178 TJie Home of tJie Wolverene and Beaver. 



Columbia. After the winter, when the river is well 

 flushed with water, the fish ascend from the sea in 

 countless thousands, and as they worm their way 

 upward through the ' Narrows' the natives, standing 

 on stages projecting over the torrent, catch them 

 in hoop nets, and fling them in hundreds on to the 

 shore. Here the squaws are in readiness to clean 

 them, after which they are placed in the sun on 

 scaffolds planted along the river banks. When 

 sufficiently dry, they are cured in a peculiar manner, 

 being pounded fine between two stones, pressed, 

 and finally packed in grass matting, 



" My father and his companions found the Cascade 

 Indians thievish and troublesome, and it was only by 

 t!ie exercise of great forbearance that a rupture was 

 avoided. They stole an axe, notwithstanding the 

 sharp look-out that was kept, and a whole suit of 

 clothes belonging to Mr. McLennan, who, standing 

 up in the canoe, threw the hat amongst them, that 

 the whole suit might be complete. Above the 

 Cascades the river resumes its usual breadth and 

 appearance, and for several hundred miles the two 

 parties kept together ; but at last the time arrived 

 for Mr. Thompson to push on by himself, and one 

 of his men wishing to join the Astorians, who 

 could speak Indian, and would be of great use to 

 them, an exchange was effected, and with a light 



