Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 3.djvu/100

90 whoop and fired with guns and arrows. They so frightened our horses that they broke loose and rushed out of camp. We were instantly on our feet (we always slept with our guns by our side). The Indians were not to be found. We collected our horses and retied them, laid down, and went to sleep again. The Indians had accomplished what they had aimed at, having stolen a dozen of our best horses. They were supposed to be "Blackfeet."

July 3—We followed up one of the branches of the Colorado and camped on Bull Creek.

July 4—It rained, snowed, and hailed. We passed the divide of the Columbia. The sand, limestone soil seemed good. Large snowcapped mountains were seen in the north, which we afterwards learned were the "Trois Teton," fifteen thousand feet high. The only way I had to ascertain our altitude was by the temperature of boiling water by my thermometer, which I made, allowing five hundred and thirty feet to a degree, eight thousand four hundred and eighty feet. The days were very hot, thermometer 80°, and the nights cold, even freezing.

It is said by the Indians that the Lewis River rises in the ' Trois Teton "in a lake.

Our way was becoming difficult. Our horses were worn out, and the men, although in a feeble condition, were compelled to walk. Food, too, became scarce. We met no more buffalo, but, fortunately, found some game of other kinds, and nothing came amiss except snakes.

Vegetation became better as we advanced, and we found some strawberries. On July 6 we arrived at the main branch of the Lewis River, Henry's Fork, coming from the northeast. We crossed its rapid current and came upon high ridges clothed with handsome pines and snowdrifts.

July 9—We met a party of Sublette's mountain trappers, who appeared liberal in their expenditures for their new bought luxuries, and who also seemed to be generally well satisfied with their wild life.

At the rendezvous at Pierre's Hole were also the Nez Perces and Flatheaded Indians, who appeared in their dress and person decent and interesting. They have many horses. Men, women, and children ride well. They all ride astride and mount from the right side. They encamp in buffalo skin lodges, which they always carry with them. The whites often adopt many of their manners, and often intermarry.

Reached the rendezvous that night. These Indians were decidedly honest and friendly. There were also some of the traders and trappers of the American Fur Company there. The Indians sold us fresh ponies or exchanged our lean ones for fresh ones. The full price of a pony was a blanket and a cheap knife. So we, as well as they, were supplied with what was needed.