A
gray whale got stranded on a beach while the party was wintering near the Pacific
Ocean among the Clatsop Indians. Clark took some of the party to see the whale and
trade for blubber and oil. Sacajawea insisted on going to see the "monster
fish." Having grown up far from the oceans, she had never seen the ocean nor
heard of whales.
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Imagine
Sacajawea's amazement at the size of this creature. We don't know its exact size,
but gray whales can be much as 43 feet long.
Sacajawea never forgot the "big
fish." After returning home, and for years afterward, she told the story of the
"big fish" to other Indians who lived far from the oceans. They wouldn't
believe her. To many, she was just "the woman with the big fish story."
Would you believe that whales are called
bulls, cows, and calves? |
