r the invalids." They still had several men on the sick list in
consequence of the hard fare of the winter. The weather was cold and
wet, and wood for fuel was difficult to obtain. In a few days they found
themselves among their old friends, the Skilloots, who had lately been
at war with the Chinooks. There was no direct intercourse between
the two nations as yet, but the Chinooks traded with the Clatsops and
Wahkiacums, and these in turn traded with the Skilloots, and in this way
the two hostile tribes exchanged the articles which they had for those
which they desired. The journal has this to say about the game of an
island on which the explorers tarried for a day or two, in order to dry
their goods and mend their canoes:--

"This island, which has received from the Indians the appropriate name
of Elalah (Elallah), or Deer Island, is surrounded on the water-side by
an abundant growth of cottonwood, ash, and willow, while the interior
consists chiefly of prairies interspersed with ponds. These afford
refuge to great numbers of geese, ducks, large swan, sandhill cranes,
a few canvas-backed ducks, and particularly the duckinmallard, the most
abundant of all. There are also great numbers of snakes resembling our
garter-snakes in appearance, and like them not poisonous. Our hunters
brought in three deer, a goose, some ducks, an eagle, and a tiger-cat.
Such is the extreme voracity of the vultures, that they had devoured in
the space of a few hours four of the deer killed this morning; and one
of our men declared that they had besides dragged a large buck about
thirty yards, skinned it, and broken the backbone."

The vulture here referred to is better known as the California condor, a
great bird of prey which is now so nearly extinct that few specimens
are ever seen, and the eggs command a great price from those who make
collections of such objects. A condor killed by one of the hunters of
the Lewis and Clark expedition measured nine feet and six inches from
tip to tip of its wings, three feet and ten inches from the point of the
bill to the end of the tail, and six inches and a half from the back of
the head to the tip of the beak. Very few of the condors of the Andes
are much larger than this, though one measuring eleven feet from tip to
tip has been reported.

While camped at Quicksand, or Sandy River, the party learned that food
supplies up the Columbia were scarce. The journal says that the Indians
met here were descen