SACAJAWEA ON THE OCEAN BEACH.
The party made a winter camp at the mouth of the Columbia River.
They called it Fort Clatsop.
The Indians near-by were the Clatsop tribe.
These Indians gave the whites some whale blubber.
They said that a whale was on the ocean beach.
Captain Clark and some men got ready to go to see it.
Sacajawea came to Captain Clark and said, "May I go, too?
I have come over the mountains with you to find the Great Water and I
have not been to it yet.
Now I would see the Big Animal and the Great Water, too."
Captain Clark was glad to have her go.
He wrote in his book that this was the only time she asked for anything.
She took her baby on her back and walked with Captain Clark.
When she got near the ocean, she was afraid.
The noise seemed to her like thunder.
She always had been afraid of thunder.
When she saw the waves, she was afraid they would come over the earth.
She had never before seen any big body of water.
She had seen only rivers and ponds.
The ocean looked very big.
She would not go near the waves.
Then Captain Clark showed her the high water line.
He told her that the waves would not go over that line.
She sat down on the sand with her baby in her lap.
She watched the waves a long time.
Then she was not afraid.
She walked out to the waves.
When they came to shore, she ran before them.
She let them come over her feet.
She took some ocean water in her hand and tasted it.
She did not like its salt taste.
But she did like to run after the waves.
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