JOURNAL AND LKTTKKS OK DAVID DOUGLAS. 267

ml tin- skin not l>cinr much injured. I moan to have it neatly

preserved. Several kinds of Mice and Kals are found on the banks of tin- rivers, but I have been unable to catch any more of a singular species with pouches, of which large numbers had visitt-d us last autumn. The Ground Rat. or Arctomys .1 a Iniiii/s /m/r/M/io-M.s?). of whose skins the Chenook and other tribes of Indians make their robes, I hear are plentiful in the upper parts of the Cowalidsk River, but my enfeebled st;itc when I was there last November prevented my hunting t' 1 1- any. and my subsequent attempts have been unsuccessful. On the Multnomak River, about thirty-six miles above its junction with the Columbia, there are fine falls, about forty three feet in perpendicular height, across the whole river in an oblique direction; when the water is low they are divided into three principal channels, but when it is high the whole stream rushes over in one unbroken sheet. This place was at one time considered the finest hunting ground for Beaver (Castor Fiber, var. Americanus] , west of the Rocky Moun- tains, and much have I been gratified in viewing the lodges and dams constructed by that wise and industrious little animal. The same place is frequented by large numbers of a species of D< < r 'probably the Cervits Wiipiti described as heiiiLT seen by Captain Franklin's party): but though seven- teen of these creatures, male ;ind female, were killed during a stay that I made there in autumn. 1825, only a small young male, about four months could be ceded to me for preserva- tion, owinir to the great scarcity of provision. The quantity of salmon (S.tlmt, SroiUerif Richardson) taken in the Columbia is almost incredible, and the Indians rt in L'reat numbers to the best fishing spots, often travel- ing several hundred miles for this purpose. The salmon are captured in the following manner: Before the water rises, small channels are made annniir the nx'k.s and stones, dividing the stream into branches, over which is erected a platform or sta'_'c on which a person can stand. These are made to be raised, or let down, as the water falls m scoop net, which is