, 185 ay [ 174 ] 
longitude 226° 22" 18 » The night’ has been cold, igind we have white «© 
frost this morning, with’a temperature at daylight of 25°, and at sunrise of 
24°. The early morning was very clear, aad the stars bri ht ; but, as 
psa — we are on*the Columbia, clouds formed immediately with the 
rising su day continued fine, the east being covered with scattered 
clouds, uit the west remaining clear ; showing the remarkable cone-like 
peak of Mount, Hood brightly drawn against the sky. This was in view 
all day in the Southwest, but no other peaks of the range were visible. 
F 
* 
Our road was a bad one, of very loose deep sand. We met on the a 
party of Indians unusually well dressed, wearing Jaa 398 of civilized texture 
and form. They appeared intelligent, and, in our slight intercourse, im- 
= me with the belief that they possessed eiltas aptitude for aequiring 
languages 
tinned to travel along the river, the stream being interspersed 
with many sand bars (it being the season of low water) and with many 
islands, ‘and an apparently good navigation. Small willows were the only 
wood; ; rock and sand the prominent geological feature. The rock of this 
section is a very compact and tough basalt, occurringsin strata which have 
the appearance of being broken into: fragments, assuming the form of co- 
lumnar hills, and appearing always i pments, with the broken frag- 
ments strewed at the base and over ihe adjoining country. =~ 
We made a Jate encampment on’ the river, and used to-night purshia 
tridentata for fire wood. Among the rocks which formed the bank, was 
very good green grass. Latitude 45° 44' 23", longitude 119°45"°09". 
November | _—Mount Hood is glowing in the sunlight this morning, and 
the air is pleasant, with a temperature of 38°. We continued down the 
river, and, passing through a pretty green valley, bounded by high — 
» tous rocks, encampe 2 —— end. ‘ : 
On the right shore, the banks of the Columbia are very high and steep; » 
= ‘river i 690 feet broad, and dark bluffs of rock give ita que re 
Ni deenhet 2.—The river here nae left at took batts;  esving no no | is 
room for a road; and we accordingly left it 
among the river. hills ; chi whichl eiglagili so ay than we: 
a 2 arey improvement in try. "The ape had  disapgaianel as as = 
soil was good, and covered with excellent grass, although the surface was 
broken into high hills, with uncommonly deep valleys. Atnoon we c 
John Day’s river, a clear and beautiful stream, with a swift current and'a — 
bed of rolled stones. It is sunk in a deep valley, which is. characteristic 
of all the streams in this region; and the hill we descended to reach it well 
deserves the name of mountain. Some of the emigrants had encamped 
on the river, and others at the summit of the farther hill, the Beant: of 
which-had probably cost their wagons a day’s labor ; and others again had 
halted for the night a few miles begat; where they had slept without . 
water, We also encamped in a grassy hollow without water; but as: we - 
had. been forewarned of this privatiot:: by: the guide, the animals had alk — 
been watered at the river, and we had brought with us sufficient quancitp j 
* 
* 
be 
Ai ae 3 Afar two hours’ ridé through a fertile, hilly countrys 
ed as all the upland here appears to be with good gree n we de- 
Jed again into the-river bottom, along whi ich we resumed aii ‘sterile 
and in about four miles ree ‘the ford of the Fall seis (Riviere 
ea 
a al ed 
ty ‘ * 
es ears 
