﻿312 PICTORIAL MISCELLANY. 



and are soon mixed with the water, and hence the turbid appearance 

 of the river. I suppose that, when these waters are tumbling down 

 the sides of the Eocky Mountains, they are as pure and limpid as 

 any trout brook you ever saw. But the falling banks, like the milk 

 and sugar in your coffee, soon color the whole and make it thick 

 and dirty. 



The shores upon both sides of this river, for five or six hundred 

 miles from its mouth, are well wooded with large and fine trees. 

 As the banks cave in, these trees become undermined and fall into 

 the stream. Their roots become fastened to the bottom of the river, 

 by the weight of earth clinging to them, while the tops are floating 

 upon the surface, pointing down stream, and presenting to the boat- 

 man a most frightful prospect. In some places the whole bed of the 

 river was completely filled with these snags, as they are called, and 

 you would have supposed, from their appearance, that no boat could 

 possibly get by them ; yet by going slowly against them many are 

 so loose that they will swing round like the buoys in our harbors. 

 After a while these wooded shores and snags began to trouble us 

 less and less, and, at the mouth of the Platte river, they entirely dis- 

 appeared. Here the eye is relieved by resting upon the green car- 

 peted prairies, gracefully sloping to the water's edge. At almost 

 every bend of the river, herds of buffaloes, elks, antelopes and 

 sneaking wolves, upon the banks, became frightened by our steam- 

 boat, which came puffing and blowing along, and, after receiving a 

 Tolley from our hunters, they scattered and bounded over the hills 

 out of our reach. This furnished us rare sport, and I found " Speak- 

 er" a useful companion. 



The Indians, too, having never seen or heard of a steamboat, 

 exhibited the greatest wonder at our approach. Some threw them- 

 selves upon the ground and called upon the Great Spirit to protect 

 them ; some set out in running, and did not stop until they had got 

 well out of our sight, while others would approach the banks of the 

 stream, and peep cautiously over. One time, when a considerable 

 number had approached pretty near to us, our captain, who was 

 fond of a joke, let off a large quantity of steam by the waste pipe, 

 when, head over heels, men, women, and children, dogs and all, rushed 

 away, tumbling over each other, in the most admirable confusion 



