es wide, where the soil is good; but the prevalent coldness and
dryness of the climate is unfavorable to vegetation. Near to this stream
there is a small mountain of mica slate, including garnets. Granite,
in small blocks, is likewise seen in this neighborhood, and white
sandstone. From this river, the travellers had a prospect of the snowy
heights of the Salmon River Mountains to the north; the nearest, at
least fifty miles distant.

In pursuing his course westward, Captain Bonneville generally kept
several miles from Snake River, crossing the heads of its tributary
streams; though he often found the open country so encumbered by
volcanic rocks, as to render travelling extremely difficult. Whenever he
approached Snake River, he found it running through a broad chasm, with
steep, perpendicular sides of basaltic rock. After several days' travel
across a level plain, he came to a part of the river which filled him
with astonishment and admiration. As far as the eye could reach, the
river was walled in by perpendicular cliffs two hundred and fifty
feet high, beetling like dark and gloomy battlements, while blocks and
fragments lay in masses at their feet, in the midst of the boiling and
whirling current. Just above, the whole stream pitched in one cascade
above forty feet in height, with a thundering sound, casting up a volume
of spray that hung in the air like a silver mist. These are called
by some the Fishing Falls, as the salmon are taken here in immense
quantities. They cannot get by these falls.

After encamping at this place all night, 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 mode, for many miles, of getting to the margin of the stream.

The snow lay in a thin crust along the banks of the river, so that their
travelling was much more easy than it had been hitherto. There were
foot tracks, also, made by the natives, which greatly facilitated their
progress. Occasionally, they met the inhabitants of this wild region;
a timid race, and but scantily provided with the necessaries of life.
Their dress consisted of a mantle about four feet square, formed
of strips of rabbit skins sewed together; this they hung over their
shoulders, in the ordinary Indian mode of wearing the blanket. Their
weapons were bows and arrows; the latter tipped with obsidian, which
abounds in the neighborhood