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eighteen miles, to the mouth of a large fork of 

 the river, which comes from the north, and en- 

 camped on a plain. At this encampment, the 

 snow-topped mountains appeared to be at no great 

 distance. Here we found beaver in plenty ,* and 

 as the fur had become good, we began to trap 

 them. One of the Indians killed a beautiful 

 wild cat, about one half larger than the house cat. 

 Its fur was long and exceedingly fine, covered 

 with black and white spots on a bright yellow 

 ground. Its belly was pale yellow, and its tail 

 about two inches long. It is the richest looking 

 skin I ever saw. On the 28th, we killed two 

 grizzly bears. In the evening we had a severe 

 storm of hail, and the hail stones which fell were 

 larger than musket balls. Here the mountain 

 sheep are plenty, but they keep mostly on high 

 ridges and the tops of the inaccessible mountains* 

 On the 30th, moved further up the river, and ] 

 caught a number of the lynx, marten and ermine.: 

 The ermine is a beautiful little animal, as white as 

 milk, except the tip of the tail, which is of a jet: 

 black. On the 2d of September, had a heavy 

 shower of snow, after which we returned to our 

 encampment of the 28th of August. We contin-i 

 ued trapping here until the 12 th, when we crossed 

 the river, took a branch which comes from thei 

 southward, and followed it up about six miles,; 

 where we encamped in a small bottom. Here we 

 found fur plenty, and caught a number of beaver* 

 otter, marten, ermine, and two spotted wild cats. 



