71 
Guard. Only the grass-root remained where they had passed. 
The table lands to the east of the Missouri River, are charac- 
terized principally by the very great scarcity of trees of any 
kind, and by the somewhat peculiar vegetation on the banks 
of the innumerable lakes, whose flora consists chiefly of a 
considerable variety of- species of Chenopodium, Rumex, 
Salsola or Salicornia, Polygonum, Burlap, white-flowered 
Euphorbia and others. The shores of the Devil’s Lake show 
a very fine body of Oak timber, besides this the white-barked 
so-called Quaking Asp or Mountain Poplar, and the usual 
Box Elder Maple, while the banks of the Mouse River are 
inhabited by still more northern or subalpine plants as 
Parnassia, Sphagnum, and the elegant little one-flowered 
Lobelia, (Clintonia?) The groves on the banks of the 
Mouse, consist chiefly of Elm and Box Elder; on the Alka- 
line Sulphuret Lake above mentioned, a Balm of Gilead 
Poplar was noticed, and generally the country between Devil’s 
Lake and the Mouse, is richer in trees than any other portion 
of the territory visited by the two expeditions, always except- 
ing the well-timbered Missouri Valley, where the Cotton- 
wood, Oak, Ash, Maple, Box Elder, Hackberry, Willow, 
Cedar, Bull-Berry and Wild Grape, Poison Ivy, Choke 
Cherry, Plum and June Berry, (Amelanchier?) The latter 
plant is also found at Devil’s Lake, and in the lower courses 
of most of the tributaries of the Missouri. The plateaus and 
untimbered valleys are everywhere characterized by the 
Buffalo Grass, and other grasses, Sunflower, Artemisia, Aster 
Finnia, and other Composites, Roses and Cactacea in the 
Opuntia, and globular form. One of the globular species is 
a representative spring-flower of this section, each Cactus 
appearing on the ground like an inverted saucer, and being 
covered by many pink blossoms, soon after the snows have 
disappeared. The berries of the same species, ripening in 
September, are edible, much resembling Gooseberries in 
flavor. 
The entire section of the country visited by the two expe- 
ditions, is inhabited by the Buffalo, Antelope, Elk Deer, 
Wolf, Coyote, Lynx, Badger, Otter, Mink, Ermine, Beaver, 
