Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 5.djvu/277

Rh and the skin not being much injured. I mean to have it neatly preserved.

Several kinds of Mice and Rats are found on the banks of the rivers, but I have been unable to catch any more of a singular species with pouches, of which large numbers had visited us last autumn. The Ground Rat, or Arctomys (Arctomys brachyurus?), of whose skins the Chenook and other tribes of Indians make their robes, I hear are plentiful in the upper parts of the Cowalidsk River, but my enfeebled state when I was there last November prevented my hunting for any, and my subsequent attempts have been unsuccessful.

On the Multnomak River, about thirty-six miles above its junction with the Columbia, there are fine falls, about forty three feet in perpendicular height, across the whole river in an oblique direction; when the water is low they are divided into three principal channels, but when it is high the whole stream rushes over in one unbroken sheet. This place was at one time considered the finest hunting ground for Beaver (Castor Fiber, var. Americanus), west of the Rocky Mountains, and much have I been gratified in viewing the lodges and dams constructed by that wise and industrious little animal. The same place is frequented by large numbers of a species of Deer (probably the Cervus Wapiti described as being seen by Captain Franklin's party): but though seventeen of these creatures, male and female, were killed during a stay that I made there in autumn, 1825, only a small young male, about four months could be ceded to me for preservation, owing to the great scarcity of provision.

The quantity of salmon (Salmo Scouleri? Richardson) taken in the Columbia is almost incredible, and the Indians resort in great numbers to the best fishing spots, often traveling several hundred miles for this purpose. The salmon are captured in the following manner: Before the water rises, small channels are made among the rocks and stones, dividing the stream into branches, over which is erected a platform or stage on which a person can stand. These are made to be raised, or let down, as the water falls or rises. A scoop net, which is