Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 5.djvu/257

Rh the river at the falls is 600 feet lower than the former one. and of decomposed granite. I could not at this season go higher than a few miles above the falls, hut was amply repaid by Purshia tridentata (Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. t. l. t. 58). Bartonia albicaulis (Bot. Reg. t. 1446), Bartonias albicaulis, B. (Bot. Mag. t. 2894. Bot. Reg. 1174), and several Penstemons, and seeds of many desirable plants, many of which I secured during this expedition.

Early in the morning of the 19th of July, I descended the river in an Indian canoe for the purpose of prosecuting my researches on the coast, a design which was in a great measure frustrated by the tribe among whom I lived going to war with the nations residing to the northward, in that very direction which I intended to follow. During my stay several persons were killed and some wounded in a quarrel. The principal chief in the village, Cockqua, treated me with the utmost fidelity, and even built me a small cabin in his own lodge, but the immense number of fleas occasioned me to remove to within a few yards of the river; still my friend was so much interested in my safety that he watched himself a whole night, at the time when he expected the war party. In the morning about 300 men in their war garments, danced the war dance, and sang several death songs, which caused in me certainly a most uncomfortable sensation, and the following morning brought us seventeen canoes, carrying nearly 400 men, when after several harangues, it was mutually agreed to suspend hostilities for the present.

A sturgeon was caught by one of my companions which measured twelve feet nine inches from the snout to the tip of the tail, and seven feet round the thickest part, and its weight exceeded 500 pounds. Among the plants which I found on this occasion were Lupinus littoralis (Bot. Mag. t.