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.
