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/157

 no inducement would tempt them to commit a breach of chastity.

The Wallah Wallah is a bold, rapid stream, about fifty-five yards wide, and upwards of six feet deep: the water is clear, and rolls over a bed of sand and gravel. On the 31st we moved up to the north side of the mouth of Lewis River, which is about fourteen miles above the Wallah Wallah: its course is nearly due west, and at its junction with the Columbia it is upwards of six hundred yards wide. The current is very rapid: its waters deep, whitish, and slightly tepid, in which respect it forms a marked contrast to the Columbia, the waters of which are quite clear and cool: the latter river at this place is upwards of one thousand yards wide, and the current descends at an even rate of about four miles an hour. A little below the junction however, it widens from a mile to a mile and a half, and has several islands, two of which are low and sandy, and are nearly three miles in length. Below these islands, a range of high hills are seen on each side of the river, running nearly from S.W. to N.E., and uncovered by any timber: but at an immense distance, in a south-*easterly direction, a chain of high craggy mountains are visible, from which it is supposed the