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/198

 *ing the branches of the adjoining trees. A detail of each day's proceedings would be a cold and unnecessary repetition. We rose each morning at day-break, loaded the horses, travelled two or three hours, when we stopped for breakfast; waited an hour for this meal, and then continued on until four or five o'clock in the evening, when we stopped for the night. The path was narrow, and the trees covered with snow, which, from the loaded horses constantly coming in collision with the branches on either side, fell down at every moment in immense masses, annoyed us considerably, and greatly impeded our progress. Where the pine predominated, the under-growth was so thick that we could not obtain sufficient space for our tent; but where the cedar prevailed, we occasionally were enabled to pitch it. This cheerless and gloomy march continued for fourteen days, during which period we seldom had a dry article of clothing on us.

On the 4th of November we cleared the woods, and arrived in a large meadow of prime grass, in which we immediately pitched our tent, and remained for three days to refresh the horses. Our principal subsistence while in the woods was horse-flesh and boiled rice; but here our hunters supplied us with some of the Rocky Mountain