Tuesday 27.  The men, who were engaged last night in mending their moccasins, all except one, went out hunting, but no game was to be procured.  One of the men however killed a small salmon, and the Indians made a present of another, on which the whole party made a very slight breakfast.  These Indians, to whom this life is familiar, seem contented, although they depend for subsistence on the scanty productions of the fishery.  But our men who are used to hardships, but have been accustomed to have the first wants of nature regularly supplied, feel very sensibly their wretched situation; their strength is wasting away; they begin to express their apprehensions of being without food in a country perfectly destitute of any means of supporting life, except a few fish.  In the course of the day an Indian brought into the camp five salmon, two of which captain Clarke bought, and made a supper for the party.

Wednesday 28.  There was a frost again this morning.  The Indians gave the party two salmon out of several which they caught in their traps, and having purchased two more, the party was enabled to subsist on them during the day.  A camp of about forty Indians from the west fork passed us to-day, on their route to the eastward.  Our prospect of provisions is getting worse every day:  the hunters who had ranged through the country in every direction where game might be reasonably expected, have seen nothing.  The fishery is scarcely more productive, for an Indian who was out all day with his gig killed only one salmon.  Besides the four fish procured from the Indians, captain Clarke obtained some fishroe in exchange for three small fish-hooks, the use of which he taught them, and which they very readily comprehended.  All the men who are not engaged in hunting, are occupied in making pack-saddles for the horses which captain Lewis informed us he had bought.

August 20.  Two hunters were despatched early in the morning, but they returned without killing any thing, and the only game we procured was a beaver, who was caught last night in a trap which he carried off two miles before he was found.  The fur of this animal is as good as any we have ever seen, nor does it in fact appear to be ever out of season on the upper branches of the Missouri.  This beaver, with several dozen of fine trout, gave us a plentiful subsistence for the day.  The party were occupied chiefly in making pack-saddles, in the manufacture of which we supply the place of nails and boards, by substituting for the first thongs of raw hide, which answer very well; and for boards we use the handles of our oars, and the plank of some boxes, the contents of which we empty into sacks of raw hides made for the purpose.  The Indians who visit us behave with the greatest decorum, and the women are busily engaged in making and mending the moccasins of the party.  As we had still some superfluous baggage which would be too heavy to carry across the mountains, it became necessary to make a cache or deposit.  For this purpose we selected a spot on the bank of the river, three quarters of a mile below the camp, and three men were set to dig it, with a sentinel in the neighbourhood, who was ordered if the natives were to straggle that way, to fire a signal for the workmen to desist and separate.  Towards evening the cache was completed without being perceived by the Indians, and the packages prepared for deposit.