Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 5.djvu/361

 JOURNAL AND LETTERS OF DAVID DOUGLAS. 351 thankfully accepted, but, some days after, I had reason to lYur the young rascal told the Indian the very reverse of what I bade him, for after we had, with great difficulty, gained the summit of the snowy mountains, after many days of severe labor, from Saturday, the 17th, to Wednes- day, the 21st, when I proposed to descend on the other side, my guide made serious objections to accompany me. All I could suggest through the medium of the boy, to remove his fears, seemed only to increase them : he as- sured me that the Snake Indians, with whom his tribe was at war, would steal our horses, and probably kill us ; and as it was imposssble either to force him to accom- pany me or to find my way alone, I was reluctantly com- pelled for the present to give up the idea of proceeding in that direction. I had not been long on the much-desired summit of this mountain, which is at least nine thousand feet above the level of the sea, and seven thousand five hundred feet above the platform of the mountainous country around, and the snows of which had certainly never been pressed by an European foot before, than my view of the sur- rounding scenery was closed by the sudden descent of a heavy, black cloud, which presently broke in thunder, lightening, hail, and wind. The heavens seemed as on fire with the glare, and the thunder echoed from the other peaks, accompanied with gusts of furious wind, which broke many of the stunted Pines, and unmerci- fully pelted me with the cutting hail. Glad was I to leave the summit which I had so much longed to gain, and to descend to my camp ere night arrived. I was much re- freshed during my weary walk, which the want of snow- shoes rendered, on the high parts, much more fatiguing, by eating the berries of Ribe* annum, which I found in great quantities, and of exquisite flavour, both yellow and black, the former most common, and the size of common