THE BARREN PLAINS IN THE FAR WEST. 57 



with red wings and legs, fly through the air the only bright 

 objects in the landscape. Sometimes the reddish-brown 

 cricket is seen.' Even the Platte River, which flows through 

 this region, partakes of its nature. It seems to consist of a 

 saturated solution of sand : when a handful is taken up, a 

 gray mud of silex remains in the palm. Dry as this gramma 

 grass appeal's, it possesses nutritive qualities, as the animals 

 which feed on it abundantly prove. 



Storms break over these plains with tremendous fury : the 

 thunder roars, the lightning which flashes from the clouds 

 illumines earth and sky with a brightness surpassing the 

 cloudless noon. Then again utter darkness covers the earth, 

 when suddenly a column of light appears, like the trunk of 

 some tall pine, as the electric fluid passes from the upper to 

 the lower regions of the world. The next instant its blazing 

 summit breaks into splinters on every side. Occasionally 

 fearful hail-storms sweep over the plains ; and at other times 

 the air from the south comes heated, as from a furnace, dry- 

 ing up all moisture from the skin, and parching the traveller's 

 tongue with thirst. 



Here and there are scattered pools of water containing 

 large quantities of salts, soda, and potash, from drinking 

 which numbers of cattle perish. The track of emigrants is 

 strewn for many miles with bleaching heads, whole skeletons, 

 and putrefying carcasses the result of the malady thus pro- 

 duced, in addition to heat and overdriving. Even the tra- 

 veller suffers greatly, feeling as if he had swallowed a quantity 

 of raw soda. 



Yet often in this generally desert region, where the rivers 

 wind their way through the plain, or wide pools of pure water 

 mirror the blue sky, scenes of great beauty are presented. 



