BOTANICAL. INFORMATION. 301 



species of Ranunculus, especially R. 306. Of the many 

 species of plants that here and there exist among the 

 dense Gamass, but few come to perfection; generally one 

 sees the panicles of Trichodium and Aim above the dry 

 stalks, mixed with a few Composite, as Aster, Solidago, 

 Calliopsis, &c. On the margin of ponds I found Myosurus 

 minimus, Isoe'tes lacustris, with Alopecurus geniculates. The 

 Gamass plains become more and more limited on approach- 

 ing the Koos-Kooskee, or the Columbia River, where the 

 rivulets become larger, the elevation less. Then again they 

 take the shape of the small fertile meadows, included in such 

 forests as we just left on the Green Mountain plateav . These 

 meadows harbour abundantly divers species of Trifolium, 

 but none of the involucrate species, which only grow 

 on stony soil. Here I gathered Trifolium, 379 and 450 ; the 

 former I did not meet again ; further, the elegant Polygonum, 

 405, with Iris Missuriensis. The low gneiss ridges, clad 

 with pines on top, are the habitat of Erysimum, 399, Saxi- 

 frage, 619 and 625, and divers Ferulce, 301, 298, with 

 Phlox, 3/1, and Phacelia, 463. Sunny protected situations are 

 inhabited by the pretty Pentstemon, 515 ; and Poterium, 467 ; 

 joined below by Clematis* 313; surrounded by Phlox, 375; 



speculates away for trifles, or squanders, in gambling, night and 

 day, the greater part of Gamass and other provisions, and imparts 

 profusely of what he has, to those even who are too lazy to lay in provi- 

 sions for winter. For this they have to suffer severely, particularly 

 m the months of February and March ; when they are compelled to fell 

 trees, to gather the long moss from the pines, which they bake in the 

 same manner as above, mixed with a few Gamass if they have any left. 

 This composition is of a greenish-brown colour, like Confervse, has a wild 

 acrid taste, like tan, so that one would think it would reduce a living 

 man to a mummy. But the stoical Indian eats this now with the greatest 

 complacency ; remains strong and vigorous, and it is possible that 

 the absence of tannin in our victuals, renders our stomachs so feeble ; 

 and on the contrary those of the Indians so indestructible by not removing 

 those acrid particles. 



* The Saptona Indians use the root of this plant as a stimulant, when 

 horses fall down during their excessive races. They hold a scraped end 

 of the root into the nostrils of the fallen horse. The effect of this is 



