The portage of these rapids was very difficult and tiresome.  The total distance of the first stage was twenty-eight hundred yards along a narrow way rough with rocks and now slippery with rain.  One of the canoes was lost here by being driven out into the strong current, where the force of the water was so great that it could not be held by the men; the frail skiff drifted down the rapids and disappeared.  They now had two canoes and two periogues left, and the loads were divided among these craft.  This increased the difficulties of navigation, and Captain Lewis crossed over to the south side of the river in search of canoes to be purchased from the Indians, who lived in a village on that side of the stream.  The narrative continues: 

“The village now consisted of eleven houses, crowded with inhabitants, and about sixty fighting men.  They were very well disposed, and we found no difficulty in procuring two small canoes, in exchange for two robes and four elk-skins.  He also purchased with deer-skins three dogs,—­an animal which has now become a favorite food, for it is found to be a strong, healthy diet, preferable to lean deer or elk, and much superior to horseflesh in any state.  With these he proceeded along the south side of the river, and joined us in the evening.”

Above the rapids the party encountered two tribes of Indians from whom they endeavored to buy horses, for they were now approaching a point when they must leave the river and travel altogether by land.  One of these tribes was known as the Weocksockwillacurns, and the other was the Chilluckittequaws.  These jaw-breaking names are commended to those who think that the Indian names of northern Maine are difficult to handle.  Trees were now growing scarcer, and the wide lowlands spread out before the explorers stretched to the base of the Bitter Root Mountains without trees, but covered with luxuriant grass and herbage.  After being confined so long to the thick forests and mountains of the seacoast, the party found this prospect very exhilarating, notwithstanding the absence of forests and thickets.  The climate, too, was much more agreeable than that to which they had lately been accustomed, being dry and pure.

Chapter XX —­ The Last Stage of the Columbia

On the thirteenth of April the party reached the series of falls and rapids which they called the Long Narrows.  At the point reached the river is confined, for a space of about fourteen miles, to narrow channels and rocky falls.  The Long Narrows are now known as the Dalles.  The word “dalles” is French, and signifies flagstones, such as are used for sidewalks.  Many of the rocks in these narrows are nearly flat on top, and even the precipitous banks look like walls of rock.  At the upper end of the rapids, or dalles, is Celilo City, and at the lower end is Dalles City, sometimes known as “The Dalles.”  Both of these places are in Oregon;