f was over the steep and rocky sides of the hills
where the horses could not move without danger of slipping down, while
their feet were bruised by the rocks and stumps of trees. Accustomed as
these animals were to this kind of life they suffered severely, several
of them fell to some distance down the sides of the hills, some turned
over with the baggage, one was crippled, and two gave out exhausted with
fatigue. After crossing the creek several times we at last made five
miles, with great fatigue and labour, and encamped on the left side of
the creek in a small stony low ground. It was not, however, till after
dark that the whole party was collected, and then, as it rained, and we
killed nothing, we passed an uncomfortable night. The party had been too
busily occupied with the horses to make any hunting excursion, and
though as we came along Fish creek we saw many beaver dams we saw none
of the animals themselves. In the morning,

Tuesday 3, the horses were very stiff and weary. We sent back two men
for the load of the horse which had been crippled yesterday, and which
we had been forced to leave two miles behind. On their return, we set
out at eight o'clock, and proceeded up the creek, making a passage
through the brush and timber along its borders. The country is generally
supplied with pine, and in the low grounds is a great abundance of fir
trees, and under bushes. The mountains are high and rugged, and those to
the east of us, covered with snow. With all our precautions the horses
were very much injured in passing over the ridges and steep points of
the hills, and to add to the difficulty, at the distance of eleven
miles, the high mountains closed the creek, so that we were obliged to
leave the creek to the right, and cross the mountain abruptly. The
ascent was here so steep that several of the horses slipped and hurt
themselves, but at last we succeeded in crossing the mountain, and
encamped on a small branch of Fish creek. We had now made fourteen miles
in a direction nearly north from the river; but this distance, though
short, was very fatiguing, and rendered still more disagreeable by the
rain which began at three o'clock. At dusk it commenced snowing, and
continued till the ground was covered to the depth of two inches, when
it changed into a sleet. We here met with a serious misfortune the last
of our thermometers being broken by accident. After making a scanty
supper on a little corn and a few pheasants ki