ulets, and leaping cascades, hallowed in rainbow hues ;-of gentle and waving plains, and abrupt and towering mountains!

Descending into the valley, they followed the windings of several little brooks, which led them to the great middle fork of the Columbia, to which the name of Capt. Clarke was given. Here they met with the Cotlashoots, a sept of a large tribe who have emigrated from the north, along the western spurs of the mountains, and now inhabit the upper tributaries of the Columbia, called Tushe paws. These people were rather fairer than the tribes previously visited: dressed in skins, and exhibiting evidences of uncommon activity and strength. Learning from them a direct route to the main Columbia,-after exchanging with them for fresh horses, to take the place of those injured in passing the rugged cliffs, and purchasing some more, the party proceeded. Descending the Clarke some distance, they struck Travelers-rest Creek, a small stream coming in from the west, which they ascended, upon an old Indian trail, and again encountered the grand dividing ridge between the waters of the Lewis and Clarke rivers. So great were the impediments to their progress-consisting of piles of pointed rock tumbled in confusion from the mountain heights, of large numbers of fallen trees,-of interlaced shrubbery and vines, and icy ravines and streams-that several of the horses were lost, and a number of the men well-nigh overwhelmed in despair. To add to their terrors, the game was exhausted they were forced to subsist upon horse-flesh, and they could see nothing in the future which promised any alleviation of their sufferings. The shrill cry of the panther, and the mournful howl of the wolf, seemed omens of their fate. The imagination can conceive nothing more appalling than the scenes which presented themselves here. Livid gashes of ravines, dark deep gorges, giant precipices, rugged and desolate ridges, fearful, and apparently bottomless chasms, long, sloping and narrow paths, which must be passed over, and boisterous and boiling waters, all combine to impress the mind with images of power and terror. one moment the rich and russet hues of waving slopes rests upon eye and fragrant oases, and in the next, the senses were stunned by commingling sounds of moaning trees, murmuring rills, rushing cascades, tumbling rocks, and roaring torrents.

At

Even in the middle of August, ice was formed in the night, and about the 10th of September the snow began to fall. For twelve days the party dragged their weary limbs over rugged cliffs, across deep gorges, around fearful precipices, and over stupendous ridges clothed in perpetual snow, with no food but horse-flesh, and no definite idea of the region through which they moved, or the fate which awaited them. At length, they descended into the valley of the Kooskcosie, a tributary of Lewis river, where another scene of surpassing beauty opened upon them. In front of them expanded a long and fertile valley, garnished with rich grass, and delightfully contrasted shrubs and flowers, whilst on all sides, a long succession of hills, ridges, and pointed peaks, rose majestically upward, until their distant outlines seemed mingled with the clouds. Golden, silvery, and purple clouds, rested their feathery folds upon them, and from the summits of the interior ranges, numberless streams poured their limpid water, -now glancing like silvery serpents down the russet slopes,-now

leaping in brilliant curves from the rocky ledges--and now pouring a snow-white sheet over solitary precipices ;--until entering the beds of flowers in the valley they wound and lingered through, their rippling currents giving forth gentle and musical sounds.

In this lovely valley, they met a village of Chopunnish or Piercednose Indians, a clan related to the Tushepaws. Being informed that the "TWISTED-HAIR," their great Chief, was below spearing salmon, they proceeded to his encampment where they were received with kindness and hospitality. From a map which he drew for them on an antelope skin, they obtained a very good notion of western geography. Leaving their horses in the care of this Chief, and making another cache, they commenced the descent of the Koos koosie in five canoes, and in sixty miles reached its mouth, passing over forty-four rapids and a number of shoals, at some of which portages were made of boats and cargoes. Thence to the mouth of Lewis river, some falls and twenty-three rapids were passed, many of them dangerous. At its mouth Lewis river is five hundred and seventy-five yards in width, and the Columbia, nine hundred and sixty yards. The country for many miles around their junction is an arid plain, where other vegetation than several species of cacti and frosty-leaved artemisia refuses to germinate. All the rapids of these streams are fishing places for the various bands of Indians who frequent their banks. The fish are mostly speared, but sometimes they are caught in wire or wicker work of shrubs, stretched from bank to bank. The rude residences of the Indians, built of logs, brush, skin and slabs, may be seen near them, and in the vicinity, the burial places of the dead who are wrapped in skins, deposited in the earth, and the spot marked by slabs of wood.

At the junction, the Sokulks, another clan of the Tushepaws were found, their traits corresponding to their origin. The sweating baths of the Indians of Oregon differ from those east of the mountains. They are built of clay, rectangular and closely covered in. The Indians enter them with hot rocks and water, and when the aperture is closed the water is poured upon the rocks until sufficient steam is generated to answer the purpose. Not unfrequently they rush from these steam baths and plunge into a stream of icy coldness.

As they descended Lewis river, excursions were made along its banks. In one of these, Captain Clarke shot a large white crane. The strange noise attracted the attention of some Indians, who, getting a glimpse of the falling bird, and afterwards seeing him approach, could with difficulty be persuaded that he had not descended from the skies. Such is the influence of ignorance and fear. On an island in the river, they examined a very singular Indian cemetery, the first of a large number of similar structures scattered along the stream. "This place in which the dead were deposited, was about sixty feet long and twelve feet wide, and was formed by fixing in the ground poles, with forks six feet high, across which a long pole was extended the whole length of the structure. Against this ridge pole were placed broad boards, and pieces of canoes in a slanting direction so as to form a shed. It stood east and west, and neither of the extremities was closed. On entering the western end we observed a number of bodies, wrapped carefully in leathern robes, arranged in rows on

boards, and covered with a mat. This was the part destined for those recently deceased, while a little farther on, there were bones half decayed and scattered about, and in the centre of the building there was a large pile of them heaped promiscuously upon each other. At the eastern extremity was a mat, on which were placed twenty-one sculls in a circular form; the mode of interment being first to wrap the body in robes, and as it decays the bones are thrown into a heap and the sculls placed together. On the inside were suspended fishing nets, baskets, wooden-bowls, robes, skins and trinkets, obviously intended as offerings of affection to deceased relatives. On the outside were the skeletons of several horses, and great quantities of their bonès, sacrificed no doubt at the funeral of their owners."

As they floated onward novel and picturesque scenery opened upon them. Far to the west the elevated peak of Mount St. Helens, with its diadem of snow, pierced the deep azure of the skies, and yet farther northward the long blue line of the Cascade range, extended until they melted into the distant horizon. From the outlet of Lewis river about one dozen rapids were passed, and the channel was much obstructed by rocks. On the 22d of October, they reached the head of the Great Falls.

Here the river is separated into a number of channels by islands of black rock, the southern shore is lined with precipitous cliffs up to the waters edge, the northern expands into a desolate plain. The largest of these islands (a mass of rock) is near the centre of the stream. Between this island and the northern shore, there are three narrow crooked channels too impetuous to be passed in canoes. And again, at the head of the large island the southern channel is split by another island of some size, at the head of which there is a group of isolated rocks. The channel between these two islands is narrow. and rushes madly through, tossed into foam by the rocks in its bed. The channel between the upper island and the southern bank has a perpendicular fall of twenty feet near the head of the island, and at the lower point of the large island the united southern channels pass over a rapid of eight feet descent. The whole of the fall is thirtyseven feet eight inches descent. Around this fall a portage of 1200 yards was made by our travelers. One-third of this distance was over a solid rock, two hundred yards more of loose deep sand, and the remainder over hard firm ground. From the Great Falls to the Little Dalles,* is a distance of near three miles of very rapid water. narrows are occasioned by a high black rock which juts nearly across the channel from the north, leaving only a space of forty yards between it and a similar mass of rocks on the south bank. Through these narrows a distance of half a mile, the travelers passed in their canoes with great hazard, and to the astonishment of the Indians, for the channel was whirling, swelling, and boiling in every direction.

These

One mile and a half below the Little Dalles, a very bad rapid occasioned by immense rocks in the midst of the river, compelled them to make another portage. At the end of two miles more they

The word Dalles is of Canadian origin, and means literally a trough. It is applied by the voyageurs to places where the rivers run through narrow chasms of rock. The Spanish term Canone is nearly its synonyme. The latter, however, is usually extended to deep cuts of streams through clay or sand.

approached the Great Dalles. At this place, the river is compressed between high black rocks for a space exceeding three miles, the whole width of the channel being from fifty to one-hundred yards. Throughout the whole distance the water swells, boils and whirls in a fearful manner, and the party made a portage of the goods, and let the canoes down with the aid of ropes held by the voyagers along the summit of the rocks. The whole distance from the head of the Great Falls to the foot of the Great Dallas is about ten miles, and the whole descent of the river about seventy feet.

At the Great Falls then resided the Eneeshurs, the last tribe connected with those near the forks of the Columbia. At that time some tribes above the falls had adopted the practice of compressing the heads of female children into a square form, those below with whom this custom originated, include both sexes. There is no philogical affinity between the tribes above and below the Falls, and they are contrasted in habits and superstitions. The lower tribes appear to have migrated from the north, following the line of the coast, and our travelers traced all the dialects to a common root. Near the falls the first regular constructed houses they had met with west of the Mississippi, were observed. Occasional vessels had supplied them with implements by trade. Their houses were usually constructed by digging a square hole six feet in depth, surrounded on the interior by palisades, with a ridge-pole from end to end, and a roof of poles, sticks and boards. In the interior were many carved images of animals and men, but these were not the objects of adoration. The staple of their diet is fish variegated with some dogs and a few berries. Their canoes are of white cedar or pine, very light, broad in the middle, and tapering towards the ends, with the extremities elevated and ornamented with carvings of the heads of animals. They manage them with great skill and dexterity. Above the falls myriads of salmon crowd the streams in the spring and summer, but few of any other species are found; but below, the salmon, trout and several other species collect. At the falls, sea otters were seen for the first time, and in great numbers.

Nothing was more astonishing than the gigantic forest trees west of the mountains. This great chain separates the continent into two almost distinct vegetable empires. Oaks, juglandes, elm--Magnolias and rhododendrons form the striking peculiarities of the eastern slope of the range; on the western only, one species of oak is found,-one of the rhododendron,-but eight varieties of pine, with cedar, white birch, and other smaller trees. Of the large trees, the gigantic pinus Lambertiana (Lambert's pine), is the most extraordinary. It attains a height of from one hundred and fifty to more than two hundred and fifty feet, varying from twenty to sixty feet in circumference, far surpassing

"The tallest pine

"Hewn on Norwegian hills to be the mast

"Of some great Admiral."

Mr. Douglas counted nine hundred annual rings in one of these trees. In some days, the party reached the Great Shoot or cascades, passing in their descent, a number of Indian villages, and the fertile and timbered valley of the Wallamutte. The mighty mass of waters has kere cut its way through a chain of towering, volcanic mountains,

rushing with resistless impetuosity over rocky reefs and dislocated cliffs, for three or four miles. On both sides of the furious waters, perpendicular battlements of rock rise majestically up, hundreds of feet, from the surfaces of which, a thousand rills, rivulets, and spouting springs issue forth, rippling, leaping, curving and dashing; now expanding into flashing sheets, then springing into pellucid cascades, and again, striking jutting rocks, and exploding in sparkling clouds of mist; whilst a dreamy, unearthly and marvellous succession of soft, - mellow, and brilliant hues wave over and around the whole. A portage of two miles, in descending, and three in ascending the river, is here usually indispensable. Below the cascades, groups of Indian huts, and burial vaults appeared, and flocks of swan, geese, ducks, brant and sea-gulls, floated over the quiet waters. Deer and elk too, became abundant.

On the 7th day of November, after eighteen months of toil, exposure, dangers, and privations, their eyes opened, for the first time, on the boundless expanse of the Pacific Ocean. As busy memory arrayed for their contemplation the thousand hazards they had passed through, and wonderful escapes they had made from the ferocity of beasts, and the fury of the savage-as their imaginations followed the shores of the great Ocean, until it pictured to them the broad countries which it watered, and the thronging millions who dwelt upon its distant shores, as they meditated upon the wide space which separated them far from the comforts and security of civilization-and as they anticipated the weary journey yet before them, and thought of the treacherous, cruel, and vindictive character of the hordes which surrounded them, the hearts of the way-worn pilgrims were filled with sadness. But soon they thought with profound gratitude of that great and good Being who had "held them as in the hollow of his hand" when threatened with swift destruction; and of the immortal fame to which their names should be consecrated in after times.

ART. III.-RAILWAY ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE MISSOURI RIVER.

We are pleased to learn that the recent movement in St. Louis, in respect to the Pacific railway, has awakened our citizens on the north side of the Missouri river, to the subject of internal improvements. The facts and arguments contained in the following communication are worthy of consideration; but our information in respect to the probable cost of the route on either side of the river is too vague at present, to authorise any conclusion upon that point. The Pacific railway company have no right to locate their road on the north side of the river; yet, it may be good policy to cause a survey of that route to be made before the meeting of the next General Assembly. And, if it should be found that the northern route is the cheapest; or even as cheap as the southern, its survey would stimulate the friends