We stopped to breakfast at
this village. We here found the tomahawk which had been stolen from us
on the fourth of last November. They assured us they had bought it of
the Indians below; but as the latter had already informed us that the
Wahclellahs had such an article, which they had stolen, we made no
difficulty about retaking our property."
The Columbia along the region through which the expedition was now
passing is a very wild and picturesque stream. The banks are high and
rocky, and some of the precipices to which the journal refers are of
a vast perpendicular height. On the Oregon side of the river are five
cascades such as those which the journal mentions. The most famous and
beautiful of these is known as Multnomah Falls. This cataract has a
total fall of more than six hundred feet, divided into two sections. The
other cascades are the Bridal Veil, the Horsetail, the Latourelle, and
the Oneonta, and all are within a few miles of each other.
On the ninth of April the voyagers reached the point at which they were
to leave tidewater, fifty-six miles above the mouth of the Multnomah, or
Willamette. They were now at the entrance of the great rapids which are
known as the Cascades of the Columbia, and which occupy a space on the
river about equal to four miles and a half. They were still navigating
the stream with their canoes, camping sometimes on the north side and
sometimes on the south side of the river. This time they camped on the
north side, and during the night lost one of their boats, which got
loose and drifted down to the next village of the Wahclellahs, some of
whom brought it back to the white men's camp and were rewarded for their
honesty by a present of two knives.
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