ROCKY MOUNTAINS AND WESTERN CATTLE LAND. 123 



across the sage -brush- covered plain. The country re- 

 sembled nine- tenths of Montana, Wyoming, or Ne- 

 vada territories, and may be described in very few 

 words. Imagine, then, little six-inch bushes of sage- 

 brush, with an apparently thin smattering of bunch- 

 grass and other of the sixty varieties of grasses which 

 are said to grow on the stock-feeding lands of the 

 "West. Imagine them growing uniformly and scantily 

 over vast and never-ending hills and plains, oftener 

 than not without a single tree in sight or a speck of 

 green to relieve the weary eye, tired with the mono- 

 tonous grey, and dazzled by the white dusty earth ; 

 the air so clear that distance cannot be calculated by 

 the relative dimness of objects, for the farthest are as 

 distinct as the nearest. Soon a cloud of dust rises 

 from behind a distant hill, and we come upon the 

 round-up l outfit ? (everything out "West being termed 

 an l outfit '), a t bunch ' of five hundred cattle (cows, 

 calves, and two and three-year-old steers), guarded 

 by a solitary horseman. A quarter of a mile distant 

 stand two large tents and three waggons, with the 

 smoke of a large fire, and a herd of a hundred and 

 odd horses. "We had at last reached Canyon Creek. 

 Among the rest we found the younger of the two 



C -s, and two other Englishmen, < doing cowboy,' 



or * learning cow-punching ; ' and, while initiating 

 themselves into the cattle business, thoroughly enjoy- 

 ing the wild, free, stirring, and healthy life. Next 

 day we moved on with the whole l outfit J to Dry 

 Creek. Not a promising name, but all the same 



