the steam is exactly the same.  Among both these nations it is very uncommon for a man to bathe alone; he is generally accompanied by one or sometimes several of his acquaintances; indeed, it is so essentially a social amusement, that to decline going in to bathe when invited by a friend is one of the highest indignities which can be offered to him.  The Indians on the frontier generally use a bath which will accommodate only one person, formed of a wicker-work of willows about four feet high, arched at the top, and covered with skins.  In this the patient sits, till by means of the heated stones and water he has perspired sufficiently.  Almost universally these baths are in the neighborhood of running water, into which the Indians plunge immediately on coming out of the vapor bath, and sometimes return again and subject themselves to a second perspiration.  This practice is, however, less frequent among our neighboring nations than those to the westward.  This bath is employed either for pleasure or for health, and is used indiscriminately for all kinds of diseases.”

The expedition was now on the Snake River, making all possible speed toward the Columbia, commonly known to the Indians as “The Great River.”  The stream was crowded with dangerous rapids, and sundry disasters were met with by the way; thus, on the fourteenth of October, a high wind blowing, one of the canoes was driven upon a rock sidewise and filled with water.  The men on board got out and dragged the canoe upon the rock, where they held her above water.  Another canoe, having been unloaded, was sent to the relief of the shipwrecked men, who, after being left on the rock for some time, were taken off without any other loss than the bedding of two of them.  But accidents like this delayed the party, as they were forced to land and remain long enough to dry the goods that had been exposed to the water.  Several such incidents are told in the journal of the explorers.  Few Indians were to be seen along the banks of the river, but occasionally the party came to a pile of planks and timbers which were the materials from which were built the houses of such Indians as came here in the fishing season to catch a supply for the winter and for trading purposes.  Occasionally, the complete scarcity of fuel compelled the explorers to depart from their general rule to avoid taking any Indian property without leave; and they used some of these house materials for firewood, with the intent to pay the rightful owners, if they should ever be found.  On the sixteenth of October, they met with a party of Indians, of whom the journal gives this account:—­