Columbia near The Dalles, trading for horses — Patrick Gass: April 16, 1806

not expect to be able to navigate the Columbia river much
* “We had however the curiosity to visit the houses (of a deserted village) which
were erected upon posts ; and we suffered very severely from the indulgence of it ; for
the floors were covered with fleas, and we were immediately in the same condition, for
which we had no remedy but to take to the water. There was not a spot round the
houses, free from grass, that was not alive, as it were, with this vermin.”’
M‘Kenzie.
216 GASS’S JOURNAL OF THE
farther, Captain Clarke, with some of the men and some
goods went over the river to endeavour to procure some
horses. I was out hunting this morning and killed a rattle-
snake among the rocks. Some hunters that went out in the
morning returned in the evening and had killed two deer,
some ducks and four squirrels, three of a beautiful speckled
kind, and as large as a common grey squirrel, but the tail not
so bushy.