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Show SPANIARD ISLAND----MARIA RIVER. 239 the south, in the direction of the river, the foremost chain of the Rocky Mountains, looking like a distant blue range, which was soon hid behind the naked, sterile banks of the river, which had only here and there some old trees. On the morning of the 8th of August, we again saw before us the summits of the Rocky Mountains, and came to Spaniard Island, where several of our hunters returned from an excursion with wild geese and a large rattlesnake. They had seen from the eminences the eternal snow of the Oregon, and observed six Indians on horseback, who were going in the direction of Fort Me Kenzie. They brought with them a quantity of choke cherries, the fruit of the Prunus padus Virginiana, which is considered to be very indigestible. This fruit is said to have cured Captain Lewis, on his journey, of a dysentery and fever. Proceeding on our voyage, we followed the right bank, composed of steep, yellowish-red walls, the base of which was a bluish clay, and were delighted with the fine bright green colour of the waters of the Missouri, which contradicted the assertion that it is discoloured by the junction of Maria River, from the mouth of which we were now not far distant. Turning round a point of land, we saw before us a long table-formed range of hills, behind which is Fort Me Kenzie, which we might have reached by land in half an hour. In the front of these hills, on the north bank, is the mouth of Maria River, called, by the Canadians, Marayon; after we had passed it, we saw, about six o'clock, on the same bank, the ruins of the first fort, or trading post, which Mr. Kipp, clerk of the American Fur Company, had built, in the year 1831, in the territory of the Blackfeet. This fort was abandoned in 1832, and the present Fort Me Kenzie built in its stead, and this, too, is soon to be abandoned. In this manner the Fur Company continues to advance, and firmly establishes itself among nations that are but little known, where the fur trade is still profitable. The forsaken ruins of the first fort were entirely demolished and partly burnt by the Indians after the departure of the Whites. On the heights of this part, we saw two Indians on horseback, who galloped off as soon as they perceived us, doubtless to carry the news of our arrival to the fort. Several islands, opposite the ruins of the fort, obliged us to pass through a narrow channel on the south bank, which was not more than forty paces broad, with a very rapid current. At twilight we lay to under the high clay wall of the southern bank. We were much surprised that no notice had yet been taken of us by the fort, which was so near, though, in the two preceding years, the steamer had been welcomed by the Blackfeet further down the river ; and as we were now so close to the fort, we might expect to see the white inhabitants of the post; besides this, the Manitaries had told us that the garrison of Fort Me Kenzie had had a dispute with the Indians, and Dechamp affirmed that he had heard to-day some cannon-shot. All these considerations, taken together, excited in Mr. Mitchell-who was well aware of the little reliance that could be placed on the Indians-some apprehensions for the safety of the fort and our expedition. Small parties of Whites, at a distance from the Missouri, are generally murdered, or at |