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Show [ 174 J 22:0 kept up such a continued screaming, that we could do nothinrr with he and were obliged to let her· go. 0 r, January 18.-There wer:e Indian lo~ges ant.l fish dams on the stream. There were no beaver cuttmgs on the nver; but below, it turned roun~ to the right; and, hoping that it would prove a branch of the Bucnaventur we follo"ved it down for about three hours, and encamped. a, I rode out with Mr. Fitzpatrick and Carson to reconnoitre the country which had evidently been alarmed by the news of our appearance. Tni; stream joined with the open valley of another to the eastward· but whid way the main water ran, it was impossible to tell. Columns of'smokero!e over the country at scattered intervals-signals by which the Indians here as ~lse\~here, comr~unicate to each ?ther that e.ner~ies are in the countr/ Jt IS a stgnal of anctent and very umversal apphcatwn among ba.-barians. Examining into the condition of the animals when I returned into the camp, I found their feet so much cut up by the rocks, and ~o many of them lame, that it was evidently impossible that they could cross the coun. try to the Rocky mountains. Every piece of iron that could be used fortne purpose h1d been converted into nails, and we could make no furtheruse of the shoes we had remaining. I therefore determined to abandon my ea trrn course, and to cross the SierraN evada into the valley of the Sacra· men to, wherever a practicable pass could be found. My decision was hear~ with joy by the people, and diffused new life throughout the camp. Latitude, by observation, 39° 24' 16". January 19.-A great number of smokes are still visible this morning, attesting at once the alarm which our appearance had spread among these people, and their ignorance of us. If they knew the whites, they woul~ unde.rstand that their on.ly object in coming among them was to trade, wbic~ requtred pea~e and fnendship; but they have nothing to trade-conse· quently, nothtng to attract the white man ; hence their fear and flight. At day break we had a heavy snow; but sat out, and, returning up the stream, went out of our way in a circuit over a little mountain; and en· camped on the same stream, a few miles above in latitude 39° 19' 21'' bj observation. ' January 20.-To-day we continued up the stream, and encampe? onil close to the mountains. The freshly fallen snow was covered w1th the tracks of Indians, who bad descended from the upper waters, probably called down by the smokes in the plain. We ascended a peak of the ran()'e which commanded a view of this stream behind the first ridb()'e where it wba; windinrr its course throuah a somewhat l ' b 0 open va ley, and I sometimes rerrret that I did not make the trial t(l) cross he.re; bu.t while we had fai r weather below, the mountains were darkened With fallt~g snow, and, feeling unwilling to encounter them, we turned away agam to the southward. In that direction we travelled the next day over a tolerably level country, having always the high mountains on ~he west. There was but little snow or rock on the ground ; and, after bav~ng travelled 24 miles, we encamped arrain on another large stream, runnwg off to the northward and e-astward t~ meet that we had left. It ran through broad .bottoms, having a fine meadow-land appearance. Latitude 39° 01 ' 53". January 22.-W e tra veiled up the stream for about 14 miles to the foot of the rno~ntains, from which one branch issued in the southwest, th~ other flowmg from SSE. along their base. Leaving the camp bclo111 221 [ 174 ] we ascended the range throuph which the first stream p~ssed, in a canon ; on the western side was a cucular valley, about 15 mtles long, through whit'h the stream wound its way, iss,uing from a gorge in the ma~n mountain which rose abruptly beyond. fhe valley looked yellow w1th faded gras's; and the trail we had followed w?s visi~le, making to:wards thE: ~orge, and this was evidently a pass ; but agam, wlule all was bnght sunshme on the ridge and on the valley .where we w.ere, the snow was falling heavily in the mountains. I drterrnmed to go still to the southward~ and encamped on the stream near the forks; the animals being fatigued and the grass tolcrab ly good. The rock of the ridge we had ascended is a compact lava, assuming a granitic appearance and structure, and .• containing, in some places, mall nodules of' obsidi,tn. So far as composition and aspect arc roncerncd, the rock in other parts of the ridge appears to be granite ; but it i · probable that this is only a compact form of lava of recent origin. By observation, the elevation of the encampment was 5,020 feet ~ and the latitude 38° 49' 54". January 23.-W e moved along the course of the other branch towards the southeast, the rountry affording a fine road ; nnd, passing sorne slight dividing grounds, desceHdccl towards the valley of another stream. There was a somewhat rough-looking mountain ahead, which it nppeared to i ·sue from, or to enter-we could not tell which ; and as lhe r.ourse of tho valley and the inclination of the ground had a favorable direction, we \H.:re sanguine to find here a branch of the Buenaventura; but were again disappointed, fmdino- it an inland water, on which we enc~mped after a t.lay'' journey of 24 miles. It was evident that, from the time we de ccnded into the plain at Summer lake, we had been flanking the gr <':lt range of mountains which divided the Great Basin from the waters of the Pacific ; anti that the continurd ·succession, and almost conncxion, of lakc·s and t iver which we encounte1 ed ~ were the d rainings of that range . Its rain ' , spring!1, and snows, would sufiiciently account for these lakes and stream , numerous as they were. Januar.lJ 2 l.-A man was discovered running towards the camp as we were about to start this morning, who proved to be an lndiall of rath e r ad~ anced age-a sort of forlorn hope, who seemed to have been worked up tnto the resolulion of visitino- the stranrrcrs who were [)assinrr tbrouo-h th <. b n - b n country. lie seized the hand of the first man he met us he came up, out of.bre~th,.and held on, as if to assure himself of protection. lie brought Wtth hun 1n a little skin bag a few pounds of the seed of a pine tre<', which to-day we saw for the first time, and which Dr. Torrey has dt·scribrd a · a ~ew. species, under the name of pinus monophyllus j in popular language, lt m~ght. be called the nut pine. \Ve purchased them all from him. The nut l~ 01ly, of very aO'reeablc flavor, and must be Yery nntr itiou s, as it conslllulcs the principal subsistence of the tribes among which we were now travel~ing. By a present of scarlet cloth, and other striking articles, we ;~cvatl?d upon ~his man to be our guide of two d :.~) s' :journey. As clea1ly posstble by stgns, we made him understand our obJ ect ; and he cncra~ed to condLl t · · 1 f 1 e ' 1 c us Ill srg 1t o a rrood pa s which he ~new. lJ ere we ceased to 1 ?b~r the Shoshonee .language ; that of this mnn being perfectly unintelligr ~d Several Indwns, who had been waiting to see what reception he ~:ou . mce.t with, now came jnto camp; and, accompanied by the new mets, we resumed our journey. • |
