The declivity of the hill enabled him to roll the carcass down
to his companions, who were too feeble to climb the rocks. They fell to
work to cut it up; yet exerted a remarkable self-denial for men in their
starving condition, for they contented themselves for the present with
a soup made from the bones, reserving the flesh for future repasts. This
providential relief gave them strength to pursue their journey, but they
were frequently reduced to almost equal straits, and it was only the
smallness of their party, requiring a small supply of provisions, that
enabled them to get through this desolate region with their lives.
At length, after twenty-one days of to 11 and suffering, they got
through these mountains, and arrived at a tributary stream of that
branch of the Columbia called Lewis River, of which Snake River forms
the southern fork. In this neighborhood they met with wild horses, the
first they had seen west of the Rocky Mountains. From hence they made
their way to Lewis River, where they fell in with a friendly tribe of
Indians, who freely administered to their necessities. On this river
they procured two canoes, in which they dropped down the stream to its
confluence with the Columbia, and then down that river to Astoria, where
they arrived haggard and emaciated, and perfectly in rags.
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