TRAVELS IN OREGON, NO. 2 . 
and the greatest rise between high and low water mark 
is sixty feet. This great rise is caused by the accumu¬ 
lation of water in the river above, which is dammed by 
this narrow pass, and is constantly increasing until it 
backs the waters, and overflows many low grounds and 
islands above. A tremendous roar is constantly heard, 
caused by the violence of the river and its whirlpools 
and eddies. The number of Indians within the Dalles 
is reckoned at about two thousand. In but few of these, 
however, has any symptoms of reform manifested itself. 
They frequent the three great salmon fisheries of the 
Columbia; the Cascades, the Dailes and the Chutes 
rapids some distance further up the river. From the 
Dalles upwards all along the Columbia to Wallawalla, 
there was only one tree seen growing, and except a log 
or trunk occasionally drifting down, nothing larger than 
a splinter of wood was seen. The wood used for cook¬ 
ing was brought there by the Indians, who would follow 
the party for miles with a long pole or a billet of wood, 
which they exchanged for a small piece of tobacco. 
The country upwards continued to be as far as could be 
seen, on both sides of the Columbia a barren and sterile 
waste, covered with white sand, mixed with pebbles, 
producing nothing but a little grass, some hard wood 
and a species of small cactus, filled with long, white, 
hard and sharp spires. 
On approaching Wallawalla, the scenery changes into 
bold grandeur. Fantastic peaks arise, either isolated or 
in groups. Through a pass in the river which flows 
rapidly through volcanic rocks, the wind rushes with 
great violence in summer to restore the equilibrium in 
the rarified atmosphere above. Nez Perce , or Fort 
Wallawalla, is about two hundred f$et square, and 
fenced in with pickets having a gallery erected within, 
along the walls, so high as to enable those inside to over¬ 
look the pickets and observe the surrounding country. 
