20 AUDUBON 



called up to-morrow morning, to be ready for breakfast at 

 half-past four. Harris and Bell went off with Alexis. 

 Bell fired at a bird, and a large Wolf immediately made 

 its appearance. This is always the case in this country; 

 when you shoot an animal and hide yourself, you may see, 

 in less than half an hour, from ten to thirty of these hun- 

 gry rascals around the carcass, and have fine fun shooting 

 at them. We have had a windy day, but a good run on 

 the whole. I hope to-morrow may prove propitious, and 

 that we shall reach Fort Union in five more days. 



June 9, Friday. Thermometer 42°, 75°, 66°. We had 

 a heavy white frost last night, but we have had a fine, 

 pleasant day on the whole, and to me a most interesting 

 one. We passed the Little Missouri ^ (the real one) about 

 ten this morning. It is a handsome stream, that runs all 

 the way from the Black Hills, one of the main spurs of 

 the mighty Rocky Mountains. We saw three Elks swim- 

 ming across it, and the number of this fine species of 

 Deer that are about us now is almost inconceivable. We 

 have heard of burning springs, which we intend to ex- 

 amine on our way down. We started a Goose from the 

 shore that had evidently young ones ; she swam off, beat- 

 ing the water with wings half extended, until nearly one 

 hundred yards off. A shot from a rifle was fired at her, 



1 " It rises to the west of the Black Mts., across the northern extremity of 

 which it finds a narrow, rapid passage along high perpendicular banks, then 

 seeks the Missouri in a northeasterly direction, through a broken country 

 with highlands bare of timber, and the low grounds particularly supplied 

 with Cottonwood, elm, small ash, box, alder, and an undergrowth of willow, 

 red-wood, red-berry, and choke-cherry. ... It enters the Missouri with a 

 bold current, and is 134 yards wide, but its greatest depth is two feet 

 and a half, which, joined to its rapidity and its sand-bars, makes the 

 navigation difficult except for canoes." (" Lewis and Clark," ed. 1893, 

 pp. 267, 268. 



" We came to a green spot at the mouth of the Little Missouri, which is 

 reckoned to be 1670 miles from the mouth of the great Missouri. The 

 chain of blue hills, with the same singular forms as we had seen before, 

 appeared on the other side of this river." (" Travels in North America," 

 Prince of Wied, p. 182.") 



