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Show ·. .. : . ' .. .. 1()9 [ 174 J for the time, the black precipices hav-e disappeared, and no calcareous matter is vi iblc in the soil. The thermometer at sunset 74° ; clear and calm. October 2.-The sunrise temperature was 48° ; the weather clear and calm. Shortly after leaving the encampment, we crossed a stream of clear water, with a vari:1ble breadth of 10 to 25 yards, broken by rapids, and lightly wooded with willow, and having a little grass on its small bottom land. The barrenness of the country is in fine contrast to-day with the mingled beauty and grandeur of the river, which i~ more open than hitherto, with a constant succession of falls and rapidt-:. Over the edge of the black cliHs, and out from their faces, are 1 falling numberless streams and springs; and all the line of the river is in motion with the play of the water. In about seven miles we reached the most beautiful and picturesque fall ( had seen on the river. On the opposite si·(ie, the vertical fall is perhaps 18 feet high; and nearer, the sheet of foaming water is divided and broken into cataract , where several little islands on the brink and in the river above give it much picturesque beauty, and make it one of those places the traveller tlll·ns U[!;nin and again t,g fix in his memory. There were severallodcres of I ndiantl here, from whom we traded salmon . Below this place the river makes a remarkable bond; and the road, ascending the ridge, gave us a tine view of the river· below, intersected at many places by nume1ous fish darns. In the north, about 50 miles distant, were some high snowy peaks of the Salmon river mountains ; and in the not thea. t, the last peak of the raoge was visible at the distance of perhaps 100 miles or more. The river bills consist of very broken masses of sand, covered every where with the same interminable 'fields of sage, and occasionally the road is very heavy. We now very frequently saw Indians, who were strung along the river at every little rapid where fish are to be caught, and the ery lwggai, haggai, (fish,) was constantly heard whenever ·we passed ncar their huts, or met them in the road. Ve~-y many of them were oddly and partially dressed in overcoat, shirt, watstcoat, or pantaloons, or whatever article of clothing they had been able to procure in trade from the emigrants ; for we had now entirely quitted the country where hawl<'s bells, beads, and vermilion, were the current coin, and found that here only useful articles, and chiefly clothing, were in great 1·~quest. These, however, arc eagerly sou~ht after; and for a few trifling pteces of clothing, travellers may procure food SIJfficienl to carry them to the Columbia. We made a long stretch across the upper plain, and encamped on the bluff, where the trrass was very rrreen and aood · the soil of the upt)er 1 · b h M ' f • P aws cot aining a considerable proportion of calcareous matter. Thts gree.u freshness of the grass was very rcmar kable for the season of the year. A gam we heard the roar of a fall in the river below, where the water in an unbroken volume goes over a descent of several feet. The night is clear, and the weather continues very warm and pleasant, with a sunset temperature of 70°. October 3.-The mornintr was pleasant, with a temperature at sunrise of 42o. 'l.,hc road was brol~en by ravines among the hills, aiH.J in one of these, w~11eh made the bed of a dry creek, J found a fragmentary stratum, or hrecc~a~cd conglomerate, consi~ting of flinty slate pebbles, with frag! Dcnts ol lunestone containing fossil shells, which will be found drsct ibccl ln the appendix under tile numberl:i 16, 21, and 39. On the left, the mountains arc visible at the distance of twenty 01 thirty |