on these carcasses were very fat, and so gentle
that one of them was killed with an espontoon."(1)

(1) A short spear.

The dryness and purity of the air roused the admiration of the
explorers, who noticed that the woodwork of the cases of their
instruments shrank, and the joints opened, although the wood was old and
perfectly seasoned. A tablespoonful of water, exposed to the air in
an open saucer, would wholly evaporate in thirty-six hours, when the
thermometer did not mark higher than the "Temperate" point at the
warmest hour of the day. Contrary to their expectations, they had not
yet met with any Indians, although they saw many signs of their having
recently been in that vicinity. The journal says:

"In the course of the day (May 30) we passed several encampments of
Indians, the most recent of which seemed to have been evacuated about
five weeks since; and, from the several apparent dates, we supposed
that they were formed by a band of about one hundred lodges, who were
travelling slowly up the river. Although no part of the Missouri from
the Minnetarees to this place exhibits signs of permanent settlements,
yet none seem exempt from the transient visits of hunting-parties. We
know that the Minnetarees of the Missouri extend their excursions on the
south side of the river as high as the Yellowstone, and the Assiniboins
visit the northern side, most probably as high as Porcupine River. All
the lodges between that place and the Rocky Mountains we supposed to
belong to the Minnetarees of Fort de Prairie, who live on the south fork
of the Saskashawan."

The party now entered upon some of the natural wonders of the West,
which have since become famous. Their journal says:--

"These hills and river-cliffs exhibit a most extraordinary and romantic
appearance. They rise in most places nearly perpendicular from the
water, to the height of between two hundred and three hundred feet, and
are formed of very white sandstone, so soft as to yield readily to the
impression of water, in the upper part of which lie imbedded two or
three thin horizontal strata of white freestone, insensible to the rain;
on the top is a dark rich loam, which forms a gradually ascending plain,
from a mile to a mile and a half in extent, when the hills again rise
abruptly to the height of about three hundred feet more. In trickling
down the cliffs, the water has worn the soft sandstone into a thousand
grotesque figures, among which, with a