Rocky Mountains. 141 



per day, to each man, and the disconthiuance of this small 

 allowance, was at first sensibly felt. We, however, became 

 gradually accustomed to the hunter's life in its utmost sim- 

 plicity, eating our bison or bear meat, without salt or condi- 

 ments of any kind, and substituting turkey or venison, both 

 of which we had in the greatest plenty, for bread. The few 

 hungry weeks we had spent about the sources of the river, 

 had taught us how to dispense with superfluous luxuries, pro- 

 vided the demands of nature could be satisfied. 



The inconveniences resulting from another cause, were 

 more serious. All our clothing had become so dirty, as to 

 be offensive both to sight and smell. Uniting in our own 

 persons, the professions of traveller, hostler, butcher, and 

 cook, sleeping on the ground by night, and being almost in- 

 cessantly on the march by day, it is not to be supposed, we 

 could give as much attention to personal neatness, as might 

 be wished. Notwithstanding this, we had kept ourselves in 

 comfortable condition, as long as we had met with water, fit 

 for washing our clothes. This had not now been the case 

 for some weeks. The sand of the river bed approaches in 

 character so near to a fluid, that it is in vain to search for, 

 or to attempt to produce any considerable inequalities on its 

 surface. The utmost we had been able to accomplish, when 

 we had found it necessary to dig for water, was to scoop a 

 a wide and shallow excavation, in the bottom of which a 

 very small quantity would collect, but not more than a pint 

 could be dipped up at a time, and since the water had ap- 

 peared above the sand, it was rare to find it more than an 

 inch or two in depth, and so turbid as to be unfit for use. 

 The excessive heat of the weather, aggravated the inconve- 

 nience resulting from the want of clean clothing, and we 

 were not without fears that our health might suffer. 



The common post oak, the white oak, and several other 

 species, with the gymnocladus, or coffee bean tree, the cer- 

 cis, and the black walnut, which indicate a soil of very con- 



