134 COLUMBIA RIVER. 



In the afternoon they encamped at the mouth of the Sachap, and 

 Mr. Eld made preparations to set out early the next morning, to 

 explore it, having obtained a guide from among the Indians they 

 met with at a fishing station in the vicinity. No fish, however, were 

 to be procured, but on their descent they came upon several large 

 flocks of teal, out of which Mr. Brackenridge killed four. 



At an early hour on the 27th, Mr. Eld, Sergeant Stearns, and two 

 men, set out on their jaunt up the Sachap, in a small canoe. About 

 eight miles from the camp they came to the place where the river 

 forks, forming the Sachap and Tarqucorau; here they took horses, 

 and proceeded eight miles farther, in a northeasterly direction, and 

 encamped in a small prairie. Neither of the two rivers is penetrable 

 by a canoe, so overgrown and choked up are they with bushes and 

 bogs. Just at sunset they passed a party of Suquamish Indians, who 

 were very anxious that Mr. Eld should encamp with them ; but this 

 he declined doing, and preferred passing some distance beyond. 



On the morning of the 28th, they again started at an early hour, 

 and passed through a very rough and apparently little frequented 

 country. The guide had much difficulty in finding his way through 

 a forest which the fire had partly consumed. At 9 h 30 m they recrossed 

 the Sachap, which was there a small brook, about twenty feet wide, 

 coming from a northwest direction. It was but knee-deep, and 

 clogged with large logs and trees. Shortly after passing this stream, 

 the country grew so rough that it was impossible to proceed farther 

 with the horses, and the guide told Mr. Eld that he would be 

 obliged to leave them. As no notice of this difficulty in the route 

 had been previously given, it was natural for Mr. Eld to suspect that 

 his guides were forming some scheme to deceive him, and go off 

 with his property. Deeming it proper to come to a right under- 

 standing, and to make the guide aware that he was on the look-out 

 to punish any attempt at fraud, he led the chief aside, and told him 

 that he intended to hold him responsible in case of the loss of a.ny of 

 his things, or of his being deceived. He then ordered him to leave 

 one of his slaves in charge of the horses and effects until their return. 

 This was accordingly done, and they proceeded on foot for the Lake 

 Nanvitz, which they reached by one o'clock. This proved to be a 

 tine sheet of water, a mile and a half long, by three-fourths of a mile 

 wide, surrounded by a thick forest of pines. Here they found an 

 Indian family hunting, who had just killed an elk, of which Mr. 

 Eld procured the greater part, for a small quantity of powder and 



