satisfactory view of those mountains
which close on the Missouri the passage to the Pacific. Four and a half
miles beyond this creek we came to the upper point of a small sand
island. At the distance of five miles between high bluffs, we passed a
very difficult rapid, reaching quite across the river, where the water
is deep, the channel narrow, and gravel obstructing it on each side: we
had great difficulty in ascending it, although we used both the rope and
the pole, and doubled the crews: this is the most considerable rapid on
the Missouri, and in fact the only place where there is a sudden
descent: as we were labouring over them, a female elk with its fawn swam
down through the waves, which ran very high, and obtained for the place
the name of the Elk Rapids. Just above them is a small low ground of
cottonwood trees, where, at twenty-two and a quarter miles we fixed our
encampment, and were joined by captain Lewis, who had been on the hills
during the afternoon.

The country has now become desert and barren: the appearances of coal,
burnt earth, pumicestone, salts, and quartz, continue as yesterday: but
there is no timber except the thinly scattered pine and spruce on the
summits of the hills, or along the sides. The only animals we have
observed are the elk, the bighorn, and the hare, common in this country.
In the plain where we lie are two Indian cabins made of sticks, and
during the last few days we have passed several others in the points of
timber on the river.

Monday, 27. The wind was so high that we did not start till ten o'clock,
and even then were obliged to use the line during the greater part of
the day. The river has become very rapid with a very perceptible
descent: its general width is about two hundred yards: the shoals too
are more frequent, and the rocky points at the mouth of the gullies more
troublesome to pass: great quantities of this stone lie in the river and
on its banks, and seem to have fallen down as the rain washed away the
clay and sand in which they were imbedded. The water is bordered by high
rugged bluffs, composed of irregular but horizontal stratas of yellow
and brown or black clay, brown and yellowish white sand, soft yellowish
white sandstone: hard dark brown freestone; and also large round kidney
formed irregular separate masses of a hard black ironstone, imbedded in
the clay and sand; some coal or carbonated wood also makes its
appearance in the cliffs, as do also its usual at