me excavations here, there have been found the bones and
teeth of the American elephant, and with them a bone made into a wedge,
such as the Indians here use in splitting wood; which seems to imply
great antiquity for their race.

AUGUST 10, 1870.

We have a new China boy, Ah Sing, who is very impulsive and
enthusiastic, quite a different character from the unemotional Wing. He
is almost too zealous to learn. R. began to teach him his letters, to
make him contented. I hear him now repeating them over and over to
himself, with great emphasis, while he is washing the clothes. He is so
big and strong, that they come out with great force. A few nights ago,
after everybody had gone to bed, he came down past our room, and went
into the kitchen. R. followed him to see what was the matter, and, as
the boy looked a little wild, thought perhaps he was going into a fit.
He had seized the primer, and was flourishing it about and
gesticulating with it; and finally R., who has a wonderful faculty for
comprehending the Chinese, divined that he had gone to bed without a
lesson, and could not sleep until he had learned something.

XI.

Rocky-mountain Region.--Railroad from Columbia River to Puget
Sound.--Mountain Changes.--Mixture of Nationalities.--Journey to
Coos Bay, Oregon.--Mountain Canyon.--A Branch of the
Coquille.--Empire City.--Myrtle Grove.--Yaquina.--Genial Dwellers
in the Woods.--Our Unknown Neighbor.--Whales.--Pet Seal and
Eagle.--A Mourning Mother.--Visit from Yeomans.

PORT TOWNSEND, November 18, 1872.

We had quite a pleasant journey back from the East, and saw some things
we must have passed in the night on our trip thither. About the
Rocky-mountain region we saw what appeared to be immense ruins; but they
were really natural formations, resembling old castles, with ramparts
and battlements and towers. I could not help feeling as if they must
belong to some gigantic extinct race. On the wide, solitary plains they
were most imposing.

At the Laramie Plains, where we stopped a while, we were so blinded by
the glittering crystals of quartz and specks of mica, we could well
understand why the name of the Glittering Mountains was first given to
the Rocky-mountain Range.

We saw at Cheyenne a most curious cactus. Outside, it was only a green,
prickly ball; inside, was a deep nest, filled with a cluster of pink
blossoms.

We looked into the beautiful Blue Canyon--blue wit