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. 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.
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