comes cured in the latter part of Summer; and affords sufficient food for animals throughout the year. It grows in detached bunches; the blades are eight or nine inches long; and it is generally considered almost as nutritious as grain. With the exception of a few Cotton Wood trees on some of the streams, there is no timber in the valley; but there is an abundance on the neighboring Mountains. Lead has been found on the Umatila; but not, as yet, in any considerable quantities. This is the country of the Walawala Indians. They own a great many horses; some of them have as many as two thousand—and they are the finest Indian horses we have ever seen.
Thirty miles from the Umatila, we came to Whitman's Mission, situated on the Walawala River, twenty-five miles from its junction with the Columbia. The buildings are of unburnt brick, and are neatly and comfortably finished. The Missionaries have a Mill, and cultivate a small piece of ground.
We were told by Mr. Spaulding, the Superintendent of the Mission on Clear Water, distant about one hundred and fifty miles from Dr. Whitman's, and on the North side of Snake River, that in the neighborhood of his mission, as far as he was acquainted with the country, it contained many rich valleys, of considerable extent; and, from what we have been able to learn, from all the different sources of information with which we have been favored, it is our opinion that that portion of country lying between Snake River and the main branch of the Columbia, will in the course of time, be inhabited by a civilized people, as it doubtless contains some good valleys of land. The country of the Spokines, laying on the Spokine River, is said to be good. That occupied by the Cour De Lion and Calespell Indians, contains many Lakes and Marshes. About Fort Colville, on the upper Columbia, the Hudson's Bay Company cultivate the soil, with good success. Snake
