Rocky Mountains. 147 



withstanding the plenty we had enjoyed and the great num- 

 ber of animals we had killed we found it impossible, on ac- 

 count of the heat of the weather and the multiplicity of the 

 blowing flies, to keep a supply of meat for more than one 

 day. At evening they returned, having killed a large black 

 bear. The animal finding himself wounded had turned with 

 great fury upon the hunter, who, being alone, was compelled 

 to seek his safety by climbing into a tree. It is well known 

 that the black bear will sometimes turn upon his pursuers, 

 and this, it is probable, is more frequently the case at this 

 season than at any other, as they are now unincumbered 

 with that profusion of fat which, for a part of the year, ren- 

 ders them clumsy and inactive, and the males are, morover, 

 excited by that uncommon ferocity which belongs to this 

 season of their loves. 



We had observed that the sand-drifts, extending along all 

 that part of the river we had passed in the three last weeks, 

 were, almost exclusively on the northern bank. The country 

 we were now passing is too fertile and too closely covered 

 with vegetation, to admit the drifting of the sand, except from 

 the uncovered bed of the river; yet along the northern side 

 of the valley we frequently saw naked piles of sand, which 

 had been wafted to considerable distance by the winds. 

 From the position of these sand banks, as well as from our 

 experience, we were induced to believe that the high winds 

 of this region, are mostly from the south, at least during the 

 dry season. 



We left our encampment at half past five on the morning 

 of the 28th, and following the river, the aggregate of our 

 courses for the day was about east, arid the distance twenty- 

 one miles. Our last course led us out of the valley of the 

 river, and for a few miles across the open plain. Here 

 We passed a large and uncommonly beautiful village of the 

 prairie marmots, covering an area of about a mile square, 

 having a smooth surface and slopmg almost imperceptibly 



