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Show [ 174 J 114 ¢he p·rople were ick to-day, and. I was inclin e~. to nttribu~e .their indispo. ·t· . to tlle meat of the bull winch had been killed the ptevwus day. Sl 1011 Jull I I.-There were no ·m dl· Cat·w ns o f b 11 tl'a Io I1 a v.m g b ccn recently in the n~ghborhood; aud, unwilling to travel f:ut~~er ca, \ward, I tnmcd this morning to the omhward, np the valley ~1 BIJOU .. Es7J~t1·ccttc occurred universally 1 a11d amoug the plants on }he n ver I no.llced1 for the first time du ring this joumey, a few small bushes of th.e .rtbsn.ll he of tbe voyageur . ·wlliclJ iscolJllllOllly used for fire wood, (nrte~wsw Lndcntalrt.) Ye, tcrday U lld to-day rlw road has been ornamcutcd w1th the ~howy blo~m of a bean. ti!'ulluphius a eharactcri~tic in many . part.<:; of 'h e. IHOllutaJu. region, 011 which \\'Crc g('nerally great numbers of au 111 ect wtth very hnght colors, (litta vcsico!orirt.) . As we were ridincr <]Uictly along,. eagerly scnr:htlt!>' ever,v . hollow in search of ~n 111c. we di covered, at a ltttle dl!:itaucc 111 the pram·, a large grizzly be; r. so hnsily engaged in.diggi1.1g ro?t that ht" .uitl no.t perceive us until we wvrc galloping Jown a IJule htll fifty yards lrorn huu, when he char3cd 11\'0it us with snell nddcn energy, that ,evercd of ~1s came nPar losing onr sadrllNi. Bning wo.nnclrd, he COlllnH'J wed retre~t111g t? a rocky piney ridge uca r uy, from wh1ch we were 110t able tu ent hmt ofl, and we ente1:ed the tim ber with him. The way was very much blocked np with fallen timl>er; rt11d we kept up a rutJuing fight Cor some time, auimated by the bear char~i11g among the horses. lie did not !'all uutil after he had receivctl ix rifle balls. lie was miserably poor, aud added 110th i11g to our stock of' provi, ion, . \\Te lollowcd the stream to its head in a broken rid ge, which, accord ing to the l>arOIJtetcr, was nbont 7,500 feet ul>ove the sea. Tl1is is a piney ele. vation, into which the prairies are gathered, ancl from which tile water ftow, in almost every direction, to tl1e Ark<tll as Platte1 a11d Kansas rivers; the latter ·trcnm having here its remot e ~t sources. Altllougl. somewhat rocky and L>rokclJ, and covered with pi1w. , iu co111pari ·on with the neigh· boring tuonntains, it scatcely fonus <111 i11terruption to tlw orrat prairie pl<.lins which SWI!ep up to their L>ases. The anncxctl view of Pike's peak from tltis c<.unp, at the clic:;tiUlce of -10 miles, repro ·ents very correctly the mauner in wl1icll this mon11tain barrier presents itself' to traveller' 011 the plaillS, w!Jicl\ SW<!ep alulOSt uirt~Ct ly to its bases; an immense atl(l comparatively suwotl1 and grassy prairie, in very strong contrast with the black mas es of timber, and the glittcrin rr snow above them. This is the pictnre which has ueen left u pou my miud; and I annex this sketch, to convey to you the same impression. With occasional except ions, comparatively so very small as 11ot to req nire nwution, these prairies ~re every where covered with a clo e and vigorou growth of a great vanety of grasses, among which the most abundaut is the buffalo grass, (sesleria dactyloides.) Between the Platte and Arkansas rivers, that part {)f. this r~gion which forms the basin drained by the waters of the Kansas, With whtch o~r operations made us more pn.rtieularly acquainted, is .based ·upon a formatwn of calcareous rocks. The soil of all this country 1s ex· cellent, a~mirably adapted to agricultural purposes, and would support a lar~e agr.tcultural and pastoral population. A glance at the map accomp~· ny1.•g. th1s report, along our several Jines of travel, will show you thattlus ~1am 1s watered by many streams. Throughout the western half of the piam., these arc shallow, with sandy beds, becoming deeper as they reach the ncher lands approaching the Missouri river; they generally have bottom . . . . . .. ·. . ~ •. . .. .. .. ·. . . . .. en ~ ::s:: 1--i ... ~ ~ 0 .. ~ ~ ~' 1--i ~ I · . H |
