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Show 400 Lewis ct1Hl Clarke's E:rpedilion frequented by another nation for tl1e purpose of cateuing fish. He remained here two hours, aml having taken some small fish, made a dinner on them with the ddition of a few berries. }...,rom the place where he l~ad left • the . pat·ty, to. th~ mo~th of this creek, it p1·escuts one contmued t•apid, m which are five shoals, neither of which could be 1•assed with loaded canoes,· and t'u· e 1u. aggagc must therefore be transported for a considet·abJc dhtance over the steep mountains, where it would be impossible to employ horses for the relief of the men. Even the empty canoes must be let down the rapids by means of cords and . ' not even m that way without great risk lJOth to the canoes as well as to the men. At one of these shoals indeed the k . , roc s rise so pcr]Jendiculal'ly ft·om the watc1• as to leave no ~ope of ~ passage or even a llortage without gt·eat labour m removmg rocks, and in some instances cutting away Ute earth. To su1·mount these difliculties would exhaust the strength of the p_arty, and what is equally discouraging would waste our time and consume our provisions, of nei· thcr of which have we much to spat·e • 'l'lle season 1· s now far advanced, and the Indians tell us we shall slwrtly have snow: ihe salmon too have so far declined that the natives thems~lves at:e hastening from the country, and not an auimal of any kmd larger than a plwasant or a scjuil'l'cl, and of even these a lew only will then l>e seen in this part or the mountains: after which we shalll>e oiJligetl to a·ely on out· own stock of pt•ovi·s1· ons, w1 l i·C 1 1 WJ'J l not suppot•t us more than ten days • Tlt ese cu· ·cumstauces coml>ine to render· a ~assage by wate1· impracticable in our }li'C~cnt situation. ro descend the course of the river on horseback is the o~her _alternative, ~ud scat·cely a more i1nitiug one. The riVer Is. so dcc1, that the1·e arc only a few places where it can be forded, and the rocks a]>proach so near the water as to render it imtrtO :!~~ Sl'b J c to malic a route along the waters' edge• I n cross·m g t I1 e mountains themselves we shoulcl have to encounter: besides their steepness, one barren sur- Up the .Missouri. 401 face ofbroken masses of rock, down which in eertain seasons the torrents sweep vast quantitirs of stone into the river. These rocks are of a whitish brown, and towards the base of a gt·ay colour, and so hat·d, that on striking them with steel, they yield a fit·e like flint. This sombre appearance is in some places scarcely relieved by a single tree, though ncar the river and on the creeks there is more timber, among which are some tall pine: several of these might be made into canoes, and by lashing two of them together, one of tolerable size might be formed. After dinner he continued his route, and at the distance of half a mile passed another creek about five yards wide. Here his guide informed him that by ascending the creek for some distance he would have a better road, and uut off a considerable bend of the t•iver towards the south. He therefore pursued a well-beaten Indian track up this oreek for about six miles, when leaving the creek to the right he passed over a ridgt>, and after walking a mile again met the river, where it flows through a meadow of about eighty acres in extent. This they pas~ed and then ascend· ed a high and steep point of a mountain, from which the guide now pointed out where the t•ivet· bt~oke through the mountains about twenty miles distant. :Near the base of the mountains a small river falls in from the south: this view was terminated by one of the loftiest mountains captain Clarke had ever seen, which was perfectly covered with snow. Towards this formidable barrier the river went directly on, and there it was, as the guide observed, that the difficulties and dangers of which he and Cameahwait had spoken commenced. After reaching tbe mountain, he said, the river continues its coui'Se tow ards the north fot~ many miles, between high perpendiculat· rocks, which were scattered through its bed: it then penetrated the mountain through a narrow gap. on each side of which arose perpendicularly a rock as high as the top of the mountain before them; that the river then made a bend which conctaled its 'VOL. I. SF |