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THE MISSOURI RIVER JOURNALS 



27 



we neared the spot, he waved his tail, and moved off 

 briskly. On another occasion, a young bull that had just 

 landed at the foot of a very steep bluff was slaughtered 

 without difficulty; two shots were fired at it, and the poor 

 thing was killed by a rifle bullet. I was sorry, for we did 

 not stop for it, and its happy life was needlessly ended. 

 I saw near that spot a large Hawk, and also a very small 

 Tamias, or Ground Squirrel. Harris saw a Spermophile, 

 of what species none of us could tell. We have seen 

 many Elks swimming the river, and they look almost the 

 size of a well-grown mule. They stared at us, were fired 

 at, at an enormous distance, it is true, and yet stood still. 

 These animals are abundant beyond belief hereabouts. 

 We have seen much remarkably handsome scenery, but 

 nothing at all comparing with Catlin's descriptions; his 

 book must, after all, be altogether a humbug. Poor devil ! 

 I pity him from the bottom of my soul; had he studied, 

 and kept up to the old French proverb that says, " Bon 

 renomm^ vaut mieux que ceinture dor^," he might have 

 become an "honest man" — the quintessence of God's 

 works. We did hope to have reached L'Eau Bourbeux 

 (the Muddy River ^) this evening, but we are now fast 

 ashore, about six miles below it, about the same distance 

 that we have been told we vvere ever since shortly after 

 dinner. We have had one event : our boat caught fire, 

 and burned for a few moments near the stern, the effects 

 of the large, hot cirders coming from the chimney; but 

 it was almost immediately put out, thank God! Any 

 inattention, with aoou.. 10,000 lbs. of powder on board, 

 might have resulted ir a sad accident. We have decided 

 to write a short letter of thanks to our truly gentlemanly 

 captain, and to present him with a handsome six-barrelled 



;1 



' Present name of the stream which flows into the Missouri from the 

 north, in Buford Co. This is the last consideraljle affluent below the 

 mouth of the Yellowstone, and the one which Lewis and Clark called 

 White Earth River, by mistake. See last note. — E. C. 



