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Show ~!6 Chopunnisb, with whom we left them, intcml crossing the mountains as early as possible, which is about the brginning of May, and they would take our horses with them, ot· suffer them to disperse, in either of which cases tho pas age or the mountains will be almost imllracticablc. 'Vc thcrol'ore, after much deliberation, decided to remain here till we collect meat enough to last us till we reach the Chopunnish na. tion, to obtain eauoes from the natives as we asceml, cithct' in exchange for our I>eriougues, ot· by purchasing them with skins and merchandise. These canoes may in tu1·n be cxehaugcd for llOrscs with the natives of the Jllains, till we outain enough to h·avel altogether by land. On reaching tho southeast bt·anch of the Columbia, four or five men shall be sent on to tho Chopunnish to ha.vc our horses in rcadines , and thus we shaH have a stock of horses sufficient to transport out• baggage and to supply us with }>rovisions, for we now t>erceive Umt they will form our only certain resource for food. rfhc huntCl'S returned f1·om the opposite side of the riVCl' with some clcer ami elk, which were abundant there, as were nlso the tracks of t.hc black beat·; while on the north side '\e coultl kill nothing. In the course of our dealings to-day we 1mrclaascd a ca· noe f1·om an Indian, ror whieh we gave six fathom of wampum bends. He seemed perfectly satisfied aml went away, but returned soon al'tc1·, ca.ncellcd the bargain, an<l giving back the wampum requested that we would restore him the Canoe. rro this '"C consented, as WC knew this mclhotl of tt·ading to be very common and deemed perfectly f;Lit·. 'V cdnesday, .2. Deing now determined to collect as much meat as }lossiblc, two pal'tics, consisting of nine men, were sent over the riv~· to hunt, tht·ce were ot·dcrcd to range tlw countt·y on this side, whHc all the rest were employed in cutting and scaffolding the meat which we had already. About eight o'clock several canoes arrived to visit us, and among the rest Wei'C two young mrn, WJao wcrr. JlOinfrtJ out ~S c~~ • lwoks. On iuqui1·y, they said that their· nation resided at the falls of a la1·ge rivet·, whil'h mnptics itsclfinto t.he soutlt side of the Columbia., a few miles below us, and they drew a. map of the country, with a (~oal on a. mat. In ot·drr to vc1·ity this iut'ot·umtion. captain Cla1·l c pct•suaclecl one of th 'young men, by a present of a bu1·ning-glass, to a ccompany him to the rivet·, in St!-arch of which he immetliatdy set out w Hh u canoe and seven of ou1• men. Al'tet· his departure other canoes at'l'ived l't'Oill above, bringing families of women and (•hildt1cn, who conHrme<l the accounts of a sc•u·city of pt·ovi;" sions. One of these families, eon~isting of ten or twelve }lct·sons, encamped n~ar us, aud heha.vetl pct·fectly well. 'l'he huntet·s ou this side of the rive1·, returned with the skins oi' only two dcet·, the nni mals being too poor for use. Thu1·sday, s. A considm·aiJle numhe1· of Indians Cl'owdcd us to-day, many of whom came ft·om the upj>Ct' Jlal't ot' th" river. 'rhcsc poo1· wretches confit·m the t•cpot·ts of scat·city among the uations above; which, indred, thei1· appe~U'ance sufficiently J>rovc, fot· they seem almost starved, ami gt·eedily pick the bones and t•cfuse meat tlu·own away by us. Iu the evening captain Chu·ke l'Ctul'nrd 1'1•om his t•xcursion. On setting out yeste1·day at half past eleven o'clock, l1e directed his COUJ·se along the SOUlh side or t lac l'iVCl', Whcl'C, at the <li~tance or ei;.;ht ruiles, Jw pa.SSt:'d a Yillagc of the Neehacohcc o·i~c, bclouging to the .Eioot nation. 'rhe villahc itself is smeLl I, and ~cing situated (,·hind Diamond island, was concealed from oUl-' view as wo passed hoth times along the no1·thcrn shore. He continued till threl' o'cJocky 'vhcn he landed at the sius-le house ah·cady wcntionNl, as tlw only remains of a village of twenty-four straw huts. Along the shor·e WCI'c gr·eat num~crs of small canoes fot· gathering wappntoo, which wt~re left fJy t )Je Slmhalas, who v jsit tuc place annually. 'l'h.e p1•ese:mt inU.auitauts of the house arc pat·t of the Nl·c•·chokioo t1'ihe or the same nation. On cntct•ing one of the al>at·tmctJts of the house, cap- 1nin Clal·kc om~l't:'Cl scvct·al a.l·tit:le:t (C~ 1lw I.ndia-ns, i;n f'~ · YOL, H. • r. f • |