ACROSS THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, ETC. 83 



Columbia, and the leader of a party of Canadians and Indians, 

 now on a hunt in the vicinity. This party is at present in our 

 rear, and Mr. McKay has come ahead in order to join us, and 

 keep us company until we reach Portneuf river, where we intend 

 building a fort. 



10^/t. — We were moving early this morning : our horses were 

 very much recruited, and seemed as eager as their masters to travel 

 on. It is astonishing how soon a horse revives, and overcomes the 

 lassitude consequent upon fatigue, when he is allowed a day's 

 rest upon tolerable pasture. Towards noon, however, after 

 encountering the rough lava-strewn plain for a few hours, they be- 

 came sufficiently sobered to desist from all unnecessary curvetting 

 and prancing, and settled down into a very matter-of-fact trudge^ 

 better suited to the country and to the work which they have yet 

 to do. 



Soon after v/e left, we crossed one of the high and stony hills 

 by which our late camp is suri'ounded ; then making a gentle 

 descent, we came to a beautiful and very fertile plain. This is, 

 however, very different from the general face of the country ; in 

 a short time, after passing over the rich prairie, the same dry 

 aridity and depauperation prevailed, which is almost universal 

 west of the mountains. On the wide plain, we observed large 

 sunken spots, some of them of great extent, surrounded by 

 walls of lava, indicating the existence, at some very ancient date, 

 of active craters. These eruptions have probably been ante- 

 diluvian, or have existed at a period long anterior to the present 

 order of creation. On the side of the hills are high walls of lava 

 and basaltic dykes, and many large and dark caves are formed 

 by the juxtaposition of the enormous masses. 



Early in the afternoon we passed a large party of white men, 

 encamped on the lava plain near one of the small streams. 

 Horses were tethered all around, and men were lolling about 

 playing games of cards, and loitering through the camp, as 



