Rocky Mountains.. 191 



species appeared to be new ; several specimens were of the 

 genus Gasterosteus. 



15th. Mr. Zenoni, of the Fur Company, who departed 

 the twenty-seventh ultimo on a trading expedition, returned) 

 and remained with us last night. He and two men had as- 

 cended the Elk Horn about twenty-five miles higher than 

 Mr. Swift had been, but were not successful in finding any 

 Indians. And although they saw a few bisons and antelopes 

 and Elks, they were not so fortunate as to kill any game for 

 subsistence, excepting three turkeys ; so that they returned in 

 a state of considerable exhaustion, having been, for some 

 time, on an allowance of a little maize per day. He found 

 that the upper part of the Elk Horn had not frozen during 

 the severe weather, but still remained open. This circum- 

 stance seems to indicate the flow of a great quantity of 

 spring water, or water of a medium temperature, in that part 

 of the stream, requiring time to cool in its passage, before it 

 can congeal. 



19th. The sand is blown by the violence of the wind from 

 the sand bars of the river, so as to resemble a dense fog. 

 We have been hitherto very well supplied with fresh meat, 

 from game killed principally by Mr. Peale, who, on one 

 occasion, killed two deer at a single shot and with one ball, 

 but we are now reduced again to salt pork of a very inferior 

 quality. The party, with the exception of myself, continue 

 to enjoy good health. 



22nd. Messrs. Dougherty and Peale returned from a 

 hunt, having killed twelve bisons, out of a herd of several 

 hundreds they met with near Sioux river, and brought us 

 a seasonable supply of meat. They saw several herds of elk, 

 and yesterday they saw swans, geese, and ducks flying up 

 the river. A dinner and ball were given at Camp Missouri, 

 in honour of the day, to which our party were invited. 



24th. Mr. Graham and I endeavoured to ascertain the 

 rapidity of the current of this part of the Missouri, at the 



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