of earth of a crimson colour,
intermixed with stratas of slate, either black or of a red resembling
brick. The following six and three quarter miles brought us to an
assemblage of islands, having passed four at different distances; and
within the next five miles we met the same number of islands, and
encamped on the north after making nineteen and a half miles. The
current of the river was strong and obstructed, as indeed it has been
for some days by small rapids or ripples which descend from one to three
feet in the course of one hundred and fifty yards, but they are rarely
incommoded by any fixed rocks, and therefore, though the water is rapid,
the passage is not attended with danger. The valley through which the
river passes is like that of yesterday; the nearest hills generally
concealing the most distant from us; but when we obtain a view of them
they present themselves in amphitheatre, rising above each other as they
recede from the river till the most remote are covered with snow. We saw
many otter and beaver to-day: the latter seem to contribute very much to
the number of islands and the widening of the river. They begin by
damming up the small channels of about twenty yards between the islands;
this obliges the river to seek another outlet, and as soon as this is
effected the channel stopped by the beaver becomes filled with mud and
sand. The industrious animal is then driven to another channel which
soon shares the same fate, till the river spreads on all sides, and cuts
the projecting points of the land into islands. We killed a deer and saw
great numbers of antelopes, cranes, some geese, and a few redheaded
ducks. The small birds of the plains and the curlew are still abundant:
we saw but could not come within gunshot of a large bear. There is much
of the track of elk but none of the animals themselves, and from the
appearance of bones and old excrement, we suppose that buffaloe have
sometimes strayed into the valley, though we have as yet seen no recent
sign of them. Along the water are a number of snakes, some of a brown
uniform colour, others black, and a third speckled on the abdomen, and
striped with black and a brownish yellow in the back and sides. The
first, which are the largest, are about four feet long; the second is of
the kind mentioned yesterday, and the third resembles in size and
appearance the garter-snake of the United States. On examining the teeth
of all these several kinds we found them f