Rocky Mountains. 125 



mosphere in the lower and more fertile portions of the Mis- 

 sissippi basin. If the wide plains of the Platte, the upper 

 Arkansa, and the Red river of Louisiana, should ever be- 

 come the seat of a permanent civilized population, the dis- 

 eases most incident to such a population, will probably be 

 fevers attended with pulmonary and pleuritic inflammations, 

 rheumatism, scrofula, and consumption. It is true that few 

 if any instances of pulmonary consumption, occur among the 

 Indians of this region; the same remark is probably as true 

 of the original native population of New York and New Eng- 

 land. 



Though much rain fell during this storm, it was so rapid- 

 ly absorbed by the soil, that little runnmg water was to be 

 seen. The bed of the river was found smooth and unobstruct- 

 ed, and afforded us for several days the most convenient 

 path for travelling. As we descended, we found it to expand 

 in some places to a width of near two miles. Bisons became 

 astonishingly numerous, and in the middle of the day count- 

 less thousands of them were seen, coming in from every 

 quarter to the st?>gnant pools, which filled the most depress- 

 ed places in the channel of the river. The water of these 

 was of course too filthy to be used in cooking our meat, and 

 though sometimes compelled to drink it, we found little al- 

 leviation to our thirst. At our encampments we were able 

 to furnish ourselves with water of a better quality by digging 

 in the sand, where we seldom failed to meet with a supply 

 at a few feet from the surface. 



On the 1 7th we halted in the middle of the day to hunt, 

 as, although we had killed several bisons on our marches of 

 the preceding days, none of them had been found in good 

 condition. The flesh of the bulls in the months of August 

 and September, is poor and ill-flavoured; but these are much 

 more easily killed than the cows, being less vigilant, and 

 sometimes suffering themselves to be overtaken by the hun- 

 ter without attempting to escape. As the herds of cows were 



