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CuriosityAnother aspect of York's participation in the expedition was as an object of curiosity to the Indian tribes that the men encountered. Clark recorded on October 9, 1804 that "The Indians [are] much astonished at my black servant and call him the big medicine. This nation never saw a black man before." The following day Clark repeated this information, continuing by saying that York "made himself more terrible in their view than I wished him to do, as I am told, telling them that before I caught him he was wild & lived upon people, [that] young children was very good eating. Showed them his strength &c. &c." "All flocked around him & examined him from top to toe. He carried on the joke and made himself more terrible than we wished him to do." Sgt. John Ordway added that "All the nation made a great deal of him. The children would follow after him, & if he turned towards them they would run from him & hollow as if they were terrified, & afraid of him." Altogether, it seems that York had a great deal of fun with the Indian peoples he encountered. They did not look upon him as a slave or as a mere man, but as an extraordinary creature more interesting and elevated than any of his companions.