The friendly manner of Mr. Hunt soon dispelled these apprehensions; he succeeded in purchasing some excellent dried salmon, and a dog, an animal much esteemed as food by the natives; and when he returned to the river one of the Indians accompanied him.  He now came to where the lodges were frequent along the banks, and, after a day’s journey of twenty-six miles to the northwest, encamped in a populous neighborhood.  Forty or fifty of the natives soon visited the camp, conducting themselves in a very amicable manner.  They were well clad, and all had buffalo robes, which they procured from some of the hunting tribes in exchange for salmon.  Their habitations were very comfortable; each had its pile of wormwood at the door for fuel, and within was abundance of salmon, some fresh, but the greater part cured.  When the white men visited the lodges, however, the women and children hid themselves through fear.  Among the supplies obtained here were two dogs, on which our travellers breakfasted, and found them to be very excellent, well-flavored, and hearty food.

In the course of the three following days they made about sixty-three miles, generally in a northwest direction.  They met with many of the natives in their straw-built cabins, who received them without alarm.  About their dwellings were immense quantities of the heads and skins of salmon, the best part of which had been cured, and hidden in the ground.  The women were badly clad; the children worse; their garments were buffalo robes, or the skins of foxes, hares, and badgers, and sometimes the skins of ducks, sewed together, with the plumage on.  Most of the skins must have been procured by traffic with other tribes, or in distant hunting excursions, for the naked prairies in the neighborhood afforded few animals, excepting horses, which were abundant.  There were signs of buffaloes having been there, but a long time before.

On the 15th of November they made twenty-eight miles along the river, which was entirely free from rapids.  The shores were lined with dead salmon, which tainted the whole atmosphere.  The natives whom they met spoke of Mr. Reed’s party having passed through that neighborhood.  In the course of the day Mr. Hunt saw a few horses, but the owners of them took care to hurry them out of the way.  All the provisions they were able to procure were two dogs and a salmon.  On the following day they were still worse off, having to subsist on parched corn and the remains of their dried meat.  The river this day had resumed its turbulent character, forcing its way through a narrow channel between steep rocks and down violent rapids.  They made twenty miles over a rugged road, gradually approaching a mountain in the northwest, covered with snow, which had been in sight for three days past.