122 NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEVf 



the fisheries on Snake river. We here took their trail which led 

 up the valley to which we had been steering. The entrance was 

 very similar in appearance to that of Thornburg's pass, and it is 

 not therefore very surprising that our guide should have been de- 

 ceived. We travelled rapidly along the level land at the base of 

 the mountain, for about three miles ; we then began to ascend, 

 and our progress was necessarily slow and tedious. The com- 

 mencement of the Alpine path was, however, far better than we 

 had expected, and we entertained the hope that the passage could 

 be made without difficulty or much toil, but the farther we pro- 

 gressed, the more laborious the travelling became. Sometimes we 

 mounted steep banks of intermingled flinty rock, and friable slate, 

 where our horses could scarcely obtain a footing, frequently sliding 

 down several feet on the loose, broken stones : — again we passed 

 along the extreme verge of tremendous precipices at a giddy height, 

 whereat almost every step the stones and earth would roll from 

 under our horses' feet, and we could hear them strike with a dull, 

 leaden 'sound on the craggy rocks below. The whole jc irney, 

 to-day, from the time we arrived at the heights, until we had 

 crossed the mountain, has been a most fearful one. For myself, 

 I might have diminished the danger very considerably, by adopt- 

 ing the plan pursued by the rest of the company, that of walking, 

 and leading my horse over the most dangerous places, but I have 

 been suffering for several days with a lame foot, and am wholly 

 incapable of such exertion. I soon discovered that an attempt to 

 guide my horse over the most rugged and steepest ranges was 

 worse than useless, so I dropped the rein upon the animal's neck, 

 and allowed him to take his own course, closing my eyes, and 

 keeping as quiet as possible in the saddle. But I could not for- 



and most dreaded tribe. If we had passed there but a few dajs earlier, there is 

 every probability to suppose that we should have been attacked, as onr party at 

 that tlrae consisted of but twenty-six men. 



