these
last he concluded to be Mr. Crooks and his party. He was thus released
from much anxiety about their safety, especially as the Indians spoke
about Mr. Crooks having one of his dogs yet, which showed that he and
his men had not been reduced to extremity of hunger.

As Mr. Hunt feared that he might be several days in passing through
this mountain defile, and run the risk of famine, he encamped in the
neighborhood of the Indians, for the purpose of bartering with them for
a horse. The evening was expended in ineffectual trials. He offered a
gun, a buffalo robe, and various other articles. The poor fellows had,
probably, like himself, the fear of starvation before their eyes. At
length the women, learning the object of his pressing solicitations and
tempting offers, set up such a terrible hue and cry that he was fairly
howled and scolded from the ground.

The next morning early, the Indians seemed very desirous to get rid of
their visitors, fearing, probably, for the safety of their horses. In
reply to Mr. Hunt's inquiries about the mountains, they told him that he
would have to sleep but three nights more among them; and that six days'
travelling would take him to the falls of the Columbia; information in
which he put no faith, believing it was only given to induce him to set
forward. These, he was told, were the last Snakes he would meet with,
and that he would soon come to a nation called Sciatogas.

Forward then did he proceed on his tedious journey, which, at every
step, grew more painful. The road continued for two days through narrow
defiles, where they were repeatedly obliged to unload the horses.
Sometimes the river passed through such rocky chasms and under such
steep precipices that they had to leave it, and make their way, with
excessive labor, over immense hills, almost impassable for horses.
On some of these hills were a few pine trees, and their summits were
covered with snow. On the second day of this scramble one of the hunters
killed a black-tailed deer, which afforded the half-starved travellers a
sumptuous repast. Their progress these two days was twenty-eight miles,
a little to the northward of east.

The month of December set in drearily, with rain in the valleys and snow
upon the hills. They had to climb a mountain with snow to the midleg,
which increased their painful toil. A small beaver supplied them with
a scanty meal, which they eked out with frozen blackberries, haws, and
choke-cherrie