116 NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY 



On leaving the plain this morning, we struck into a defile 

 between some of the highest mountains we have yet seen. In a 

 short time we commenced ascending, and continued passing over 

 them, until late in the afternoon, when we reached a plain about 

 a mile in width, covered with excellent grass, and a delightful 

 cool stream flowing through the middle of it. Here we encamped, 

 having travelled twenty-seven miles. 



Our journey, to-day, has been particularly laborious. We 

 were engaged for several hours, constantly in ascending and 

 descending enormous rocky hills, with scarcely the sign of a 

 valley between them ; and some of them so steep, that our horses 

 were frequently in great danger of falling, by making a mis-step 

 on the loose, rolling stones. I thought the Black Hills, on the 

 Platte, rugged and difficult of passage, but they sink into insigni- 

 ficance when compared with these. 



We observed, on these mountains, large masses of greenstone, 

 and beautiful pebbles of chalcedony and fine agate ; the summits of 

 the highest are covered with snow. In the mountain passes, we 

 found an abundance of large, yellow currants, rather acid, but 

 exceedingly palatable to men who have been long living on ani- 

 mal food exclusively. We all ate heartily of them; indeed, 

 some of our people became so much attached to the bushes, that 

 we had considerable difiicultyto induce them to travel again. 



\Oth. — We commenced our march at seven this morning, pro- 

 ceeding up a narrow valley, bordering our encampment in a 

 north-easterly direction. The ravine soon widened, until it 

 became a broad, level plain, covered by the eternal " sage" 

 bushes, but was much less stony than usual. About mid-day, 

 we left the plain, and shaped our course over a spur of one of 

 the large mountains ; then taking a ravine, in about an hour we 

 came to the level land, and struck Goddin's creek again, late in 

 the afternoon. 



Our provision was all exhausted at breakfast, this morning, 



