JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE
and by his advice ! propofed to them toveondu£Lus along tKe. road which
had been already.marked pat.to nsi This they undertook'withoutthe
leaft hefitation ; and, at the fame time, pointed out-to me the pals in the
mountain, bearing South by Eaft by cOmpafs. -Here 1 * had a meridian
altitude, and took time.
At four in the afternoon we parted with our Iate.feliqw-t[ravejlerss in a
very friendly manner, add immediately forded the river. The. wild
parfriep, which luxuriates on the borders of the lakes and rivers, is a
favourite food of the natives: they roaft the.:tpps>of this plant, in thgjr
tender ftate, oyer the fire, and taking off thejouter rind, »they'.are the®
a very palatable food.
We now entered the woods, and fome time after-.arrived on-the
banks o f another river that flowed from the mountain,; .whfoh jhjp alfo
forded. The country foon after we left the river was fwainpy :*, ;and the
fire having paffcd through it, the number o f trees, which had Jjal-le®, added
to the toil of our journey. In a fhort time we began to, -afcend, and continued
afcending till nine at night. We walked upwards.of, fourteen
miles, according to my computation, in the courfefof the day, though:the
ftraight line o f diftance might not hs^n^rejthan tgn. Notyftbftanfling
that we were furrounded by mountains covered with fnow, we wet|e very
> much tormented with mufquitdes.
Wednef. ifi- Before the fun rofe, our guides fummoned us to proceed, when W6 de-
fcended into a beautiful valley, watered by a fmall river,- At eight we
came to the termination of, ih where we faw a great number of moles,
and
‘»O RTH-W EST CONTINENT OF AMERICA.
and began again' to - afcend. We noW'percenfed' many gro'Srid-hogs,
and hdard" them whittle in "every direSion'^The Indian's weht in pur-
fuit of them, andvfobn joined us with a female and he!r litter, almoft
growntotheMfull‘fize. Theyftripped off their. Ikins, and gave the car-
cafes to.my people.' They alfo palled up a root, which .appeared like
a bunch of white berries of the fifefof a pea; its fhape Was that of
a fig, while it had the fcolbilr and tafte of A pota'toe: ,s' '
• r We now- gained the1 famrnit of thd' mountain, and Found ourfelves
furrounded by ‘ fooW. But'this ciroi^mft^ncfeyis foaufed-“rather by the
'Iquarttity of fnow drifted in the pals, than ,:thfe Veal 'height-^of the fpbt,
•as the 'furrounding'' mountains rife to a much higher' degrde* of dleva-
tion.' The fnow! had'become fo compact that our-feet, hardly made
“iefperceptible impreffion fori ft. We obfervedyfoowever, the trdcks of
-an herd of fmall deer which mutt; have patted a’ fhort time before ils,
arid the Iridians-'and my hunters went immediately: in purfuit; of • them.
-Our way' Was now nearly level, without5 the leaft fnoW, and not a^tree to
he'fefen in any part o f it. The gfafs is very ffiort,’ and the' foil a reddilh
%lhy^dnterrttixed with fmall ftoribs. 5'The fafcefofthe hills, Where they are
1 hotfonlivfened - with verdure, appears;- at a diftantfoj as if fire had patted
over them! f It now began fo hail, fnow, and rainy ndi? could we find
Shy Ihelter but the leeward' fide of an huge rock., The, wind alfo rofe
into a tempeft, and the weather was as diftreffing. as: any I had ever
expeneheodilyi-After an■ abfchoefof an hduf and a® half, our hunters
^brought'a fmall doe of ‘the ¥ein-deer i^e’cif^»; which' was all they had
'killed, though-they fired twelve fliots at:ar large herd of them. Theif ill
m
Ss faecefe