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Show [ 243] 18 the mass giving way in every direction in their heedless course. Many of the bulls, less active and I ss fleet than the cows, payino- no attention to the ground, and occupied solely with the hunter, were prc~ipitated to the earth with great force, rolling over and over with the violence of the shock and hard/ out htys dg aismt i ue.g uisha ble in the dust. We separated on en 1e ri ng, each si ngliug My horse was a trainer! hunter, famous in the west under the name of Proveau, and with his eyes flashing, aud the foarh tlyiug from his moutlr spraug on aflcr the cow like a tigcc In a few moments he brought rn~ alongsrde of her, and rrsrng r~l the stuwp , I fired at the distance of a yard, the ball entenng at the termrnatron of the loug hair, and passing ncar the lreart. She fell headlong at the report of the gun, and checking my horse, I looked arouud for my conrpanioos. Ar a lillie di lance Kit was on the ground, enrraged in tying his horse to the horns of a cow which he was prepaung to cut up. Among tlte cattercd bands at some distance uclow I caught a glimp e of Maxwell; and while I was looking, a light wreath of whrte smoke curled away from his gun, of which l was too far to hea the rc.port. N :ncr, and between me and the hills, towards which they were1 drrectrng thcrr course, was the body of the herd, and giving my hor e the rem, we da hcd after rhcrn. A thick cloud of dust hunrr upon their ro·tr which tilled tuy mouth and eyes, and nearly smothered ~lc. In the midst of this I could sec nothing, aud the bullitlo were not distino-uishablc until within thirty feot. They crowded together more densely still ~s I came upon them, and rushed t.long m nclr a compact boUy !hat l could not obtain an entrance- the lwr e almost I aping upon them. In a few moments the n.ass divided to the right and left, the horns claucring with a noi ·e heard above every throg else, and my horse darted iuto the opening. l<'i ve or six bulls char1;ed on us as we dashed along the line, but. were left far behind, and sroghng out a cow, I gave her my fire, but struck too high. She gave a tremendous leap, and scoured on swifter than before. I reined up my horse, and the band swept on I rke a torrent, and left the place quiet and clear. Our chase had led us mto dangerous ground. A prairie-dog village so thiCkly settled that there II'Cre three or four holes in every twenty yards square, occupred the whole bouom for nearly two miles in length. Looking around, I sa;v only Ofle of the hunters, nearly out of •ight, and the long dark !me of our caravan crawlrng along three or four miles distant. After a march of twenty-four miles, we encamped at nightfall, one mile and a half above the lower end of Brady's island. 'l'he breadth of this ann of the river wa.s crgh l h u ndrcd and eighty y urds, and tlr e water nowhere two feet in depth. The rsland bears the name of a nran killed on this spot some years ago. His party had en~amped here, thr c rn company, and one of the number went off to hunt, leavrng Brady and his companion together. TheRe two had frequently quarrelled, and on the hunter's return he found Brady dead and was told that he had shut himself accidentally. He was buried here o:t the bank, but, as usual, the wol vcs had torn him out aud some human bones that were lyingon the ground we supposed were 'his. 'l'roops of wolves that were hangmg onthe skrrts of the butralo, kept up an wninterruptcd howlmg dnJJng the nrght, vcnturrng almost mto camp. In the morning, dtheepya rwtuerree tos rfmulnl gu paot na tshheo rbto ndersst.a ncc, harkmg, and impatiently waitiug our . July 2.--'l'hc tuorniug was cool and smoky. Our road lrrl clo<rr to the 1Hils, w luch here rucreased iu elcvut iou, presen tiug nn u u t1 i u e of conical 19 [ 243] peaks three hundred to five hundred feet high. Some ti~nbcr, apparently pine <rrew in the ravines, and streaks of clay or sand \~l11ten the1~ s~opes. We ~~osscd during the morning a number of hollows, umbered pnncrpally with box elder ( acer negundo ), P?pJur, and elm. Bruuy s Jsla.nd 1s well wooded, and all the river along whtch our road led to-day may, tn general, be called tolerably well timbered. We passed ncar an encampment of the Ore<Ton emirrranls where they appear to have reposed several days. A v.ariet; of hou~ehohl ar1icles were scattered about, and they had prouably ellsburdened themselves here of many things not ~bsolutel~ nece ·sury.. I had left the usual road before the mid-day halt, nnd 111 the afrcrnoon, havmg sent several men in advance to reconnoitre, marched directl.y for the mouth of the South fork. Ou our arrival, the horsernen w re s •nt m and sc~ttered .a.uoul the river to search the best fording places, and the carts followed tmmeuwtely. 'l'he stream is here divided by an island into two chnnuels. '1~he southern js four hundred and fifty feet wide, having eighreen or t\venty mchcs water in the dcqJc:3t place~. With .the e~cept ion o~ a fc\~ dry ~ar~, .th~ ucd of the river is generally qurcksnnds, m wluch the carts bc~t\11 to Slltk raptdly so so~n as the 111ules halted, so that it was necessary to keep them constantly 111 1notion. .1 1 · f 'rhc northern channel, 2,250 feet wide, \\-·as somewhat u?eper, wvmg requently three feet water in the numerou3 small. chann?l ', wrth a ued of c.onrse gravel. The whole breadth of the Nebrnska, rmmedmtely uclow the Jlln~· tion, is 5,350 feet. All our equipage l~ad reached tlte left l>a11k safely .at SIX o'clock havincr to.day made twen ty mil es. VVc encn tnped at the pomt of land it~mcdiarcly at the junction of the. North and South forks. Between the slreams is a low rich prairie, extendrng from tl~ e1r c~nflueuc~ 1 rntles westwardly to the bordering hiUs, wiJerc it is 5J mtl~;:; WH~c. It 1s covered with a luxuriant growth of grass, and along the .banks 1.s a sl,gl1t and ca.ttcred fringe of colton wood and willow. . In tire but1alo trads and wallows, I r~nmrked saline efiloresccnces, to whtch a rapru evaporation tn the grca~ heat of the sun probably coci tri bwcs, as the soil is ent i rei y u u protect cd iJ y tH~t Ocr. In the viciuity of these places there was a blt11~b gra~s, whrch the cattl.e refuse to cat, called by the voy~~eurs "lterb.~ salce, '' (salt grass.) 'I' be lulltude of the junction is 41° 4' 47", and longrtude by chr?uometer t~nd lunar distances, 10·1 ° 21' 21''. 'rllC elevation above the sea 1s about 2,100 feet. 'rhe hunters came in with a fat cow, and, as we had labored hard, we enjoyed well u supper of roasted ribs and boudins, the clu!f d'a'ltvr~ of a prairie cook. Mosquitoes thronged about us th1s even m~~ ; but by lU o clock, when the thermometP.r had fallen to 17°, they had all dlf't.\ppcared. July 3.-As tllis was to be a point in our h_om~w~rd JOurucy, I made a cache (a term used in aJI this country for whnt ts hrd m th~ ground ~ of n barrel of pork. It was impossible to conceal such a proccedmg from the sharp eyes of our Cheyenne companions, and I th erefore ro~d them to go a.nd see what it was they were burying. They ~ould othcrwts~ have not fulled to return and destroy our cache, in expectatton of some n~h ~ooty; but potJ\: they dislike and never eat. We left our c~mp at 9, cont.mumg up the South fork, the prairie bottom affording us. n fatr road ? but Ill the long ~rnss we roused myriads of rnosquitoes nnd fir es, fro1n wh1ch our horse' s11Clercd ~everely. 'I'he day was smoky, with a plea ·ant. bre 'Ze from til<' s~) lllll , and the plains on t.he opposite side wt re co:·ercd WJth. buffalo. JLL\111~ travelled twenty-five miles we encanrped at G m the evcnJnt.;, alld the lll l'll were sent acros.s the river for wood, us there is none here on the left bank. Our fires |