PUGET SOUND AND OKONAGAN. 459 



whither a canoe was now brought to transport their baggage, and an 

 Indian was despatched to a fishing station, who returned with salmon 

 ready cooked. 



The chief of the tribe of Okonagan Indians became much dis- 

 satisfied at the mode in which payment was offered him, and 

 which he refused to accept, and went unrewarded for his important 

 services, to the regret of many of the party. They again pro- 

 ceeded on their journey, and came, in the course of a mile, to the 

 camp of the natives from whom the salmon had been sent them. 

 They found them employed in salmon-fishing. Including men, 

 women, and children, they were twenty in number. This is their 

 permanent residence, but they were then living in the usual summer 

 huts, of mats, and near by were the winter habitations, which con- 

 sisted of two mounds, each of which might contain about ten. 

 Both of these were open towards the river, the door being a round 

 aperture, eighteen inches in diameter. These Indians seem to have 

 little to protect them from the cold of winter, except the grass and 

 their clothing, and do not appear to have any fire in their winter 

 habitation. The mystery about the cooked salmon was now solved, 

 for it appeared that, as soon as the fish are taken, they are at 

 once roasted, and then exposed to the sun to dry on a shed, after 

 which the meat is pounded and made into balls, which are stored 

 for winter food. They keep a large quantity of it on hand, and it 

 constitutes almost their only food. Their salmon-fishery was on the 

 opposite side of the river. Some of the party bought a number of 

 salmon, the smallest of which weighed nearly forty pounds. These 

 Indians had many good horses, which they had no inclination to 

 sell. 



About two miles above the Indian village, they unexpectedly found 

 that they were obliged to cross the Columbia. The balsas were, 

 therefore, put in requisition, and a raft was constructed, on which, 

 with the assistance of a canoe obtained from the Indians, they suc- 

 ceeded in getting all their baggage safely deposited on the other side, 

 whither the horses were also brought. 



In lighting their fires they ignited the grass on the prairie, and 

 produced quite a conflagration, which for a time threatened their 

 camp, but they succeeded in extinguishing it. Lieutenant Johnson 

 now engaged an Indian to show them the road to Okonagan, for 

 which they intended to set out at an early hour. 



Their course now lay along the Columbia, and towards the latter 



