They have a great fondness
for salt, and pay regular visits to the numerous caverns of these
mountains, which are encrusted with a saline substance.
Walter Cameron now changed his intention of proceeding to the
eastward, as he found the country not so full of beaver at that
particular spot as he had anticipated. He therefore turned towards
the west, penetrated into the interior of the mountains, and took a
considerable sweep through the lovely valleys on their western slopes.
The expedition which this enterprising fur-trader was conducting was
one of the first that ever penetrated these wild regions in search of
furs. The ground over which they travelled was quite new to them, and
having no guide they just moved about at haphazard, encamping on the
margin of every stream or river on which signs of the presence of
beaver were discovered, and setting their traps.
Beaver skins at this time were worth 25s. a-piece in the markets of
civilized lands, and in the Snake country, through which our friends
were travelling, thousands of them were to be had from the Indians for
trinkets and baubles that were scarce worth a farthing.
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