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Tuesday morning opened rather gloomy, but in spite of mud on the earth 

 and clouds in the sky, all preparation was made for the arrival of the boat, 

 and every one was on the look-out to get the first peep. At length, about 

 half-past one o'clock, the smoke was discovered as the boat began to round 

 the point below the fort ; in about half an hour after, she hove in sight, and 

 ' before very long, we had the pleasure of boarding the El Passo, as she lay 

 just below the fort. Salutes were fired on the boat and at the fort alternately, 

 from the time she appeared in sight until her landing, and there was a great 

 sratherinff of Indians and Whites to welcome her. A. recog-nized on the hur- 

 ricane deck, his friend Dr. Evans, of last summer, and soon I had the pleasure 

 of making his acquaintance. He had visited the Mauvaise Terre last summer, 

 and had made quite a collection there ; this, of course, was a bond of sym- 

 pathy between us ; it was a real gratification for me to converse with an in- 

 telligent man on the subject of the Bad Lands. He was very free, and we 

 soon understood each other. 



The substance of our several conversations was that we were both disap- 

 pointed in the appearance of the Bad Lands, in the number of petrifactions 

 found, and in the number of localities when found. He says he believes they 

 are scarcely to be obtained in any other place than the locality of the turtles 

 near Bear river, visited by me. Our estimate of their extent was the same, 

 namely — thirty by sixty miles ; he says that white earth now runs through 

 the whole length of them. Before seeing him I had felt very much disap- 

 pointed about my collection, fearing that it would be of little value ; but was 

 greatly relieved to hear him say that such had been his feelings before 

 reaching the States, but that he was agreeably disappointed to find that his 

 small collections had excited a great deal of interest in all who saw them, 

 and he predicted a like fiivorable reception for mine. The letter I had 

 Avritten to Professor Baird was submitted to his inspection, as I wished to 

 have his opinion of what I said ; he had attentively read through the six 

 pages, and complimented me on the accuracy of what I had there stated. 

 "There was no alteration that he would suggest," though he gave me a 

 caution I readily acted on, which was not to state any thing except on my 

 own personal observation, not depending even on the best authority, " for," 

 said he " this may appear under the sanction of a well known name, and 

 may afterwards be discovered to be a most ridiculous error. I mentioned 

 to him that I thought, from Lieutenant Lynch's description, that similar 

 formations abounded along the Jordan ; he examined the account in his 

 book, to which I have before particularly referred, and coincided in my 

 opinion, stating that he supposed that such was probably the case. That 

 point will be more particularly examined by those to whom we make 

 our reports. The formation in the Bad Lands is what is called the 

 tertiary. 



Thursday, June 6. — Last night the boat laid up about dark, as it would 

 be impossible to travel on this river at night. We must have been off very 

 early, as when I got up about four o'clock, we were under way, and some 

 distance from our starting place. We stopped before breakfast for fuel, 

 the procuring of which here is not like that in the States ; there are here no 

 wood-yards, with the wood all cut and in proper order, but whenever a lot of 

 dry timber appears, if the boat needs it, she puts ashore, and all hands fall to 

 work cutting and carrying on board ; with the number of hands on board, it 

 takes very little time. I landed and tramped about in the wet weeds, to look 

 for botanical specimens, and got quite a number, although not in flower. Soon 



