Journey from 
Fort Crocket 
to the South 
Fork 
— 132— 
next morning we reached the Snake River, and rested 
up a little. I still found in my food bag a little rice, 
whereof we cooked ourselves a thin soup. The other 
empty spaces in our stomachs we filled with wild cur- 
rants and bullberries that grew along the shores. The 
latter, also called rabbit berries, are the fruit of the 
Shephardia argentea, a large bush, whose leaves are 
shiny white on the under side. The red berries in ap- 
pearance and taste resemble currants, but were still 
quite unripe. Nevertheless they tasted famously. In 
the afternoon we got sight of some antelope, but they 
did not come within range. Our leader and Swiss 
usually rode on either side to hunt, while we marched 
slowly forward. As we reached towards evening 2 
creek, where we intended to camp, we suddenly heard 
the growl of a grizzly bear quite close by. My com- 
panions had no ambition to meddle with it; but I 
could not resist the temptation, and made toward the 
place whence the sound came. All around was high 
grass and thick bush, so that I could not see the bear. 
Of a sudden the beast started up only a few feet in 
front of me. I quickly raised my gun; the bear 
stopped short, and instantly disappeared in the tall 
grass. All this was the matter of a few seconds. I 
followed the track through the brush as far as my 
horse could press through, and tried to persuade my 
companions to beat the bush together on foot; but 
they showed no disposition that way. Meanwhile, 
the bear escaped across the river. When our leader 
rejoined us, we finally went into the thicket, but found 
