438 
TRAVELS IN OREGON, NO. 1. 
fire. He snatched up a fire-brand and defended himself 
until his wife brought him his rifle, with which several 
of the wily enemy were made to pay the penalty of their 
treachery. 
The Antelopes which are found in Oregon, were here 
first seen and shot by the expedition. Their hair is re¬ 
markably short, and their flesh superior in flavor to that 
of the deer. It only inhabits the prairie, being seldom 
seen even in the open-wooded country. Leaving the 
Rogues river, the expedition ascended the Boundary 
Mountains, which then separated the United States and 
Mexican territories, and descended on the south side 
into the Klamet valley, the formation of which appeared 
to be composed of a dark green serpentine, inferior to 
any portion of the country they had passed over. In 
this valley they found the Shaste Indians, a good-looking, 
well proportioned race, who wore their black hair hang¬ 
ing down to their shoulders, but no clothes save an or¬ 
namental girdle and a mantle of wolf or deer skin. 
They drove a brisk trade with the expedition for their 
bows and arrows. These were beautifully made: the 
bows of yew, about ten feet long, flat, an inch and a 
half to two inches wide, backed very neatly with sinew, 
and painted. The arrows were about thirty inches long, 
some made of close-grained wood, others of reed. They 
were feathered from five to eight inches, and the barbed 
heads were made of finely wrought obsidian. The head 
is inserted in a grooved piece from three to five inches 
long, and is attached to the shaft by a socket. This 
barb when it penetrates, is left in the wound when the 
shaft is withdrawn. One of the party put up a button 
at twenty yards distance, and an Indian exhibited his 
powers by hitting it three times in five. He was re¬ 
warded for his dexterity with the button and a plug of 
tobacco. They use their bows and arrows so dextrously 
as to kill fish, and one of the men remarked after watch- 
