158 SPORT AND TRAVEL 



and then travelled along the course of the latter to 

 the point where it enters the Bighorn River. The 

 latter is a fine stream, from one hundred to two hun- 

 dred yards in width where we forded it. We here 

 saw a flock of wild geese, standing on a sand-bank, 

 but they were very wild, and we could not get within 

 rifle-shot of them, nor do I know to what species 

 they belonged. In the afternoon our route lay for 

 a short distance along the Bighorn River, and then 

 westwards up the course of one of its tributaries called 

 Grey Bull Creek, which has its source in the Rocky 

 Mountains. In the evening we camped on the bank 

 of this creek at a spot where the water had ceased to 

 run. There were, however, numerous pools in the 

 bed of the creek, but the water was not very palat- 

 able, being strongly impregnated with alkaline salts. 



During the two following days we travelled steadily 

 westwards across the Bighorn Basin. The heat was 

 very great, the dust very annoying, and the water very 

 bad. The whole of the Bighorn Basin is a most un- 

 inviting country to look at, being arid and barren to 

 an indescribable degree. During summer the heat 

 is very trying, and in the winter the treeless plains 

 are swept by icy winds. Except along the river 

 bottoms there is scarcely any vegetation whatever 

 save the ever-present sage bushes. In general ap- 

 pearance this district of America very much resembles 

 the driest and most arid portions of the Karroo in 

 the western province of the Cape Colony ; whilst some 



