ACROSS THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, ETC. l-'j? 



along the bank of the river, tolerably level, but often rocky, 

 so that very rapid travelling is inadmissible. The mallard duck, 

 the widgeon, and the green-winged teal are tolerably abundant in 

 the little estuaries of the river. Our men have killed several, but 

 they are poor, and not good. 



Gth. — We have observed to-day several high, conical stacks 

 of drift-wood near tlie river. These are the graves of the 

 Indians. Some of these cemeteries are of considerable extent, 

 and probably contain a great number of bodies. I had the 

 curiosity to peep into several of them, and even to remove some 

 of the coverings, but found nothing to compensate for the trouble. 

 We bought some salmon from Indians whom we met to day, 

 which, with our flour and tallow, enable us to live very 

 comfortably. 



nth. — We frequently fall in with large bands of Indian horses. 

 There are among them some very beautiful animals, but they are 

 generally almost as wild as deer, seldom permitting an approach to 

 within a hundred yards or more. They generally have owners, 

 as we observe upon many of them strange hieroglyphic looking 

 characters, but there are no doubt some that have never known 

 the bit, and will probably always roam the prairie uncontrolled. 

 When the Indians wish to catch a horse from one of these bands, 

 they adopt the same plan pursued by the South Americans 

 for taking the wild animal. 



8th. — Our road to-day has been less monotonous, and much 

 more hilly than hitherto. Along the bank of the river, are high 

 mountoins, composed of basaltic rock and sand, and along their 

 bases enormous drifts of the latter material. Large, rocky pro- 

 montories connected with these mountains extend into the river 

 to considerable distances, and numerous islands of the same dot 

 its surface. 



We arc visited frequently as wc travel along, by Indians of 



