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Show [ 243 J 22 pack our bales in search of coffee d the exception of a I itt10 parched ~~fre~ugar, and flour for bread. With 'Or.u r cook had neo·lectctl to pllt l.t '· ungrounu, we fouud notllJ·ng ' l b (. ll p 0 r 1 t had b . ucu and hnng-ry with tono-h b ll ' . ccn somehow foro-ottcn '·"1 ! ). le to 1 ·11 ' ' b u meat Without 1 r· ......, · \I a cow, and a little bitte tr :sa t, or we had not been !niseraule fare,_ a vely disconsolate ~1.~~o .ee, .we sat down in silence to our ln on r me monos, and this W'lS o p l' for yestcrc_lay's feast was yet fresh mf an1 took h.· is blanket' (n tl<.l J·'I. 'l 1 . ur lfrst brush Wlth misfortune 1•'.., l ll ( 11 mse do -1 • J(lc 1 o t lese mishaps is, that the mnk ~n st ently ; for the worst art travelled about thirty- ix mil~s L c people Ill-humoured. 'ro-day we )1, d J~~IJ 6.-Finding that onr .)resent . a constderable l?ardshi p, and un \~ill ina- t exc~ rsiOn won ttl be attended with sary, I detcnmncd to send J\'Ir Pre ~. ~ cfpose more persons t!Jan nccesuppcarcd in no condition to ~u )~L~-~s ac ~to the pa.rty. 1Iis horse too breakfast, he took the roau acr~~ thctl;~UJourncy, and accordiuo-ly 'afte; trusty men, Bernier 'rile .·I b 11 s attcn<.lcd by one of om ' ,t "J b . lit lrC Ctwe~ tl · . y lUOS mr c. road, and I expected h~ would n b ~~lnve~ Is here about fifteen ~v_cntllg ramp. At all events he w pro a "f stnkc the fork ncar their JOll1 them t_he next day. onld not fall to fiud their trail and re- Wc contmned our journey s . er;ne~. Our «eneral course' w~~e~o~~~umber, includin~t the three Chey- '~dllc 1 was sandy, bordered on t~he nort~~est, u_p the valley of the river n_ ge, .and ?n tl~e ~ou th, after ~even or . ~rn SI_de of the. valley by Q. lo~ h:;Ther. Sr x miles from our rcsti n" pl· cr, ht mrl es, the rr ver hills became ~ c stream, now entirely dry a b~d ~ce w~ ero sed the bed of a consider t le mouth were the rcmai ns of· a con~Ydesr~n . In a a-rove of willows nea; l~rge trees .. It was apparently very ~ld ab~e tort, constructed of trunks of ? somc_ltOstde cnconntcr amono- the ro '·an ·td prohn.bly been the scene lmpross!vc contrast to the pic~nc whivlug tn ~es. _Its ~olitudc formed an drew dol the busy scene which had b ch our tmagmatwns involuntatily pr.a_re to have bccu rnuch mor~ ex~~u . enacted here. Tho timber n - were but n. few trees a kind of I cnsJvc formerly than now The p btrlu nks of large trees' were scatte~~f~~~:~~d wi;~ow, standing; and ~umerot~~ rn:c s I had ~ccasion to remark an a ~n 1e grotu1d. In many similar Ten miles further we reachedPftrent progressive decay in the time car and handsome stream runni a- 1e mouth of Lodge Pole creek a J~rfugh 'So bottom it has 'a unif~r';utl~~e~~~:l a ~road valley. In its rou;se c lCs_ Jn epth. A [e,v willows on h 1 o _twenty-two feet, and six by thClr greenness, in the midst of tl t le banks stnke pleasantly on the eye The amorplta was frertLJerlt 10 llot and barren sands. ' a n t!.t us ) was the characte.,r istic. aamnod1 1igl t 1c I·a vm· es; b ut the sunflower (lteli-lo love the sandy soil. ~ rrhc i;ll' r' ~ · owers of deep warm colors seem rno5t Wil~ Otle of dry and barren sands[> cwon tof the ~OUntry travclJerJ 0\"Cr to-Jay an( gave our horses two hour·~· ~ ~ urned m towards the river at noon' :,ter ~htn the one atta~hed to the o~ar~~~etand rrst.l J had no other thermom: ~-el co u}n~n m the barometer beino- ')6 23~r, w liC ~. s~oou at ggo, the l•eight of \\, ~ll a lJgh winu from the so utll ""' . v, at mcnuJ~Ul. The sky was clear ~ ~~<1 hafl~l moderated, and it becarr;e ~t 2, we contmucd our journey; th~ d mtt s su ered severely. In tl . . tL most unendurably hot ·and ou . enly, and blew hard f- le couJsc of the afternoon the '· I r alli- SCJ~•)I\ M rain ; these ~~~~;h~los~~tlnvest, with thunddr ant!i~(hl;,~~~' ~ndd au la tmg, We turned OUr hacks to sgamst US WI_lh_ VIOlence by the ~vim} le storm until It bl~w over. Anlelop~ ., ( ' u- 23 [ 243] were tolerably frequent, with a large gray hare; l'ut the former were shy, and the latter hardly worth the delay of stopping to shoot. them; so, as evening drew ncar, we again had rccourde to an old bull, and encarnpeu at sun·· set on an island in the Platte. We ate our meat with good relish this evening, for we were all in fine health, and had ridden nearly all of a long snui.mer's day, with a burning sun reflected from the sand·. My comp;mions slept, rolled np in their blankets, and the lndiaus lay iu the gru.ss ncar the fire, but my sleeping place generally had an air of more pretension. Onr rifles were tied togctllCr ncar the muzzle, the butts rc~ting on the ground, and a knife laid on the rope to cut awa.y in case of an alarm. Over thi , which made a kind of frame, wa thrown a large ludia-rubber cloth, which we used to cover our pack . rrhis made a tent snflicicntly large to rrceivc about half of my bed, and was a place of ~hc\ter for my instruments; and as I was careful always to put this part against the willd, I could lie here with a sensation of satisuetl enjoyment, and hear the wind blow and the rain pauer close to my head, and know that l should he at least half dry. Ccrtmnly, I never slept more soundly. 'rhc barometer n.t sunset was 2G.lHO, thermometer 8l 0 , and ctondy; but a gale from the west spran~ np with the setting sun, ~nd in a few minute swept away every cloud from the sky. The ·evenJng was very ftnc, and 1 remained np to take some astronomical observations, which made our position in latitude 4.0° 51' 17", and longitude 103° 35' 011''. July 7.-At our camp this morning, at 6 o'clock, the barometer was at 26. l 3, thermometer o9°, elnd clear, with a light wind from the southwest. 'I' he past night had been t~qually, with high \Vinci·, and occa ioually a few drops of rain. Our cookino- did not occupy much time, and we left camp ,early. Nothing of interest oecnrrcd during the morning. The same dreary barrenuess, except that a hard marly clay had replaced the sandy soil. Bnfrnlo absolutely covered the plain on both sides the river, and \vhcnevcr we ascended till, II ills, scattered herds gave li fc to the view in every direction. A small drove of wilu horses made their appearance on the low river bottom·, a mile or two to the left, and I sent off one of the Indians (who seemed very eager to catch one) on my led horse, a spirited and fleet animal. 'I'hc savao-c manmnvrcd a little to get the wind or the horses, in which he succecdcu; approachino- within a hundred yards withont being discovered. The chase for a f~w minutes was animated and \ntere. ting. My hunter easilv overtook and passed the hindmo·t of the '~ild drove, which the Intlian did not attempt t.o lasso j all his efforts being dtrectcd to the capture of the leader. But the strength of the horse, weakened by the insui11cicnt nonri hment of ~ras::;, failed in a race, and all the drove escaped. \Ve hn.l ted at noon on the bank of tho ri vcr, the barometer nt that time being 26.19:2, and the thermometer 103°, with a light air from the son th and clear weather. In the course of the afternoon, dust rising among the hills at a particular place attracted our auention, and riding up we found a hand of eighteen or tw~nty buffalo bulls engaged in ad 'sperate fi~ht. 'Thou~h butting nn<l gonng were bestowed liberally and without distinction, yet their efforts were evidently directed against one, a huge gaunt old bull, very lean, while his adversaries were all fat and in good order. lie appeared very weak, and had already received sonw wounds, and while we were looki no on was several times knocked down and badly hurt, and a very few mgtnents would I |