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April 25, 1806 "This morning we collected our horses and set out at 9 AM and proceeded on 11 ms. to the Village of the Pish-quit-pahs* of 51 mat lodges where we arrived at 2 PM purchased five dogs and some wood form them and took dinner. this village contains about 7 hundred souls. most of those people were in the plains at a distance from the river as we passed down last fall, they had now therefore the gratification of beholding whitemen for the first time. while here they flocked arround us in great numbers tho' treated us with much rispect. we have two medals of the small size to their two principal Cheifs who were pointed out to us by our Chopunnish fellow traveller and were acknowledged by the nation. we exposed a few old clothes my dirk** and Capt. C's swoard to barter for horses but were unsuccessfull these articles constitute at present our principal stock in trade. we continued our rout where finding as many willows as would answer our purpose for fuel we encamped for the evening" Pish-quit-pahs* - Following James Mooney, Hodge suggests that these Indians were a band of the Yakimas, the Pisquows, who were Salishan speakers. But he also states that they were Shahaptian speakers based on their location. my dirk** - A dirk was a long, straight-bladed knife of a type carried by Scottish highlanders, or a short sword used by naval midshipmen. Lewis had obtained a naval dirk for use on the expedition but inadvertantly left it behind and declined to have it forwarded by Jefferson. The party was equipped with some sort of long knife made at Harpers Ferry, of which no specimens are now known; this may be what he refers to here - Lewis to Jefferson, July 22, 1803.
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