Page:The Columbia river , or, Scenes and adventures during a residence of six years on the western side of the Rocky Mountains among various tribes of Indians hitherto unknown (Volume 1).djvu/154

 away: but the remedy was as bad as the disease, as we were nearly blinded and suffocated by the smoke.

Owing to the many accidents which befell our canoes in the rapids, and the time consequenty employed in repairing them, and drying damaged goods, our progress was greatly retarded, and we did not reach the Wallah Wallah river until the 28th. During this period, we generally encamped on the northern banks of the river; purchased a number of horses for eating; and were several times without wood for cooking them. The Indians behaved in the most peaceable manner, and freely bartered with us such other provisions as they could spare. A few miles below the Wallah Wallah the land on the south side rises into rocky cliffs, near two hundred feet high, which extend some distance inland. There is a long and very dangerous rapid at their base, which, by way of pre-eminence, the Canadians call the Grande Rapide. We landed on the south side, up which the canoes were dragged with great difficulty. We observed immense numbers of rattlesnakes here, basking in the sun, and under the rocks, several of which we killed. Half a dozen of us fired together at a batch lying under one rock, and killed or wounded