Armedinger and Mr. Walker. We had learned to Zhe 
Columbia 
know the former as a jovial companion at the rendez- tye" 
vous. Both showed themselves very obliging to us, Bay 
and furnished in this respect an agreeable contrast to — 
the often brusque behavior of agents at American 
forts. The day of our arrival we were invited to a 
supper in the fort, which would be deemed quite fru- 
gal in civilized life, but which, in this wilderness, con- 
sisted of the most delicious dishes which we had tasted 
since we started, namely, bread, butter, milk, dried 
buffalo meat and tea with rum. No Paris meal com- 
posed with all a gourmand’s art ever tasted better 
to me, than the luxuries (for that country) of this 
feast on the sand steppes of the Snake River. As we 
intended to stay here at least eight days to allow our 
animals to recuperate and to prepare ourselves for 
the trying journey to the Columbia, I employed the 
time in making inquiries about the Hudson’s Bay 
Company and the country about the Columbia River, 
and here give the result: 
The Snake River (Lewis River) has its source on 
the western slope of the main chain of the Rockies, 
and flows in northwesterly direction about eight 
hundred miles, when it unites with the Clarke River, 
coming from the northeast, to form the Columbia 
River, which, after a western course of only two 
hundred miles, empties into the Pacific Ocean. The 
Snake River flows through a sandy plateau, in which 
there can be found almost no game and very little 
food for the animals. About one hundred miles from 
