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Show t82 Lewis and Clarke's E.-r:JJe£lition rate, at least not greater than that of the Ohio in high tides; the banks too fall in hut little; so that the navig <~ ~ion oomparatin•Jy with that lower do" n the lHissouri is safe and easy. 'Ve were enabled to make eighteen and a half miles: we saw the track of a large white bt•ar, there were also a herd of antelo1>cs in the plains; the geese and swan are now feeding in considerable quantities on the young gt·ass in the low prairies; we shot a prairie hen, ,and a bald 6aglc of which there were many nests in the tall cottonwood trees; but could procure neither of two elk which were in the plain. Out• old cgmpanions the musquitoes have renewed their visit, and ga,·e us much uneasiness. 1.'hursday, 1.Hh. "'\\-'e set out at daylight, and after passing bat·e and barren hills on the south, and a plain covered with timber on the north, breakfasted at five miles distance: het·e we were regaled with a deer brought in by the hunte1·s, which was very acCCJllable as we had been for sevcr·al days without f1·csh meat; tlJe country between tJ1is and fort ~1andan being so ft•e(ptently dist url>ed by hunters that the game has become scarce. "c then Jn·oeeecJed with a gentle hrecze from tho south which r::nl'icd the pcriogurs on very well; the day was howcvet• so warm that several ol' the men wol'ked with no clothes exeejlt l'Ound the waist, which is the less inconvenient as we are obliged to wade in some places owing to the shallowness of the river. At seven miles we reached a la•·ge sandhat• making out f1·om the north. \Y c again stopped for dinner, after which we went on to a small plain on the north covet·cd with cottonwood where we cnramped, having made nineteen miles. 'fJ1e country around is much the same as that we I>asscd yestel'day: on the sitlcs of the hills, and even on the fJanks or the rivers, as wcH as on the salfdbars, is a white substance which appeal'S in considcraMc quantities on the surface of the earth, antl taste!i )ike a mixture of common salt with glaube1• salts: many of the streams which come from the foot of the hills, are so sti·ongly imilreguated with this sub- . Up the o~'llissoU1·i. i8S ·tanee, that the water has an unpleasant taste and a purgative effect. A beaver was caught last night hy oae of the l?renehmen; we killed two geese, and saw some cranes, the largest bit·d of that kind common to the ~fissouri and Mississi{ lpi, and perfectly white cxce11t the large feathers on the two first joints of tho wing which at·e black. Under a bluff opposite to onr encampment we discovered some Indians with horses, whom we supposed were Minnetarees, but the width of the river pt·eventcd our speaking to them. Friday, 12th. We set off cady aud paRs;cd a high range of hills on the south si<.l(', our l)cl'iogues being obliged to go over· to the south, in or·dct• to avoid a sandhank which was rapidly falling in. At six miles we came to at the lower side of the entrance of the Little ~lissouri, 'v ltere we remained during the day for the }>urpose of making celestial observations. This river empties itself on the south side of the Missouri, one thousand six hundred and nincty-tltrce 11,1iles from its confluence with the Mississippi. It rises to the west of the Black mountains, across the northern ext remity of which it finds a nar~r·ow ra11id passage along high perpendicular banks, then seeks the Missoul'i in a northeastern direction, through a hroken country with highlands bare of timber, and tho low grounds particularly sup},lied with cottonwood, elm, small ash, box, alder, and an undergrowth of willow, redwood, sometimes called red or swampwillow,. the redberry ami chokecherry. In its course it passes near the northwest side of the 11urtle mountah1, 'vhieh is said to be only twelve or fifteen miles fr·om its mouth in a straight line a little to the south of west, so that both the Little l\lissouri ami Knife river }Jave been laid down too far so nth we~t. It enters the 1\lissouri with a bold curr·ent, and is one lmndt·ed and thirty-foul' yards wide, but its greatest depth is two feet and a half, and this joined to its l'alJidity and its sandbars, make the navigation difficult except f'ot· canoes, which may ascend it for a consi< leralJle distaoee. A.t the mouth, and as far as we could |