s: we had already passed eight, and some of them
difficult; but this was worse than any of them, being a very hazardous
ripple strewed with rocks: we here purchased roots and dined with the
Indians. Among them was a man from the falls, who says that he saw white
people at that place and is very desirous of going down with us; an
offer which however we declined. Just above this camp we had passed a
tent, near which was an Indian bathing himself in a small pond or hole
of water, warmed by throwing in hot stones. After finishing our meal we
descended the rapid with no injury, except to one of our boats which ran
against a rock, but in the course of an hour was brought off with only a
small split in her side. This ripple, from its appearance and
difficulty, we named the Rugged rapid. We went on over five other rapids
of a less dangerous kind, and at the distance of five miles reached a
large fork of the river from the south; and after coming twenty miles,
halted below the junction on the right side of the river: our arrival
soon attracted the attention of the Indians, who flocked in all
directions to see us. In the evening the Indian from the falls, whom we
had seen at the Rugged rapid, joined us with his son in a small canoe,
and insisted on accompanying us to the falls. Being again reduced to
fish and roots we made an experiment to vary our food by purchasing* a
few dogs, and after having been accustomed to horse-flesh, felt no
disrelish to this new dish. The Chopunnish have great numbers of dogs
which they employ for domestic purposes, but never eat; and our using
the flesh of that animal soon brought us into ridicule as dog-eaters.

The country at the junction of the two rivers is an open plain on all
sides, broken towards the left by a distant ridge of highland, thinly
covered with timber: this is the only body of timber which the country
possesses; for at the forks there is not a tree to be seen, and during
almost the whole descent of sixty miles down the Kooskooskee from its
forks there are very few. This southern branch is in fact the main
stream of Lewis's river on which we encamped when among the Shoshonees.
The Indians inform us that it is navigable for sixty miles; that not far
from its mouth it receives a branch from the south; and a second and
larger branch, two days' march up, and nearly parallel to the first
Chopunnish villages, we met near the mountains. This branch is called
Pawnashte, and is the residence