specks on some of the feathers, particularly those of the tail, though
the extremities of these are perfectly black for about an inch. The eye
is nearly black, and the iris has a small dash of yellowish brown; the
feathers of the tail are somewhat longer than those of our pheasant, but
the same in number, eighteen, and nearly equal in size, except that
those of the middle are somewhat the longest; their flesh is white and
agreeably flavoured.

He also saw among the scattered pine near the top of the mountain, a
blue bird about the size of a robin, but in action and form something
like a jay; it is constantly in motion, hopping from spray to spray, and
its note which is loud and frequent, is, as far as letters can represent
it, char ah! char ah! char ah!

After breakfast we proceeded on: at the distance of two and a quarter
miles the river enters a high mountain, which forms rugged cliffs of
nearly perpendicular rocks. These are of a black granite at the lower
part, and the upper consists of a light coloured freestone; they
continue from the point of rocks close to the river for nine miles,
which we passed before breakfast, during which the current is very
strong. At nine and a quarter miles we passed an island, and a rapid
fall with a fall of six feet, and reached the entrance of a large creek
on the left side. In passing this place the towline of one of the canoes
broke just at the shoot of the rapids, swung on the rocks and had nearly
upset. To the creek as well as the rapid we gave the name of Frazier,
after Robert* Frazier one of the party: here the country opens into a
beautiful valley from six to eight miles in width: the river then
becomes crooked and crowded with islands; its lowgrounds wide and
fertile, but though covered with fine grass from nine inches to two
feet high; possesses but a small proportion of timber, and that consists
almost entirely of a few narrow-leafed cottonwood distributed along the
verge of the river. The soil of the plain is tolerably fertile, and
consists of a black or dark yellow loam. It gradually ascends on each
side to the bases of two ranges of high mountains which lie parallel* to
the river; the tops of them are yet in part covered with snow, and while
in the valley we are nearly suffocated with heat during the day, and at
night the air is so cold that two blankets are not more than sufficient
covering. In passing through the hills we observed some large cedar
trees, and some ju