122 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



or Elk River. Its junction with the Clear 

 Water River is called the Forks. Its banks 

 were inaccessible cliffs, apparently of clay 

 and stones, about two hundred feet high, 

 and its windings in the south were encircled 

 by high mountains. Its breadth exceeded 

 half a mile, and was swelled to a mile in 

 many places by long muddy islands in the 

 middle covered with trees. No more port- 

 ages interrupted our course, but a swift 

 current hurried us towards the quarter in 

 which our anticipated discoveries were to 

 commence. The passing cliffs returned a 

 loud confusion of echoes to the sprightly 

 canoe song and the dashing paddles ; and 

 the eagles, watching with half-closed eyes 

 on the pine-tops, started from their airy 

 rest, and prepared their drowsy pinions for 

 the flight. 



About twenty miles from the Forks are 

 some salt pits and plains, said to be very 

 extensive. The height of the banks was 

 reduced to twenty or thirty feet, and the 

 hills ranged themselves at an increased dis- 

 tance from the banks in the same variety as 



