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Show [ 174 J 174 . · his arrival at this post, he had unsuccessfully en-that, every y:url stnct~esc peOf>lc to lay up a store of salmon for their winter deavorcd to me ucc 11 . · WJ ·1 tl · h l I· ·t d tl l' d o summer weather and t c sa mon t\S c , 1ey tve PI'OVIS• lOll II e k d 'fl' h h 1· 1 1 1 . >r'ly scattered aloncr the 1 erent streams w ere t e contentcc Y anc ltlJ>J ' · ' 0 · b f 11 I' 1 fish were to bc f.o un d., and as soon as the w1ntcr snows eg~m to a , rt! e t • • ,I -, I ld b smokes wou I<I I) C See n risln<..r., among the mou· ntmns, V\ i 1e1 c t t1' cy wou de found 1·1 1 m.r· scra bl c gr ·oups , s"' tarvincbr out the wmtcr; ant . some unes, accor . 1 . • 1 ··ll)el'ef reduced to the horror of canntba tsm-t1 1e strong, 111 cr t 0 l l e ere 11 C 1 a I , . . · 1 d ' t 0 of course, t~p t . cym· g 01~• tl1e weak ·. Certam tt a. s, t 1cy. are· nv1 e· n . o1 a ny ex- tremr·t y f' or . fo o<1 ' a. n <I c·..' t e,v ery wsed ' and every cr ecprnIg t 11ng,d 1o.w Ie vIe r }oat hs ome an d r. c pu \c·: :1'vc · S~ na< ils ' liz~ ards ' ants-all are < evourc wtt 1 t 1e read inc. s and greediness ot mere an_tmals. . . . J n common w· t't ll ,a ll tl1e other lndl 'lnS we had encountered .. InCC teach· l , l 1 ' in t\w Pacific \\'aters, these people use th? Shoshonee or ~na <:e ~n&t:ag~, w ~ ic h you wi 11 have occasion to remark, m . th c :o urse of the n au atn e, IS the universal lan~ua~e over a V( ry extrns1' e • et:-100. . On the evening of the lOth, I obtaine(.l, with th? usual obscr~at~ons,a very excellent emcrsion of the first satellrtc, agree.mg ver~ ne:Hl) '":'1th :~: chronometer. From these observations, the longitude of t}1e fort IS 1 47' OO"; latitude 43° 49' 22", and elevation ahoy~ the sC'a 2,~00 fe.e~. . Sitting by the fire on the river bank, ar~d V\~c.utmg. for: the ammers~on of the satellite which did not take plaee uutrl after n11dntght, we he:ud tl~e monotonous' song of thC Indians, with which they accompany a CCidbln game of which they are very foud. Of the poetry we could not JU ge, but the music was miserable. . , . . October I I.-The mortling was clear, w1th a ltght bre ze from the ea~1, and a temperature at sunrise of 3~ 0 • • A part of~~ bullo~k purcha~ed0:1 ~1: fort tocrether with the boat to ass 1st hun 111 crossw~, w tiS left ~ 01 e t 1 . Fit~pa~·ick and at II o'clocl we resumed our journey ; and du·ect Y e;'d ing the rive~, and crossing the artemisia plain, in several ascents we real·\ the foot of a ridge where the toad entered a dry sandy hollow, up ~ 1.11c it continued to the' head; and, crossm· g a () l' VI' dt'n p; 11· d ge, crt tered·IS: ilntar one. We met here two poor emigi·ants,( lrishmcn,)who had lost lh~1r 1w rs:s two da) s since-probably stolen by the Indians; and were rcturnu·t~to \ 1 ~ fort, in hopes to hear something of them t?ere. They had recently ht .~~~e~r ing to eat; and I halted to unpack an ammal, and ~ave them meath~~ 'des dinner. J n this hollow, the artemisia is partially drsplaced on th~ 1R.51iere by grass· and descend in{)' it- miles about sunset we reached t te w aux M'al'l teurs, (the unfobr tunate or u' nlucky river,) a.const· 0 era ble fs treatmer,. with an aver:.H!c breadth of 50 feet and at this time, I 8 mches depth 0 wa d The bottom..... lands were g<?ner 'a lly 'o ne and a half 1111·1 e b roa d' coffvi e.r en t principally with long dry grass· and we had difficulty to fmd sfu chte good grass for the camp. \Va. th t, he excepti.O n o f a b. a d P.l ac~ of a reeawch tt1 h0e • dred yards long, v.·hich occurred in rounding a pomt of hall to ford of the river, the road during the day had been very good: tel' at Oclo!Jcr l ~.-The morning was clear and calm, and the thell.nr~e·de of sunrise 23°. My attention was attracted by a smoke on the ng 1 81r the the river, a little below the ford where I found on the low hank, netare of water, a const'd erab 1e number o(~ hot spn·n ~s, m· w 111 ·< .' Il t.h e tcmr>·eIr n du f ool, the water was 193°. The ground whic·h was too hot for the 111~\e 11 n()(l was covered above aud below the s' prings with an U. H:rustatw· n 0 con salt, very white and good, and fine grained. • 175 [ 174 J Leading for 5 miles up a broad dry branch of the Malheurs river, fhe road entered a sandy hollow, where the surface was rendered firm by the admixture of other rock; being good and level until arriving ncar the head of the ravine, where it became a little rocky, and we met with u 11umher of sharp ascents over an undulating surface. Crossin~ here a dividing rid<rc it became an excellent road of gradual descent dow11 a very marked hollo~·; in which, after 10 miles, willows be~an to appear in the dry bed of a head of the Riviere aux Rouleaux, ( Bireh river;) and dllscending 7 miles, we found, at its junction with another branch, a Jittle watC~r, not very good or abundant, but sumcient in case of necessity for a camp. Crossin<r Birch river, we continued for about 4 miles across a point of hill; the cou~1try on the left hcing entirely mountainous, with no level spot to be seen; whence we descended to Snake river-here a fine-looking stream, wjth a large body of water and a smooth current; although we hear the roar, and see below us the commencement of rapids where it enter among the hills. It fo1 ms here a dec~ ba}:, with a low sand island in the rniust; and its course among the mountaws IS agreeably exchanged for the black volcanic rock. The weather during the day had been very bright and extremely hot; but, as usual, so soon as the sun went down, it was necessary to put on overcoats. 1 obtained this evening an observation of an emcrsion of the first satellite, und our· observations of the evening place this encampment in latitude 44o 17' 36", and longitude 116° 56' 45", which is the mean of the results from the satellite and chronometer. The elevation above the sea 1 880 feet. At this encampment, tbe grass is scanty and poor. , October 13.-The morning was bright, with the temperature at sunset 28o. The horses had strayed oil' during the night, probably in earch o( grass; and, after a consiucrablc delay, we had succeeded in findincr all but two, when, ab~ut 9 o'clock, we heard the sound of an Jndian s~ng ~nd d.rum appro~clnn~; and shortly after, three Cay usc 1 nd iaus appeared in stg~t, bnng1ng Wlth them the two animals. They belonged to a party W~tch had been on a buffalo hunt in the neighbor hood of the Hocky mountams, and were hunying home in ~dvnnce. We presented them with some tobacco, and other things, with which they appeared well satisfied and~ moderating their pace, travelled jtJ company with us. ' We were. no~v about to leave the valley of the great southern branch of the Columbta nvcr, to which the absence of timber and the scarcity of water,.g~ve the appearance of a desert, to enter a mou;tainous region where t~le sorlts good, and in which the face of the country is covered with nutrihot~ s grasses and dense forest-land embracing maoy varieties of trees peculiar to the country, and on which the timber exhibits a luxuriance of growth .unknown tp ~ho eastern part of the continent and to Europe. This ~ountawous region connects it:sel(' in the southward and westward with t e ~levated country belonging to the Cascade or California range ; and, ~will ~e remarked in the course of the narrative, forms the eastern limit of t 1 edfeJttl~ a?d timber cd lands along the desert and mountainous region inrc: uf. 0e1 1 Wlthtn the Great Basin-a term which I apply to the intermediate b.e~wee~ the Rocky mountains and the next range, containing many is t~s, w~.t ~heH· own system of rivers and creeks, (of which the Great Salt rive~ P\•~crpal,) ?nd which have no connexion wit~ the ocean, or the great And'1;/rch flow.r~to it. This (ircnt Basin is yet !o bo adequat<:ly explored. tai th c, on qulttrng the banks of a sterile tiver, to enter on arable moun-ns, e remark may be made, that, on this western slope of otu continent, |
