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Show [ 174 J 76 In addition to thcsr. we ... ::l.Ved the cirrJ ; and these, with a few blankt·rs, constituted every thincr that had been rcscu ·~l from the waters. The day was rnnniucr rapidly a way, aud Jt was t.H·cessary to .reach Goat island wliithcr tltc party had pre~ec.lccl us, b e fot~e 111gllt. In lht · unccnall! t coull r' y, tlte t1·•·t vellcr i"· so much 111 the p. ower ot chan· ce,1 t hat we becam·e somewhat uueasy in rcga.rJ to them. Should any tl~u~g. 1:1ve occurred. 111 the brief int erval of our separat ion, to prevent our n'JOirllng them, ? t~r sllu. uti on would be rather a dc:-;peratc one. 'V e llatl not a lllor~cl of provl&lOnsonr arms and ammntlition were gone-and we. we1:e entirely at the m~rcy of nuy stracrgling party of ::;J.vngcs, a11d .not a ltttlo 111 dange r of stu.r~at1on. We t1 1erefore set out at o11ce i11 two partws. ~Jr. Pretts~ au~l myself on the left, a.11d the men on the opposite side of tile rr v 'I'. Cl1mbtng out of the ealiou, we found onrselvo in a very broken country, where we were not yet able to recognise ~uy locality. In the course. of onr dcscc~1t throu.gh the calion, tho rock whiclt nt the upper e.nd wa,s,of th? tll•compo 1_ug gr:t.llllt\ cllanaed into a varied saml ·tone fonnatwn. llle I nils aud pomts . ol the ridgt w rc covc rell with fragnw1.1ts of a yellow s~utlstone., o( . wlllch the strata were sometimes c.lisplayed 111 the broke~1 r.avmcs winch u.ltcrrupted our cotll' c, aud made our walk extremely. fat1gulllg. _At one polllt of the calion the red argillnreous sandstone rose lll a wall. ol ftvc hu.udre<.l_fcct, surrnountcc.l by a stratum or w~1it' sam~s l n n c; nnd lll ~u opposite ruvmc a column of red sandstone rose, w form hke a stt'eple, about 011c hundred and fifty feet high. Tltr scenery wa · oxtrPnlely pictm:esque, and,notwiths~an~. ing our forlorn condition, we \~ ere freq nent ly obltgetl to stop and adume tt. Our progrcs wa not very raptd. We hac.l ? n.lCrgc<.~ from tbe :vu~cr half nakec.l, and, on arriving .1t tlw top of th prectpL ·e,. I lou1~d myself w1th only one mocca in. The fmgmeuts oC rock matle walkmg p:unfnl, nnd [ wasfre· quently obliged to st.op all~ pull ?llt th~ thort,JS oft he coct us, here the pre· vailing plant, ::tnd wtth whlClt a Iow llllllllU'::;. walk cov.e red th_o. bottom of my feet. From thi ridge the river e mcrf!.C~ lllto a s nul111 ~ pra1~·~e , ::tud, de·. secnc.lina to the b::tnk for w:-ttcr, we were JOtned by Benot. t. l he rc t ol tbo parfy were out of, icrht, having taken a more inltuHlr~u te. ~re cr.ossed the river repeatec.lly-sometimes able to ford it, and sonwt11nes ' \~llll llllllgclimbed over tl1e ridcrcs or two more caltons, and toward eve1J111g reached 0 . .. tile cut which we here num~tl the lJot Spring gate. 011 onr prev10us vtstt in July: we had not entered this pas, rcscrvi11g it for our dcsceut in the boat; and wheu we eutcrcd it thi ovcniug, J)l r. Preuss was a few llllllUred feet iu ac.l vance. IIeatetl with the long march, he c::tme . uddt'nly upon a fiue bold , pring gusltilw from the rock, about ten feet above the river. Eager to enjoy the erystal water, he throw l1imself dow11 Co~· a hasty draught, and took a mouthful of water ulmo t boiling hot. lle ~au..! uotluncr to Be· 110ist, who laid himself down to drink ; bnt the steam fro1u the water arrest· cd his eaaemess and he escaped the !lot draught. \V(,} had 110 th0rmomcter to ascertaoi n the t' emperatnr ',but I coulclllold "t"n y hnnd in the water J.l lSl Io ~1g enough 'to couut two second . There arc eight or ten of tli se priugs, d1s· charging themselves by streams ltnge enough to be cullrq l'llll . A lond hol· low noise wu:s heard from the rock, whicl1 f snpposPcJ to l1c prodnced.bythc fall of the water. Tl10 ~tm. tu immediately where they issue i~ a fincwlllte and calcareous sntHhtonc, covered with an incrustatiou of common . air. L~av· ing this Thcrmopylm of the west, in a !ton walk we reached the r~~J nd~e which has been c.lescribcd as lying jnst abov' Goat I land. AsccnUI'Jg th1s. we found some fresh tracks aud a button, wl1iclt shu wed that the other men 77 [ 174 J J1n<1 already arrived. A shout from the man who first rerlchNl the top of the ridrre responded to from below, informed ns that onr friends Wl'l'C all 011 the i::Jantl; aud we Wl' re ,oon among them. vVe t(nmtl sonJC piccl'S of bufl'alo 'IUlldillg arotlnd the fire for us, and lll<.lllilged tn g<'l ~nnw dry dothes ( IJlOllg the people. A ~mddt.u storm or rain drove liS illtO tiJC' lwst :h It er we could find, whcr' we _,J('pt so1mdly <lflcr otH' of tlte lliO!- t fittiguillg day. l have ev r exp ' rio.lle ·d. . . .flurrust !25 -Early tim; lllOI'Ill llg LaJ e nncs~ waR SC' Ilt to til' wrccl for the article which hat! br•en saved and about JtOOil we le n. the islatHL The mnrc which w' hnd lnf't here iu .July l!aclumclt imprn\ <'din condition. and .;;he served u · w ·II :1gain t'nr !-O llle tim e, but w~t s fi11ally ah<llldoned at a snb equcnt part of the joum''Y· _\ t 10 in the n:oruiug of' tile 2Gth we reached Cache camp, wl!ero we found ~v< ry thing untlisturl>ecl. \Ve disintcrrec. l om d posi tc, arranged our cart~ which lwd h' '11 len here on the way out, uud travelling a few Jlliles in the afternoou, cuc:trltpcd for the nicrht at the ford of tho Pl:r tiL' . • Jl11gust 27.-.\.t midLlay wn halted at tllc pbc•' whe re we had taken din JJcr on the 27th of .July. The conntry which, wlwn w passcc.lup, looked as if tho IJnrd winter fn-tsts !Jad pa~=-<Nl OVCL' it, !Jad llOW a. Stllnt'U a JlCW face, so much of vorual fre::d tness ilnd bern given to it by !he late rai ns. The Platte was eXG('C'dJilgly low- a ll1 ~rc liuc or water anwug tlte Sttlldbnrs. We reaclwu L:namit' fort on the last tby of Augu~t, nftl'r an ab-cnce of forty-two days, aud !lad the pleasure t\> fiud onr friends ali well. The fonieth day had IH'ell fixed for our rctnm. aucl tho quick eyes or the Indians, who were on tho lookout for u~, d1scoverl!d ou r fbg as we wound among the hill'. Tlte fort saluted us with rc•peart>d dis·lwrgc- of its~iuglc pwcc, which we retmued w itlt scatteretl volleys of our sma 11 arms, and felt the joy of a home n •ccption in getting bac!· to this relllote ~tatioll, whi ·h seemed o fnr (.lfl' as we W<'llt 011t. On the momi11g of the ~3d of Sq>tembcr we bade adi<'tl to our l\ind fric·nds at the fort, allll coutinnetl our !JOmeward jounH'Y dowu tire Platt\', which wa glorious with the autul1lll ~1l ~pler1dur of illlllltnl' rul>lc lluwcrs iu ful l and Lrilliaut bloom. On tho warm sanc.ls, amoug th · ft,•liunlhi, ono of tho characteristic pbnts, we saw gr •at tllltubon: of ratt lcslla kcs, of which live or six were killed in the llH>l'lling's ride. We occnpicd onrsclv ::; in improving our previous snrvcy cf tile river; auc.l as the weather was fille, nstronomical ob crvatiow.; were generally madu at 11ight aud at tJ OOIJ. 'Ve halted for a short ti lllc Oil the aflcl'llOOll of' tho 5Lll With a villa()'e of · Jonx ludian ... , some of whose chiefs we had m 't at Lar:unir'. The wat t:r rn the Platte was extrenwly low ; in n1auy places, the large cxpausc of sands, with some occasioual stnmcd tr es on tl1c ba11ks, gave it the <1ir of the seacoa t; tho bed of the ri ver being merely a snccession of sanc.lbars, among wlJich the channel was divided into rivulets a lew juehes deep. We cro ·sed u11d recrossed witll our carts repeatedly n11d at our ph!asure ; and, whoucver au obstruction barred our way, in the sltnpo of precipitou' hlufls that came down upon the river, we turned directly i11to it, and made our way along the sandy bed, witll no otl1er iJtCOJtvouionce than the frequent qnicksancls, which greatly fatigued onr aninJ als. Di 'iutcrrm~ on the way the cache which had been made by our party wh 'II th~~y asccuded the r1ver, we reached without accitlent, on the evening of the 12th of September, our old encamprneur. of Lhe 2d of July, aL th0 jn11ctiou of the fork~. Our ('ache of the barrel of pork was found undisturbed, and provetl a sen. .. |