Rocky Mountains. 127 



ourselves to excess, if excess could be committed in the use 

 of such delicious and salutary fruit, and invited by the clean- 

 ness of the sand, and a refreshing shade, we threw ourselves 

 down, and slept away with unusual zest, a few of the hours 

 of a summer afternoon. 



Our hunters had been as successful as could be wished, 

 and at evening we assembled around a full feast of " marrow 

 bones," a treat whose value must forever remain unknown 

 to those who have not tried the adventurous life of the hun- 

 ter. We were often surprised to witness in ourselves a proof 

 of the facility, with which a part at least of the habits of the 

 savage could be adopted. Having been in several instances 

 compelled to practice a tedious abstinence, the return of 

 plenty found us well disposed to make amends for these tem- 

 porary privations, and we lingered almost involuntarily at 

 every meal, as if determined not only to make amends for 

 the deficiency of the past, but to secure so ample a supply 

 as would enable us to defy the future. 



The grapes and plums, so abundant in this portion of the 

 country, are eaten by turkies and black bears, and the plums 

 by wolves, as we conclude from observing plumstones in the 

 excrement of these animals. It is difficult to conceive whence 

 such numbers of predatory animals and birds, as exist in 

 every part of the country where the bisons are present, can 

 derive sufficient supplies for the sustenance of life; it is 

 indeed sufficiently evident, their existence is but a protrac- 

 tion of the sufferings of famine. 



The great flowering hibiscus is here a conspicuous and 

 highly ornamental plant, among the scattering trees in the 

 low ground. The occurrence of the black walnut for the first 

 time, since we left the Missouri, indicated a soil somewhat 

 adapted to the purposes of agriculture. Portions of the liver 

 valley, which are not covered with loose sand, have a red 

 soil, resulting from the disintegration of the prevailing rocks, 

 red sandstone and gypsum, intermixed with clay, and are 

 covered, with a dense growth of fine and nutritious grasses. 



