420 PUGET SOUND AND OKONAGAN. 



Charles, in order that the horses might not be over-fatigued, and be 

 able to get good pasture and water. Here a number of natives visited 

 the camp. Pine trees were in large numbers, many of them upwards 

 of one hundred and thirty feet in height. On the banks of a small 

 stream, near their camp, were found the yellow Ranunculus, a species 

 of Trillium, in thickets, with large leaves and small flowers, Lupines, 

 and some specimens of a cruciferous plant. 



On the 21st they made an early start, and in the forenoon crossed 

 the Puyallup, a stream about seventy feet wide ; along which is a fine 

 meadow of some extent, with clumps of alder and willow: the soil 

 was of a black turfy nature. After leaving the meadow-land, they 

 began to ascend along a path that was scarcely visible from being 

 overgrown with Gaultheria, Hazel, Spiraea, Vaccinium, and Cornus. 



During the day, they crossed the Stehna. In the evening, after 

 making sixteen miles, they encamped at the junction of the Puyallup 

 with the Upthascap. Near by was a hut, built of the planks of the 

 Arbor Vitae (Thuja), which was remarkably well made; and the 

 boards used in its structure, although split, had all the appearance of 

 being sawn : many of them were three feet wide, and about fifteen 

 feet long. The hut was perfectly water-tight. Its only inhabitants 

 were two miserable old Indians and two boys, who were waiting here 

 for the arrival of those employed in the salmon-fishery. The rivers 

 were beginning to swell to an unusual size, owing to the melting of the 

 snows in the mountains ; and in order to cross the streams, it became 

 necessary to cut down large trees, over which the packs were carried, 

 while the horses swam over. These were not the only difficulties they 

 had to encounter : the path was to be cut for miles through thickets 

 of brushwood and fallen timber; steep precipices were to be ascended, 

 with slippery sides and entangled with roots of every variety of shape 

 and size, in which the horses' legs would become entangled, and before 

 reaching the top be precipitated, loads and all, to the bottom. The 

 horses would at times become jammed with their packs between trees, 

 and were not to be disengaged without great toil, trouble, and damage 

 to their burdens. In some cases, after succeeding in getting nearly 

 to the top of a hill thirty or forty feet high, they would become 

 exhausted and fall over backwards, making two or three somersets, 

 until they reached the bottom, when their loads were again to be 

 arranged. 



On the 22d, their route lay along the banks of the Upthascap, which 

 is a much wider stream than the Puyallup. A short distance up, they 

 came to a fish-weir, constructed as the one heretofore described, on 

 the Chickeeles, though much smaller. 



