Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 5.djvu/267

Rh stance, and are a very nutritive food; as mentioned above, the natives call them Somuchtan.

On the 7th of November I proceeded up the River Cheeheelie. with my guide, in a canoe, stopping at such places as presented anything new. On the 11th I had attained a distance of sixty miles from the ocean, when discouraged by the dluges of rain which fell, and finding that my canoe was too large to proceed further, owing to the cascades and occasional shallowness of the water, I discontinued my voyage, which was intended to extend to the source of the river, and dismissed my guide, after making him such presents as I deemed were well deserved by the zeal and kindness I had experienced at his hands. Before leaving me, however, this man, called "The Beard" by his tribe, entreated me to shave him, as he makes some pretensions to civilization, and imitates English manners with considerable nicety. I complied with his request, and invited him to come and see me at the New Year at the fort, when I would give him a smoke and a dram, and shave him again. He asked me farther, "to let all King George's chiefs know about him when I spoke to them on paper." This river is a large stream nearly as wide as the Thames, very rapid, interrupted in many parts with cascades and having steep and rocky banks covered with woods, like those found on the Columbia.

At the village where I stopped I bargained with an Indian to carry my luggage on his horse to the Cowalidsk River. forty miles distant, a considerable stream, which empties itself into the Columbia I had some difficulty in arranging with the fellow, and found him the most mercenary rascal I ever yet met. Having no alternative, I had to give him twenty shots of ammunition, two feet of tobacco, a few flints, and a little vermillion.

This distance, thougn not more than forty miles, took two days; the low places in the plain were so many lakes, the rivulets had overflowed their banks, and the difficulty of ascending and descending the numerous woody hills was greatly increased by these causes. It mined both days: we