64 THE SHOSHONEE INDIANS. 



green. Among, the shrubs, the most common was the 

 artemisia, or wild sage, which greets the traveller's eyes 

 even upon the sandy plains west of the mountains, remind- 

 ing him, amid the trials of the desert, of the beauties of 

 earth. 



About noon we came upon a party of Shoshonees, or 

 Snake Indians, numbering about thirty, including the 

 Bquaws. The latter were engaged in digging the root 

 called yampah, in the low timbered bottom of a creek. 

 Among the Indians, along the Rocky Mountains, this root 

 is considered the best of food ; while in the United States 

 and in Europe, the seeds are used to flavor soup. Far- 

 ther on in our route, there was a stream, tributary to the 

 great Colorado, along the banks of which this root is so 

 abundant, that the Indians have given it the name of the 

 Yampah river, although the trappers call it the Little 

 Snake. There we arrived in the middle of the afternoon, 

 and found a large party of Shoshonees encamped near 

 the stream, while the squaws were engaged in digging the 

 root. The chiefs were well acquainted with both of us, 

 and had repeatedly solicited us to take some of their 

 squaws for wives, as a decisive sign of our alliance ; but 

 these offers we had both declined, as the Shoshonee wo- 

 jnen were disgusting in appearance and habits. We en- 

 camped near the party, made them some trifling presents, 

 and were as intimate as if we were members of the tribe 



