122 
of peace the next day; and as this must 
be sealed by a feast, the Wolf cannot be 
expected to stir till itis over. Mr. Dease, 
however, has kindly spoken to an Indian, 
who is in the habit of going journies for 
him, to guide me, as my time is becoming 
short, and hope to start to-morrow 
early. 
Saturday, 19th.—Set off this morning, 
carrying only as provision a little dried 
meat, tea and sugar, and a small tin pot. 
My gun being unluckily out of order, 
Mr. Wark kindly lent me a double barrelled 
rifle pistol, and perhaps, going alone and 
unprotected, it is best to carry nothing 
that can tempt these savages. Being ill off 
for clothing, Mr. Dease gave me a pair of 
leather trousers, made of Deer-skin, and a 
few pairs of shoes, which were highly 
acceptable ; he also provided me with 
three of his best horses—one to carry my 
luggage, one for my guide, and the other 
for myself. A single shirt and a blanket 
were all that I carried, more than was on 
my back, and thus equipped, I set out for 
n, distant two hundred and fifty 
miles North- West of this place. 
very reluctantly that I allowed myself to 
be dissuaded from venturing by water. I 
however hoped somewhat to shorten the 
journey, by cutting off the angle between 
the Columbia and Spokan River, espe- 
cially as the path was throughout likely to 
be very mountainous and rugged. The isla 
heat being extreme, and the night beauti- 
fully clear moon-light, I travelled rather 
more by night than by day, starting gene- 
rally at two A. M., and stopping to rest and 
lie down for a few hours about noon-day. 
Unfortunately my guide and I could not 
hold converse, neither knowing a syllable 
of the other's language 
On the second day I arrived at some 
Indian lodges, just where I wanted to cross 
the Spokan River, and the people, who 
were fishing, assisted me in getting the 
horses over, and carried me and all my 
property to the other side, in a canoe, for 
which I rewarded them with a little to- and 
bacco. The country was almost invariably 
DOUGLAS’ SUMMER EXCURSIONS 
a trackless waste, with scarcely a p: 
of herbage remaining on the gravell 
sandy soil. My meals generally cor 
of dried salmon and a little tea, which 
boiled, and th ked the infusion fi 
leaves ; but for three days after passing 
Spokan, I was much distressed by the v 
of drinkable water. Stagnant pools, oltet 
so impregnated with sulphur, that not e ve 
the thirsty horses would touch it, were à 
that we could find; and when we did am ivi 
ata tolerable spring, not a twig coul 
collected for fuel, —and I vainly attemy 
to boil my little pan with grass, the st 
of a large species of Triticum. 
should I have been of the shelter of a i 
but, though I carried one, the fatigue. 
pitching it, under such a burning e 
more than I could encounter; and when | 
water proved such as I could not use, 
took nothing, thirst being much more 
quent with me, at this time, than h 
During this journey I passed by the 
chasm, which was once the bed 
Columbia River, a truly wonderful s 
in some places eight or nine miles b 
and exhibiting such rocks in the cha g 
as must have occasioned prodigious) 
grand cascades, with banks of pe 
dicular height, rising to one thou i 
hundred and one thousand eight hun 
feet:—in other places perfectly level, 
diversified with what must have 
s we 
g 
vitrified lava. 
extend, communicating with the pré 
channel of the Columbia, at the 
: eep 
degree and a half South, which 1$ 07 
by the straighter line of the river's pre " 
course. The plants peculiar to the T0 
shores of the Columbia are to be seen 
and in no intervening place. Here 
there was a thick sward of grass, "77 
