QT [174] 
The whole idea of such a desert, and such a people, is a novelty in our 
country, and excites Asiatic, not American ideas. Interior basins, with 
their own systems of lakes and rivers, and often sterile, are common enough 
in Asia; people still in the elementary state of families, living in deserts, 
with no other occupation than the mere animal search for food, may still 
be seen in that ancient quarter of the globe; but in America such things 
are new and strange, unknown and unsuspected, and discredited when 
related. But I flatter myself that what is discovered, though not enou 
to satisfy curiosity, is sufficient to excite it, and that subsequent exploratio 
will complete what has been commenced. 
his account of the Great Basin, it’ will be remembered, belongs to the 
Alta California, and has no application to Oregon, whose capabilities may 
justify a separate remark. Referring to my journal for particular descrip- 
tions, and for sectional boundaries between good and bad districts, I can 
only say, in general and comparative terms, that, in that branch of agri- 
culture which implies the cultivation of grains and staple crops, it would 
be inferior to the Atlantic States, though many parts.are superior for wheat; 
while in the rearing of flocks and herds it would claim a high place. Its 
grazing capabilities are great; and even in the indigenous grass now the’ 
frontier, and extend to the Pacific ocean. East of the Rocky mountains, 
it is the short curly grass,on which the buffalo delight to feed, (whence its 
name of buffalo,} and which is still good when dry and apparently dead. 
West of those mountains it is a larger growth, in clusters, and hence called 
h grass,and which has a second or fall growth. Plains and mountains 
both exhibit them; and I have seen good pasturage at an elevation of ten 
thousand feet. In this spontaneous product, the trading or travelling cara- 
vans can find subsistence for their animals; and in military operations any 
number of cavalry may be moved, and any number of cattle may be driven; 
and thus men and horses be supported on long expeditions, and even in 
winter in the sheltered situations. ee Be 
Commercially, the value of the Oregon country must be great, washed 
as it is by the north Pacific ocean—fronting Asia—producing many of the 
elements of commerce—mild and healthy in its climate—and as 
it naturally will,a thoroughfare for the Hast India and China trade. 
Turning our faces once more eastward, on the morning of the 27th we 
left the Utah lake, and continued for two days to ascend the Spanish fork, 
them 
; r. é eae 
At our encampment on the evening of the 28th, near the head of one 
of the branches we had ascended, strata of bituminous limestone were 
displayed in an escarpment on the river bluffs, in which were contained a 
variety of fossil shells of new ies. nes ts Sea 
It wil be remembered, that iat contin this ridge about 120 miles to the 
northward in August last, strata of fossiliferous rock were discovered, which 
