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Show [ 243 J 46 in the shade of the trees a fine sprit a- f marked that I do not mer~tion in th i~-, o . very cold ~vater. It will be re-tnre of the air, sand sprina-s '&c por.~ro.n of 'r.e Jon rney, the temperathe course of the na:rative o 'In .~;yan 01~11/'s~on 711ch will be explained in at this place. · seaJ c 1 or P ants, I was well rewarded With lhe change in the geoloo-ical formation I . , the whole face of lhe counlry hr~ entire! ·It . 'o.n eavmg Fort Laramie, of that meridian, the principal objects wl~;~ ~~~.~~ ttsl appearance. .En twurd the absence of timber, and the in1mense Sill \.e t le ~~e of a traveller are Terdure of rich gra:::ses, and hiCThl ach ~XJ:nnse of prame, covered with the are not disturbed by the vicini loy oyf (. • P cl c. for 1 pastumge. \Vherevcr they tJ. On to I 11 1· s country. W est\var--1 of 1m an ' a.t o~-->c. 1erds of b uutra lo gt·v e am·m a- (. u ,aram1c nvcr th · · apparenlly ~terilc; and the place of the <Yr·l . ' e rcgwn JS sandy and llud other odoriferous plants to l o 'ss rs usurped by the arte·misia this elevated rca-ion seer~ hi:,.hl w" lOsr,. gblrowth the sandy Boil and dry air of Q 0 . o Y 1UVOJi\ e. ne of the prornmcnt characteristics i h ~ traordinary abundance of 111e a ·t . . n t e nee of the country is the ex-h. ll 1 em.zsws. 'l'hcy . 1 s, and over the river botto . grow everywhere; on the I ms 1 n totwh t · 1 d · w 1crcver the beaten track was left' th .~ f .wts e ' wrrey clumps; and , rough nnd slow. As I he cot·Jt1tr '· cy ten~ cr ed the progress of the carts f . y Increased rn ele t' t lc west, they mcreased in size. and th . ~~ .wn on om: advance lo and saturated with the odor of ~n I e W\lOlc. ~lll IS strongly Impre<rnated longs to this plant. This climat~ n;tl1o,r anc spmts of turpentine whi~h betorat. ion. of health, particularly in c<~:es)ee;1 found ve~y fu vorable to the res~ esplratJOn of air, so highly impre<Ynat ~d ~ ~~nsun~ptwn ; and possibly th~ mfl uence. 0 e Y dromnttc plants, may have some Our dried meat had given out nnd b o- . one of the hunters killed 'ln ant~l w~ eoa~ to be m want of food; but • lief, althoug-h it did not go' r..,r' ope this evcmng, which afforded some rc- . '-' h• amona- so ma 1 l at mght, after a march of twent s o . (I y nrngry men. At 8 o'clock campment on the l('er a ~'~' ly- ·eHven mt!es, we reached our proposed en- . I vtteva 'OJ orse Shoe ., k II gr~ss, wH l n great quantity of preie whid f . ~ ee . ere we found good anunals. This creek is well ti I ' I ~ u.tntshed good food for our tired with the exception of Deer c- ~~ )erft· ' pnnclpally with liard a1nere and gest afiluent of the ricrht bnn~ebee~' w 11Ct we h.ad not yet reached, is tl;e Jar~ ""~ater. ~ ~. ween aramte and the mouth of the Sweet JuZy 23.- Thc present year had been o throughout the country the water hnd beet~e of unpn!n1Jeled drought, anti ~emsel.ves of the annual rise the trad . a~mos~. dned up. By availing mg their furs to the M' '.·. b CJ~ had mvnuably succeeded in carr\T-t. d IS OUII , ut this sc·tso 1 1 J wnc ' on both forks of the PI tt h ~ (. n,. as nns .a ready been men- ~umber of the springs and mana ~f ttl~[ lU~ entlre~y faded. rrhe greater for the voyageurs had be d: Yd stre,:uns whrch tnade halting plao•s a!lcI b urnt, the sca' nty.. yelleonw C'TJera ss up: Every wl lere t1 l e SOl' l looked parche..d, 4itest . plants were destroyed b; wan~rrs~ed u.nder the foot, and even the harmentwn this fact, because to the t~a . o ~not~tu.re .. I think it necessary to •early 5,000 feet above the sea pld evt~poratwn In such an elevated recrion ~e allributed much of the stc .~]' almost wholly unprotected by timber sboould uon of vegetation and tll e.. llA I e nppeara.uce of the country, in the ~lc~truc-o- ro I S ' urnerous snlmc 'ffi . , .. o unc . uch I afterward fo 1 b l orescenccs w lllch CO\'crcd the I was informed that tl .un~ to .e l le ca.~c. . l IC 10VJl10' VJUnCTeS f I d' never met with difficulty iu findir ~~. ~. o 0 n mns and travellers had lo t.ln abundance of gra .~ for their horses~ , 47 [ 243] and now it was afler great search thnt we were ahle to find a scanty patch of grass, suflicient to keep them from sinking, and in the course of a day or two they began to suffer very much. W c found none to day at noon , and, in the conrse of our search on the Platte, came to a grove of cottonwood where sornc Indian village had recently encamped. Doughs of the cotlonwood yet green covered the ground, which the Indians had cut down to feecl their horses upon. It is only in the winter that recourse is had to this means of sustaining them; and their resort to it al this tune was a striking evidence of the state of the country. We followed their example, and turned our horses inlo a grove of young poplars. This began to pte ent itself as a very serious evil, for on our animals depended altogether the further prosecution of our journey. Shortly after we had left this place, the scouts carne galloping in with the alarm of Indians. We turned in immediately towards the river, which here had a steep high bank, where we formed with the carts a very close barricade, resting on the river, within which the animals were strongly hobbled and piek~tcd. 'rhe guns were discharged and reloaded, and men th rown forward, under cover of the bank, in the direction by which the Indians were expected. Onr interpreter, who, with the lndian, bad gone to rnect them, came in in abont ten minutes, accompanied by two Sioux. They looked sulky, and we could ob1ain from them only some confused information. We learned that lhey belonged to the party which had been on the trail of the emigrants, whom they had overtaken at Rock Independence, on the ~wect Water. Here the party had disagreed, and came nigh fighting among themsel ve<:~. One portion were dcsi rous of attacking the whites, but the others were opposed to it; and finally they had broken up into small bands and dispersed over the country. The greater portion of them had gone over inlo the territory of the Crows, and intended to return by way of the Wind River valley, in the hope of being able to falL upon some smnll parties of Crow Indians. The remainder were returning down the Platte in scattered parties of ten and twenty, and those whom we had encountered belonged to those who had advocated an attack on the emigrants. Several of the men suggested shooting them on the spot; bnt I promptly discountenanced any such proceeding. They futther informed n1c that buffalo were very scarce, and little or no grass to be found. There had been no rain, and innumerable quantities of grasshoppers had destroyed the grass. This insect had been so numerous since leaving Fort Laramie, that the ground seemed alive with them; and in walking, a little moving cloud preceded our footsteps. This was bad news. No grnss, no buffalofoorl for neilhcr horse nor man. I ~nve them some plugs of tobacco and they went off, apparently well satisfied to be clear of us; for my men did not look upon them very lovingly, and they glanced suspiciously at our warlike preparations, and the little ring of rifles which surrounded them. They were evidently in a bad humor, and shot one of their horses when. they hud left us a short distanee. W c continued our march, and after a journey of about twenty-one miles, encamped on the Platte. During the day, I had occasionally remarked among the hills the psm·alea esculenta., the bread root of the Indians. The Sioux use this root very extensively, and I have frequently met with it among them, cnt into thin slices and dried. In the course of the evening we were visited by six Indians, who told us that a larger party was en- |