“After crossing by land we halted for dinner, and whilst we were eating were visited by five Indians, who came up the river on foot in great haste.  We received them kindly, smoked with them, and gave them a piece of tobacco to smoke with their tribe.  On receiving the present they set out to return, and continued running as fast as they could while they remained in sight.  Their curiosity had been excited by the accounts of our two chiefs, who had gone on in order to apprise the tribes of our approach and of our friendly disposition toward them.  After dinner we reloaded the canoes and proceeded.  We soon passed a rapid opposite the upper point of a sandy island on the left, which has a smaller island near it.  At three miles is a gravelly bar in the river; four miles beyond this the Kimooenim (Snake) empties into the Columbia, and at its mouth has an island just below a small rapid.

“We halted above the point of junction, on the Kimooenim, to confer with the Indians, who had collected in great numbers to receive us.  On landing we were met by our two chiefs, to whose good offices we were indebted for this reception, and also the two Indians who had passed us a few days since on horseback; one of whom appeared to be a man of influence, and harangued the Indians on our arrival.  After smoking with the Indians, we formed a camp at the point where the two rivers unite, near to which we found some driftwood, and were supplied by our two old chiefs with the stalks of willows and some small bushes for fuel.

“We had scarcely fixed the camp and got the fires prepared, when a chief came from the Indian camp about a quarter of a mile up the Columbia, at the head of nearly two hundred men.  They formed a regular procession, keeping time to the music, or, rather, noise of their drums, which they accompanied with their voices; and as they advanced, they ranged themselves in a semicircle around us, and continued singing for some time.  We then smoked with them all, and communicated, as well as we could by signs, our friendly intentions towards every nation, and our joy at finding ourselves surrounded by our children.  After this we proceeded to distribute presents among them, giving the principal chief a large medal, a shirt, and a handkerchief; to the second chief, a medal of a smaller size; and to a third, who had come down from some of the upper villages, a small medal and a handkerchief.  This ceremony being concluded, they left us; but in the course of the afternoon several of them returned, and remained with us till a late hour.  After they had dispersed, we proceeded to purchase provisions, and were enabled to collect seven dogs, to which some of the Indians added small presents of fish, and one of them gave us twenty pounds of fat dried horse-flesh.”

The explorers were still in the country which is now the State of Washington, at a point where the counties of Franklin, Yakima, and Walla Walla come together, at the junction of the Snake and the Columbia.  We quote now from the journal:—­