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/160

 made out of the hair of the horses' tails, and are tied round their under jaw. The women ride like the men: their saddles are high in front and rear, and formed something like the humps on a camel's back; and they must bring their horses to a rock or old tree to enable them to mount. The men are hard and unfeeling riders: the rope bridles cut the corners of the poor horses' mouths; and the saddles generally leave their backs quite raw: yet in this state they ride them for several days successively without the least pity for the tortured animals. We got plenty of salmon while we remained here, and some lamprey eels, the latter of which were oily and very strong. Having purchased twenty-five horses, we took our departure on the 3rd of August, and proceeded up Lewis River; some on land with the horses, but the greater part still in the canoes. The water was very high, and rapid, and in many places the banks steep and shelving, which made the process of dragging up the canoes very difficult. Poling was quite impossible; for on the off, or outer side, the men could not find bottom with their poles. I remained on shore part of the time with the horses. In some places the path wound along the almost perpendicular declivities of high hills on the banks of