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is free from any rising grounds, or timber, and on each side nothing is to be seen but immense plains stretching a great distance to the north and south: the soil is dry and sandy, and covered with a loose parched grass, growing in tufts. The natives reside solely on the northern side: they have plenty of horses, and are generally friendly. Here also rattlesnakes are first seen, and are found for four or five hundred miles farther on. Between this place and Lewis River the Columbia is interrupted by several rapids; some of which are trifling, others dangerous; but there are long intervals of smooth current which occasionally allowed us to hoist small sails, and thereby diminished the laborious duty of the canoe-men in paddling.
