PUGET SOUND AND OKONAGAN. 427 



that he was ready for a talk, which then followed, relative to the 

 rivers and face of the country ; but little information was obtained 

 that could be depended upon. 



This tribe subsist chiefly upon salmon and the cammass-root : game 

 is very scarce, and the beaver have all disappeared. The cammass- 

 root is pounded and made into a sort of cake, which is not unpleasant, 

 having a sweetish taste, but it is very dry, although some of the party 

 took a fancy to it. 



Tidias had with him an old man almost blind, who claimed much 

 respect, and two young men, whose dress of buckskin, profusely orna- 

 mented with beads, was much admired by the party. During the talk, 

 the old chief expressed himself delighted to see the white men, and 

 spoke of his own importance, his immense territory, &c, in a style of 

 boasting, to which the Indians are very much addicted. He said that 

 he was desirous of affording all the accommodation he could to the 

 party. But although he had eight or ten fine horses with him, he 

 would not agree to part with them, as they were all his favourites. 

 He was presented with a variety of articles, in return for which he 

 gave the party a few dried salmon. 



Towards evening, old Tidias took leave of them, saying that it was 

 not proper for an Indian to encamp in the same place with a white 

 man, and with a promise that he would have horses by ten o'clock the 

 next day ; but he had a game to play by procrastinating, in which he 

 thoroughly succeeded. 



In the morning they reached the Indian camp below, but no horses 

 had arrived. It was far, they said, to Tidias's house ; a man could 

 not go thither and return in the same day ; no horses or salmon could 

 be brought; no one could be permitted to go. Lieutenant Johnson 

 was then told that the road he had to follow was a " hungry" road. 

 At last the Indian was induced by high offers to exchange good horses 

 for a great number of bad ones, and finally consented to part with tw T o 

 more. On quitting him they became thoroughly aware that all the 

 difficulties were owing, not to any indisposition to sell, but w r ere 

 created for the purpose of inducing high prices to be given. 



The party now branched off at right angles to their former route, 

 Lieutenant Johnson heartily sick and tired of his friend Tidias and his 

 people. Two more of the Indians here left them. The country they 

 entered, after passing a ridge about six hundred feet high, was quite 

 of a different aspect, forming long sloping hills, covered with a scanty 

 growth of pines. Many dry beds of rivulets were passed, and the 

 soil of the hills produced nothing but a long thin grass. There are, 



