rity, to an amazing distance, where there are always flankers, of
both parties, ready to receive it. The ball seldom touches the ground;
but it is sometimes kept in the air, for hours, before either party can
gain the victory.

About ten miles above _Salt river_, the voyagers, on the 28th of April,
stopped at some islands where there were numerous roosts of passenger
pigeons; and, in about fifteen minutes, they knocked on the head, and
brought on board the boat, about three hundred. Mr. Pike, though he had
frequently heard of the fecundity of these birds, had never given credit
to it; but, he says, that the most fervid imagination cannot conceive
their numbers. The noise, which they made in the woods, was like the
continued roaring of the wind. The young ones were still in their
nests: these consisted only of small bunches of sticks; and their number
was such, that all the small trees were covered with them.

On the 30th of April, after an absence of eight months and twenty-two
days, Mr. Pike once more reached St. Louis in safety.

Fifteenth Day's Instruction.

WESTERN TERRITORY OF AMERICA.

_The river Missouri._

Previously to the commencement of the expedition commanded by Mr. Pike,
the government of the United States had directed arrangements to be made
for examining the Missouri, from its mouth to its source; thence
exploring the vast and dreary range of mountains, which form the highest
land in the centre of that part of the American continent; and
afterwards, of descending, by some one of the rivers which flow
westward, to the Pacific ocean. This formidable undertaking was
committed to captains Lewis and Clarke, two officers, in the American
army, who were, in every respect, qualified for the arduous duties which
it required; and who had, under their command, a party of forty-two
soldiers and boatmen. Its professed object was to ascertain the
possibility of opening an inland communication, between the Atlantic and
Pacific oceans; but the American government had also in view the
obtaining of information, respecting the country of Louisiana, which
they were desirous of possessing, and which has since been ceded to
them by France.

_Narrative of a voyage from St. Louis to the source of the Missouri.
From the travels of Captains_ LEWIS _and_ CLARKE.

The party having embarked in three boats, set out from St. Louis, on the
14th of May, 1804; and, for several days, they proceeded without
interruption