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Show [ 174 ] 54 all our etl'ects had beC'n sprend out upon the gronnJ? an~ whatever was desio-ned to he carried along with us separated a11d \cud astde, and the re· mai~i n g part carried to the hole ~11d carcf'ully _covered up . . A~ much us po sible, all traces of our proccedlllgs were obllteratcd, and 1t wanted hut a rain to render our cache s:dc beyo11d discovery. All the men were uow et at work to arrange the pack saddl s and make up th~ packs. The day was very warm atlC~ calm, aud the ~ky cntt.rely clear, _except wher , as n~ual along tlte nmunts of the mountantons ndge oppostte. the clouds had congregated in mas es. Our lodge had been planted, uud, on account of tile heat, the gronnd pins had bcc11 taken out, and_ the lower part slightly raised. Ncar to it was sta11diug the barometer, whtch ~wu_ng in a tripod frame; and withiu the louge, where a small fire lmd_ ?eculnnlt, i\lr. Prt> ns~ wa occnpied ju observing the tempcr=:ttnrc of botlmg water. At tlti iu taut and without nny waming u11til it wa~ within fifty yanh, a violcut gust of wind da:shcddowu the lodge, bnryin~ u~1d er it ~Ir. Prc~1ss and about a dozen men, who had atrcmpted to keep 1t from bmng ·earned away. I sncceeJed in saving the barometer, which the lodge was carryllJCT olf with itself', but tlle tll r.rmomctcr was brok u. \V c bad no others of a high graduation, none of those which remained going lt iO'Ilcr than 135° Fahrenheit. Our astrouomical obse rvations gave to tllis place, which we named Cuche camp, a longitude of' 106° 3S' .26", latitnde 12° 50' 5:3''. Juf.IJ .29.-AII om arrangemeuts having bern completed, we left the encampment at 7 o'clock this moming. In 'this vicinity the oruiuary road leaves t!Je Platte, and eros es over to the Sweet \Vater river: wrich it trike near Rock lndepcmlcncc. Iustead of following this road, I had dett::rmincd to keep tllc immed iate valley of the Platte so far as the month of tbc 'wcct Water, in the expectation of finding better grass. To this I was further prompted by the nature of my instructions. To 1\Ir. Car on wa assignrd the oftice of guide, as we had now reached n. part of the country with which, or a great part of which, long residence had maue him familiar. In a few mil es we reached the Red Buttes, a famous land· mark in this country, whose geological composition is red sandstone, lime-tone, and calcareous sandstone aml puud ing stone. The river here cuts its way through a ridge; on the eastern side of it a rc the lofty escarpments of reJ argillaceous sandstone, which are called the Hed Buttes . . Ju this passage tl1c stream is not rnnch cou1p resscd or pent ttp, there bemg a bank of considNable tllnnO'IJ variable hrr.-adth on rit lwr , ide. Immediately on enteri ng, we di ·cov~red a baud of butralo. The hunte1:s failed. to kill a~1y of th em; the lead iug hunter being tllrown Into a ravlll r., whtch occastoned some delay, and in the mcn.n time the herd clamher~d up the sterp race of' the r idge. It is sometimes wo11derfnl to sec these apparently clnmsy allinmls mnlcc their way up n11d Jowu the mo t rnggt'd and broken precipice~. We halted to noon before we had cleared tltis passage, at a spot twelve miles distr.wt from Cache camp, where we found an ahundattcc of grass. Sn {~tr, 1hc account of the Inclialls was foun ~ to be false. On the bank-; were willow and cherry tree:,. The cl~er ncs \~ere not yet ripe, but in 1lte thick >ts were lllllllerons frc h track-; of the gn~zly ?~ar, w~Jic!J arc vrry fond of this fmit. The , oil here is rc~l , the cornposll ton bemg derived frotH the reel sundstouc. Ahnu l ,even Hllles broug!Jt llS tl!rongh the ric..Jgc>, ill W 11iclt the CUlll'Se of tl!C ri\·er is llOl'1h an~ ~o~lth. Here the valley opctl" ont llroad ly, and high w:J lis of the red ful!llatwu present themselves amoug the l1illt:i to the ca ·t. \Ve eros ed |