430 PUGET SOUND AND OKONAGAN. 



a ravine of from one thousand to fifteen hundred feet below the gene- 

 ral level of the country. It was much swollen when our party reached 

 it; but it is at no time fordable here. Its width, by measurement made 

 a few miles above, was six hundred yards. 



A mile before reaching the banks of the Columbia, there were many 

 stupendous castellated rocks, of a yellow colour, which proved to be a 

 soft sandstone. The only shrub was the wormwood. 



They passed along the banks of the Columbia to the junction of the 

 Pischous. The course of the latter is to the southeast : it takes its 

 rise in a distant range of snowy mountains, which are seen in a north- 

 west direction. Half a mile above its mouth it is two hundred and 

 fifty yards wide, but the water of the river, in consequence of the state 

 of the Columbia, was backed up ; and although it was said by the 

 Indians not to have reached its full height, yet it appeared to have 

 risen to the high-water marks. 



They encamped on the southwest side of the river, in a beautiful 

 patch of meadow-land, of about one hundred acres in extent, which 

 the Indians had enclosed in small squares by turf walls ; and in them 

 they cultivated the potato in a very systematic manner. On the 

 meadows were found numbers of grouse and curlews, of which they 

 killed many. There were also many wild currants, just ripening. 

 The Pischous was called here, by some of the Indians, the Wainape. 

 I have, however, retained the former name on the map as being that 

 by which it is more commonly known. 



From the point of junction, the Columbia can be traced for the dis- 

 tance of thirty-five miles. At the opposite shore of the river, the 

 banks have a more uniform appearance, and would give the idea that 

 on reaching their summit of one thousand five hundred feet, an exten- 

 sive table-land would be seen; but this is not the case, for mountainous 

 land rises at some distance beyond, but it has no snow upon it, and is 

 destitute of trees. Below, at a distance of ten or twelve miles, is seen 

 a high-peaked isolated rock, which Lieutenant Johnson conjectured to 

 be Buckland Rock ; and beyond it, the river seems to take a turn to 

 the southward. Between the forks of the rivers, the hills are very 

 rugged, steep, and rocky. 



On the 5th of June, by the timely arrival of an Indian in a canoe, 

 they were enabled to cross the Pischous, and to find out the route they 

 ought to pursue towards Okonagan. With this aid, and without much 

 difficulty, the horses and all the baggage w T ere safely landed on the 

 opposite side, after which their course continued along the Columbia 

 river. The path was a very rough one for the horses to travel, being 

 frequently over jagged rocks, which approach within a few feet 



