164 DEVIL'S GATE. 



brown, or even black. A strip of snowy whiteness extends from ham to 

 ham, including the tail, which is short and tipped with black. 



Instead of wool, they are covered with hair, which is shed annually. 

 Their cry is much like that of domestic sheep, and the same natural odor 

 is common to both. 



It is extremely difficult to capture any of them alive, even while youn;:, 

 — and it is next to impossible to make them live and thrive in any otlur 

 chmaie than their own. Hence, the mountain sheep has never yet lound 

 H place in our most extensive zoological collections. 



Remaining three days at this place, we were again en route, and, bear- 

 i^g to the right, passed over a ridge of rough, rocky sumaiits, and struck 

 the valley of the Sweet Water. Continuing up tlie latter, a siiort ride 

 brought us to the vicinity of a noted landmark of the country, known as 

 Independence Rock, where we encamped. 



The soil of the river bottoms is good, but the adjoining prairies are 

 sandy and somewhat sterile. 



The distance from this to the cafion is not far from twenty-three miles. 



Independence Rock is a solid and isolated mass of naked granite, situated 

 about three hundred yards from the right bank of the Sweet Water. It 

 covers an area of four or five acres, and rises to a height of nearly three hun- 

 dred feet. The general shape is oval, with the exception of a slight depres- 

 sion in its summit where a scanty soil supports a few shrubs and a 

 solitary dwarf-pine. 



It derives its name from a party of Americans on their way to Oregon, 

 under the lead of one Tharp, who celebrated the fourth of July at this 

 place, — they being the first company of whites that ever made the jour- 

 ney from the States, via South Pass. 



The surface is covered with the names of travellers, traders, trap- 

 pers, and emigrants, engraven upon it in almost every practicable part, for 

 the distance of many feet above its base, — but most prominent among them 

 all is the word " Independence," inscribed by the patriotic band who first 

 christened this lonely monument of nature in honor of Liberty's birthday. 



I went to the rock for the purpose of recording my name with the 

 swollen catalogue of others traced upon its sides ; but, having glanced over 

 the strange medley, I became disgusted, and, turning av/ay, resolved, " If 

 there remains no other mode of immortalizing myself, 1 will be content to 

 descend to the grave ' unhonored and unsung.'' " 



The day following, a heavy fill of snow and sleet forced us to remain 

 in camp, and the consequent muddiness of the route prolonged our stay 

 still further. 



The vicinity afforded an abundance of game and a sufficiency of dry fuel ; 

 it would, therefore, have been f )lly in us to care for wind or weather, 

 detracting as did cither so little from our comfort. 



During tliis interval I rode into the prairie a short distance, in quest of 

 game, and struck the river a few miles above camp, at a place where the 

 stream cuts its way through a high ridge of hills, forming another caiioj) 



