g, attended
by one or two males, though some of the males are still solitary or
wander in parties of two over the plains, which the antelope invariably
prefers to the woodlands, and to which it always retreats if by accident
it is found straggling in the hills, confiding no doubt in its wonderful
fleetness. We also killed a few young geese, but as this game is small
and very incompetent to the subsistence of the party, we have forbidden
the men any longer to waste their ammunition on them. About four and a
half miles above Gass's creek, the valley in which we have been
travelling ceases, the high craggy cliffs again approach the river,
which now enters or rather leaves what appears to be a second great
chain of the Rocky mountains. About a mile after entering these hills or
low mountains we passed a number of fine bold springs, which burst out
near the edge of the river under the cliffs on the left, and furnished a
fine freestone water: near these we met with two of the worst rapids we
have seen since entering the mountains; a ridge of sharp pointed rocks
stretching across the river, leaving but small and dangerous channels
for the navigation. The cliffs are of a lighter colour than those we
have already passed, and in the bed of the river is some limestone which
is small and worn smooth, and seems to have been brought down by the
current. We went about a mile further and encamped under a high bluff on
the right opposite to a cliff of rocks, having made sixteen miles.

All these cliffs appeared to have been undermined by the water at some
period, and fallen down from the hills on their sides, the stratas of
rock sometimes lying with their edges upwards, others not detached from
the hills are depressed obliquely on the side next the river as if they
had sunk to fill up the cavity formed by the washing of the river.

In the open places among the rocky cliffs are two kinds of gooseberry,
one yellow and the other red. The former species was observed for the
first time near the falls, the latter differs from it in no respect
except in colour and in being of a larger size; both have a sweet
flavour, and are rather indifferent fruit.

Friday 26. We again found the current strong and the ripples frequent:
these we were obliged to overcome by means of the cord and the pole, the
oar being scarcely ever used except in crossing to take advantage of the
shore. Within three and three quarter miles we passed seven small
islands and