es, to the number of thirty-eight, they consigned to the care of
three Indian chiefs, to be kept till their return; and the saddles, with
a small supply of ammunition, they buried in a hole, dug for the
purpose, near the river.

On the 8th of October, the travellers once more proceeded by water; and
they now occupied five canoes. Exertion was still requisite, in the
shoals and other difficult places; but the change was, on the whole,
extremely favourable to them, and their progress down the current was
proportionally rapid.

This part of the country is inhabited by the _Shoshonees_, a tribe of
_Snake Indians_, which, at present, consists of about a hundred
warriors, and thrice as many women and children. Within their own
recollection these Indians had lived in the plains; but they had been
driven thence by the Pawkees and other powerful tribes, and they now
live a wandering and precarious life. From the middle of May till the
beginning of September they reside on the western waters; but, when the
salmon, on which they chiefly subsist there, disappear, they cross the
ridge and descend, slowly and cautiously, till they are joined, near the
Three Forks, by other bands, either of their own nation, or of the
Flat-heads, who make common cause with them. They then venture to hunt
buffaloes in the plains eastward; but such is their dread of the
Pawkees, that, so long as they can obtain the scantiest subsistence,
they do not leave the interior of the mountains; and, as soon as they
collect a large stock of dried meat, they again retreat: thus they
alternately obtain food at the hazard of their lives, and hide
themselves to consume it. Two-thirds of the year they are forced to live
in the mountains, passing whole weeks with no other subsistence than a
few fish and roots. The salmon were, at this time, fast retiring; roots
were becoming scarce, they had not yet attained strength to hazard a
meeting with their enemies, and nothing could be imagined more wretched
than their condition.

Notwithstanding their miseries they were cheerful, and, in many
important points of character, were superior to any other tribes whom
the travellers had seen. They never begged: they were not tempted to a
single act of dishonesty by the sight of the treasures which their
visitors displayed; and they were ready to share with their guests, the
little which they themselves possessed. They were also a high-spirited
people. The Spaniards, the only white