white meal.  Its flavour is not unlike that of aniseed, though less pungent.  From one to four of these knobbed roots are attached to a single stem which rises to the height of three or four feet, and is jointed, smooth, cylindric, and has several small peduncles, one at each joint above the sheathing leaf.  Its colour is a deep green, as is also that of the leaf, which is sheathing, sessile, and polipartite, the divisions being long and narrow.  The flowers, which are now in bloom, are small and numerous, with white and umbellifferous petals:  there are no root leaves.  As soon as the seeds have matured, the roots of the present year as well as the stem decline, and are renewed in the succeeding spring from the little knot which unites the roots.  The sunflower is also abundant here, and the seeds, which are now ripe, are gathered in considerable quantities, and after being pounded and rubbed between smooth stones, form a kind of meal, which is a favourite dish among the Indians.

After dinner we continued our route and were soon met by a party of young men on horseback, who turned with us and went to the village.  As soon as we were within sight of it, Cameahwait requested that we would discharge our guns; the men were therefore drawn up in a single rank, and gave a running fire of two rounds, to the great satisfaction of the Indians.  We then proceeded to the encampment where we arrived about six o’clock, and were conducted to the leathern lodge in the centre of thirty-two others made of brush.  The baggage was arranged near this tent, which captain Lewis occupied, and surrounded by those of the men so as to secure it from pillage.  This camp was in a beautiful smooth meadow near the river, and about three miles above their camp when we first visited the Indians.  We here found Colter, who had been sent by captain Clarke with a note apprising us that there were no hopes of a passage by water, and that the most practicable route seemed to be that mentioned by his guide, towards the north.  Whatever road we meant to take, it was now necessary to provide ourselves with horses; we therefore informed Cameahwait of our intention of going to the great river beyond the mountains, and that we would wish to purchase twenty more horses:  he said the Minnetarees had stolen a great number of their horses this spring, but he still hoped they could spare us that number.  In order not to loose the present favourable moment, and to keep the Indians as cheerful as possible, the violins were brought out and our men danced to the great diversion of the Indians.  This mirth was the more welcome because our situation was not precisely that which would most dispose us for gayety, for we have only a little parched corn to eat, and our means of subsistence or of success, depend on the wavering temper of the natives, who may change their minds to-morrow.