Rocky Mountains. 501 



The detached party extended their walk about eight miles 

 without finding the apparent distance to the base of the 

 mountain had very considerably diminished. They had 

 unluckily forgotten to make any provision for dinner, 

 and now found themselves fatigued and hungry at the dis- 

 tance of eight miles from the encampment or the main body, 

 and so far from the mountains that it was evidently impos- 

 sible to reach them and return on the same day. They 

 therefore determined to relinquish the attempt, and Mr. 

 Peale was fortunate enough to kill a couple of curliews, 

 which were roasted and eaten without loss of time. 



Near the place of this halt they observed some small sand- 

 stone ridges similar to those on the Platte below, and col- 

 lected among other plants, the species of currant, [Ribes 

 aureum?~\ so often mentioned bv Lewis and Clark, the fruit 

 of which formed an important article of the subsistence of 

 their party while crossing the Rocky Mountains. 



They also saw about the shelvings of the sandstone rocks, 

 which formed for some distance the banks of the stream, in- 

 numerable nests of the cliff swallow, similar to those seen 

 on the Missouri. In returning to the camp by a different 

 route, they were much annoyed by the prickly pears, cover- 

 ing the ground so closely, that their feet were frequent- 

 ly wounded by the thorns, against which their mockasins 

 presented but a very inadequate protection. 



Having killed a young antelope, they re-crossed the Platte, 

 which was here about three feet deep, clear, and rapid, and 

 arrived at camp after sunset. 



Here a complete set of observations, for latitude, longi- 



* The ripened fruit of this widely distributed shrub is variable in co- 

 lour. In dry and exposed situations about the higher parts of the moun- 

 tains, we have met with the berries of a deep purple, while in the low 

 grounds, they are fulvous or nearly white. On the Cannon-ball creek we 

 saw also the common virgin's bower. Clematis vir<iinica, Ph. Lycopus. 

 europeus? Liatris graminefolia, Sium latifotium Oenothera biennis, and 

 other plants, common in the east, with the more rare Linum Levoisii, Ph. 

 and Eriogonum scriceum, &c. 



