62 NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEV 



stances, there would have been no cruelty in this; but here, 

 where better meat was so abundant, and the camp was so 

 plentifully supplied, it was unfeeling, heartless murder. It was 

 under the influence of this too late impression, that I approached 

 my poor victim. She was writhing in agony upon the ground, 

 and exertins: herself in vain efforts to draw her mangled body 

 farther from her destroyer ; and as I stood over her, and saw her 

 cast her large, sofl, black eyes upon me with an expression of 

 the most touching sadness, while the great tears rolled over her 

 face, I felt myself the meanest and most abhorrent thing in crea- 

 tion. But now a finishing blow would be mercy to her, and I 

 threw my arm around her neck, averted my face, and drove my 

 lona; knife throuah her bosom to the heart. I did not trust 

 myself to look upon her afterwards, but mounted my horse, and 

 galloped off to the party, with feelings such as I hope never to 

 experience again. For several days the poor antelope haunted 

 me, and I shall never forget its last look of pain and upbraiding. 

 The bluffs on the southern shore of the Platte, are, at this 

 point, exceedingly rugged, and often quite picturesque ; the for- 

 mation appears to be simple clay, intermixed, occasionally, with 

 a stratum of limestone, and one part of the bluff bears a striking 

 and almost startling resemblance to a dilapidated feudal castle. 

 There is also a kind of obelisk, standinij at a considerable dis- 

 tance from the bluffs, on a wide plain, towering to the height of 

 about two hundred feet, and tapering to a small point at the top. 

 This pillar is known to the hunters and trappers who tra- 

 verse these regions, by the name of the " chimney.^^ Here we 

 diverged from the usual course, leaving the bank of the river, 

 and entered a large and deep ravine between the enormous 

 bluffs.* 



♦ These are called " Scott's Bluffs;" so named from an unfortunate trader, who 

 perished here from disease and hunger, many years ago. He was deserted by 

 his companions ; and the year following, his crumbling bones were found in this spot. 



