s
had been predicted, so that their horses once more had the benefit of
tolerable pasturage. Their Digger proved an excellent guide, trudging
cheerily in the advance. He made an unsuccessful shot or two at a deer
and a beaver; but at night found a rabbit hole, whence he extracted
the occupant, upon which, with the addition of a fish given him by the
travellers, he made a hearty supper, and retired to rest, filled with
good cheer and good humor.

The next day the travellers came to where the hills closed upon the
river, leaving here and there intervals of undulating meadow land. The
river was sheeted with ice, broken into hills at long intervals. The
Digger kept on ahead of the party, crossing and recrossing the river
in pursuit of game, until, unluckily, encountering a brother Digger, he
stole off with him, without the ceremony of leave-taking.

Being now left to themselves, they proceeded until they came to some
Indian huts, the inhabitants of which spoke a language totally different
from any they had yet heard. One, however, understood the Nez Perce
language, and through him they made inquiries as to their route. These
Indians were extremely kind and honest, and furnished them with a small
quantity of meat; but none of them could be induced to act as guides.

Immediately in the route of the travellers lay a high mountain, which
they ascended with some difficulty. The prospect from the summit was
grand but disheartening. Directly before them towered the loftiest peaks
of Immahah, rising far higher than the elevated ground on which they
stood: on the other hand, they were enabled to scan the course of the
river, dashing along through deep chasms, between rocks and precipices,
until lost in a distant wilderness of mountains, which closed the savage
landscape.

They remained for a long time contemplating, with perplexed and anxious
eye, this wild congregation of mountain barriers, and seeking to
discover some practicable passage. The approach of evening obliged them
to give up the task, and to seek some camping ground for the night.
Moving briskly forward, and plunging and tossing through a succession of
deep snow-drifts, they at length reached a valley known among trappers
as the "Grand Rond," which they found entirely free from snow.

This is a beautiful and very fertile valley, about twenty miles long and
five or six broad; a bright cold stream called the Fourche de Glace,
or Ice River, runs through it. Its shelte