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Show .Lewis and Vtarke's .l!.:X]Jedition those of tl1e Miss1>uri ar·e extremely fine. Like the dry rivers we passed bef01·e, tbis seemed to have discharged its waters recently, but the watermark indicated that its greatest depth had not been more than two feet: this stream, if it deserve the name, we called Bigdry rivet·. About a mile below is a large creek on the same side, w bich is also perfectly dry: the mineral salts and quartz are in large quantities near this neighbourhood. The sand of the Missouri from its mouth to this place has been mixed with a substance which we had pt·csumed to be a granulated talk, but \\ bich is most probably this quartz. 'l'he game is now in great quantities, particularly the elk and buffaloe, which last is so gentle that the men are obliged to drive them out of the way with sticks ancl stones. The ravages ofthe beaver are very apparent: in one }'lace the timbet· was entit·ely prostrated for a space of HH·ec acr·cs in front on the river and one in depth, and great part of it t•emoved, although the trees were in large quantities, and some of them as thick as the body of a mau. At the distance of twenty-four miles we encam11ed, af'ter making twenty-five and a half miles, at the entrance of a small creek in a bend on the north to h . , w 1ch we ga,·c the name of Werner's creek after one of our naco. For several days past the river has been as wide as it generally is ncar its mouth, but as it is much shallower, crowded with sandbars, and the colout• of the watet• has be-come much cl.e arer, we d o no t yet de spau. · of rcachm. g the RocFk mountains, for which we are very a nxw. us. riday, 10th. We had not proceeded more than four and a quarter miles when the violence of the wind forced us to halt for the day under some timber in a bend on the south side. 'rhe w1'n d con t•m ued ln. gh, the clouds tbick and .b lack' and we had a s1 •· g h t spr.m kh. ng of rain several times m the course of the d ay. 8 hot·tJy after our landing a dog came to ~s, and as this induced us to believe that we al'e neat• the hulltlDg grounds of the Assiniboins, who arc a yicious Up the Missouri. 21S Ill-disposed people, it was necessary to be on our guard: we therefore inspected our arms which we found in good order, and sent several hunters to scour the country, but they returned in the evening having seen no tents, nor any recent tracks of Indians. Biles and imposthumes are very common among the party, and sore eyes continue in a greater or less dagree with all of us; for the imposthumes we use emollient poultices, and apply to the eyes a solution of two grains of w bite vitriol and one of sugar of lead with one ounce of water. Saturday, 11th. The wind blew very hard in tl1e night, but having abated this morning we went on very well, till in the afternoon the wind arose and retarded our progress; the current too was strong, the river very crooked, and the banks as usual constantly precipitating themselves in large masses into the water. The highlands are broken and approach nearer the river than they do below. The soil however of both hi1ls and low grounds appear as fertile as that further down the river: it consists of a black looking loam with a small portion of sand, which cover the hills and bluffs to the depth of twenty or thirty feet, and when thrown in the water dissolves as readily as loaf-sugar, and effervesces like marlc: there are also great appearances of quartz and mineral salts: the fit·st is most commonly seen in the faces of the bluffs, the second is found on the hills as well as the low grounds, and in the gullies which come down from the hills'· it lies in a crust of two or three inches i.n depth, and may be swept up with a feather in large quanti-ties. 'l'here is no longer any appearance of coal burnt earth or pumieestonc. " '" e saw and visited some high bills on the north side about three miles ft·om the river, whose tops were covered with the pitch-pine: this is the first pine we have !eon on the Missouri, and it is like that of Virginia, except that the leaves are somewhat longer: among this pino is also a dwarf cedar, sometimes between three or four feet high, but generally spreading itself like a vine along the surfac~ |