It adds:-- "They told us, that they lived at the Great Rapids; but that the scarcity of provisions there had induced them to come down, in the hopes of finding subsistence in the more fertile valley.

All the people living at the Rapids, as well as the nations above them, were in much distress for want of food, having consumed their winter store of dried fish, and not expecting the return of the salmon before the next full moon, which would be on the second of May: this information was not a little embarrassing.

From the Falls to the Chopunnish nation, the plains afforded neither deer, elk, nor antelope for our subsistence.

The horses were very poor at this season, and the dogs must be in the same condition, if their food, the dried fish, had failed.

Still, it was obviously inexpedient for us to wait for the return of the salmon, since in that case we might not reach the Missouri before the ice would prevent our navigating it.