o;](5 SOUTHERN OREGON. 



good-natured fellow. He has had several narrow escapes, having 

 been twice with parties that were attacked by the southern Indians, 

 in the passage to and from California. The last time he was one 

 of four who escaped, subsisted on berries and roots for a fortnight, 

 and was obliged to travel only at night, to avoid the Indians who 

 were in search of him. He furnished our party with fresh beef of 

 his own stock, refusing to receive pay, and seemed very much in- 

 censed that the mission should have charged for what had been 

 obtained from them. 



The country in the southern part of the Willamette Valley, stretches 

 out into wild prairie-ground, gradually rising in the distance into low 

 undulating hills, which are destitute of trees, except scattered oaks; 

 these look more like orchards of fruit trees planted by the hand of 

 man, than groves of natural growth, and serve to relieve the eye from 

 the yellow and scorched hue of the plains. The meanderings of the 

 streams may be readily followed by the growth of trees on their 

 banks as far as the eye can see. 



They were detained here by the straying of their animals, and did 

 not succeed in getting off until the next day, when Turner gave them 

 two of his horses, being willing to run the risk of recovering the lost 

 ones in their stead. 



On the morning of the 9th, they had a severe frost. In the course 

 of the day they passed Creole creek, and encamped on the Ignas. 

 The atmosphere during the day had become quite thick, owing to the 

 smoke arising from the burning of the prairie. Here they prepared 

 themselves fully for their journey, by trimming their horses' hoofs, 

 and taking a full account of them. The soil was a red decomposed 

 basalt, well adapted for grazing and wheat lands. 



On the 10th, the country was somewhat more hilly than the 

 day previous, but still fine grazing land. During the day they 

 crossed many small creeks. The rocks had now changed from a 

 basalt to a whitish clayey sandstone. The soil also varied with it 

 to a grayish-brown, instead of the former chocolate-brown colour, 

 which was thought to be an indication of inferior quality. The 

 country had an uninviting look, from the fact that it had lately been 

 overrun by fire, which had destroyed all the vegetation except the 

 oak trees, which appeared not to be injured. 



On the 11th, after passing during the day Lake Guardipii, which 

 is about five hundred yards long, they encamped on the Lumtumbuff 





