COLUMBIA RIVER. 127 



At an early hour on the 27th, Mr. Eld, Sergeant Stearns, and two 

 men, set out on their jaunt up the Sachap, in a small canoe. About 

 eight miles from the camp they came to the place where the river 

 forks, forming the Sachap and Tarqucorau ; here they took horses, 

 and proceeded eight miles farther, in a northeasterly direction, and 

 encamped in a small prairie. Neither of the two rivers is penetrable 

 by a canoe, so overgrown and choked up are they with bushes and 

 bogs. Just at sunset they passed a party of Suquamish Indians, who 

 were very anxious that Mr. Eld should encamp with them ; but this 

 he declined doing, and preferred passing some distance beyond. 



On the morning of the 28th, they again started at an early hour, 

 and passed through a very rough and apparently little frequented 

 country. The guide had much difficulty in finding his way through 

 a forest which the fire had partly consumed. At 9 h 30 m they recrossed 

 the Sachap, which was there a small brook, about twenty feet wide,, 

 coming from a northwest direction. It was but knee-deep, and clogged 

 with large logs and trees. Shortly after passing this stream, the 

 country grew so rough that it was impossible to proceed farther with 

 the horses, and the guide told Mr. Eld that he would be obliged to 

 leave them. As no notice of this difficulty in the route had been pre- 

 viously given, it was natural for Mr. Eld to suspect that his guide 

 was forming some scheme to deceive him, and go off with his pro- 

 perty. Deeming it proper to come to a right understanding, and to 

 make the guide aware that he was on the look-out to punish any 

 attempt at fraud, he led the chief aside, and told him that he intended 

 to hold him responsible in case of the loss of any of his things, or of 

 his being deceived. He then ordered him to leave one of his slaves 

 in charge of the horses and effects until their return. This was 

 accordingly done, and they proceeded on foot for Lake Nanvitz, 

 which they reached by one o'clock. This proved to be a fine sheet of 

 water, a mile and a half long, by three-fourths of a mile wide, sur- 

 rounded by a thick forest of pines. Here they found an Indian family 

 hunting, who had just killed an elk, of which Mr. Eld procured the 

 greater part, for a small quantity of powder and shot. These were 

 also of the Suquamish tribe. The old man of this party spoke of 

 another lake, not far distant, to which he took Mr. Eld. This was no 

 more than about half the size of the former, and the name the Indians 

 gave it was Kamalatiz : it had much the same character as the larger 

 one. There was no opportunity of getting the depth of these two 

 lakes, for want of a canoe. Neither of them has an outlet. From the 

 Indians' account, the Sachap takes its rise in a small pond to the north- 

 west of these lakes. 



