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This morning the Sergt. of the Guard reported the absence of one of the large perogues, it had broken the chord by which it was attatched and the tide had taken it off; we sent a party immediately in surch of her, they returned in about 3 hours having fortunately found her. we now directed three of the perogues to be drawn up out of reach of the tide and the fourth to be mored in the small branch just above the landing and confined with a strong rope of Elk-skin. had we lost this perogue also we should have been obliged to make three small ones, which with the few tools we have now left would be a serious undertaking. a fatiegue of 6 men employed in jerking the Elk beaf.

Clark. on his return today he cut of several angles of the rout by which we came yesterday, shortened the portage considerably, measured it and set up stakes throughout as guides to marke the rout. he returned this evening to the lower camp in sufficient time to take up two of the canoes from portage creek to the top of the plain about a mile in advance. this evening the men repaired their mockersons, and put on double souls to protect their feet from the prickley pears. during the late rains the buffaloe have troden up the praire very much, which having now become dry the sharp points of earth as hard as frozen ground stand up in such abundance that there is no avoiding them. this is particulary severe on the feet of the men who have not only their own wight to bear in treading on those hacklelike points but have also the addition of the burthen which they draw and which in fact is as much as they can possibly move with. they are obliged to halt and rest frequently for a few minutes, at every halt these poor fellows tumble down and are so much fortiegued that many of them are asleep in an instant; in short their fatiegues are incredible; some are limping from the soreness of their feet, others faint and unable to stand for a few minutes, with heat and fatiegue, yet no one complains, all go with cheerfullness. in evening Reubin Fields returned to the lower camp and informed Capt.

Capt Clark recommended this rout to me from a belief that the river as soon as it past the mountains boar to the N. of W. he having a few days before ascended these mountains to a position from which he discovered a large valley passing betwen the mountains and which boar to the N. West. this however poved to be the inlet of a large creek which discharged itself into the river just above this range of mountans, the river bearing to the S. W. we were therefore thrown several miles out of our rout. as soon as we discovered our mistake we directed our course to the river which we at length gained about 2 P.M. much exhausted by the heat of the day the roughnes of the road and the want of water. the mountains are extreemly bare of timber and our rout lay through the steep valleys exposed to the heat of the sun without shade and scarcely a breath of air; and to add to my fatiegue in this walk of about 11 miles I had taken a doze of glauber salts in the morning in consequence of a slight desentary with which I had been afflicted for several days; being weakened by the disorder and the opperation of the medecine I found myself almost exhausted before we reached the river.

Capt C. recommended this rout to me no doubt from a beleif that the river as soon as it passed this chain of mountains boar to the N. of W. he having on the 26th ult. ascended these mountains to a position from whence he discoved a large valley passing between the mountains which boar to the N. W. and presumed that the river passed in that direction; this however proved to be the passage of a large creek which discharged itself into the river just above this range of mountains, the river bearing to the S. W. we were therefore thrown several miles out of our rout. as soon as we discovered our error we directed our course to the river which we at length gained about 2 P.M. much exhausted by the heat of the day, the roughness of the road and the want of water. the mountains are extreemly bare of timber, and our rout lay through the steep and narrow hollows of the mountains exposed to the intese heat of the midday sun without shade or scarcely a breath of air to add to my fatiegue in this walk of about 11 miles, I had taken a doze of glauber salts in the morning in consequence of a slight disentary with which I had been afflicted for several days. being weakened by the disorder and the operation of the medicine I found myself almost exhausted before we reached the river.

To keep indians in a good humour you must not fatiegue them with too much business at one time. therefore after the council we gave them to eat and amused them a while by shewing them such articles as we thought would be entertaining to them, and then renewed our enquiries with rispect to the country. the information we derived was only a repetition of that they had given me before and in which they appeared to be so candid that I could not avoid yealing confidence to what they had said.

Within half a Mile of the House, we pass'd over a prodigious wide and deep Swamp, being forc'd to strip stark-naked, and much a-do to save our selves from drowning in this Fatiegue.

Clark delayed again this morning untill after breakfast, when he set out and passed between low and rugged mountains which had a few pine trees distributed over them the clifts are formed of limestone and a hard black rock intermixed. no trees on the river, the bottoms narrow river crooked shallow shoally and rapid. the water is as coald as that of the best springs in our country. the men as usual suffered excessively with fatiegue and the coldness of the water to which they were exposed for hours together. at the distance of 6 miles by water they passed the entrance of a bold creek on Stard. side 10 yds. wide and 3 f. 3 i. deep which we called Willard's Creek after Alexander Willard one of our party. at 4 miles by water from their encampment of las evening passed a bold branch which tumbled down a steep precipice of rocks from the mountains on the Lard.