particularly games of hazard; and, like most Indians, delight in boasting of their warlike exploits, either real or fictitious.  In their conduct towards us they have been kind and obliging; and though on one occasion they seemed willing to neglect us, yet we scarcely knew how to blame the treatment by which we were to suffer, when we recollected how few civilized chiefs would have hazarded the comforts or the subsistence of their people for the sake of a few strangers. . . . . . . . . .

“As war is the chief occupation, bravery is the first virtue among the Shoshonees.  None can hope to be distinguished without having given proofs of it, nor can there be any preferment or influence among the nation, without some warlike achievement.  Those important events which give reputation to a warrior, and entitle him to a new name, are:  killing a white (or grizzly) bear, stealing individually the horses of the enemy, leading a party who happen to be successful either in plundering horses or destroying the enemy, and lastly, scalping a warrior.  These acts seem of nearly equal dignity, but the last, that of taking an enemy’s scalp, is an honor quite independent of the act of vanquishing him.  To kill your adversary is of no importance unless the scalp is brought from the field of battle; were a warrior to slay any number of his enemies in action, and others were to obtain the scalps or first touch the dead, they would have all the honors, since they have borne off the trophy. . . .”

“The names of these Indians vary in the course of their life.  Originally given in childhood, from the mere necessity of distinguishing objects, or from some accidental resemblance to external objects, the young warrior is impatient to change it by some achievement of his own.  Any important event—­the stealing of horses, the scalping of an enemy, or the killing of a brown bear—­entitles him at once to a new name, which he then selects for himself, and it is confirmed by the nation.  Sometimes the two names subsist together; thus, the chief Cameahwait, which means ‘One Who Never Walks,’ has the war-name of Tooettecone, or ‘Black Gun,’ which he acquired when he first signalized himself.  As each new action gives a warrior a right to change his name, many of them have several in the course of their lives.  To give to a friend one’s own name is an act of high courtesy, and a pledge, like that of pulling off the moccasin, of sincerity and hospitality.  The chief in this way gave his name to Captain Clark when he first arrived, and he was afterward known among the Shoshonees by the name of Cameahwait.”

On the thirtieth of August, the whole expedition being now reunited, and a sufficient number of horses having been purchased of the Shoshonees, the final start across the mountains was begun.  The journal says: 

“The greater part of the band, who had delayed their journey on our account, were also ready to depart.  We took leave of the Shoshonees, who set out on their visit to the Missouri at the same time that we, accompanied by the old guide, his four sons, and another Indian, began the descent of the Lemhi River, along the same road which Captain Clark had previously pursued.  After riding twelve miles we camped on the south bank of this river, and as the hunters had brought in three deer early in the morning, we did not feel the want of provisions.”