Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 6.djvu/93

87 JOURNAL OF DAVID DOUGLAS. 87 me, and woke me this morning long ere daylight, to eat. Proceeded about nine miles near the river, through a dis- trict which the thick woods rendered fatiguing, and then climbed over a bare hill, three thousand feet above the level of the sea, and re-entered an almost impenetrable thicket. The rain fell in torrents. I ate the last bit of my deer-flesh, and with difficulty boiled a few ounces of rice ; but as I am not sure of meeting with any Indians, so as to obtain fresh supplies, I mean to limit myself at present to one meal a day. Here I observed, climbing over trees, a species of Vitis, the only one I have ever seen West of the Rocky Mountains. I made seventeen miles to-day. Wednesday, the 25th. Last night was one of the most dreadful I ever witnessed, the rain falling in torrents, was accompanied by so much wind as made it impossible to keep up a fire ; and to add to my miseries, the, tent was blown about my ears, so that I lay till daylight, rolled in my wet blanket, on Pteris aquilina, with the drenched tent piled above me. Sleep was, of course, not to be pro- cured ; every few minutes the falling trees came down with a crash which seemed as if the earth was cleaving asunder, while the peals of thunder and vivid flashes of forky lightning produced such a sensation of terror as had never filled my mind before, for I had at no time experi- enced a storm under similar circumstances of loneliness and unprotected destitution. Even my poor horses were unable to endure it without craving, as it were, protection from their master, which they did, by cowering close to my side, hanging their heads upon me and neighing. Towards daylight the storm abated, and before sunrise the weather was clear, though very cold. I could not stir without making a fire and drying some of my clothes, every thing being soaked through, and I indulged myself with a pipe of tobacco, which was all I could afford. At