high level plain, thinly interspersed with groves of the long-leaved pine. In descending, the soil gradually becomes more fertile, and, in many parts, is of an excellent quality. Along the base of the ridge large masses of grey freestone are scattered over the surface, and the soil partakes of the same colour. But along the Kooskooskee and Lewis rivers, it consists of a light ́yellowish clay, which produces nothing but the prickly pear, and a small bearded grass three inches in length. Below the junction of Lewis river, in latitude 46° 13′, there are no trees for a considerable distance. Between this river and the Kooskooskee, the range of mountains which run in a south-west direction, and across which Lewis river passes near the north-eastern extremity, terminate in a high open plain. Thence another chain extends across the Columbia in a northwesterly direction, beyond which, from the mouth of Lewis river, is a plain which, in autumn, had no other vegetation than a species of willow and the prickly pear. In spring it produces a short grass of so nutritious a quality, that the horses of the country become fat with this rich pasturage in a short time, though exposed to great fatigue. Below Cataract river the country is broken, the hills covered with white oak and pine; and below Quicksand river it is low, rich, and wooded. Near Crusatt's river the mountains approach the banks of the Columbia, with steep rugged sides covered with pine, cedar, oak, and cotton-wood; and near the entrance of Lapage river the cliffs rise 200 feet above the water, from the summit of which, the snow-capped mountains to the west, 150 miles distant, are distinctly visible.

The whole country from Sepulchre rock,* three miles below Cataract river, to the Rocky mountains, is a level plain, the breadth of which, between the two great chains of mountains, is about 500 miles, and it is without woods, except the valley known by the name of Columbia. This valley extends from the range of mountains which run along the coast, to that which crosses the river of the same name, above the Great Falls, a distance of about thirty miles, but of much greater extent from north to south. This tract, watered by the river, is shaded with groves of trees. The temperature is mild, and the soil so fertile, that it is supposed to be capable of giving subsistence to 40,000 or 50,000 persons. The adjacent highlands are also fertile, having a dark rich loamy soil, and susceptible of cultivation. One great advantage is the wood, which is sufficiently abundant to supply the wants of a considerable population. The hills to the west of the Great Falls of the Columbia are covered with pine and oak; but the rough and rocky borders are without woods.

The shore of the Pacific is low and open, with a grassy surface; but the inner side of the ridge of mountains which runs parallel therewith, is covered with thick timber. Cape Disappointment rises from 150 to 160 feet above the water. Clarke's Point, thirty miles south-east of the former, and which projects two miles and a half into the sea, is elevated 1000

*So called from several excavations of a square form seen on its surface.

feet above its surface. In Halley's Bay, laid down by Vancouver in latitude 46° 19′, the tide rises eight feet and a half.

A remarkable object is Beacon Rock, which stands in a meadow on the north side of the Columbia river. From a base of 400 yards it rises on the southern side to the height of 700 feet, forming an unbroken precipice, which terminates in a sharp point. The opposite side has some vegetable earth, which produces pine and fir. This eminence is seen from the country below, at the distance of twenty miles.

Mineral Springs.-In the chain of Rocky mountains there are several warm springs of different degrees of temperature.

Climate. The climate of this region is milder than in the same parallel of the Atlantic states. In the Columbia valley there was little appearance of frost in the month of November. Near the mouth of the river, it rained daily from the 1st to the 15th of November, and in Halley's Bay, in latitude 46° 19′, the rain did not cease for more than two hours together during ten days. The summit of the Rocky chain of mountains is covered with perpetual snow, and the sides and intervening vallies are subject to extraordinary variations of temperature. On the 21st of August, the ink froze in the pen of the American travellers. On the 16th September, snow fell to the depth of six or eight inches. On the 21st the cold was intense on the mountains, while, in a valley watered by a branch of the Kooskooskee, there was an agreeable warmth. On the 25th, the heat became oppressive.

In descending towards the great plains, the temperature was agreeable during the first days of October, and afterwards the warmth was refreshed by a regular morning breeze proceeding from the eastern mountains, in latitude 46° 34'. On the ridge between the Chopannish and Kooskooskee, the snow was eleven feet deep on the 17th of June. Mackenzie, in returning across the same chain of mountains farther north, near the 53d degree of latitude, found their sides covered with snow on the 26th of July ; "the ground still bound by the frost; the herbage scarce begun to spring; the crowberry bushes just beginning to blossom."

Forest Trees and Shrubs.-It has been already remarked, that, except on the borders of rivers, the great plain of this country is without wood. But along the coast, and to a considerable distance from it, there is plenty of excellent timber. The most abundant are several species of the fir, of which some trees grow to an enormous size, measuring from twenty-seven to forty-two feet in circumference, and rising to the height of 230, without a branch the first hundred feet. On the high lands near the Columbia valley, a fallen tree was found to be 318 feet in length, and only three in diameter. Black alder grows to the height of sixty or seventy feet, and from two to four in diameter. It loses its foliage about the first of December. A tree resembling the ash grows on the borders of the Columbia, below the junction of Cataract river, which, with a trunk of three feet in diameter, rises to the height of forty or fifty. or fifty. Another tree of

the same district, resembling the white maple, grows in clusters, with a small trunk of six or seven inches in diameter. Arbor vitæ was seen in the descent from the mountains, near the Kooskooskee river. This tree grows to so large a size as to furnish pirogues, or large canoes, forty-five feet in length. Dogwood is abundant in the uplands, where it grows to two feet in diaWhite cedar of a large size, but thinly distributed. Ash, sweet willow, and cottonwood, on the low lands, near the mountains.

meter.

Of shrubs we find noticed the honeysuckle, alder, huckleberry, green briar, fern, a shrub like the quill wood, a plant like the mountain holly,

Animals.-The horse and the dog are the only domesticated animals. The horse is small, but well formed and active, and capable of enduring great fatigue. He has no other subsistence than the pasturage of the plains, with which he remains in a good state during winter, if not too much exercised. A handsome horse may be purchased for a few beads and trinkets. Near the mouth of the Kooskooskee river, Captain Clarke purchased a good mare for a bottle of eye-water. Wild horses were seen near the route of the American party across Clarke's river, and they are said to be very numerous near the sources of the Yellow Stone river, on the eastern side of the mountains. The dog is of a small size, with erect ears, and pointed nose, like those of the wolf. The hair on the body is short and smooth; on the tail it is long and strait The flesh is not eaten by the natives. The only use of the dog is in pursuit of the elk.