. Their huts were shaped like haystacks, and
constructed of branches of willow covered with long grass, so as to
be warm and comfortable. Occasionally, they were surrounded by small
inclosures of wormwood, about three feet high, which gave them
a cottage-like appearance. Three or four of these tenements were
occasionally grouped together in some wild and striking 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 prime article of food; but
they were extremely anxious to get buffalo meat in exchange.

The high 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 of masses and grouping. Numerous small
streams come rushing and boiling through narrow clefts and ravines:
one of a considerable size issued from the face of a precipice, within
twenty-five feet of its summit; and after running 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.
Sometimes it steals along 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 tumult of
plashing 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 tremendous chasm, rather than a
valley, extending upwards of a hundred and fifty miles. You come upon it
on a sudden, in traversing a 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 impossible to get
from the plain to the water, or from the river margin to the plain. The