LIFE IN THE FAR WEST. 143 



parched the drooping buffalo-grass on its surface, and its rays, 

 refracted and reverberating from the heated ground, distorted 

 every object seen through its lurid medium. Straggling antelope, 

 leisurely crossing the adjoining prairie, appeared to be gracefully 

 moving in mid-air ; while a scattered band of buffalo bulls loomed 

 huge and indistinct in the vapory distance. In the timbered 

 valley of the river, deer and elk were standing motionless in the 

 water, under the shade of the overhanging cotton- woods, seeking a 

 respite from the persevering attacks of swarms of horse-flies and 

 musquitos ; and now and then a heavy splash was heard, as they 

 tossed their antlered heads into the stream, to free them from the 

 venomous insects that buzzed incessantly about them. In the 

 sandy prairie, beetles of an enormous size were rolling in every 

 direction huge balls of earth, pushing them with their hind legs 

 with comical perseverance ; cameleons darted about, assimilating 

 the hue of their grotesque bodies with the color of the sand : groups 

 of prairie-dog houses were seen, each with its inmate barking lustily 

 on the roof; while under cover of nearly every bush of sage or 

 cactus a rattlesnake lay glittering in lazy coil. Tantalizing the 

 parched sight, the neighboring peaks of the lofty Wind River 

 Mountains glittered in a mantle of sparkling snow, while Sweet 

 Water Mountain, capped in cloud, looked gray and cool, in 

 striking contrast to the burned up plains which lay basking at its 

 foot. 



Resting their backs against the rock (on which, we have said, 

 are tww carved the names of many travelers), and defended from 

 the powerful rays of-^the sun by its precipitous sides, two white men 

 quietly slept. They were gaunt and lantern-jawed, and clothed 

 in tattered buckskin. Each held a rifle across his knees, but — 

 strange sight in this country — one had its pan thrown open, which 

 was rust-eaten and contained no priming ; the other's hammer 

 was without a flint. Their faces were as if covered with mahog- 

 any-colored parchment ; their eyes were sunken ; and as their jaws 



