ng the evening travelled over a
mountainous country covered with sharp fragments of flint rock; these
bruised and cut their feet very much, but were scarcely less troublesome
than the prickly-pear of the open plains, which have now become so
abundant that it is impossible to avoid them, and the thorns are so
strong that they pierce a double sole of dressed deer-skin; the best
resource against them is a sole of buffalo-hide in parchment (that
is, hard dried). At night they reached the river much fatigued, having
passed two mountains in the course of the day, and travelled thirty
miles. Captain Clark's first employment, on lighting a fire, was to
extract from his feet the thorns, which he found seventeen in number."

The dung of the buffalo, exposed for many years to the action of sun,
wind, and rain, became as dry and firm as the finest compressed hay.
As "buffalo chips," in these treeless regions, it was the overland
emigrants' sole dependence for fuel.

The explorers now approached a wonderful pass in the Rocky Mountains
which their journal thus describes:

"A mile and a half beyond this creek (Cottonwood Creek) the rocks
approach the river on both sides, forming a most sublime and
extraordinary spectacle. For five and three quarter miles these rocks
rise perpendicularly from the water's edge to the height of nearly
twelve hundred feet. They are composed of a black granite near their
base, but from the lighter color above, and from the fragments, we
suppose the upper part to be flint of a yellowish brown and cream color.

"Nothing can be imagined more tremendous than the frowning darkness
of these rocks, which project over the river and menace us with
destruction. The river, one hundred and fifty yards in width, seems to
have forced its channel down this solid mass; but so reluctantly has it
given way, that during the whole distance the water is very deep even at
the edges, and for the first three miles there is not a spot, except
one of a few yards, in which a man could stand between the water and the
towering perpendicular of the mountain. The convulsion of the passage
must have been terrible, since at its outlet there are vast columns
of rock torn from the mountain, which are strewed on both sides of the
river, the trophies, as it were, of its victory. Several fine springs
burst out from the chasms of the rock, and contribute to increase the
river, which has a strong current, but, very fortunately, we were able