Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 7.pdf/176

170 length is not known. It is traversed by Rogue's River; a stream somewhat larger than the Umpqua, and not so rapid, but that it might probably be made useful for transportation. Salmon ascend the River in great numbers; and so do they, indeed, most of the streams throughout the whole territory of Oregon. Water power is not wanting in the Valley of Rogue's River. A few miles below the California trail, the River appears to enter a canyon, and the Mountains along the coast are high and rugged, so as to prevent advantageous communication with the Sea-Board. The Indians who inhabit this Valley are numerous, and almost in a state of nature. They are of small stature, but well proportioned—slender, active and sensible. They have never had any intercourse, of consequence, with the whites, and have, therefore, but few of the articles manufactured by a civilized peeple. From their extreme hostility and treachery, and from the great amount of damage they have done to the white man, they have been almost universally called the Rascals. They seldom allow a company to pass, without molestation. They attack from ambuscades, made in defiles, chasms, and thickets. They have no firearms, their principal weapons being the bow and arrow. Their bows are made of the wood of the Yew tree; short, and covered on the back with the sinews from the loins of the Elk, which are fastened on with glue, and neatly and securely wrapped at the ends with the same material. Their arrows are feathered and pointed with small, delicate, uniform, and very sharp heads of flint. These arrows they shoot with great force and precision. They seldom have horses, and if they take or kill an animal in their attacks, (which they endeavor to do as much as to take the lives of the men,) they afterwards cook and eat it, making a great feast.

South of the Rogue's River Valley is the Chesty Mountain, a single, and almost bald and barren ridge. To the