AMONGST THE WILD GOATS OF THE CASCADES. 301 



coated with, mussels and barnacles. A heavy iron 

 wheel, secured to a long rope, served as an anchor for 

 the canoe, which was also made fast ashore by a long 

 line. As we had made fifty miles the day before, and 

 the rain was falling continuously, I resolved that we 

 should remain here, hoping for a change. The time 

 which was not occupied in cooking venison, eating it, 

 or reposing, was spent by the Indians in conversing, 

 collecting firewood, mussels, or salmon berries, and by 

 myself in endeavouring to exclude the drops of rain 

 which entered through the cracks. Trophies of the 

 chase, in the shape of the goat's skull and horns, I had 

 placed in one of the streams to macerate, in the 

 absence of any ants' nest ; but George and Jack 

 shortly appeared, carrying them back, looking exceed- 

 ingly foolish, and insisting that the rain would infal- 

 libly continue so long as the bones were allowed to 

 remain there in the water. 



The following afternoon the rain showed symptoms 

 of abating, the tide had still a couple of hours to ebb, 

 and, to satisfy the Indians, I agreed that we should 

 endeavour to reach some spot Jack knew where salmon 

 could be caught. George and I in the canoe could 

 never agree, without going ashore for ocular proof by 

 watching the rise or fall of the water, as to whether 

 the tide was ebbing or flowing as the period of change 

 approached. And, truly, the movements of the water 

 were most unaccountable, as they affected the ocean 

 level, on account of the tide-rips, eddies, over-falls, 

 backwaters, tidal currents, counter- currents, and 



