THE MISSOURI RIVER JOURNALS 



79 



portrait is very successful, notwithstanding her extreme 

 restlessness. After dinner Harris, Bell, and I started on 

 foot, and walked about four miles from the fort; the day 

 was hot, and horseflies and mosquitoes pretty abundant, 

 but we trudged on, though we saw nothing; we had gone 

 after Rabbits, the tracks of which had been seen previ- 

 ously. We walked immediately near the foot of the clay 

 hills which run from about a mile from and above the fort 

 to the Lord knows where. We first passed one ravine 

 where we saw some very curious sandstone formations, 

 coming straight out horizontally from the clay banks 

 between which we were passing; others lay loose and de- 

 tached; they had fallen down, or had been washed out 

 some time or other. All were compressed in such a 

 manner that the usual form was an oval somewhat de- 

 pressed in the centre ; but, to give you some idea of these 

 formations, I will send you a rough sketch. Those in the 

 banks extended from five to seven feet, and the largest 

 one on the ground measured a little less than ten feet. 

 Bell thought they would make good sharpening-stones, 

 but I considered them too soft. They were all smooth, 

 and the grain was alike in all. We passed two much 

 depressed and very broken ravines, and at last reached 

 the Rabbit ground. Whilst looking at the wild scenery 

 around, and the clay hills on the other side of the Mis- 

 souri opposite the fort, I thought that if all these were 

 granite, the formation and general appearance would re- 

 semble the country of Labrador, though the grandeur and 

 sublimity of the latter far surpass anything that I have 

 seen since I left them forever. I must not forget to say 

 that on our way we passed through some grasses with 

 bearded shafts, so sharp that they penetrated our mocca- 

 sins and entered our feet and ankles, and in the shade of 

 a stumpy ash-tree we took off our moccasins and drew the 

 spines out. The Lazuli Finches and Arctic Bluebirds 

 sang in our view ; but though we beat all the clumps of 



