MAY 11

saw today some high hills on the Stard. whose summits were covered with pine. Capt Clark went on shore and visited them; he brought with him on his return som of the boughs of this pine it is of the pitch kind but I think the leaves somewhat longer than ours in Virginia.

[Probably northeast of what is now The Pines Recreation Area, in Valley County, Montana, on the edge of Fort Peck Lake. The needles of this pine, Pinus ponderosa Laws., ponderosa pine, are indeed longer than the pitch-pine, P. rigida Mill., with which Lewis was familiar from Virginia.]

Capt C. also in his walk killed 2 Mule deer a beaver and two Buffaloe; these last he killed about 3 miles above where we encamped this evening in the expectation that we would reach that place, but we were unable to do so from
the adverse winds and other occurrences, and he came down and joined us about dark.

my attention was struck by one of the Party runing at a distance towards us and making signs and hollowing as if in distress, I ordered the perogues to put too, and waited untill he arrived; I now found that it was Bratton the man with the soar hand whom I had permitted to walk on shore, he arrived so much out of breath that it was several minutes before he could tell what had happened; at length he informed me that in the woody bottom on the Lard. side about 1½ below us he had shot a brown bear which immediately turned on him and pursued him a considerable distance but he had wounded it so badly that it could not overtake him;

I immediately turned out with seven of the party in quest of this monster, we at length found his trale and persued him about a mile by the blood through very thick brush of rosbushes and the large leafed willow; we finally found him concealed in some very thick brush and shot him through the skull with two balls; we proceeded dress him as soon as possible, we found him in good
order; it was a monstrous beast, not quite so large as that we killed a few days past but in all other rispects much the same the hair is remarkably long fine
and rich tho' he appears parshally to have discharged his winter coat; we now found that Bratton had shot him through the center of the lungs, notwithstanding which he had pursued him near half a mile and had returned more than double that distance and with his tallons had prepared himself a bed in the earth of about 2 feet deep and five long and was perfectly alive when we found him which could not have been less than 2 hours after he received the wound;

many of the natives apply to us for medical aid which we gave them cheerfully so far as our skill and store of medicine would enable us. schrofela, [tuberculosis of the lymph glands] ulsers, rheumatism, soar eyes, and the loss of the uce of their limbs are the most common cases among them.

The Chopunnish notwithstanding they live in the crouded manner before mentioned are much more clenly in their persons and habitations than any nation we have seen since we left the Ottoes on the river Platte.—