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