Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
December 28, 1809
Primary Source Reference:
Peale Museum Accessions Book, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, p. 44
Additional Source Text:
"And other Indian Nations west of the Rocky mountains and is called by them cows [cous]. it is prepared from the bulb of an umbellaferous plant to which they give the same name -- these bulbs are pounded between two stones while in a succulent state and then exposed to the sun untill dry when they assume the appearance and consistence of this specimen. This article for many weeks constituted the principal part of the food of Lewis and party, while in that country."
This artifact appears on a long list of "Articles collected by Meriwether Lewis Esqr. and William Clark Esq. in their voyage and Journey of Discovery, up the Missouri to its source and to the Pacific Ocean, presented at different periods, through the president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson."
Notes:
Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809) and William Clark (1770-1838) undertook their western Expedition in 1804-1806.
The bread was made from the bulb of the Lomatium cous, a perennial herb of the family Apiaceae whose root is prized as a food by the tribes of the southern plateau of the Pacific Northwest.
See the article "Cous" at http://www.lewis-clark.org/article/2776#
