TRIP THROUGH NACHES PASS, 1841 



of the river, the junction of which augmented its size 

 very considerably. Its banks, too, became perpendic- 

 ular and rocky, with a current flowing between them at 

 the rate of six or seven miles an hour. After the junc- 

 tion, the stream was about one hundred feet broad, and 

 its course was east-southeast. 



The vegetation on the east side of the mountains was 

 decidedly more advanced than that to the west, and 

 several very interesting species of plants were met with 

 by the botanists, on the banks of the streams : among 

 them were Paeonia brownii, Cypripedium oregonium, 

 Pentstemon, Ipomopsis elegans, and several Composite, 

 and a very handsome flowering shrub, Purshia triden- 

 tata. 



On the 3 ist, they continued their route over a rough 

 country, in some places almost impassable for a horse 

 from its steepness, and in others so marshy as to require 

 much caution to prevent being mired. 



During the morning, they met two Indians, who 

 informed them that the chief of the Yakima tribe was 

 a short distance in advance, waiting to meet them, and 

 that he had several horses. At noon they reached a 

 small prairie on the banks of the river, where old Tidias, 

 the chief, was seen seated in state to receive Lieutenant 

 Johnson ; but this ceremony was unavoidably broken 

 in upon by the necessity of getting the meridian obser- 

 vations. The chief, however, advanced towards him 

 with every mark of friendship, giving the party a 

 hearty welcome. In person he was tall, straight, and 

 thin, a little bald, with long black hair hanging down 

 his back, carefully tied with a worsted rag. He was 

 grave, but dignified and graceful. When they had been 

 seated, and after smoking a couple of pipes in silence, 

 he intimated that he was ready for a talk, which then 

 followed, relative to the rivers and face of the country ; 

 but little information was obtained that could be de- 

 pended upon. 



This tribe subsist chiefly upon salmon and the cam- 



25 



