THE INTERIOR OF OREGON. 459 



wards turned out to belong to the Hudson Bay Company, having been 

 stolen from them. Horses with the Indians are considered the sign of 

 wealth, and are prized accordingly. One of their great amusements 

 is horse-racing, in which their- gambling propensities have full sway. 

 Notwithstanding that horses are the great source of contention and 

 difficulty between the whites and Indians, it is said that little or none 

 occurs between themselves, and that they are not prone to commit 

 depredations on each other. This may be owing to the apprehension 

 that the difficulty would not only involve the individual, but the whole 

 tribe, which is a necessary consequence among uncivilized people. 



Several of the Indians at the camp through which they passed, were 

 well dressed in robes obtained by themselves from the buffaloes ; for 

 these Indians, as well as others from the Oregon, near the coast, visit 

 the buffalo-grounds annually. 



The Indian, who spoke good English, stated that he had been five 

 years at the white man's settlement. On his return he was made 

 chief, and at that time his authority was great in the tribe ; but now, 

 owing to his propensity for gambling, he has lost all his influence. 



On the 24th, they passed through a fine rolling prairie country, pro- 

 ducing very fine pasture, and being well watered, though destitute of 

 wood. The distance made to-day was thirty miles. The plants seen 

 were Convolvulus, Frasera, Habenaria, Calochortus, Baptisia, and Tri- 

 folium : this last is a good plant for cattle. 



During the day, they met a party of Indians travelling, with abun- 

 dance of spare horses, and in this case they were carrying even their 

 tent-poles, with which one of their horses was loaded : a proof that 

 underwood of the description used is scarce in the country. Within 

 thirty miles of Lapwai, the mission station on the Kooskooskee, they 

 crossed a small tributary of the Snake river, thirty feet wide and two 

 deep. It was very winding, and its general course was southwest. 

 About twenty miles distant, in a south-southeast direction, they disco- 

 vered a high snowy peak, which is situated near the Grande Ronde, 

 and is the highest point of what is termed the Blue Ridge. On its 

 summit the snow remains all the year round. 



Beyond the Snake or Lewis river, was a long even-topped ridge, 

 w 7 ooded on its upper parts, and covered with snow. This is the moun- 

 tain which Mr. Drayton ascended near the Wallawalla. From the 

 northwest, it has the appearance of an extensive and elevated table-land. 



On the 25th, about noon, they reached the Kooskooskee, which is two 

 thousand feet below the plain they had been travelling on. It is here 

 eight hundred feet wide, and a powerful stream. Lewis and Clarke 

 fell upon this river about forty-five miles above this place, and it is not 



