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Show [ 174 J 140 the 'Produetion of a modern volcano, and huving ~ll the appearance of the lio-hter scoriaccous lavas of Mount 1Etna, Vesnvms, and other volcanoes. Tlte faces of the walls were reddened and glazed by the fire, in which they had been 1nelted, and which had left them contorted and twisted by its violent action. Our route dUl·iug the afternoon was a little rough, being (in thr. direction we had taken) over a volcanic plain, where our progress was sometimes -obstructed by fissures, and black beds composed of fragments of the rock. On both sides, the 1nountains appeared very broken, but tolerably well timbered. .Jiuooust ~6.-Crossing a point of ridge which makes in to the river, we fell u1~on it again before sunset, aud cucampcd on the right bank, opposite to the encampment of three louges of Snake Indians. They visited us , during the evening, and we obtained from them a small quautity of roots of different kinds, iu exchange for goods. Among them was a sweet root of very plcasaut flavor, having somewhat the ta. te of preserved quince. My endeavors to become acquainted with the plants which furnish to the Indians a portion of their support were only gradually successful, ancl after long and persevering attention; il.lld even after ohtaining, I <lid not succeed in preserviug them until they could be satisfactorily determined. In this portion of the journey, I found tlJis particular root cnt up iuto such small pieces, that it was only to be identified by its taste, when the bulb was met with in perfect form among the Indians lower down on the Columbia, among whom it is the highly celebrated kamas. It was long afterwards, on our return through U ppcr California, that I fonnu the plant itself in bloom, which I suppo5ed to furnish the kamas root, (camassia escuJenta.) The root diet had a rather mournfnl effect at the commencement, and one of the calves was killed this eveniug for food. The animals ' fared well on rushes. .fl.ugust 27.-The morning was cloudy, with appearance of rain, and the thermo~eter at sunrise at 29°. lVIaking an unusually early start, w.e cro~sed the river at a goo<l ford; and, followiug for about three hours a tr~1l \~luch led along the bottom, we c11tcred a labyrinth of hill. below the roam n~ge, and halted to noon in _the ravine of a pretty little stream, timbered With cottonwood of a large s1ze, ash. leaved maple, with cherry and other sl~rubb~ trees. '~he hazy weather, which bad prevented any very cxtcuded VIews s1~ce ent?n~g the Green river valley, began now to disappear. There was a slight ra~n m the earlier part of the day, alid at noo11 , when the ther· m~meter ha~ nscn to 7?.5°, we had a bright sun, with blue sl<y and sc.atteted cumult. Accordmg to the barometer onr halt here amono- the hills was at an e Io vati.O n o f 5,320 feet. Crossincr' a dividino- ridcre in b the after· noon, 'Ye followed down another little B~ar river trfhuta~y, to the po~nt where lt emerged on an open green fiat amona the hills timbered w1th ~.roves, and .bordered with car1e thickets, but witl~out water.' A pretty little uyulet, c~mmg out of th.e hill side) and overhung by tall flowering pla.nts of a spec1es I had not hitherto seen furnished us with a good campwg pla~e. The evening was cloudy, th; temperature at sunset 69°, and the ele~ atwn 5,140 feet. Among the plants occurrina alona the line of road durmg the day, epinettes cles prairies (grindelia ~qnarr~sa) was in considerable abundance, and is .among the very few plants remaining in bloomthe whole coun try havmg now an autumnal appearance, in the crisped and 141 [ 174 ] yellow plants. and dried-up gra~scs. Many cranes were seen durincr the day, w·ith a few antelope, very shy and wild. 5 .llugust 28.-During the night we had a thunder storm with moderate rai.n, w·hich 0 has ma~e the air this morning very clear, the thermometer bemg ~t 55 . ~ea vmg our encampme.nt at the Cane sp'ring, aud q uittiugthe trail on whlCh we had been travelling, and \vhich \Vould probably have ~fforded us a goo,d road t~ the lak~, we crossed sof!le very deep ravines, and, m abont an ho~r s t.ravell~ng, agam reached the rtver. We were now in a valley five or stx 1n1les wtde, between Jnountain ranges, wl1ich about thirty ~iles below, appeared to close up n,n~ terwin~te the ~alley, le~ving for th~ nver o11ly a very narrow pass, or canon, bchmd whiCh we imagined that we should .find the broad waters of the lake. vVo made the usual halt at the mouth of a small clear stream, having a slightly n1ineral taste (perhaps of salt,) 4,76~ fe~t above the gulf. In th.e ~fternoon we climb'ed a verr steep saudy lull ; and, after a slow and Windwg <lay's march of 27 miles, encamped at a slo~gh on the river. 1'here were great quantities of gce ... e and ducks, of whi?h only a few were shot; the Indiaus havin~ probably mad~ them very wtld. The.~en empl?yed thems.elves in .fishing, but cauglit nothmg. A skunk, ( meplutzs .l.lmcrzcana,) w h1ch was killed in the after)~ oon, ma~e a supper for one of the messes. The river is bordered occuswnally wnh fields of cane, which we regarded as an indication of our approac~ to a lake country. We had frequent showers of rain during th mght, with thuuder. .flugust 29.-The thermometer at sunrise was 54° with air fr01n the N~., and d. ark ra~uy clouds moving on the horizo~1 ; rain squalls and bright sunshu~e ~y 1utervals. I ro?e ahead with Basil to explore the country, ~nd, co~ltunnng about three mlles aloug the river, turned directly off' ou a trail runn~ng to'\vards three marked gap~ in the bordering rauge, where the.mountams appeared cut through to their bases, towards which tlH" rive1 pla~u 1;osc gradually. Putting our hoJses into a gallop on some fresh track .. Which showed very plainly in. the wet path, we came suddeuly upon a small party of Shoshonee Indtans, who had fallen into the trail fron1 the ~orth. We co~ld on I~ comr.ounicat~ by signs; but they made us under. and that the 1oad thiough the chall1 was a very excellent oue leadiua m:o a broad valley which ran to the southward. We halted to 'noon a~ h lat may be.called the gate of the pass; on either side of which were W~lgthc mounta. m·s of roc·k ,· between which stole a little pure water strea111 • 1 . o. margm JUSt sufiicJentJy large for our pnssaae. From the river the P am ~ad gradually risen to an altitude of 5,500 f~et aud by meridi~:u{ ob-servatwn, the latitude of the eutruncc was 42° ' ' I h · . • 11 t e mterval of our usual halt, several of us wandered alono- np Lhe streadm to examine the pass more at leisure. Within the gate the rocks ~fee ed a li~tle back., leaving a very narrow, but mos;t beautiful vallev ;rough whtch the httle stream wound its way, hidden by dificreut kinds ~ trees and shrubs-aspen, maple, willow, cherry, and elder; a fine vers ·~rc 0~ smooth sho1·t grass s;pread over the remaining space to the bare t~ es 0 the. rocky walls. These were of a blue limestone, which constitute~ er el mo'.~ntaltl here; and opening directly on the grassy bottom were sevsiSe ~~.nons cav,~s, which appeared to be inhabited by root diggers. On 011e at d 1 .ts gathered a hoap of leaves for a bed, uud they were dry open tl~tl P1.casaht. On the l't)O{s or the caves I 1·onuuked bittanin~us ~xudu : · s rorn the rock. |