Creator

John Muir

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of the river. We urged him with more tobacco & at length he reluctantly consented. We passed salmon berries ripe & in profuse abundance. Also Huck’berries tumbled over mossy logs over brawling streams through cedar logs where [bryunttus] & Cass were blooming on & on. The old man [ ] signs of weakness & going so slow that we could easily keep up with him & have time to stop & pick berries. & When we came to a heavy gray torrent when a mountain stream partially recovered after making a grand fall he pointed down to the swollen torrent & making frantic gestures [deprecated]. [We] demanding him to go farther taking hand in his in the most imploring manner. I saw the danger as well as he did & reassured him by signs that I would climb the mtn [mountain] [along] the [cataract] to gain of the gl [glacier] while he & [ ] waited. I had a fine view of the [glad] waters white & pure as those of Yo [Yosemite]. The fall is about 1200 ft h in two principle leaps with rapids between. Had a partial view of glacier about 1000 ft ab sea at [summit]. It sends down a powerful stream v [very] muddy wh [which] in a rugged gorge, inaccessible, pours in a series or rapids & cascades down into the main valley [where] [it] [is] [ ] about equal size. To make [the] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] pt of [ ] is about 5000 ft h. A Yo [Yosemite] Tissiack [indeed] the whole valley here is a Yo [Yosemite] on a grand scale. (Back to camp against a headwind in cold driving rain, were grandly welcomed by the chief in his duds, who told us that he knew we were miserable & he would not increase that misery by tantalizing us with his dry comfort. He therefore had laid away his fine clothes & came in damp duds.) After supper, he [returned] came to hold another Skookum wawa (Notes in Volume 1). Our poor old guide, after carrying [Mr. Y] over a [foot] on his back began to cough & spit blood from his lungs. When the blood appeared, he pointed to it & said, “Ah, [Ancaw], [arrcow]” Chief Chief look at that while he [laid] his hand on his breast. I was sorry then that I had not understood the cause of his unwillingness to go with us in the morning & almost felt guilty of murder. When we got back to our interpreter, I learned that many Inds [Indians] suffer the same way & no wonder considered the exposure in their wet, rainy lives.

Date Original

1880

Source

Original journal dimensions: 10.5 x 17.5 cm.

Resource Identifier

MuirReel26Journal04P09-10.tif

Publisher

Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library

Rights Management

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Keywords

John Muir, journals, drawings, writings, travel, journaling, naturalist

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