78 ADDRESS. 



Missouri, and of the water offering the best communication with 

 the Pacific Ocean, should also be fixed by observation; and the 

 course of that water to the ocean, in the same manner as that of 

 the Missouri. 



"Your observations are to be taken with great pains and accu- 

 racy; to be entered distinctly and intelligibly for others as well as 

 yourself; to comprehend all the elements necessary, with the aid 

 of the usual tables, to fix the latitude and longitude of the places at 

 which they were taken ; and are to be rendered to the war office, 

 for the purpose of having the calculations made concurrently by 

 proper persons within the United States. Several copies of these, 

 as well as of your other notes, should be made at leisure times, 

 and put into the care of your most trustworthy attendants to 

 guard, by multiplying them against the accidental losses to which 

 they will be exposed. A further guard would be, that one of 

 these copies be on the cuticular membranes of the paper-birch, as 

 less liable to injury from damp than common paper. 



"The commerce which may be carried on with the people in- 

 habiting the line you will pursue, renders a knowledge of those 

 people important. You will, therefore, endeavour to make your- 

 self acquainted, as far as a diligent pursuit of your journey shall 

 admit, with the names of the nations and their numbers ; 



"The extent and limits of their possessions ; 



" Their relations with other tribes or nations ; 



"Their language, traditions, monuments; 



"Their ordinary occupations in agriculture, fishing, hunting, 

 war, arts, and the implements for these ; 



"Their food, clothing, and domestic accommodations ; 



"The diseases prevalent among them, and the remedies they 

 use ; 



"Moral and physical circumstances which distinguish them from 

 the tribes we know ; 



"Peculiarities in their laws, customs, and dispositions; 





