt them now for our winter food.
We do not care for the white men's goods.
Our fathers lived without their goods.
We can live without them.
We will go off to-night and leave them.
They will meet death in the mountains.
In the Spring we can come back and get their goods."

Sacajawea went to Captain Lewis.
She told him what she had heard.
He called the chiefs together.
They smoked a pipe together.
Sacajawea slipped a piece of sugar into Cameahwait's hand.
As he sucked it, she said, "You will get this good thing from the white
men if you are friends with them."


gone      land       word
keep      prom ise   yes


Then Captain Lewis said, "Are you men of your word?"

The Indians said, "Yes."

He said, "Did you not promise to carry our goods over the mountains?"

The Indians said, "Yes."

"Then," he said, "why are you going to leave us now?
If you had not promised, we would have gone back down the Missouri.
Then no other white man would come to your land.
You wish the whites to be your friends.
You want them to give you goods.
You should keep you promise to them.
I will keep my promise to you.
You seem afraid to keep your promise."

The chiefs said, "We are not afraid.
We will keep our promise."

They sent out word to all their men to keep their promise.
Captain Lewis thanked Sacajawea.
If she had not told him, the Indians would have gone off in the night.
The whites would have been left in the steep Rocky Mountains with no
horses and no way of getting food.



stiff    Pa cif ic    O cean
melt     sharp        trip


CROSSING THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.

The trip across the mountains was very hard.
The mountain tops were steep.
There was no road.
The ground was made of sharp rocks.
The horses slipped and fell down.
The men's feet were cut and black and blue.
It rained many days and snowed nights.
They had no houses.
Before they could start on each day, they had to melt the snow off their
goods.
The men grew stiff from the wet and the cold.
The only way they could get warm was to keep on walking.
They had little food.
They had only a little corn when they started across the mountains.
This was soon gone.
There were no animals, no fish, and no roots on the way.
They had to kill their horses.
They had only horsemeat to eat.
The soldiers grew sick.
Some could hardly stand.
But they did not want to turn back.
They knew the Indians could find the way down to the Columbia River.
Then they could get to the Pacific Ocean without the Indians.
So they went on.



sud den ly     fun     salm on     watch


AT THE COLUMBIA RIVER.

At last they got across the mountains and down on the Columbia River.
The Indians who had showed them the way went home again.
There were other Indians near the Columbia.
These Indians gave the men salmon and roots.
They ate so much that they were ill.
The captains and all the soldiers were ill.
But they started to make canoes to ride down the Columbia.
They did not get well.
So they bought some dogs.
They cooked the dogs and ate them.
For days they could eat only dog.
The Indians laughed at them for eating dog.
They said, "Dogs are good to watch the camp.
They are not good to eat.
We do not eat them.
What poor men these must be to eat dog!"
Suddenly the captains fired off their guns and a soldier played the
fiddle.
Then the Indians stopped laughing.
They had never heard a gun before.
They had never before heard a fiddle.
They thought the white men must be wonderful people to have guns and
fiddles.
They wished to be friends with such wonderful people.
So they did not make fun of them any more.



full      grass      stones


HOW THE INDIANS DRIED SALMON.

The soldiers left their horses here on the Columbia River.
They asked the Indians to keep them until they should come back from the
West.
Then they started down the river in canoes.
On the Columbia, the party saw some Indians drying salmon.
They opened the fish.
Then they put it in the sun.
When it was well dried, they pounded it to powder between two stones.
Then they put it into a basket.
The basket was made of grass.
It had dried salmon skin inside.
The Indians pounded the powdered salmon down hard into the basket.
When a basket was full, they put dried salmon skin on the top.
Then the basket was put where it would keep dry.
The salmon powder would keep for years.
Only one tribe of Indians knew how to make it well.
The other tribes bought it from them.
All the tribes liked it.
The white men, too, liked it.



gath ered      ar row head
   sum mer          wap pa to
     pond              toes


THE WAPPATO.

The party found a root new to them on the lower Columbia.
The Indians called it wappato.
Captain Clark called it arrowhead.
The wappato grew all the year.
The Indian women gathered it.
A woman carried a light canoe to a pond.
She waded into the pond.
She put the canoe on the water.
With her toes she pulled up the wappato from the bottom of the pond.
The woman caught it and put it in the canoe.
She was in the water many hours, summer and winter.
When her canoe was full, she put it on her head and carried it home.
She roasted the wappato on hot stones.
It tasted very good.
The soldiers said it was the best root they had tasted.
The Indian women used to put some wappato in grass baskets and sell it
to the tribes up the river.



anx ious      cheer ful      view
break ing     dis tinct ly   shores


TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN.

The party went down the Columbia River in canoes.
It was a hard trip.
It rained all the time.
Each day the men were wet to the skin.
They had to carry their goods around some rapids.
They could not be very cheerful.
One day it stopped raining for a little time.
The low clouds went away.
The party saw that the river was very wide.
They rowed on.
Then they saw the great ocean lying in the sun.
They became very happy.
They cheered and laughed and sang.
They rowed on very fast.
Captain Lewis wrote in his book:
"Ocean in view! O! the joy! We are in VIEW of the Ocean, this great
Pacific Ocean, which we have been so long anxious to see. The noise made
by the waves breaking on the rocky shores may be heard distinctly."



half    for got    jour ney    troub les


THE PACIFIC OCEAN.

The party saw that they had come to the end of their journey.
They had come 4,134 miles from the mouth of the Missouri River.
It had taken them a year and a half to come.
But now they forgot their troubles.
They forgot the times they had been hungry.
They forgot their cut feet and their black and blue backs.
They forgot the bears and the snakes and the mosquitoes.
They saw the Pacific Ocean before them.
They sang because they were the first white men to make this journey.
They did not care for the troubles going back.
They knew that they could go home faster than they had come.
And they sang together, "The Ocean! The Ocean! O joy! O joy!"



beach     blub ber    line    thun der
Clat sop  salt        whale   sand


SACAJAWEA ON THE OCEAN BEACH.

The party made a winter camp at the mouth of the Columbia River.
They called it Fort Clatsop.
The Indians near-by were the Clatsop tribe.
These Indians gave the whites some whale blubber.
They said that a whale was on the ocean beach.
Captain Clark and some men got ready to go to see it.
Sacajawea came to Captain Clark and said, "May I go, too?
I have come over the mountains with you to find the Great Water and I
have not been to it yet.
Now I would see the Big Animal and the Great Water, too."
Captain Clark was glad to have her go.
He wrote in his book that this was the only time she asked for anything.
She took her baby on her back and walked with Captain Clark.
When she got near the ocean, she was afraid.
The noise seemed to her like thunder.
She always had been afraid of thunder.
When she saw the waves, she was afraid they would come over the earth.
She had never before seen any big body of water.
She had seen only rivers and ponds.
The ocean looked very big.
She would not go near the waves.
Then Captain Clark showed her the high water line.
He told her that the waves would not go over that line.
She sat down on the sand with her baby in her lap.
She watched the waves a long time.
Then she was not afraid.
She walked out to the waves.
When they came to shore, she ran before them.
She let them come over her feet.
She took some ocean water in her hand and tasted it.
She did not like its salt taste.
But she did like to run after the waves.



bags      oil      wood en
eight y   pork     trough


THE WHALE.

Captain Clark and his party walked all day before they came to where the
whale lay.
The waves had carried it up on the shore.
It was a very big animal.
It was longer than most houses.
It was eighty feet long.
The Indians were cutting it up.
They put the meat into a large wooden trough.
Then they put hot stones into the trough.
The hot stones melted out the oil.
The Indians put the oil into skin bags.
They used it to eat with roots and mush.
They did not wish to sell the oil.
But after a time, they did sell some oil to Captain Clark.
They sold him some blubber, too.
The blubber was white and looked like pork fat.
The soldiers cooked some and ate it.
They liked it very much.
Sacajawea was happy to see the whale.
She walked all around it.
She made her baby to look well at it.
She told him he might never see one again.
The baby did not care for the whale, but he laughed because Sacajawea
laughed.



beau ti ful    robe         sor ry
belt           sea-ot ter   wear


SACAJAWEA'S BELT.

The Clatsop chief came to Fort Clatsop to see the captains.
He had on a robe made of two sea-otter skins.
The skins were the most beautiful the captains had yet seen.
They wanted the chief to sell the robe.
He did not want to sell it, as sea-otters are hard to get.
They said they would give him anything they had for it.
Still he would not sell it.
Sacajawea saw him looking at her blue bead belt.
She had made this belt from beads Captain Clark had given her.
She used to wear it all the time.
She said to the Clatsop chief, "Will you sell the robe for my belt?"
He said, "Yes, I will sell it for the chief beads."
The Indians called blue beads "chief beads."
Sacajawea thought a little time.
Then she gave her belt to him.
He put it around his neck.
He gave her his sea-otter robe.
She gave it to Captain Clark for a present.
She was sorry to give up her belt.
The captains had no more blue beads to give her to make another.
But she was glad to give Captain Clark the beautiful sea-otter skins.



boiled     crust      five      pairs
burned     filled     kegs      treat


AT FORT CLATSOP.

At Fort Clatsop, the captains wrote in their books.
They wrote about all they had seen coming to the Pacific.
They wrote about things near Fort Clatsop.
They made maps of the land near the Missouri River, in the Rocky
Mountains, and on the banks of the Columbia.
Some of the men hunted.
They made the skins of animals into clothes and moccasins.
They made between three and four hundred pairs of moccasins.
They saved these to wear on the way home.
Five soldiers were sent down to the ocean beach to make salt.
Each had a big kettle.
They filled the kettles with ocean water.
They burned a fire under the kettles day and night.
In time, the water all boiled away.
A crust of salt was left on the inside of the kettles.
The soldiers gathered this salt into wooden kegs.
It took seven weeks to make enough salt for their journey home.
Captain Lewis wrote, "This salt was a great treat to many of the party."
He liked salt very much.
Captain Clark wrote that he did not care if he had salt or not.


hand ker chief      un der wear      wea sel
mer ry              wak en           wel come


On Christmas Day, 1805, the soldiers got up without making any noise.
They fired their guns all at one time to waken the captains.
Then they sang an old Christmas song.
Then they wished the captains "Merry Christmas."
They gave each other presents.
Captain Clark wrote that he had twelve weasel tails, some underwear,
some moccasins, and an Indian blanket for his Christmas presents.
He gave a handkerchief or some little present to each man.
There was no snow and no ice, but there was much rain.
The soldiers had to stay in their log fort all day.
They had only poor elk, poor roots, and some bad dried salmon for
dinner.
But they were cheerful.
They danced and sang into the night.
On New Year's Day, they fired their guns to welcome in the New Year.
They had more to eat than on Christmas Day.
The captains wrote, "Our greatest pleasure to-day is thinking about
New Year's, 1807. Then we shall be home."



game      or der      let ters      stol en


THE START HOME.

In March, the elk left the woods near Fort Clatsop.
The soldiers could not get enough to eat.
The captains said, "It is time to start home."
They bought a canoe with a soldier-coat and some little things.
They took another canoe from the Clatsops for some elk meat that the
Indians had stolen.
They had not many things left to get food and horses with on the way
home.
But their guns were in good order.
They had good powder and balls.
They could kill game on the way.
They cut up their big flag into five robes.
They could sell them robes for food.
The captains gave the Clatsops letters to give to any white men who
should come there.
These letters told about the party's trip out West.
They told how they were going back East.
The Clatsops promised to give these letters to the first white men who
should come.
Then the party said good-bye to the Clatsops.
This was in the month of March.
They started up the Columbia River, singing.
They were happy because they were going home.



awl            nee dles skeins
Cho pun nish   ounce    thread
knit ting-pin  rib bon  ver mil ion


AT CAMP CHOPUNNISH.

On the way up the Columbia, the soldiers killed game.
They gave some to the Indians for roots.
They came to the foot of the mountains in May.
There was too much snow then for them to cross
They made a camp near the Chopunnish Indians.
They called it Camp Chopunnish.
They sent out to get the horses they had left when camping there before.
They tried to get enough food to last them over the mountains.
Many of the Indians were ill.
Captain Clark gave them medicine.
They gave him food and horses for the medicine.
Captain Lewis talked with the Indian chiefs all day.
They promised to let some young Indians show the way over the mountains.
The captains gave each soldier some of their goods and sent him out to
get food.
Captain Lewis wrote that each man had "only one awl and one knitting-
pin, half an ounce of vermilion, two needles, a few skeins of thread,
and a yard of ribbon."
Two of the men took their goods with them in a canoe.
The canoe turned over.
They lost all their goods.
They just saved their lives.


bot tles   bush els   pris on ers' base
box es     but tons   raft  ra ces


Two other men went up the river with their goods on a horse.
The horse slipped down a steep bank into the river.
He got safe to the bank across the river.
An Indian made him swim back to the two soldiers.
On the way, most of the goods were lost.
The paint melted, and the horse's back was all red.
The Indians on the bank across the river saw what the soldiers wanted.
They loaded some roots and bread on a raft.
They tried to cross to the soldiers.
A high wind sent the raft on a rock.
The raft turned over.
The roots and bread were lost.
Then the captains and men felt unhappy.
They cut the buttons from their clothes.
They gathered up all the bottles and medicine boxes they had.
With these things, two soldiers went out to get food.
They got three bushels of roots and some bread.
The other men hunted.
They dried some meat, and gave some to the Indians for roots.
They became good friends with the Chopunnish Indians.
They used to run fast races together.
Both soldiers and Indians could run fast.
The soldiers took sides and played prisoners' base.



ear ly      sec ond          fold ed
means       Yo me kol lick   la ter


OVER THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS GOING HOME.

The party wanted to start over the mountains in early June.
The Indians were not ready to go with them then.
The party started to go without the Indians.
They could not find food for the horses.
There was snow all over the ground.
They had to turn back and camp where there was grass.
A week later the Indians were ready to go with them.
They started a second time.
The Indians showed them the way.
They found food for the horses each night.
The trip across the mountains was not so hard as it had been the year
before.
Now the snow covered all the sharp rocks.
The snow was so hard that the horses could walk on it.
Now they had enough food.
All the men had horses.
They went many miles each day.
All were happy.
One of the Indians liked Captain Lewis so much that he gave him his
name, "Yomekollick."

[Illustration: YOMEKOLLICK]

This means "White Bear-skin Folded."
The Indians thought their names were the best thing they could give to
any one.



dif fer ent    di vide      ser vice    third
good-bye       south        Yel low stone


EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS AGAIN.

Before they left the mountains, the captains said:

"We will divide our party.
Then we can go different ways.
Then we shall see more of the country east of the Rocky Mountains."

So Captain Lewis and nine men started in a straight line to the Falls of
the Missouri.
Captain Clark and the others went more to the South.
Sacajawea went with Captain Clark.
The two parties promised to meet again down on the Missouri.
They said good-bye to each other on July third.
On the next day, Captain Clark wrote that they had a good Fourth of July
dinner.
They had fat deer and roots.
Then they went on until time to sleep.
They had no time to dance now.
They were going home.
Captain Lewis and his men pushed on all day.
He did not write that they thought of the Fourth of July.
Captain Clark sent ten men down the Missouri River the way they had
come West.
He went with Sacajawea and ten other men across to the Yellowstone
River.
Sacajawea found the way for him.
She also found roots good to eat.
Captain Clark wrote that she was of "great service" to him.
Captain Clark's party went down the Yellowstone River to the Missouri
River.
Here they met two white men.
These were the first white men besides themselves that they had seen for
a year and four months.
They were glad to hear news from the East.
Soon after they met these white men, Captain Lewis and the other
soldiers came down to them.
This was in August.
Captain Lewis had been shot by one of his best men.
The man thought that Captain Lewis was an elk, because his clothes were
brown.
The man was very sorry for having shot him.
Captain Lewis soon got well.
The soldiers were happy to be together again.
They forgot their troubles.
They went down the Missouri, singing.

[Illustration: THE WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE AS DRAWN BY CAPTAIN LEWIS IN HIS
JOURNAL]

They were glad they had gone West.
They had taken the country for the Americans.
They had made friends with the Indians.
They knew where food could be found.
They knew about the animals and plants.
Now other people could find the way from the maps the captains had made.



dol lars     vil lage


SACAJAWEA SAYS GOOD-BYE TO THE SOLDIERS.

Sacajawea's husband would not go to the captains' home.
He wanted to live with the Mandans.

[Illustration: A MANDAN EARTH LODGE]

So Sacajawea had to say good-bye to the soldiers.
The captains gave her husband five hundred dollars.
They did not give Sacajawea any money.
In those days, people did not think of paying women.
All the party were sorry to leave Sacajawea and the baby.
Sacajawea was sorry to stay behind.
She stood on the bank of the river watching the soldiers as long as she
could see them.
The soldiers went down the Missouri to its mouth.
When they saw the village there, they fired off all their guns.
The people came out to see them and cheered that they were home again.



Cen ten nial     Port land     Or e gon
for est ry       build ing     not ed
fair      hon or     stat ue   suc cess


THE CENTENNIAL.

The American people have always been glad that Lewis and Clark made this
long, hard journey.
That was just one hundred years ago.
In this year of 1905, the American people are holding a centennial fair
in honor of the Lewis and Clark journey.
The Fair is at Portland, Oregon, because Lewis and Clark reached the
Pacific Ocean in Oregon.
At the Fair, there is a statue of Sacajawea and her baby.
This statue is put there because Lewis and Clark wrote in their books:
"The wonderful Bird-Woman did a full man's share to make the trip a
success, besides taking care of her baby. She was one of the best of
mothers."
Some day, you can read these books for yourself, and learn more about
Sacajawea and Captains Lewis and Clark.

[Illustration: THE FORESTRY BUILDING, LEWIS AND CLARK CENTENNIAL]

The forestry building is made from the large trees for which Oregon is
noted.
Fort Clatsop was built from the large trees of Oregon, too, but the
soldiers did not know how to make such a fine building as this one
hundred years ago.





*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Bird-Woman of the Lewis and Clark Expedition" ***

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