1826, OCTOBER. TOWARDS THE UMPQUA RIVER 215 



able for the horses. Walked the greater part of the day, but found nothing 

 new. On my way observed some trees of Arbutus laurifolia,^ 15 inches 

 to 2 feet in diameter, 30 to 45 feet high, much larger than any that I 

 saw last year on the Columbia ; fruit nearly ripe ; soil deep rich black 

 loam, near springs, and on a gravelly bottom. Passed at noon some 

 Indians digging the roots of Phalangium Quamash ^ in one of the low plains. 

 Bulbs much larger than any I have seen, except those on Lewis and Clarke's 

 River. Camped at four on the banks of a small stream which falls into the 

 Multnomah three miles to the east. In the like journeys Sunday is known 

 only by the people changing their Uiien, and such of them as can read in the 

 evenings peruse rehgious tracts, &c., whose tenets are agreeable to the 

 Church of Rome. In the dusk I walked out with my gun. I had not gone 

 more than half a mile from the camp when I observed a very large wasp- 

 nest, which had been attached to a tree, lying on the plain, where the 

 ground was perfectly bare and the herbage burned, taken there by the 

 bears. At the same time John Kennedy, one of the hunters, was out after 

 deer and saw a very large male grizzly bear enter a small hummock of low 

 brushwood two hundred yards from me. Being too dark, we thought it 

 prudent to leave him unmolested ; perhaps we may stand a chance of 

 seeing him on our way. Marched eighteen mUes. 



Monday, 2nd. — Morning, heavy dew and chilly ; clear and fine duriag 

 the day ; sheet lightning ia the evening. Early in the morning a small 

 doe was killed near our encampment and was placed on one of the horses. 

 As we passed on the track, I went in search of the large bear seen last night 

 but could see nothing of him. At noon passed two deep gulUes which gave 

 much trouble, the banks being thickly covered with brushwood, willow, 

 dogwood, and low alder. Course nearly due south, incHning to the west. 

 Country same as yesterday, rich, but not yet a vestige of green herbage ; 

 aU burned except in the deep ravines. Covered with Pteris aquilina,^ 

 Solidago, and a strong species of Carduus. On the elevated grounds 

 where the soil is a deep rich loam, 3 to 7 feet thick on a clay bottom, 

 some of the oaks measure 18 to 24 feet in circumference, but rarely 

 exceeding 30 feet of trunk in height. On the less fertile places, on a 

 gravelly dry bottom, where the trees are scrubby and small, a curious 

 species of Viscum, with ovate leaves, is found abundantly. I recollect 

 Dr. Hooker asking me if I ever saw it on oak in Scotland, which I 

 never did. As no place could be found suitable for fodder for the horses, 

 we had to travel till four o'clock, when we camped at a low point of 

 land near a woody rivulet. Marched twenty-one miles. My feet to- 

 night are very painful and my toes cut with the burned stumps of a 

 strong species of Arundo and Spiraea tomentosa. 



Tuesday, 3rd. — Last night, as we were nearly out of provisions I walked 

 out with my gun, in company with Mr. McLeod, a few miles from the camp. 

 Saw only two deer, but being too dark did not fire. Shortly before starting 



^ A. Gray, Syn. Fl. N. Am. ii. i. p. 27, says may be Pruniis caroUniana, but is 

 indeterminable. 



' Camassia esculenta. Baker, in Joum. Linn. Soo. xiii. p. 257. 

 ' Pteridium aquilinum, Christensen, Ind. Kl. p. 591. 



