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Show 60 Lewis antt Cla1·T~c's Expctlilwn nnd well supplied with woo(\. The Jndians whom we left at the portage llasscd us, on their way down the river. and even others who were dcsecnding in a e.anot• for the purpo cor t1·ading below, cncu.mpcd with us. 'V c hatl madl~ f1·om the foot of the great shoot twenty-nine miles to-day. The ebbtide rose at our cam}' ahont nine inches, the flood must 1·ise much higher. 'Ve saw grcat numbers of water-fowl. such as swan, geese, du(.'.ks of various kinds, gulls, J>lovel', and the white and gray [))'ant, of which last we ldllcd eighteen. Sunday 3. We were (lctaincd until ten o'clock IJy a fog so thick that a man could not be discerned at the distance of fifty stcps. As soon as it clcarcd off we set out in company with our new Indian acquaintances, who came from a vii~ lage ncar the great falls. 1'hc low gt'ounds along the river arc covered ~o thiekJy with rushes, vines, and other· small growth, tlaat thcJ' c.u·c almost impa~sa.blc. At the distance of tht·ec miles "c rca<•hcd Ha<· uwuth or a. river on the Jcfl, lvhich seemed to lose its watcrs in a sandbal' opposite; tllC stream Hsclf being only a few in(~hes in de]>th. nut on attempting to wade aero ·s, we discoYcrcd tl•~t the bed was a Ycry bad quicksand, too deep to be passed on foot. We went up a mile and a half to examine this river. and found it to be at this distance a. vcl'y con idet·a.ulc stt·ram one hundred and twenty ym·ds wide at its nal'l'owcst part, wHh seve~ ral small islands. Its character resembles very much that or the river Platte. It dr·ives its quicl~sand OVCl' the low grounds with great impetuosity, and sue\11 is the quantity of coarse sand which it discharges, that the accumul~tion has formed a large sandbar ot· island, three miles long. and a milo and a half wide, which divides the waters of the (~uicksand J'ivcr into two channels. 'This sancl island com· }lresses the Columbia within a space of half a mile, a.nd throws its whole cur·rent against the right shore. Opposite to this river, which we call Quic~s~nd river, is a large creek to which we gave the name of Seal river. 'l'he first appear's to 1•ass tlu·ough the low country, at the foot of the bigb Up tltc Missouri. range of mountains towat·ds the southeast. while the second as W<'ll as all the lat•ge cre.-ks on the l'ight side of tht- Columuia. rise in the same ridge of mountains N. N. E. from H1is place. The mountain. \vhich we have SUJlposed to be the mount Hood of Vancouver, bear S. 8&0 E. about forty-s~ven miles h·om the mouth of the Quicksand river. Aftel' dinnei" we proceeded. and at tbe distance of three miles reached the lower mouth of Quicksand r·ivcr. On the OJ>posite side a large ct•eek falls in ncar the bcad of an island, which ex~ tends for tht·cc miles and a half down the river; it is a mile and a half in width, 1·ocky at the upper end, has some timbeJ · •·ound its bordt•rs, but in the middl(• is open and has seve .. ral I>omls. llalf a mile lower is another island in the middle of tbe river, to which fl'om its appearance we gave the name of Diamond island. Ilcre we met fifteen Indians asccmling the river in two canoes, but the only information we could procure from them was. that they had seen three vessels, which we pt·esume to be European, at the mouth of the Columbia. We went along its right side for three miles, and encamped opposite to it, after making to-day thirteen miles. A canoe soon after arrived from the village at the foot of the Jast rapid, with an Indian and his family, consisting of a wife, three children, and a woman who had been taken pt·i .. som•r f'rom the Snake Indians, living on a river from the nouth, which we aftcrwar·ds found to he the Multnomah. Sa(•.ajawca was immediatlcly intl·oduced to he~·, in hot>CS that being a Snake Indian also, they might understand each other, but their language was not sufficiently intclligible to pct·mit them to converse together. The Indian laad a gun with a bi'ass barrel and cock, which be appeared to value Vei'Y highly. Dclow Quicksand river· the countr·y is low, rich aml thickly wooded on each side of the r.ivct·: the islands have less timber, but arc furnished with a numucr of ponds ncar which are vast quantities of fowls, such as swan, ~ccsc, brauts, cranes, storl\.s, white gulls, col'tnorants and plover. The river is wide, and contains a great number of sea otters. |