Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 5.djvu/378

 368 JOURNAL AND LETTERS OF DAAID DOUGLAS. had the good fortune to purchase a fresh salmon from a party of Indians soon after leaving Walla-wallah, and my acquaintance with the channel enabled me to drift se- curely at night over a part of the river, where the Indians of some neighboring lodges are in the habit of stopping and pillaging the boats which pass. The next day I ar- rived at the Great Falls, where I found from rive hundred to seven hundred Indians, but was sorry to learn that the Chief Pawquanawaha, who had been my last guide to the sea, was not at home; but as I am now en pays de con- naissance, and can speak the language tolerably well; I easily procured two others, one of whom I knew before. The Chiefess refreshed me with nuts and whortleberries, and I proceeded fifteen miles, where I camped for the night. A large party of seventy-three men came to smoke with me, and all seemed to behave decently, till I found that my tobacco box was gone, having been taken from the pocket of my jacket, which I had hung up to dry, being drenched in the canoe while descending the Falls. As soon as I discovered my loss I perched myself on a rock, and, in their own tongue, gave the Indians a furi- ous reprimand, applying to them all the epithets of abuse which I had often heard them bestow on another; and reminding them that though they saw me only a Blanket Man, I was more than that, I was the Grass Man, and therefore not at all afraid of them. I could not, how- ever, recover my box, but slept unmolested after all the bustle. On Tuesday, the 29th, I reached the Grand Rap- ids, but found the river so rough, from a high wind which raised the water in great waves, that I was obliged to halt, and betook myself to the lodge of Chamtalia, my old guide, who set before me a hearty meal of whortleberries and fresh salmon. He then spoke of accompanying me in a larger canoe and two Indians, to the sea ; but seeing that the kind fellow was busily employed at this time in