OCR Text |
Show is a favourite food of the horses, but at pl'escnt is cithcl' Cf' vot•ed wit.h snow, OL' just making its appearan{'e. There is a t.hird plant peculiar to the same re~ions, and is a species of whortleberry. 'l'here are also large quantities of a spo .. cies of bear-grass, which, though it grows luxuriantly ove1• all these mountains, and preserves its Yertlure during tl1c whole winter, is never eaten hy horses. In the night there came to the ramp a ChopnnnislJ, who bad Jlnrsucd us with a ' 'icw ol' nccompanying us to tho fa11: of tho ~1.issonri. 'Ve now leat•nt that H1e two young lnuiatls ,vhom we had met on t.l•c twrnty- Jil·st, and (letaincd S('Vcra.l days, were going merely on a p~u 'yof}'Jeasure to the Ootlashoots, ot• as they (•all them, Shallccs, a band of Tushcpahs, '""ho live on Clarl"c·s l'iver, near 'l'ravdler's-rest. Ea1·ly ths next mor·ning, Friday, Z7, wo l'csumed our ron(·c oYer the heights aml stcr1> hills of the ~amc great ridg·c. At eight DlHcs diRt:mt•s wo reached au eminence where the Indians have raised a conic mo1md of stone, six or eight feet high, on w1tich is fi"Xcd a 1,olc made of llinc, a.bout fifteen fe<>t. IJe•·o we halted anll smoked for some time at the rcquc i of the In· dians, who told ns, that int•:-tssiug the mountains with their families, some men arc usually sent on foot f•·om this place t.o fish at the entrance of Colt creek, whe11CC. they t•rjoiu the 1naiu pal'ty at the Quamash !-)lade on the heatl of the Koo. · t .. ooskcc. J~'rom this elevatr:1 bpot we have a commandiu;j ' 'iew of the surruuntling monntaius, whid1 !,O completely inclose us, that although we hnxe once pa ·sml them, weal most despair of ever es(•aping f1·oru them" itllout the a sht· anee or the Indians. The mad s Oll the trees. \\hieh }Hhl been our ehid' depentlencc, at•e much fewer a.ml more dW1- cult to be di stit~·ui shcd than we had suppose,!; but our guides travcl''iC 1 his tr~ cklc~s rc~ion with a kind of im,tinc· tive sagacify; tlH'Y nev..-r hesitate, thry an• ucvrt·cmhal'rasr;.r< l; yet sou ndev iating is th ci r st cp, that'" hcl'CYC r the ~now has disnppearcd, for even a h umh-ed llacc'i, ' c fiud the summt'l' Up tile .Jffissom·i. J'O~ul. W lth their aid the snow is scarcoly a disadvantage for although we aro often obliged to !~!lip tlown, yet the fallen timber and the rocks, which arc now covered, weren1uch more tt·oublcsomc when we passed in tl1e autumn. Tht.~: tt·avelling road is indectl com11aratively pleasant, as well as more rapitl, the snow being hard an'l coarse, without crust, aiHl perfectly hat·d enough to prcveut the horses sink ing mot·e than two or three inches. After the sun Juts been on H for ~omc hom·s it becomes s.oflel' than early in th6t morniug, yet they are almoit always aiJle to get a sure fgothold. After some time we I'Csumed our t·outc, and at thr ~istanre of three mile!> llPsceuded a steep mountain, then crossint; two lwanches of the Cbopuuuish rivet·, just above thcit· fol'ks, began to mount a scaond l'itlt;o. Along this we Jn•oece•lcd J'm· some time, and then, at the distance of seven miles, l'<'aehcll our camp or the sixteenth of September • .Ncar this plac·e we crossed lhrec small branches ofthJ Cho. {monish. an<ltiJen aseemlcd a secontl dividing ridge, along which we eontiuued fot• nine miles, wh<'n the t•idge bccamo omcwhat lower, antl we })altf'd for tho night on a. position imilar to tha.t. ol' ou1· encampment last evening. 'Ve had now travelled twcnty-eiglti. miles without taldug the loa'l from our horses or giving tlwm any thing to eat, and as the snow whet·e we lmlted has not ntuch dissolved, ibet·c walS still but lit tlc {;t•ass. Among tltc vegetation we observed srcat quantities or the white lily, with rcJlcctcd petal~. "hie h :u·e now in bloom, and iu the same fot·wal'<lncss as tltcy ,u•re in the plains on the tenth of 1\lay. As for ourselves, he whole stock ol' meat bcinb goue, we distril.Hitctl to each m ·~s a pint of IJcar's oil, which, "ith hoi led roots, JUadc an ~tgt·eeablc dish. \V e saw several l•laclcAaileu or mule-deer, but couhl uot get a shot ~•t them, and "ere informed that thrt·c is an abuntla.nce of elk iu the valley, ncar the Jishcry, on the J ~ ooskoo kee. 'l'hc India us also assc1·t that on dh~ mountains to ou1• right at·c Jar·gc nur.tltet·s or') hat they caiJ 'vhitc bufTaloc oa· mouutaiu shccjl. Om· horses stt.·aycd tft ;,omc dbtaucc to look fo1· ft-od, ~Hld in tLe morning, |