Although the horses had, with one or two exceptions, reached the eastern side of the mountain, yet they, together with the Indians, were very much exhausted. The time had now come when the Indians, according to agreement, were to be paid off, and they had done much more than they agreed to do, having crossed the mountain twice.
Finding the necessity of retaining all the blankets that had been brought with them, in order to buy horses, Lieutenant Johnson proposed to the Indians to receive an order on Nisqually, in lieu of the immediate delivery of the blankets. This they readily assented to, and also willingly gave up those that had already been paid them, on receiving a similar order—thus showing a spirit of accommodation highly praiseworthy. Only two of them returned to Nisqually, to whom were entrusted the botanical specimens, and the care of the horses left upon the road.
The banks of the small streams on the eastern side of the mountain were bordered with the greatest variety of trees and shrubs, consisting of poplars, buckthorn fifty feet high, dogwood thirty to forty feet high, several species of willow, alder, two species of maple, and occasionally a yew. The undergrowth was composed of Hazel, Vaccinium, Gaultheria, and a prickly species of Aralia. The herbaceous shrubs were Goodyera, Neottia, Viola, Claytonia, Corallorrhiza. The latter, however, were not in flower.
The party on foot, after leaving the Little Prairie about half a mile, crossed the northern branch of the Smalocho, [13] which was found much swollen and very rapid. Two trees were cut down to form a bridge. After this, the walking through the forest became smooth and firm, and they passed on at a rapid pace. The Indians, although loaded with ninety pounds of baggage, kept up with the rest. At nightfall they encamped at the margin of the snow.
On lighting their fires, they accidentally set fire to the moss-covered trees, and in a few moments all around them was a blazing mass of flame, which compelled them to change their quarters farther to windward. They had made eighteen miles. But few plants were found, the season being too early for collecting at so high an elevation. The ground was covered with spruce-twigs, which had apparently been broken off by the weight of the snow. The summit was passed through an open space about twenty acres in extent. This glade was surrounded with a dense forest of spruce trees. There was no danger in walking except near the young trees, which had been bent down by the snow, but on passing these they often broke through, and experienced much difficulty in extricating themselves, particularly the poor Indians, with their heavy burdens. The breadth of snow passed over was about eight miles. At three o'clock they reached the Spipen [14] River, where they encamped: this camp was found to be two thousand five hundred and forty-one feet above the level of the sea. The vegetation appeared to our botanical gentlemen farther advanced on the east side than on the west, at the same height; the Pulmonarias and several small annuals were more forward. There were only a few pine trees, and those small, seen on the west side of the ridge; and on the east side, there was a species of larch, the hackmatack of the country. While they remained at this camp, they found a Pyrola, and some new ferns.
The country about the Spipen[14] is mountainous and woody, with a narrow strip of meadow-land along its banks. Mr. Waldron had, on arriving at the camp, sent Lachemere, one of the Indians, down the river to an Indian chief, in order to procure horses. Those that remained after providing for the baggage, were consequently assigned each to two or three individuals to ride and tye on their route.
On the 30th, they proceeded down the Spipen, making a journey of eighteen miles, and passed another branch of the river, the junction of which augmented its size very considerably. Its banks, too, became perpendicular and rocky, with a current flowing between them at the rate of six or seven miles an hour. After the junction, the stream was about one hundred feet broad, and its course was east-southeast.
The vegetation on the east side of the mountains was decidedly more advanced than that to the west, and several very interesting species of plants were met with by the botanists, on the banks of the streams: among them were Pæonia brownii, Cypripedium oregonium, Pentstemon, Ipomopsis elegans, and several Compositæ, and a very handsome flowering shrub, Purshia tridentata.
On the 31st, they continued their route over a rough country, in some places almost impassable for a horse from its steepness, and in others so marshy as to require much caution to prevent being mired.
During the morning, they met two Indians, who informed them that the chief of the Yakima tribe was a short distance in advance, waiting to meet them, and that he had several horses. At noon they reached a small prairie on the banks of the river, where old Tidias, the chief, was seen seated in state to receive Lieutenant Johnson; but this ceremony was unavoidably broken in upon by the necessity of getting the meridian observations. The chief, however, advanced towards him with every mark of friendship, giving the party a hearty welcome. In person he was tall, straight, and thin, a little bald, with long black hair hanging down his back, carefully tied with a worsted rag. He was grave, but dignified and graceful. When they had been seated, and after smoking a couple of pipes in silence, he intimated that he was ready for a talk, which then followed, relative to the rivers and face of the country; but little information was obtained that could be depended upon.
This tribe subsist chiefly upon salmon and the cammass-root: game is very scarce, and the beaver have all disappeared. The cammass-root is pounded and made into a sort of cake, which is not unpleasant, having a sweetish taste, but it is very dry, although some of the party took a fancy to it.
Tidias had with him an old man almost blind, who claimed much respect, and two young men, whose dress of buckskin, profusely ornamented with beads, was much admired by the party. During the talk, the old chief expressed himself delighted to see the white men, and spoke of his own importance, his immense territory, etc., in a style of boasting, to which the Indians are very much addicted. He said that he was desirous of affording all the accommodation he could to the party. But although he had eight or ten fine horses with him, he would not agree to part with them, as they were all his favourites. He was presented with a variety of articles, in return for which he gave the party a few dried salmon.
Towards evening, old Tidias took leave of them, saying that it was not proper for an Indian to encamp in the same place with a white man, and with a promise that he would have horses by ten o'clock the next day; but he had a game to play by procrastinating, in which he thoroughly succeeded.
In the morning they reached the Indian camp below, but no horses had arrived. It was far, they said, to Tidias's house; a man could not go thither and return in the same day; no horses or salmon could be brought; no one could be permitted to go. Lieutenant Johnson was then told that the road he had to follow was a "hungry" road. At last the Indian was induced by high offers to exchange good horses for a great number of bad ones, and finally consented to part with two more. On quitting him they became thoroughly aware that all the difficulties were owing, not to any indisposition to sell, but were created for the purpose of inducing high prices to be given.
The party now branched off at right angles to their former route, Lieutenant Johnson heartily sick and tired of his friend Tidias and his people. Two more of the Indians here left them. The country they entered, after passing a ridge about six hundred feet high, was quite of a different aspect, forming long sloping hills, covered with a scanty growth of pines. Many dry beds of rivulets were passed, and the soil of the hills produced nothing but a long thin grass. There are, however, some small valleys where the growth of grass is luxuriant, the pines are larger, and the scenery assumed a park-like appearance.
From the summit of one of the hills, a sketch of Mount Rainier, and of the intervening range, was obtained.
On the top of the ridge they fell in with a number of Spipen Indians, who were engaged in digging the cammass and other roots. The latter were those of an umbelliferous plant, oblong, tuberous, and in taste resembling a parsnip. The process used to prepare them for bread, is to bake them in a well-heated oven of stones; when they are taken out they are dried, and then
