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Show [ 174 ] 230 The nut pines were now giving way to heavy timber, and there were some immense pines on the bottom, around the roots of which the sun had melted away the snow; and here we lnade our camps and built hurre fires 'To-day \\ c had tr:n·clled sixteen miles, and our elevation above these~ was 6, 760 feel. Fcbrum"y 3.-Turning our fnces directly towards the main chain, we as. cended an open hollow along a small tribut:1ry to the river, whieh according to the Indi<ll1S, issues from a mot111tain to the south. 'J'be ~:ww was so deep in the hollow, that we were oblio·ed to travel along the .·tC<.·p llill sides, and over svurs, where 'vind and :mn had in places lc•s cned the s~ow, and where th? grass, whirh appeared to be in good qua lit) nlong the sides of the mountams, was expo eci. \Ve opened our road in the same way as yesterday, but made only ~;even miles; <1n<l rn<':uupcd by some springs at the foot of a high and sleep hill , by which the hollow usccnded to a.notl~ e r basin i!1. the m?tmtain. Th( little str cam below wa ~11tircly bur~ed m snow. J .he spnngs we1 e ~haded by the hot1ghs of a lofty ecdar, whtch lt<'re ntnd'~ Its first appcar:IJICC; the lJSual height was 120 to 130 feet, nnd one that was measured 11car bv was G feet ill diamc!tet. There being no ~rass exposed here; the horses were se nt back to that wbir.h we h.ad t.'een a few n1iles below. We oecupied the remainder nf the day m lJ at1~1g down a road to the fool of the hill, a mile or two distant; the snow b?lllg bcate~ down when moist, in the warm part of the day, and then l1ar~i lrozen at mght, made a fonndation th<lt would bear the ''eight of the anunals the ll~~t morning. J)uring Lhe day several Indians joined u~ on snow sh~cs .. J hesc were mnde of a tircular hoop, about a foot in rltnmeter, the mtenor space hci~1g ljl!('(l ''·ith an open network of bark .. February '1.- 1 went aiJPad C'arly "ith two or three men , caeh "ith a l~d horse, to break the road. We were obli~cd to abandon the hollow entirely, and work .along .the mountain &ide, which was very steep, and the snow covered \ tth an tcy crust. \V e eut a footing as we a<hanccd, and t~amplerl a ~·oad thro~gh lor the animal ; but occasionally one plun_!red out· stde the tn:u~, ant! shded along the field to the bottom, a hundred y:n·ds be· low. Late In the day we reached another bench in the hollow, whcr<~, in summer, t.h~ s.trearn passed over a ~mall p1 ecipice. Tic1 e was a short dis· t~uce of dJvJdlll~ ground between the two ridges, and beyond an open basm, ~ome ten mrles across, whose bottom presented a field of snow. At the f.urth~r or '~estern ~ide rose the middle crest of the mountain, a dark· lookmg ndge of volcnnJc rock. The summit line P_resented a range of' naked peaks, apparently destilllte of snow ar~d vegetatton; but below, the face of tbe whole cou·ntry was co.vered ~v1th tirn~cr ?f extraordinary size. Annexed you are prC' . .-ented Wl~ a VlCW of th1s ndge from a camp on the western side of the b~sin. owards a pass which the ~uide indi;·atcd here, we attempted in the afth~ rnoon to force a road; but after a laborious pluno·inrr throurrh two or t ree hundred ·d b 1 ° o b k f yat s, our est wrses n·ave out et-1tirely refusin <r to rna c any urtherciTot· d J' 1 · t"> ' ,., 'I'l • t • r 1 ' an ' JOr t 1c tuue we were broucrht to a stand. 1e {!;UH1e In IOI'tnCd US tJ1• t ' . b 1, L • a we were e11tcnncr the deep snow and here uegan t11C dtHicullies f tl . ~' ' ( · . 0 le mountam ; and lo him and almoc::t to all our enter· ptbn sc1 slel emed hopel J ' .~ ' ... ' k · 1 ess. returned :1 short d1stance back to tile brca W e lo ow, w lcre [ met Mr. Fitzpatrick. ' h 'IJT hhe camp had been a 11 tl 1e d ay occnpl· ed w· endeavor u· w to ascenu-1 tl1 c 1 ' ut only the best horses had succeed 'd. Tbe animals~ generally, not 231 [ 17 4 ]" haYing suillcient strength to bri.ng themsel ve~ up without the pa~ks; and• all the line of road between Ons and the spnngs was strewe<l w1th camp stores and equipage, and horse's floundering in sno\Y. I therefore immediately encamped on the ground with my own mess, wbich was in ad- ranee, and directed l\1r. Fitzpatrick to encamp at the springs, and send all the animals, in charge of' T aben u, with a strong cruard, back to the place where they had been pastured the nicrht before. Here was a small spol of level ground, protcctcd on one side by the mountain, a nd on the other sheltered by a little rid~c of roek. It was an open grove of pines, which assimilated in size to the grandeur of the mountai11, beir.cr frequ ently six feet in diameter. To-night we had no shelter, hut we made a lar~e ftre around tl1'e trunl. of one of the hup;e pines; and coverincr the snow with small boughs, on which we spread oo r blankets, soon made ourselves comfortable . The nig;ht was very bri ~ht and c· lear, though the thermometer wa only at 1 0''. A strong wind, whieh sprang up at sundown, maoe it intensely cold; and this was one of the bi!t<~ rest ni~bt · during the journey. Two lndinn joined om part.r here; and one of them, an old man, immediately hP~an to h,tranguc u~, saying that oursclve and anima ls would perish in the snow; and that if we wouiJ g_d bcwk, he would how us another and a better way a eros~ the mountain. II e spoke in a very loud voice, and there was a singular repetition of phrases and anancrement of words, which rcnd ct Nl his sp !<•ch strikin~, and not unrnusical. ll~; We had now begun lo undctstand some words, and, with the aid of sif!:ns, easily coruprehended th old m;m's simple ideas. " Hock upon rock-rock upon rock-snow upon uow-&!low llpon snow," sa id he; "even if you ~et over the snow, you will not be able to get down from lhe m_onnta~n s . " lie made us the si~n of precipiees, and showed us how the teet of the horses would slip, and throw them otr from. the narrow trail · \'\'hi ch led along their sides. Our Chinook, who comprehende<l even more readily than our elves, and beli •ved our situation hopeless, covered hi' head with his blanket, and b e~an to weep and lament. "I want<~ d to sec the whites,'' said he; ''I came ..... away from my own people to sec the wh ites, an.d ! wouldn't care to die amon<r tlwm · but hcre"-and he lookf•d arou nd mto the cold night and p;loomyt">forest, 'and, drawing his blanket over his head, began again to lament. Seated around the tr(\e the iirc illmninaiin'" the rocks and the t:-~ll bolls of the pines round about, ' and th ~ olJ Indian th"' aranguing, we pre ... ented a group of very serious faces. February ·s.-The ni crht had heen too cold to sleep , and we were tlp very early. Our guide bwas ... tandin!! by the fire with a11 hi:3 f1ncry on; nnd seeing him shiver in the cold f threv.,· on his shoulders one of my blankets .... \Ve uli sed him a few r~inutes afterwards, and never ~aw him again. He had de. ertcd. IT is bad faith a no trf'aehcry were in perfect k~eping with the estimate of Indian character, which a long iuterco\lrse Wlth t~1is people had ~radua l ly forced upon my mind . W~ule ~ portion of the camp were occupic<t in hrin~iug up the bnggJge to th1s pomt, I he remainder were busied in making slcdtres and snow shoes. 1 had de~ermined to explore the nwuntain ahead, and the sledges were to he,used tn tran porting the Lagp;age. fhe mountains here consisted wholly of a white micaceous granite. |