16 Expedition to the 



the foot of the primitive mountains, having on our left hand 

 some of the sandstone ridges and hills already described. 

 On our right the brown and naked granite rose in shapeless 

 masses far above our heads, and, occasionally, as we passed 

 the deep fissures worn by the descending torrents, we caught 

 a view of the distant summits, glittering with perpetual frost. 

 In the vallies, towards the east, were many lofty insular 

 hills with perpendicular sides and level table-like summits. 

 They are sometimes disposed in parallel but interrupted 

 ranges, and sometimes irregularly scattered without any ap- 

 pearance of order. In every instance they appeared to 

 be the remains of extensive beds of sandstone, portions of 

 which had been preserved from disintegration while the 

 contiguous parts had crumbled down and been washed away. 

 One of these singular hills, of which Mr. Seymour has 

 preserved a sketch, was called the Castle rock, on account of 

 its striking resemblance to a work of art. It has columns, 

 and porticoes, and arches, and, when seen from a distance, 

 has an astonishingly regular and artificial appearance. On 

 approaching it, the base is found enveloped in an extensive 

 accumulation of soil intermixed with fragments of rapidly- 

 disintegrating sandstone. The lower portions of the perpen- 

 dicular sides of the rock are of loosely cemented pudding- 

 stone, but the summit is capped by a compact and somewhat 

 durable sandstone. This is surmouted by a scanty soil in 

 which grow a few stinted oaks and junipers. 

 . We had seen nq bisons for several days, but in the after- 

 noon a few were discovered at a distance from our course, 

 and three men despatched in pursuit of them. They were 

 grazing on the side of a hill near a mile distant. As provi- 

 sions had become scarce, we watched the progress of the 

 hunters with some anxiety. At length the firing commenc- 

 ed, and we enjoyed a distinct, though distant view, of the 

 animating spectacle of a bison hunt. In a short time the 

 hunters joined us, their horses loaded with meat. 



