After encamping at this place all night, Captain Bonneville, at sunrise, descended with his party through a narrow ravine, or rather crevice, in the vast wall of basaltic rock which bordered the river; this being the only mode, for many miles, of getting to the margin of the stream.

The snow lay in a thin crust along the banks of the river, so that their travelling was much more easy than it had been hitherto.  There were foot tracks, also, made by the natives, which greatly facilitated their progress.  Occasionally, they met the inhabitants of this wild region; a timid race, and but scantily provided with the necessaries of life.  Their dress consisted of a mantle about four feet square, formed of strips of rabbit skins sewed together; this they hung over their shoulders, in the ordinary Indian mode of wearing the blanket.  Their weapons were bows and arrows; the latter tipped with obsidian, which abounds in the neighborhood.  Their huts were shaped like haystacks, and constructed of branches of willow covered with long grass, so as to be warm and comfortable.  Occasionally, they were surrounded by small inclosures of wormwood, about three feet high, which gave them a cottage-like appearance.  Three or four of these tenements were occasionally grouped together in some wild and striking situation, and had a picturesque effect.  Sometimes they were in sufficient number to form a small hamlet.  From these people, Captain Bonneville’s party frequently purchased salmon, dried in an admirable manner, as were likewise the roes.  This seemed to be their prime article of food; but they were extremely anxious to get buffalo meat in exchange.

The high walls and rocks, within which the travellers had been so long inclosed, now occasionally presented openings, through which they were enabled to ascend to the plain, and to cut off considerable bends of the river.

Throughout the whole extent of this vast and singular chasm, the scenery of the river is said to be of the most wild and romantic character.  The rocks present every variety of masses and grouping.  Numerous small streams come rushing and boiling through narrow clefts and ravines:  one of a considerable size issued from the face of a precipice, within twenty-five feet of its summit; and after running in nearly a horizontal line for about one hundred feet, fell, by numerous small cascades, to the rocky bank of the river.

In its career through this vast and singular defile, Snake River is upward of three hundred yards wide, and as clear as spring water.  Sometimes it steals along with a tranquil and noiseless course; at other times, for miles and miles, it dashes on in a thousand rapids, wild and beautiful to the eye, and lulling the ear with the soft tumult of plashing waters.