Rocky Mountains. 483 



at least to most persons. A negro in the employment cf the 

 Missouri fur company, and living at fort Lisa, was often 

 heard to complain of the intolerable scent of the squaws; in 

 like manner the Indians find the odour of a white man, ex- 

 tremely offensive. In the language of the Peruvian Indians, 

 are three words to express their idea of the smell of the 

 European, the Aboriginal American, and the negro- They 

 call the first Pezuna, the second Posco, and the third Grajo.\ 



After passing the range of hills, above mentioned, the sur- 

 face subsides nearly to a plain, having however, manifestly a 

 greater inclination than below. The velocity of the current 

 of the river is much increased, the bed narrower, and the banks 

 more precipitous. We passed several extensive tracts nearly 

 destitute of vegetation. The surface of these consisted en- 

 tirely of coarse sand and gravel, with here there an insulated 

 mass of clay, highly impregnated with salt, and gnawed and 

 licked into various singular shapes, exhibiting the forms of 

 massive insulated columns, huge buttresses, prominent an- 

 gles and profound excavations, fortuitously mingled, and 

 which are now gradually diminishing, under the action of 

 the cause which produced them. The present surface upon 

 which they repose, seems to be a stratum of a different earth, 

 which does not afford the condiment so attractive to the ani- 

 mals; the consequence is that the licking and chewing, prin- 

 cipally, heretofore affecting the surface, on which the ani- 

 mal stood, is now directed against the upright portions of 

 this singular grand excavation, and most remarkable of all 

 known salt licks. 



Some extensive portions of the immediate bottom land, 



tants, he adds, " These dwellings are as hot as stoves, where the Indians 

 sleep and sweat all night; yet I never felt any ill unsavory smell in their 

 cabins, whereas should we live in our houses as they do, we should be poi- 

 soned with our own nastiness; which confirms the Indians to be, as they 

 really are, some of the sweetest people in the world." New Voyage to 

 Carolina, p. 177. London, 4to. 1709. 



f See Humboldt's New Spain, i, p. 184. 



