116. 
his family, who had been starving, as he 
assured us, for two months, owing to the 
failure of the salmon fishery; then shoes 
for himself, and as his leggings were much 
worn, leather for new ones. Then followed 
a request for a scalping-knife, a piece of 
. tobacco, and a stripe of red cloth for an 
ornamental cap. "This bargain occupied 
two hours, and was sealed by volumes of 
smoke from a large stone pipe. 
Mr. Black offered kindly to send a boy, 
twelve years old, called the Young Wasp, 
the son of his own interpreter, with me, 
who, understanding a little of French, 
might communicate my wishes to the guide, 
a proposal which I thankfully accepted ; 
but, some days after, I had reason to fear 
the young rascal told the Indian the very 
reverse of what I bade him, for after we 
had, with great difficulty, gained the sum- 
mit of the snowy mountains, after many 
days of severe labour, from Saturday the 
17th to Wednesday the 21st, when I pro- 
posed to descend on the other side, my 
guide made serious objections to accom- 
pany me. All I could suggest, through 
the medium of the boy, to remove his 
fears, seemed only to increase them: he 
assured me that the Snake Indians, with 
whom his tribe was at war, would steal our 
horses, and probably kill us; and as it was 
impossible either to force him to accompany 
me, or to find my way alone, I was reluct- 
antly compelled for the present to give up 
the idea of proceeding in that direction, 
I had not been long on the much desired 
summit of this mountain, which is at least 
nine thousand feet above the level of the 
sea, and seven thousand five hundred feet 
above the platform of the mountainous 
country around, and the snows of which 
had certainly never been pressed by an 
European foot before, than my view of the 
surrounding scenery was closed by the 
sudden descent of a heavy black cloud, 
which presently broke in thunder, light- 
ning, hail, and wind. The heavens seemed 
as on fire with the glare, and the thunder 
echoed from the other peaks, accompanied 
with gusts of furious wind, which broke 
many of the stunted Pines, and unmer- 
DOUGLAS' SUMMER EXCURSIONS 
cifully pelted me with the cutting 
Glad was I to leave this summit whic 
walk, which the want of snow-shoes re : 
dered, on the high parts, much . 
and of exquisite flavour, both yellow 
black, the former most common, and 
size of common currants. As I ob 
that this shrub only produces its | 
when growing in very dry sandy pla 
never where the soil is rich, and very s 
ingly, if it is at all moist ; it would be w 
the while of cultivators at home to 
to this circumstance. As I had tasle 
nothing but these berries all day, I foun 
a small basin of cold tea at night, 
some dried salmon, particularly refresh 
The storm continued unabated, by which 
my poor horses were so alarm 
was necessary to tie them to some í 
close to our camp; but the chief 
clothes, I stripped, and rolling myself. 
my blanket, soon fell asleep, but w 
about midnight, so benumbed wil 
that I found my knees refuse to do 
office. Having rubbed my limbs. 
vehemently with a very rough cloth, 
restore animation, I succeeded at las 
making a little fire, when some hot tea 
me more good than any thing else € 
have done. If ever, however, my. 
been damped, it was on this occasion 
guide too, and interpreter, were 50 m 
disheartened by the difficulties of the ' 
the dreadful storm, and the want of | 
mined to resume my journey m 
rection without much delay, the 
appearing very rich in objects of 
