Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 15.djvu/57



JOURNAL OF DAVID THOMPSON 49

July 5th. Friday 8. A rainy morning"; having made two paddles, at 6 l / 2 A. M. we set off and went S. 50 W. y^ m, S. 80 W. 1 m, run part of the first course and carried the goods on horses but by the Indians the rest of it and part of the second course, being all very strong rapids and full of waves and whirlpools. Here we were met by a chief and about 60 men with their women and children who made us a present of 5 horses 5 good roasted salmon, about a bushel of arrow wood berries, and about 2 bushels of bitter, white, etc roots. Some of them I had never seen before. We de- clined the Ectooway, also of 4 small dried fat animals which I take to be the marmot. Heavy rain came on and we were obliged to send off the Indians, having paid them for the presents they brought us with three feet of tobacco, 10 com and 4 stone rings, 18 hawks bells, 1 fm. of beads, \y 2 fm. of gartg, 4 papers of paint, 4 awls and six buttons. Aft 2^ P. M. the Indians returned singing us a song of a mild air as the women had welcomed us with one also, having smoked a few pipes and discoursed of the country which they discribed as a hilly meadow with a very few trees of fir from hence to the Cachenawga River. Of course there can be no beaver, they have bears and rats with a few sheep and black tailed deer. Horses they have many and the country appears good for them. We discoursed of the river and people below us, after which they offered to dance for our good voyage and preservation to the sea and back again. We accepted their offer. They all, both men, women and children, formed a line in an ellipsis, they danced with the sun in a mingled manner. An old man who did not dance set the song, and the others danced as it were a person running but passing over a very small space of ground, their arms also keeping time but hardly stirring from their sides. Some few danced apart but these were all old women and seemed to dance much better than the others. Having danced three sets, each

8 The day is rainy, and after carrying the goods around the rapids, is spent in camp with the Nespilem Indians; note mention the following day of this tribe under name Inspaelis. Ross Cox mentions these rapids as "La Rapide d'Ignace," indicating that the accident to the Iroquois became tradition along the river. This part of the river is now known merely as the Box Canyon.