ACROSS THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, ETC. 141 



24cth. — The sudden and entire change from flesh exclusively, 

 to fish, ditto, has affected us all, more or leSs, with diarrhoea and 

 pain in the abdomen ; several of the men have been so extremely 

 sick, as scarcely to be able to travel ; we shall, however, no 

 doubt, become accustomed to it in a few days. 



We passed, this morning, over a flat country, very similar to 

 that along the Platte, abounding in wormwood bushes, the pulpy- 

 leaved thorn, and others, and deep with sand, and at noon stopped 

 on a small stream called Malheur''s creek. 



Here a party of nine men was equipped, and despatched up the 

 river, and across the country, on a trapping expedition, with 

 orders to join us early in the ensuing winter, at the fort on the 

 Columbia. Richardson was the chief of this party, and when I 

 grasped the hand of our worthy hunter, and bade him farewell, I 

 felt as though I were taking leave of a friend. I had become 

 particularly attached to him, from the great simplicity and kind- 

 ness of his heart, and his universally correct and proper deport- 

 ment. I had been accustomed to depend upon his knowledge 

 and sagacity in every thing connected with the wild and roving 

 life which I had led for some months past, and I felt that his 

 absence would be a real loss, as well to myself, as to the whole 

 camp, which had profited so much by his dexterity and skill. 



Our party will now consist of only seventeen men, but the 

 number is amply sufficient, as we have passed over the country 

 where danger is to be apprehended from Indians. We followed 

 the course of the creek during the afternoon, and in the evenino; 

 encamped on Snake river, into which Malheur empties. The 

 river is here nearly a mile wide, but deep and clear, and for a 

 considerable distance, perfectly navigable for steamboats, or even 

 larger craft, and it would seem not improbable, that at some dis- 

 tant day, these facilities, added to the excellence of the alluvial 

 soil, should induce the stout and hardy adventurers of our country 

 to make permanent settlements here. 



