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Show 296 NUMEROUS BEAVER DENS----VIOLENT STORM. In the prairie near us no other animals were seen, except large grasshoppers, two inches long, which had black wings edged with white; at first we took them for butterflies, but those more delicate flower hunters had already disappeared before the breath of autumn. It was not till five o'clock that the wind abated so as to allow us to proceed. We were entertained by the loud whistle of the elks, many of which were lying in the river to cool themselves. Morrin wounded a young deer at a great distance, and we immediately saw a wolf go after it, which, doubtless, soon put an end to the poor animal. Our bivouac for the night was lighted by an aurora borealis, which occurred almost every evening, the weather at the same time being warm and pleasant. We reached the mouth of Big-Dry River by eight o'clock the next morning, just after we had shot from our boat a male elk, of twelve branches, whose horns we took away, but were obliged, to our great regret, to leave the carcase for the wolves. We saw herds of antelopes, and numerous flocks of prairie hens, which were sitting on the snags in the river. Autumn had already tinged the foliage with various colours. We did not indeed see here the scarlet stag's-horn sumach (Rhus typhinun), but a couple of other species of that genus were, in some degree, substitutes for that colour. At half past two in the afternoon, we passed near the mouth of Milk River, where we remarked great numbers of bears, elks, deer, and wolves on the bank, and some wild geese and sandpipers on the strand. At the place where we killed the three bears, on our voyage up the river, we now found numerous elks; magpies, blackbirds, and the great prairie larks abounded. We saw to-day several beaver dens, and counted twenty-seven in all from Fort Me Kenzie to Fort Union. Early on the following morning, the 25th of September, we passed the Riviere Bourbeuse. Morrin had just before shot a very fat elk, which afforded us a good breakfast, so that we did not leave this place till eleven o'clock. Towards three o'clock such a violent storm arose, that we hastened to secure our heavily-laden boat on the bank, behind a snag : this was 400 or 500 paces from the spot where the keel-boat was wrecked the year before. The bank was very steep, and on the summit there was a wood of poplars with an undergrowth of symphoria. The storm increased in violence to such a degree that it seemed as if it would throw down the trees on our heads ; and it brought clouds of dust from the opposite sand banks into our forest, so that the air was darkened. Sparrowhawks, ravens, crows, and blackbirds, took refuge in the recesses of the forest; a herd of antelopes had also sought protection at the skirts of the wood, and we observed the buck pursue and drive back any of the females that attempted to leave the herd. We built ourselves a fort in the Indian fashion, of trunks of trees and branches, where we took up our lodging for the night, when we could scarcely hear the cry of the elks or the growling of a bear for the roaring of the storm. Towards morning, on the 26th, the storm abated, and allowed us to proceed on our voyage, so that, by day-break we reached Mr. Mitchell's Petit Fort, of which the prairie hens had taken possession. Swans and ducks (Anas boschqs et sponsa) |