ew,
and then quietly resume their feeding.... Game is in such plenty that
it has become a mere amusement to supply the party with provisions." In
the months that followed, the men carried a blessed memory of that
abundance.

As they drew near to the foothills, navigation became more and more
difficult. The river lost the sullen, muddy aspect of its lower course,
where it flowed between low, sandy banks, and took the character of a
mountain stream, walled with rock and filled with dangers. Then it was
that the cottonwood skiffs betrayed their weaknesses. Accidents were of
almost daily occurrence; and on one occasion the boat containing the
instruments and papers was nearly lost. They were then more than two
thousand miles from any place where such a loss could have been
repaired. To go on would have been idle, without means for making
accurate observations; they would have been obliged to turn back. In
the face of this perpetual threat, they had no resource but to take
their chances with luck; with the best they could do, they could not
adequately safeguard themselves against calamity. For the time being,
at least, they were rank fatalists.

On Sunday, May 26th, Captain Lewis left camp on foot, ascended to the
summit of a ridge of hills near the river, and from the height had his
first glimpse of the distant ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This was
about a year and a half before Pike's discovery. The journal entry for
that day comes near to showing emotion:--

"While I viewed these mountains I felt a secret pleasure in thus
finding myself so near the head of the hitherto conceived boundless
Missouri; but when I reflected on the difficulties which this snowey
barrier would most probably throw in my way to the Pacific, and the
sufferings and hardships of myself and party in them, it in some
measure counterballanced the joy I had felt in the first moments in
which I gazed on them; but as I have always held it a crime to
anticipate evils I will believe it a good comfortable road until I am
compelled to believe differently."

Progress grew increasingly hard. Rapids were numerous, over which the
boats could not be urged with oars; so the men were compelled to walk
upon the banks, drawing the craft with tow-lines. These lines were made
mostly of elk-skin, which became softened and rotted by the water and
often broke under the strain, causing many accidents of a trying and
serious nature. The banks were sometimes so rocky an