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Show 1 174 J 148 l:lundred ya.rds broad, and the water so deep, that. even ~n the comparatively ·hallow pom ts we could not reach th~ bottom. wllh I? leet. On either side were alternately low bottoms and \\'Illow points, wtth an OCC\lSional high prairie; and for five or six hours we followed slowly the windin~ course of the river, which crept along with a sluggish current nmoug frequent dltdurs .. ever•tl llJiles around, sometiu1es r.· unnin~ for a considerable di~tance directly up the valley. As we were stealing qurrtly down the lrcam, trying in vain to get a shot at a strange large bird that was numerous amor1g the \villows but very shy, we came unexpectedly upon several famili a. ol Root Diggers' who were encamped among the rushes on the shore, and appeared req~ busy about several weirs or uets which had hccn Iudely Illude of cancs 8nd rushes for the purpose of catch in~ fish. They were Yery nJueh startled at our appearance, but we soon established an ncquaintancc ; a11d linuinD'that t hey had some roots, 1 pron1iscd to send some men with <rootl- to trade wi.th then\ Th.ey had the u~ual very large heads, r~' llH\1 ka~!e amollg the n•gger tnuc, WI.th matted ~air, ~n~ were almo~ t entir ely nak ed; looking very poor and mrserablc, as tf thetr hvcs had been. pent in the nl5hes where .. h~y wcr~, beyond '~' hich they seemed to hare very tittle kno wl edge of any 1o.hmg. From the lew words we could comprehend, their IJnguagc W3S ~hat of the Snake Indians. o.ur boat !11oved so heavily, that we had made very little progress; and, fln<~u~g that 1t would be impossible to overtake the camp, a ~ soon a we nere .suilH:tently far below the Jndians, we put to the shore nrar a high praide banlc, hauled up the boat, and cached our cfrects in the will ows. Asccodin~ ~he ba.nk, w~ found that our desultory labor had bron~ht u, only a few n1iles :m ~ d11cct I me;. and,.going out into the prniriP, at'tcr a , ~n1 th we found the ra1l of the camp, winch was now nowhere in sight, but had followed the general coursr of the river in a large circular sweep ,, hir·h it makes at this place . The sun was about th1 co hours high wben \\~c found the trail; and · -~s o~r pe.o1!lc had passed ~nrly in the day, we hnd the pro. pect of a vi~~rous .:,al.l~ be.(ore us. Imm edt~tely where we land<'d, the hi~h arable platn.on Inch we had been travelling for several days past tcrnJinated in extcnsn·e ~ow flats, very generally occupied by salt marshes, or bccL or shallo\\' lakes, "'''Oellcc the ~vater had in most places evaporated lea\'in tr th eir hard su1face -o.ncrusted th h · · 1 · · ' b : . Wl as tntng w 11te restduum and nb ... olotely covered with very ·~m_.ll un~valve shells. As we advanceJ, the wbole co untry around usas· ~filed tl11 .8 ;~ppearanc>e; and there was no other ve crctation than the shrubb)' .. e1nop~d.wccous and other nppal'Ciltly saline pL1~1ts whieh were continca o t 1e J'lSing rrround r_l d 1 · ' · · d f 'k 1 b 8 · 1 CI e un t 1cre on the nvcr bank, whteh was nuse .u e a cvcc above the flats throurrh which it ran was a narrow border of ·!:~l!1'1. t'a8s and short bl ·1 b . 'Ill::) ' · · d • a c. {- UJ n t w 1 ow s · t h c s tr en m be 1 n rr v r ry cl e e p ,111 '"'UP"vtsh and · ' :-, ; _..no. '' somctuncs 600 to 800 feet wide. After a rapid walk of about x.:.. nhu les ' we caurrl11 · ht 1· h · 'II · t b 81g o t c camp lu·es among clumps of wt owsJUS ~ t fi~l'sun 1 had sunk behind the mountai11s on the west ide of the ral· · ey,. lllg t le clear sky with a golden y'e llow. These Ia t ra)'S to us so p:r.r.aede ttho us 'l could not 1la ve revealed a more welcome sight. ,.l 'o the t' rave II er l.nd t e 1.u. nter a ca np fi . · 1 1 . . 1 · ,. 1 ' . 1 ue m t 1e onely w1lderness ts always c 1eenno, !'ilove l~ om se ves, 1.n our present situo.tiou, after a hard march in a re~ion of ·..,.., 1 >ut· Yt.' approachmg the debouches of a river in a lake of almost fabulous ... -..;. ' 1 ton tt was cl bl ' · d the ~tere&t 0 / tbe . ou Y so .. ~ ple~tiful. supper of aquati~ bu·ds, ~n scene, soon dLSSJpated fat1gue: and 1 obtatncd dunng the 149 [ 17.1 -; night emersions of the second, third, and fourth satellites of Jupiter with~ observations for time and Jatitnde. ' Septembn· 3.-The mot·ning. was clear, with a light air from the north, and the thermo~neter at suunse at 45°.5. At 3 in the morning, BasiL was sent back w1tb several men and horses for the boat, which, in a direct course aeross the flats, was not 10 miles distant; and in the mean tin'le there was a pretty spot of gr~s~ here for the animals. The ground was so low that we could not get htgh enough to see across the river, on account of the willows; but we were evidently in the vicinity of the lake. and the water fowl made this morning a noise like thunder. A pelic:1n (pelecanus onocrotalus) was killed as he passed by, and many geese and ducks flew over the camp. On the dry salt tnarsh here is scarce any other plant than salicornia herb ace a. ' Jn the afternoon the men ret~rned with the bo:.t bringin(?' with them a small quantity of roots, and some meat, which the' Indians had told them was bear meat. Descending the river fo1· about three miles in the afternoon, we found a ?ar to any further travelling- in that direction-the stream being spread out w.several bra~ches, nnd covering the low grounds with water, where the mt~y nature ot the bottom did not permit any further advance. We were ev1dently on the border of the lak'e, although the rushes and canes which covere~ the marshes. pr·evented arry vie·w ; and we accor·dingly ehcamped at the httle delta wlucb forms the mouth of Bear river· a lonO' arm of the lake s.tt·etching up to the north between us and the opposite 0 mountains. ~he r~ver was border.ed with a ft-in~ of will<?ws and canes, among which "er~ tnterspcl'seci a few pi·ants ; and scattered about on the marsh was a spemes of unioEa, close.ly allied to U. spicata of our sea coast. The whole morass .was a.n!mated with multitudes of water fowl, which appeared to be v~ry wtld.-ri~mg f~r the space of a mile round about at the sound of a gun, Wlth a noise lrke distant thunder•. Severt\1 of the people waJed out into the marshes, and we had to-nirrht a delicious supper of ducks geese and plover\ 0 ' ' Althc)Ugh the moon was bri<rht the nir~~ht was otherwise favorabl 61 • I ht . d . o , o a~d 0 1\~ne thts evening an emersion of the first satellite, with the usIu:; a' l o" b .. servatron.s .. A. mean re-sult, de pendino- on var·ious observations made during our stay m the neighh'Ot1hood, pl·ace~ the mouth of the rive1· in lonnitude 11 C)O 19' 0011 f • ' 0 ' "' a west rom Green w 1ch · latitude 41° SO' 22'' · and accordmO' to. th e ba r•orneter, 1·1 1 elevation 4,200' feet above the O'u lf o' f 1\tle'x ico. Thoe n.1ght was clear, with considet'able dew, which I had ~emarked every night smce the first of Sept-ember. The next m0rnin'r while we wer·e preparirra ~? ftart, Carson rode into the cnmp with flour ~~d a few other articles of ~~ 1 ~ prov~sion, sut~.cient f?r two or three d~ys-a scanty b.u~ very accepta· uppl) · 1\Ir. 1' rtzpatnck had not yet arnved and provisrons were very hsc arce ) an d d 1· tI 1' cult to be had at Fort Hall, whi' ch had been entirely ex-f au~t~d by the necessities of the emigrants: He brought me also a lettet ti'0 ~1 J.(r· ~wight, who, in company with several emigrants, had reached . la Pace In advance of 1\lr. F'itzpatrick and was about continuing hia Journey to Vancouver. ' Retu.rning about five 111iles up the river, we were occupied until nearly ~·~set 10 .crossing to the left bank-the stream, which in the last five or six m~d.~ ~f1 tts cour 'e, is very much narrower than above, being very deep imu e Y at the banks; and we had great difficulty in getting our animalr. |
