cigar to drive them from his eyes and nostrils. The fire fly is a harmless insect. When they are seen in great numbers, darting their phosphoric light through the darkness, it is a sure sign that rain is at hand. The light which they emit is very brilliant, and appears as if it proceeded from wandering meteors. It is a favorite amusement with the Indians to catch these insects, and after rubbing the phosphoric matter over their faces, to walk around the camp, for the purpose of frightening children and exciting mirth.
FISHES. As our hunters were scarcely ever disappointed in finding game, we have seldom had recourse to fishing, except on fast days; hence our acquaintance with the finny race is rather limited. On some occasions, when provisions were becoming scarce, the line had to supply the place of the gun. The fish which we generally caught were the mullet, two kinds of trout, and a species of carps. Once, while we lay encamped on the banks of Snake river, I caught more than loo of these carps in the space of an hour. The anchovy, the sturgeon and the salmon abound in the rivers of the Oregon Territory. There are six species of salmon., They come up the rivers toward the end of April and after spawning, never return; but the young ones go down to the sea in September, and it is supposed that they re-enter the rivers the fourth year after they have left them.
QUADRUPEDS. The beaver seems to have chosen this country for his own. Every one knows how they work and what use they make of their teeth and tail. What we were told by the trappers is probably unknown to many. When they are about constructing a dam they examine all the trees on the bank and choose the one that is most bent over the water on the side where they want to erect their fort. If they find no tree of this kind they repair to another place, or patiently wait till a violent wind gives the requisite inclination to some of the trees.
Some of the Indian tribes believe that the beavers are a degraded race of human beings, whose vices and crimes have induced the Great Spirit to punish them by changing 88