the country becomes more and more _triste_ and disagreeable; one meets
at first nothing but bare hills, which scarcely offer a few isolated
pines, at a great distance from each other; after that, the earth,
stripped of verdure, does not afford you the sight of a single shrub;
the little grass which grows in that arid soil, appears burnt by the
rigor of the climate. The natives who frequent the banks of the river,
for the salmon fishery, have no other wood but that which they take
floating down. We passed several rapids, and a small stream called
Utalah, which flows from the southeast.

On the 16th, we found the river narrowed; the banks rose on either side
in elevations, without, however, offering a single tree. We reached the
river _Wallawalla_, which empties into the Columbia on the southeast. It
is narrow at its confluence, and is not navigable for any great
distance. A range of mountains was visible to the S.E., about fifty or
sixty miles off. Behind these mountains the country becomes again flat
and sandy, and is inhabited by a tribe called the _Snakes_. We found on
the left bank of the _Wallawalla_, an encampment of Indians, consisting
of about twenty lodges. They sold us six dogs and eight horses, the
greater part extremely lean. We killed two of the horses immediately: I
mounted one of the six that remained; Mr. Ross took another; and we
drove the other four before us. Toward the decline of day we passed the
river _Lewis_, called, in the language of the country, the _Sha-ap-tin_.
It comes from the S.E., and is the same that Lewis and Clarke descended
in 1805. The _Sha-ap-tin_ appeared to me to have little depth, and to be
about 300 yards wide, at its confluence.

The country through which we were now passing, was a mingling of hills,
steep rocks, and valleys covered with wormwood; the stems of which shrub
are nearly six inches thick, and might serve for fuel. We killed six
rattlesnakes on the 15th, and on the 16th saw a great many more among
the rocks. These dangerous reptiles appeared to be very numerous in this
part of the country. The plains are also inhabited by a little
quadruped, only about eight or nine inches in length, and approaching
the dog in form. These animals have the hair, or _poil_, of a reddish
brown, and strong fore-paws, armed with long claws which serve them to
dig out their holes under the earth. They have a great deal of
curiosity: as soon as they hear a noise they come out of their hole