278 OVERLAND EXPEDITION TO SAN FRANCISCO. 



mette. It is a deep and turbid stream, but is fordable at 

 certain points. 



During the 13th it was very foggy, and we had much diffi- 

 culty in finding the animals. Owing to this circumstance we 

 advanced this day only two miles on our course. At this 

 encampment we obtained observations, both on the dip and in- 

 tensity needles. About dusk some Calipoya Indians paid us 

 a visit ; they proved to be acquaintances of the guide, and the 

 meeting seemed to be one which afforded mutual pleasure to 

 both parties. He represented them as being a perfectly 

 harmless people, and there was nothing in their appearance to 

 indicate the contrary. They were clothed in deer-skins, with 

 fox-skin caps, or cast-off clothing of the whites. Their arms 

 were bows and arrows ; the latter were pointed with bone, and 

 they carried them in a quiver made of seal-skin. 



On the morning of the 14th we resumed our journey, and 

 made about ten miles on our course. The soil now was com- 

 posed of white sand, mixed with clay, and produced only 

 prairie grass. I gave this day to one of the scientific gentle- 

 men, Mr. Dana, a beautiful specimen of fresh-water asticus, 

 which I captured in the stream, upon whose banks we 

 encamped for the night. 



On the 15th our route lay through a broken country, densely 

 covered with pines, spruces, and oaks ; some of the former 

 were upwards of two hundred feet in height, and proportionally 

 large in circumference. At 8.30 P. M. we reached the base 

 of the Elk Mountains, which separate the valley of Willamette 

 from that of Umpquoa. We estimated the greatest elevation 

 of these mountains to be 1500 feet; they are clothed with 

 trees and underbrush to their summit. We had a severe frost 

 during the night, although the temperature during the day 

 had been as high as 77° in the shade. 



