FIRST SUCCESSFUL ASCENT, 1870 



mountains who might guide us to the base of Takhoma. 

 The tiny rivulet as we descended soon swelled to a 

 large and furious torrent, and its bed filled nearly the 

 whole bottom of the gorge. The mountains rose on 

 both sides precipitously, and the traces of land-slides 

 which had gouged vast furrows down their sides were 

 frequent. With extreme toil and difficulty we made 

 our way, continually wading the torrent, clambering 

 over broken masses of rock which filled its bed, or cling- 

 ing to the steep hillsides, and reached the Cowlitz 

 at length after twelve miles of this fatiguing work, but 

 only to find the Indian camp deserted. Further search, 

 however, was rewarded by the discovery of a rude 

 shelter formed of a few skins thrown over a frame- 

 work of poles, beneath which sat a squaw at work upon 

 a half-dressed deerskin. An infant and a naked child 

 of perhaps four years lay on the ground near the fire in 

 front. Beside the lodge and quietly watching our ap- 

 proach, of which he alone seemed aware, stood a tall, 

 slender Indian clad in buckskin shirt and leggings, 

 with a striped woolen breech-clout, and a singular 

 head garniture which gave him a fierce and martial ap- 

 pearance. This consisted of an old military cap, the 

 visor thickly studded with brassheaded nails, while 

 a large circular brass article, which might have been the 

 top of an oil-lamp, was fastened upon the crown. Sev- 

 eral eagle feathers stuck in the crown and strips of fur 

 sewed upon the sides completed the edifice, which, 

 notwithstanding its components, appeared imposing 

 rather than ridiculous. A long Hudson Bay gun, 

 the stock also ornamented with brass-headed tacks, 

 lay in the hollow of the Indian's shoulder. 



He received us with great friendliness, yet not with- 

 out dignity, shaking hands and motioning us to a seat 

 beneath the rude shelter, while his squaw hastened to 

 place before us suspicious-looking cakes of dried berries, 

 apparently their only food. After a moderate indul- 

 gence in this delicacy, Longmire made known our 



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