82 LIFE IN THE FAR WEST 



direction, hugging the base of the main chain of the 

 Rocky Mountains ; and, fed by several small creeks, 

 rises in the uplands of the Bayou Salade, near which is 

 also the source of the Arkansa. To the forks of the 

 Platte the valley of that river extends from three to five 

 miles on each side, enclosed by steep sandy bluffs, from 

 the summits of which the prairies stretch away in broad 

 undulating expanse to the north and south. The 

 " bottom," as it is termed, is but thinly covered with 

 timber, the cotton-woods being scattered only here and 

 there ; but some of the islands in the broad bed of the 

 stream are well wooded, leading to the inference that 

 the trees on the banks have been felled by Indians who 

 formerly frequented the neighbourhood of this river as 

 a chosen hunting-ground. As, during the long winters, 

 the pasture in the vicinity is scarce and withered, the 

 Indians feed their horses on the bark of the sweet 

 cotton-wood, upon which they subsist, and even fatten. 

 Thus, wherever a village has encamped, the trunks of 

 these trees strew the ground, their upper limbs and 

 smaller branches peeled of their bark, and looking as 

 white and smooth as if scraped with a knife. 



On the forks, however, the timber is heavier and of 

 greater variety, some of the creeks being well wooded 

 with ash and cherry, which break the monotony of the 

 everlasting cotton- wood. 



Dense masses of buffalo still continued to darken the 

 plains, and numerous bands of wolves hovered round 

 the outskirts of the vast herds, singling out the sick 

 and wounded animals, and preying upon such calves as 



