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Show 312 Lewis and Clm·ke's E;t'Peditiolt to decide whether it had been done accidentaHy by captain Clarke's pat·ty, or by the Indians as a signal on their obser ·ving us. 'Ve afterwards lNtrnt that this last was the fact; for they had heard a gun iirerl by one of ca]Jtain Clarke's men, and bc1icving that their enemies were approaching had fled into tho mountains, ihst setting fire to the plains as a war·ning to their countrymen. 'Vc continued our cout·sc along several islands, and havin::; made in the com·sc of the day fifteen miles, encamped just above an island. at a spring on a high bank on the left side or the river. In the latt.Ew 11art of the evening we had passed through a low range of mountains, and the country became more open, though still unl.u·oken and without timber, and the lowlands not Ye1·y extensive: and just above onr camp the rh'er is ag·ain closed in by the mountains. '" e found on the uanks an elk which captain Clarke had lert us, '"ith a note mentioning that he should pass the mountains just nbovc us and wait om~ art·ival at some convenient place. We saw but could not procure some redheaded ducks and sandhill cranes along the sides of the river, and a woodpecket' about the size of the lark-woodpecker, which seems to be a distinct species: it is as black as a crow with a long tailt and flies like a jaybh·d. The whole count•·y is so infested by the pl'icldy ]>Car that we could scarcely find room to lie down at our camp. Captain Clarke on setting out this morning had gone through the valley about six miles to thr right of the rh·cr. He soon fell into an old Indian road which he pursued till he reached the Missouri, at the distance of eighteen miles from his las~ encampment, just above the enta'ance ol' a large creek, which we afterwards called Whitrcarth creel,. Here he found his party so much cut and pierced with the shari> :flint and the prickly pear that he proceeded only a small distance further, and then halted to wait for us. Along his track he had taken the precaution to strew signals, such as pieces of cloth, paper aud linen, to prove to the Indians, if b~ • Up the .lJiissotwi. :us accident they met his track, that we were white men. But be observed a smoke some distance ahead, and concluded that the whole country had now taken the ala.r·m. Sunday 21. On leaving our camp we passed an island at half a mile} and l'Cached at one mile a bad t•apid at the place whcl'e the river leaves the mountain: het•e the cliffs are high and covered with fragments of Ln·oken rocks, the current is also stt·ong, but although mot~c ra1,id the rive1• is witl<~J· and sballowet·, so that we arc able to use the pole occ:.lsionally, though we princillally depend on the towline. On leaving the t·apid which .i.s about half a. mile in extent, the country O}lCns on ea.ch side; the hills become lower; at one mile is a hl.t•gc h;land on the left side, aud rout• and a half beyond it a hu·ge amluold creek twenty-eight y~u·d s whlc, <·orning in ft·om the not·th, where it wa,tcrs a handsome va lley: we called it Pt·yol''s cr·eck after one or the sergeants, John Pr)or. At a mile above this cre{'k on the left side of the Missouri we obtained a. llll't•idian altitude, which gave 46° iO' SZ' 9"' as ihe latitude of the place. }?ot• the follow~ ing four miles, the country, like that thronsh which we passed during the rest of th~ day, is rough and mountainous as we found it yesterday; uut at the distance of twelve miles, we came towa1•ds evening into a beautiful plain ten OL' twelve miles wide, and extending as far the eye could reach. This 11lain or rather yalJcy is bounded by two nearly parallel ranges of high mountains whose summits are par·Ually covered with snow, below which tbe pine is sc~\Ucred along the sides down to the plain in some places, though the grcateL' llat·t of theiL· surface has no timber and exhibits only a barren soil with no covCL·ing except dry }Jarched grass or black rugged rocks. On entering the valIcy the rivet' assumes a totally different as11ect: it spt·eads to more than a mile in width, and though more rapid than before, is shallow enough in almost every part for the use of the pole, while its bed is formed of smooth stones and some large l'ocks, as it bas been indee<l since we entered ' ' OJ,. T • |