WALLAWALLA. 403 



state of the river the Company's boats frequently shoot or descend it, 

 but this is at all times an exploit of great danger. Many fearful acci- 

 dents have taken place with the most experienced boatmen, who with 

 all their skill could not preserve themselves from being carried into 

 the vortices, drawn under, and destroyed. 



Such is the peculiar nature of the rush of waters through the 

 Dalles, that for some minutes the whole will appear quite smooth, 

 gliding onwards as though there were no treachery within its flow, 

 when suddenly the waters will begin to move in extended and slow 

 whirls, gradually increasing in velocity until it narrows itself into 

 almost a funnel shape, when, having drawn towards it all within its 

 reach, it suddenly engulfs the whole, and again resumes its tranquil 

 state. 



An awful accident was related to me by Mr. Ogden, of which he 

 was an eye-witness, which will more clearly illustrate the nature of the 

 place. 



Mr. Ogden was descending the river in one of the Company's boats 

 with ten Canadian voyageurs, all well experienced in their duties. 

 On arriving at the Dalles, they deemed it practicable to run them, in 

 order to save the portage. Mr. Ogden determined, however, that he 

 would pass the portage on foot, believing, however, the river was in 

 such a state that it was quite safe for the boat to pass down. He was 

 accordingly landed, and ascended the rocks, from which he had a full 

 view of the water beneath, and of the boat in its passage. At first she 

 seemed to skim over the waters like the flight of a bird ; but he soon 

 perceived her stop, and the struggle of the oarsmen, together with the 

 anxious shout of the bowman, soon told him that they had encountered 

 the whirl. Strongly they plied their oars, and deep anxiety if not fear 

 was expressed in their movements. They began to move, not for- 

 wards, but onwards with the whirl : round they swept with increasing 

 velocity, still struggling to avoid the now evident fate that awaited 

 them : a few more turns, each more rapid than the last, until they 

 reached the centre, when, in an instant, the boat with all her crew dis- 

 appeared. So short had been the struggle, that it was with difficulty 

 Mr. Ogden could realize that all had perished. Only one body out of 

 the ten was afterwards found at the bottom of the Dalles, torn and 

 mangled by the strife it had gone through. 



Mr. Drayton found that as many as half of the Indians had left their 

 fishing. He noticed here, in attempting to make a bargain for canoes 

 to take him as far as the Cascades, the same habit of extortion that 

 was before evinced. In all cases, it seems to be a part of the Indian 



