caught about a dozen in a short time, in one of these places, we salted down all we could, and they lasted us until about 3 week since. They never bite a hook, though they have the bigest kind of a mouth, and I never have been able to learn what they live upon, for there is nothing to be found in them. They have more meet according to their size than any other fish that I ever saw. There is other kinds of fish but I have learned but little about them. The rivers have a large number of Seals in them, Swans,[1] Geese, & Ducks are plenty especially of the latter there being more kinds here than in the states. There is no Wild Turkies here, only such as have run wild since they have begun to settle the country. Prairia Chickens live the east side of the Cascades, on to the Rockey Mountains, east of the last, and along the Sweet Water you will find the Sage Hen, which I think is a little larger than your tame Hens. We have the phesant, or patridge and many other kind of birds, some of the same species, yet with a diferent plumage. Flies abound here as well as in the states, especially if there is any puetrid substance about. I have seen but two or three Muskeetoes since we crossed the Rocky Mountains. The day that we got to Portland we heard it thunder at a distance north of us, but have heard nothing of the kind since, though it has been warm enough and a plenty of rainy weather. We have had one of the hardest winters, so every old settlers say, that they ever knew, and I am inclined to believe them. Since my last letter was written, we have had the finest, the nicest, and the plesentest weather that I ever knew for the time of year, yet the people say that it is colder than it usually is. If this wether should continue you may depend upon it that we shall all fall in love with the country. In fact, I dont think any of them regret coming. All I want is to get through this winter and be able to fit out for a trip to the Cascades or Dalls, and I am not concerned but what I shall be worth as much next January, 1854, as I was in January 1852.
There was I suppose thousands of cattle left at the Dalles to
- ↑ Probably the whistling swan (Olor columbianus) which winters from British Columbia southward; Bailey, Handbook of Birds of the Western United States; W. A. Eliot, Birds of the Pacific Coast, 177.
