he sea-coast who traded with the
whites. He made eager inquiries of the Sciatogas, and gathered from them
that the great river (the Columbia) was but two days' march distant, and
that several white people had recently descended it; who he hoped might
prove to be M'Lellan, M'Kenzie, and their companions.

It was with the utmost joy and the most profound gratitude to heaven,
that Mr. Hunt found himself and his band of weary and famishing
wanderers thus safely extricated from the most perilous part of their
long journey, and within the prospect of a termination of their tolls.
All the stragglers who had lagged behind arrived, one after another,
excepting the poor Canadian voyageur, Carriere. He had been seen late in
the preceding afternoon, riding behind a Snake Indian, near some lodges
of that nation, a few miles distant from the last night's encampment;
and it was expected that he would soon make his appearance. The first
object of Mr. Hunt was to obtain provisions for his men. A little
venison, of an indifferent quality, and some roots were all that could
be procured that evening; but the next day he succeeded in purchasing
a mare and colt, which were immediately killed, and the cravings of the
half-starved people in some degree appeased.

For several days they remained in the neighborhood of these Indians,
reposing after all their hardships, and feasting upon horse flesh and
roots, obtained in subsequent traffic. Many of the people ate to such
excess as to render themselves sick, others were lame from their past
journey; but all gradually recruited in the repose and abundance of the
valley. Horses were obtained here much more readily, and at a cheaper
rate, than among the Snakes. A blanket, a knife, or a half pound of blue
beads would purchase a steed, and at this rate many of the men bought
horses for their individual use.

This tribe of Indians, who are represented as a proud-spirited race, and
uncommonly cleanly, never eat horses or dogs, nor would they permit
the raw flesh of either to be brought into their huts. They had a small
quantity of venison in each lodge, but set so high a price upon it that
the white men, in their impoverished state could not afford to purchase
it. They hunted the deer on horseback, "ringing," or surrounding them,
and running them down in a circle. They were admirable horsemen, and
their weapons were bows and arrows, which they managed with great
dexterity. They were altogether primitiv