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this praries are covred with them they are unclear like potatoes when cooked and they have a curious way of cooking them. they have places made in fo? of a unclear ?oal pit & they heat stone in the pit then put straw over the stone then water to raise a steem. then they put on large loves of the pounded potatoes and 8 or 10 bushels of potatoes on at once then cover them with wet straw and earth in that way they sweat them untill they are cooked and when they take them out they pound some of them up fine and make them in loaves and cakes. they dry the cakes and string them on strings in such a way that they would keep a year & handy to carry unclear journey. Capt Clark arived here this evening and informed us that he had been on a branch of the Columbian RIver where it was navigable for canoes and only about unclear miles from this place & a good road. the hunters stayed at the river to hunt. one of them had killed 2 deer at the river the natives gave us some excelent fat sammon to eat with the root or potatoe bread? Monday 23rd Sept 1805. a clear pleasant morning we purchases considerable quantity of sammon and root or potatoe bread from the natives. these natives are now? at war with some other nations to the west and they most of the warries are mostly gone to war and the women are engaged laying up food for the winter as they tell us that they intend going over to Missourie in the spring after the buffaloe &c. Some of the natives have copper kittles and beads a fiew knives &c. which they tell us that they got from the traders to the west which must have come from the western ocean. they are verry fond of