Here, too, they began to find salt springs, or "salt licks," to which
many wild animals resorted for salt, of which they were very fond.
Saline County, Missouri, perpetuates the name given to the region by
Lewis and Clark. Traces of buffalo were also found here, and occasional
wandering traders told them that the Indians had begun to hunt the
buffalo now that the grass had become abundant enough to attract this
big game from regions lying further south.

By the tenth of June the party had entered the country of the Ayauway
nation. This was an easy way of spelling the word now familiar to us
as "Iowa." But before that spelling was reached, it was Ayaway, Ayahwa,
Iawai, Iaway, and soon. The remnants of this once powerful tribe now
number scarcely two hundred persons. In Lewis and Clark's time, they
were a large nation, with several hundred warriors, and were constantly
at war with their neighbors. Game here grew still more abundant, and in
addition to deer and bear the hunters brought in a raccoon. One of these
hunters brought into camp a wild tale of a snake which, he said, "made
a guttural noise like a turkey." One of the French voyageurs confirmed
this story; but the croaking snake was never found and identified.

On the twenty-fourth of June the explorers halted to prepare some of the
meat which their hunters brought in. Numerous herds of deer were feeding
on the abundant grass and young willows that grew along the river banks.
The meat, cut in small strips, or ribbons, was dried quickly in the hot
sun. This was called "jirked" meat. Later on the word was corrupted into
"jerked," and "jerked beef" is not unknown at the present day. The verb
"jerk" is corrupted from the Chilian word, charqui, meaning sun-dried
meat; but it is not easy to explain how the Chilian word got into the
Northwest.