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Show • 74 AN ALARM. vorable opportunity for making an attack; and, as we knew of their having before attacked Companies at this place, and doing considerable damage; here again, we used the previous precaution, of putting out the necessary guards; and the braves again put on their armour, and again we passed in safety the dangerous mountain, and crossed over into the valley beyond, a ·distance of ouly six miles, without encountering any difficulty. Having crossed the Northern side of the Valley, and also the Clamuth River, we encamped early in the evening, at a small spring, three miles beyond the River, and thirteen from the foot of the Chesty Mountains. Here an Iroquois Indian of our Company, having returned from a huntino· excur- . 0 swn, reported that, while hunting, he came suddenly upon a small Indian camp; and being perceived by the Indians, he went boldly in, as if his coming had been intentional. This scheme, of course, gave the Indians to believe that he cons·idered, from some cause, perhaps the vicinity of a strong party, that he had no reason to be afraid. It worked well, and he returned without beinO' molested h . . 5 ' avmg not~ced, ~s he said, several horses in the Indian camp.- U pan. heanng thts last part of the story, three of our party, an Am~l'lcan, a Frenchman, and a half breed, named Petitoo, set out, agamst the protest of the whole camp, declaring that they would have the horses. Night came on, and all had retired to bed when the Indian _Yell was raised within a few hundred yards; and' every one supposmg that :he party had been killed by the Indians, and that they were commg upon the camp, sprang to their arms, and hastened to meet what they supposed to be an enemy. It proved, however, to be the ~hree themselves, who in their wild and unwarrantable glee, brealung over all custom, and acknowled(l'ed laws of order and propriety, wis~ed, for mere sport, to put th: camp in a panic. ~hey came. chargmg up at full speed, and Petitoo, who was the rm~-leader m the affair, to make a sort of "grand flourish " put Wht P and. sp~r to h't s ..1 a de d horse, already scarcely able to p'r oceed an? commg mto the staking ground at a rapid rate, was about to rem up be.fore the crowd, who had rushed out to meet "the Indians," and was JUst cryirJO' 0 1 'th · . . E'l u. Wl a swagO'enng au· "Caralw pinda-ho ' " C · · s · . 0 · a avonte pamsh ex:clamatwn, when his 'h orse tangled in one of the .s taking ro Pe s, ,re ll ., an d , turm· ng a complet'e somerset, went tumbhng after his rider, who was hasteninO' in spite of him-self, ~y s~:eral successive and astonishing feats or' "grand and lofty tum~hn~, to the bottom of the hill, amid the peals of laughter and cursmgs, that burst from the still half-terrified camp. After hav- . SUGAR PINE-SODA SPRING, &C. 75 ing l'eceived a severe reprimand, and a promise of something severer if they eve1· dared to alarm the ,Company again, the frolicking party sneaked off to bed, crest-fallen and disappointed. Continuing across the Clamuth Valley, which is nearly destitute of timber, we came, at thirty miles, to its Southern side, which is a low division, between the waters of the Clamuth and the Sacramento, and is covered with a forest of Pine and Fir. There we ~aw the first of the Sugar Pine, one of the largest and finest of the Pine species: it is frequently found ten feet in diameter, and two hundred and fifty feet high. ·The wood of this species is probably superior to the best common Pine. It is called Sugar Pine, from the peculiar quality of its gum, which tastes very much like Sugar saturated with Turpentine. A small portion of this gum operates as a mild and efficient purgative. Here, on our right, is a high range of Mountains extending North and South; aod on our left, the Snowy Butte, a lofty isolated peak, rises from the bosom of an extensive plain, far into the region of ete~·nal snow, and gives ri~e to the West branch of the Secramento River, which we struck in ten miles after leaving the Clamuth Valley, and continued down it, frequently crossing and recrossing the stream. Fifteen miles below the point where we first struck this st1·eam, we came to a Soda spring, bursting out from the foot of a high hill, and running into a small basin, formed by travelers or Indians, for the convenience of drinking. The water of this Spring is strongly impregnated with some other mineral. From this Soda Spring, we proceeded down the River, through the Sacramento Hills, which are bight steep, and rugged; covered with timber, and almost destitute of grass. The rock in these hills is principally a coarse granite; but that forming the channel of the River is volcanic. In passing throuO'h • 5 these hills we were still compelled to cross and recross the stream, in order to find a passable way, which, in its whole course, until it reaches the head of the Valley, a distance of one hundred miles, is full of falls, rapids, and narrow canions. Having come to the head of the Valley, we took the west side of the River, which here begins to assume a different chamcter, losing its irregularity and rapidity, and flowing with a more even current. ContinuinO' down the Valley, on the West side, we found, all along on the Rive~ villages of Indians, living in miserable huts made of poles, set on end in a circle on the ground, leaned together, fastened at the top, and covered with grass and dirt. We found those in the upper part of the Valley, ,entirely naked; and so wild, that they fled from our ap- |