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/199

 sheep called big-horns, the flesh of which is delicious, and resembles in taste Welch mutton, but at this season is more delicate. From the time we quitted Spokan we had not seen a native. On the 7th we recommenced our journey eastward: the weather became more moderate, and the recent snows quickly vanished from the surrounding trees. For three days and a half our progress was through undulating meadows, thinly wooded, in which our hunters killed some deer. On the 10th we came to a small village of the Flat-head nation, chiefly consisting of old men, women, and children. We were quite charmed with their frank and hospitable reception, and their superiority in cleanliness over any of the tribes we had hitherto seen. Their lodges were conical, but very spacious, and were formed by a number of buffalo and moose skins thrown over long poles in such a manner as to keep them quite dry. The fire was placed in the centre, and the ground all around it was covered with mats and clean skins free from the vermin we felt so annoying at the lower parts of the Columbia. They had a quantity of dried buffalo, of which we purchased a good deal; and as they gave us to understand that the great body of their tribe were in the mountains hunting, we determined to stop here;