Part 15 (1/2)
After encaht, Captain Bonneville, at sunrise, descended with his party through a narrow ravine, or rather crevice, in the vast wall of basaltic rock which bordered the river; this being the only in of the strea the banks of the river, so that their travelling was much more easy than it had been hitherto There were foot tracks, also, ress Occasionally, they ion; a timid race, and but scantily provided with the necessaries of life
Their dress consisted of a mantle about four feet square, for over their shoulders, in the ordinary Indianthe blanket Their weapons were bows and arrows; the latter tipped with obsidian, which abounds in the neighborhood Their huts were shaped like haystacks, and constructed of branches ofcovered with long grass, so as to be warm and comfortable Occasionally, they were surrounded by save thee-like appearance Three or four of these teneether in so situation, and had a picturesque effect Sometimes they were in sufficient number to form a small hamlet From these people, Captain Bonneville's party frequently purchased salmon, dried in an admirable manner, as were likewise the roes This seemed to be their priet buffalo h walls and rocks, within which the travellers had been so long inclosed, now occasionally presented openings, through which they were enabled to ascend to the plain, and to cut off considerable bends of the river
Throughout the whole extent of this vast and singular chasm, the scenery of the river is said to be of the most wild and romantic character
The rocks present every variety ofand boiling through narrow clefts and ravines: one of a considerable size issued from the face of a precipice, within twenty-five feet of its su in nearly a horizontal line for about one hundred feet, fell, by numerous small cascades, to the rocky bank of the river
In its career through this vast and singular defile, Snake River is upward of three hundred yards wide, and as clear as spring water
So with a tranquil and noiseless course; at other times, for miles and miles, it dashes on in a thousand rapids, wild and beautiful to the eye, and lulling the ear with the soft tu waters
Many of the tributary streams of Snake River, rival it in the wildness and picturesqueness of their scenery That called the Bruneau; is particularly cited It runs through a tre upwards of a hundred and fiftya level plain It seems as if you could throw a stone across from cliff to cliff; yet, the valley is near two thousand feet deep: so that the river looks like an inconsiderable stream
Basaltic rocks rise perpendicularly, so that it is iet froin to the plain The current is bright and lis are found on the borders of this river One bursts out of the cliffs forty feet above the river, in a stream sufficient to turn a mill, and sends up a cloud of vapor
We find a characteristic picture of this volcanic region of mountains and streams, furnished by the journal of Mr Wyeth, which lies before us; who ascended a peak in the neighborhood we are describing From this summit, the country, he says, appears an indescribable chaos; the tops of the hills exhibit the same strata as far as the eye can reach; and appear to have once formed the level of the country; and the valleys to be for of the hills Through the deep cracks and chasms thus formed, the rivers and brooks make their hich renders it difficult to follow them All these basaltic channels are called cut rocks by the trappers Many of the mountain streams disappear in the plains; either absorbed by their thirsty soil, and by the porous surface of the lava, or sed up in gulfs and chasms
On the 12th of January (1834), Captain Bonneville reached Powder River;the Portneuf He struck it about three miles above its entrance into Snake River Here he found himself above the lower narrows and defiles of the latter river, and in an open and level country The natives now made their appearance in considerable nu the white ether, exposed to the bleakest winds, ers, and watching every reat Snake tribe called Shoshokoes, or Root Diggers, froreat h they likewise take fish in great quantities, and hunt, in a seneral, very poor; destitute of most of the comforts of life, and extremely indolent: but a mild, inoffensive race They differ, in many respects, from the other branch of the Snake tribe, the Shoshonies; who possess horses, areand adventurous, and hunt the buffalo
On the following day, as Captain Bonneville approached the mouth of Powder River, he discovered at least a hundred faers, as they are familiarly called, assembled in one place The wo the rocks and cliffs; their eager curiosity being somewhat dashed with fear Froers with thethes of a supernatural order
The men, however, were by no means so shy and reserved; but importuned Captain Bonneville and his co escaped their notice; and any thing they could lay their hands on underwent the hbors, the travellers kept on for a considerable distance, before they encaenerally level and sandy; producing very little grass, but a considerable quantity of sage or ood The plains were diversified by isolated hills, all cut off, as it were, about the saht, so as to have tabular sureat prairies, east of the Rocky Mountains; especially those found on the plains of the Arkansas
The high precipices which had hitherto walled in the channel of Snake River had now disappeared; and the banks were of the ordinary height It should be observed, that the great valleys or plains, through which the Snake River wound its course, were generally of great breadth, extending on each side from thirty to forty es of mountains
The travellers found but little snow in the neighborhood of Powder River, though the weather continued intensely cold They learned a lesson, however, froers, which they subsequently found of great service in their wintry wanderings
They frequently observed the ropes, twisted from the bark of the ood This they used as a slow hted Whenever they wished to warether a little dry ood, apply theblaze
Captain Bonneville gives a cheerless account of a village of these Diggers, which he saw in crossing the plain beloder River ”They live,” says he, ”without any further protection from the inclemency of the season, than a sort of break-weather, about three feet high, coe (or ood), and erected around them in the shape of a half moon” Whenever he e suite of half-starved dogs: for these anie as well as in civilized life, sees, it ary curs of cities The Indian children used thehborhood, such as rabbits and prairie dogs; in which rel kind of chase they acquitted theers aspire to nobler ga the antelope, the fleetest animal of the prairies The process by which this is effected is soular When the snow has disappeared, says Captain Bonneville, and the ground becoo into the thickest fields of ood, and pulling it up in great quantities, construct with it a hedge, about three feet high, inclosing about a hundred acres A single opening is left for the adame
This done, the women conceal the of the antelopes; which sometimes enter this spacious trap in considerable nunal, and the men hasten to play their part But one of the the terrified animals round the inclosure, is relieved by one of his co each other, and keeping up a continued pursuit by relays, without fatigue to themselves The poor antelopes, in the end, are so wearied down, that the whole party ofthat has entered the inclosure The most curious circuile as the antelope, and straining for its life, should range round and round this fated inclosure, without atte to overleap the low barrier which surrounds it Such, however, is said to be the fact; and such their onlythe absence of all coeneral squalidness of their appearance, the Shoshokoes do not appear to be destitute of ingenuity They ood ropes, and even a tolerably fine thread, frohborhood; and construct bowls and jugs out of a kind of basket-work formed from small strips of wood plaited: these, by the aid of a little wax, they render perfectly water tight Beside the roots on which they reat quantities of seed, of various kinds, beaten with one hand out of the tops of the plants into wooden bowls held for that purpose The seed thus collected is ed and parched, and ground between two stones into a kind of meal or flour; which, when ruel
Some of these people, more provident and industrious than the rest, lay up a stock of dried salmon, and other fish, for winter: with these, they were ready to traffic with the travellers for any objects of utility in Indian life; giving a large quantity in exchange for an awl, a knife, or a fish-hook Others were in the ather up the fish-bones which the travellers threay after a repast, warreatest avidity
The farther Captain Bonneville advanced into the country of these Root Diggers, the more evidence he perceived of their rude and forlorn condition ”They were destitute,” says he, ”of the necessary covering to protect them fronorance of any other propriety or advantage in the use of clothing One old da on her person but a thread round her neck, froe of human destitution, however, is too destitute for vanity!
Though these naked and forlorn-looking beings had neither toilet to arrange, nor beauty to contereat ht of one was sufficient, at any tiht; and they were ready to give anything they had for the sht behold their squalid features With this siorous state, we shall close our reers
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Teers on horseback--An Indian guide--Mountain prospects--The Grand Rond-- Difficulties on Snake River--A scraer--Prospect of the Immahah Valley--The exhausted traveller