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Show [ 174 J 218 lake make it an' object of geographical interest. It is the nearest 1 k the \Vestern rim, as the Great alt lake is to the eastern rim of the~ e to Basin which lies between the base of the Hocky mountains ~nd the s·reat Nevada; and the extent and character of which, its whole circum~'e terra an d contents, 1. t 1. s so d es1. ra b Ie to Io ww. 1' renee The last of the cattle which had been driven from the Dalles wask'll d here for food, and was still in good condition. 1 e .Ja~1uary 15.-A few poo~·-looki~g lndia.ns made their appearance this m?rnmg, and w~ succeeded. m f?ettmg o~e Into the camp. He was naked, ~1th the exceptwn of a tumc of hare skms. lie told us that there was nvcr at the end of the Jake, but that he lived in the rocks near by. Fro~ the few words our people could understand, he spoke a dialect of the nake lang~age ; but. we were not able to understand enough to know whethet the r~ver ran In or out, or.wh~t was its course; consequently, there still remamed a ch·mce that thls m1ght be Mary's lake. Groves of large cottonwood, which we could see at the mouth of tne river, indicated that it was a stream of considerable size; and, at all events, w~ had the pl~asure to know that now we were in a country where human ?emgs could ltv e. Accompanieu by the Indian, 've resumed our road, pass· mg on the way several caves in the rock where there were baskets and seeds ; but the people had disappeared. We saw also horse tracks along tho shore. Early in the afternoon, when we were approachinrr the (}'roves at the mouth of the river, three or four lnd ians met us on the 0 trail. 0 We had an e~plnnatory. conversat.ion i~ signs, and thcr;t moved on together towards tl1e VIllage, '~htch the chtef sa1d was encamped on the bottom. Reachmg the groves, we found the inlet of a larO'e fresh-water stream, and all at once were satisfied that it was ncithc/' Mary's river nor the wa~ers of the ~acra.mcnto, but that we had discovered a large interior lake, whtch the Indians mformed us had no outlet. It is about 35 miles long ; and, by the m~rk of the " ·ater line along the shores, the spring level is about 12. feet above tts present waters. The chief commenced speaking in a loud VOice. as we approached ; and parties of Indians armed with bows and ar· rows Issued from the thickets. We selected a strong place for our encan~p· ment-a grassy bottom, nearly enclosed by the river, and furnished wtth abundant fire wo~d. The village, a collection of straw huts, was a few hu~dred yards l11g!wr up. An Indian brought in a large fish to trade, wh~eh we had the Inexpressible satisfaction to find was a salmon trout; we gath~red ro.und him eagerly. The [ndians were amused with our delight, and ~mmedtately brought in numbers; so that the camp was soon stocked. ~heu· flavor was excellent-superior, in fact, to that of any fish I haveer~r .nown. They were of extraordinary size-about as large as the Col~mbta Ilve.r salmon-generally from two to four feet in length. From the tnfor· matiOn of Mr. Walker who passed among some lakes lyinG' more to the eastward, this fish is c~mmon to the streams of the inland lakes. Hesub· sequently informed me that he had obtained them weighing six pou~ds whe~ cleaned and the head taken ofl'; which corresponds very well w.tth the sJze of those obtained at this place. They doubtless formed t.he subslsl· ence of these people, who hold the fishery in exclusive possesswn. 1. remarked .that one of them gave a fish to the Iudian we had first se~n; whlch h~ carne? off to his family. To them it was probably a feast; b~tne of the Dtgger tnbe, and having no share in the fishery, li~·ing generally on 219 [ 174 ] d d l·oots Although this was a time of the year when the fish have see s an · 1 · · h not yet become fat, they were cxcetlcnt, ~nd we could on y 1magme w. at the are at the proper season. These Indtans w~re very fat, and appeared to l1ve an easy and happy life. Th?Y. crowded Into. the camp more than was consistent with our safety, retam.mg always the1r ~rms; and, as they d Some unsatisfactory demonstratwns, they were gt vcn to understaud mthaa t eth ey would not be permitted to d . l d t co~e ar.m.e mto t 1e ca?'lp ;. an s rong guards were kept with .the hors~s. Stnct vigilance was ma1~~amed a~on<r the people, and one-third at a t1mc were .kept. ~n guar~ dUJ mg the mght. There is no reason to doubt that these dtsposthon .. , uniformly preserved, conducted our party securely through Indians fa~ed for treachery. . In the mean time such a salmon-trout feast as IS seldom een was gomg on in our camp; and every variety of manner in which fi. h could ~)~ prepared- boiled, fr~ed, and roast~d iu the ashes-was pu.t Into reqms1t~o.n ; and every few mmutes an Indt~n would be sec~ runnmg off to spear a fresh one. Whether these I nd1ans had seen wlutes before, we could not be certain; l;ut they were evidently in communication. with others who had as one of them had some brass buttons, and we noticed several other arti~les of civilized manufacture. We could obtain from them but little information respecting the country. They made on the ground a dr~wing of the river which they represented as issuing from another lake In the mountains three or four days distant, in a direction ~ little ~~est of south ; beyond which, they drew a mountain; and further still, two nvers; on one of which they told us that people like ourselves travelled. Whether th~y alluded to the settlements on the Sacramento, or to a party from the U nrted States which had crossed the Sierra about three degrees to the south-ward, a few years since, I am unable t0 determine. . I tried unsuccessfully to prevail on some of them to gmde us for a few days on the road, but they only looked at each other an~ laughed. The latitude of our encampment, which may be constdered the mouth of the inlet, is 39° 51 I 13" by our observations. • . January 16.-This morning we continued our journey alo~g thrs beauhful stream, which we naturally called the Salmon Trout nvcr. Large trails led up on either side; the stream was handsomely timbered with la~·ge cottonwoods· and the waters were very clear and pure. We we1 e travelltng along the mo~ntains of the great Sierra, which rose on our right, covered with snow; but below the temperature was mild and pleasant. We saw a number of dams which the Indians had constructed to catch fish. After having made !:\bout 18 miles, we encamped under some large cottonwood on the river bottom, where there was tolerably good grass. January 17 .-This rnorninO' we left the river, which here issues from the mountains on the west. Withbevery stream I now expected to see the great Buenaventura; and Carson hurried eagerly to search, on every one we reached, for beaver cuttings, which he always maintained we sh~uld find only on waters that ran to the Pacific · and the absence of such stgns was to him a sure indication that the water' had no outlet from the great basin. We followed the Indian trail through a tolerably level country, with small sage busl~es, which brought us, after 20 miles journey, to another la~·ge stream, hmbcred with cottonwood and flowing also out of the mountams, but running more directly to the dastward. . On the way we surprised a family of lndians in the hills; but. the man tan up the mountain with rapidity~ and the woman was so ternfied, and |
