1825, NOVEMBER. CHEECHEELER RIVER 149 



Crossing the Bay I killed two large gulls : one white, bluish on the 

 wings, with black feathers with points ; one of an equal size, of a mottled 

 grey and a species of Colymbus. I had no opportunity at the time to 

 preserve them. The Cheecheeler River is a large stream, nearly as large 

 as the Thames, very rapid, with numerous cascades. I reached my guide's 

 village a little before dusk, where I had every kindness and all the hos- 

 pitality Indian courtesy could suggest, and made a stay of several days 

 at his house, during which I was fortunate enough to procure a little 

 seed of Helonias 1 ; being so late in the season, I was unable to procure 

 as much as I should have done if earlier. Abundance of seeds of that 

 splendid Carex (432) and Lupinus (426) the roots of which are 

 gathered and roasted in the embers and eaten. This is the wild liquorice 

 spoken of by Lewis and Clarke. There is in the root a large quantity 

 of farinaceous substance, and it is a very nutritious wholesome food. 

 I procured several other seeds not in my possession before. The Lupinus 

 is called by them Somuchtan ; seed-vessel one-celled, seed angular ; 

 calyx none ; corolla five-petalled, lanceolate ; stamens five to nine ; style 

 three-cleft ; flowers faint white ; leaves alternate, linear, sessile, revolute ; 

 stem suffruticose, covered with chaff scales. 



On the 7th November, I proceeded up the river in a canoe with my 

 guide ; made halts at places such as presented anything different from 

 what I had seen before. On the llth, I reached sixty miles from the 

 ocean, where I found my canoe too large to pass in many places by reason 

 of cascades and shallowness of the water. 'I abandoned the idea of pro- 

 ceeding further in that direction. I therefore made my guide such 

 presents as were adequate for the service and kindness I had experienced 

 from him. Before leaving me he requested I would shave him, as he 

 had pretensions to civilisation and aped with nicety European manners. 

 I accordingly did so, and invited him to come at the New Year to see 

 me, when I would give him a dram, a smoke, and shave him again. [ He 

 told me before he left, to let all King George's chiefs know of him, when 

 I spoke to them with paper. This river is a large stream nearly as large 

 as the Thames, very rapid in many parts with cascades. The banks are 

 rocky, steep, and covered with the like woods as are found on the Columbia. 

 At the village where I put up I bargained with an Indian to carry my 

 baggage on his horse to the Cow-a-lidsk River, one of the northern branches 

 of the Columbia. I had some difficulty with this fellow in accom- 

 plishing my end ; he was the most mercenary rascal I have seen. I 

 had to give him twenty shots of ammunition, two feet of tobacco, a few 

 flints, and a little vermilion. The following day rained so heavily that 

 I could not proceed. Early on the 13th I set out with my two Indians 

 on foot, the horse carrying my little baggage with the owner. The distance 

 may be about forty miles, and a very bad road owing to the late heavy rains ; 

 much water was in the hollows, and the little creeks and rivulets so much 

 swollen that njjy clothes were often off three times swimming across some 

 of them. In the afternoon the rain fell in torrents, and as the country was 



1 No doubt refers to H. tenax which is Xerophyllum asphodeloides var., Baker,, 

 in Journ. Linn. Soc. xvii. p. 467. 



