yards of water; the deepest part of the channel is twelve feet, but the river is now falling and seems to be nearly at its summer height.

April 27. We left the mouth of the Yellowstone. From the point of junction a wood occupies the space between the two rivers, which at the distance of a mile come within two hundred and fifty yards of each other. There a beautiful low plain commences, and, widening as the rivers recede, extends along each of them for several miles, rising about half a mile from the Missouri into a plain twelve feet higher than itself. The low plain is a few inches above high water mark, and where it joins the higher plain there is a channel of sixty or seventy yards in width, through which a part of the Missouri when at its greatest height passes into the Yellowstone. At two and a half miles above the junction, and between the high and low plain, is a small lake two hundred yards wide, extending for a mile parallel with the Missouri along the edge of the upper plain. At the lower extremity of this lake, about four hundred yards from the Missouri, and twice that distance from the Yellowstone, is a situation highly eligible for a trading establishment; it is in the high plain which extends back three miles in width, and seven or eight miles in length, along the Yellowstone, where it is bordered by an extensive body of woodland, and along the Missouri with less breadth, till three miles above it is circumscribed by the hills within a space four yards in width. A sufficient quantity of limestone for building may easily be procured near the junction of the rivers; it does not lie in regular stratas, but is in large irregular masses, of a light colour, and apparently of an excellent quality. Game, too, is very abundant, and as yet quite gentle. Above all, its elevation recommends it as preferable to the land at the confluence of the rivers, which their variable channels may render

very insecure. The N. W. wind rose so high at eleven o'clock that we were obliged to stop till about four in the afternoon, when we proceeded till dusk. On the south a beautiful plain separates the two rivers, till at about six miles there is a timbered piece of low ground, and a little above it bluffs, where the country rises gradually from the river, the situations on the north more high and open. We encamped on that side, the wind, the sand which it raised, and the rapidity of the current having prevented our advancing more than eight miles; during the latter part of the day the river becomes wider and crowded with sandbars; although the game is in such plenty, we kill only what is necessary for our subsistence. For several days past we have seen great numbers of buffaloe lying dead along the shore, and some of them partly devoured by the wolves; they have either sunk through the ice during the winter, or been drowned in attempting to cross, or else, after crossing to some high bluff, found themselves too much exhausted either to ascend or swim back again, and perished for want of food; in this situation we found several small parties of them. There are geese, too, in abundance, and more bald-eagles than we have hitherto observed, the nests of these last being always accompanied by those of two or three magpies, who are their inseparable attendants.

CHAPTER VIII.

Unusual appearance of salt - The formidable character of the white bear Porcupine river described Beautiful appearance of the surrounding country Immense quantities of game- Milk river described - Extraordinary character of Bigdry river - An instance of uncommon tenacity of life in a white bear— Narrow escape of one of the party from that animal — A still more remarkable instance-Muscleshell river described.

SU

UNDAY, 28th. The day was clear and pleasant, and the wind having shifted to southeast we could employ our sails, and went twenty-four miles to a low ground on the north opposite to steep bluffs. The country on both sides. is much broken, the hills approaching nearer to the river, and forming bluffs, some of a white and others of a red colour, and exhibiting the usual appearances of minerals, and some burnt hills, though without any pumicestone; the salts are in greater quantities than usual, and the banks and sandbars are covered with a white incrustation like frost. The low grounds are level, fertile, and partially timbered, but are not so wide as for a few days past. The woods are now green, but the plains and meadows seem to have less verdure than those below; the only streams which we met to-day are two small runs on the north and one on the south, which rise in the neighbouring hills, and have very little water. At the distance of eighteen miles the Missouri makes a considerable bend to the southeast. The game is very abundant, the common and mule, or black-tailed, deer, elk, buffaloe, antelope, brown bear, beaver, and geese. The beaver have committed great devastation among the trees, one of which, nearly three feet in diameter, had been gnawed through by them.

Monday, 29th. We proceeded early, with a moderate

wind. Captain Lewis, who was on shore with one hunter, met about eight o'clock two white bears. Of the strength and ferocity of this animal the Indians had given us dreadful accounts; they never attack him but in parties of six or eight persons, and even then are often defeated with the loss of one or more of the party. Having no weapons but bows and arrows, and the bad guns with which the traders supply them, they are obliged to approach very near to the bear, and as no wound except through the head or heart is mortal, they frequently fall a sacrifice if they miss their aim. He rather attacks than avoids a man, and such is the terror which he has inspired that the Indians who go in quest of him paint themselves and perform all the superstitious rites customary when they make war on a neighbouring nation. Hitherto those we had seen did not appear desirous of encountering us, but although to a skilful rifleman the danger is very much diminished, yet the white bear is still a terrible animal. On approaching these two, both Captain Lewis and the hunter fired and each wounded a bear; one of them made his escape; the other turned upon Captain Lewis and pursued him seventy or eighty yards, but being badly wounded he could not run so fast as to prevent him from reloading his piece, which he again aimed at him, and a third shot from the hunter brought him to the ground; he was a male, not quite full grown, and weighed about three hundred pounds; the legs are somewhat longer than those of the black bear, and the talons and tusks much larger and longer. The testicles are also placed much farther forward, and suspended in separate pouches from two to four inches asunder, while those of the black bear are situated back between the thighs and in a single pouch, like those of the dog; its colour is a yellowish brown, the eyes small, black, and piercing, the front of the fore legs near the feet is usually black, and the fur is finer, thicker,

and deeper than that of the black bear; add to which, it is a more furious animal, and very remarkable for the wounds which it will bear without dying.

We are surrounded with deer, elk, buffaloe, antelopes, and their companions the wolves, who have become more numerous and make great ravages among them. The hills are here much more rough and high, and almost overhang the banks of the river. There are greater appearances of coal than we have hitherto seen, the stratas of it being in some places six feet thick, and there are stratas of burnt earth, which are always on the same level with those of coal. In the evening, after coming twenty-five miles, we encamped at the entrance of a river which empties itself into a bend on the north side of the Missouri. This stream, which we called Martha's river, is about fifty yards wide, with water for fifteen yards; the banks are of earth, and steep though not high, and the bed principally of mud. Captain Clark, who ascended it for three miles, found that it continued of the same width, with a gentle current, and pursuing its course about north 30° west, through an extensive, fertile, and beautiful valley, but without a single tree. The water is clear, and has a brownish yellow tint; at this place the highlands, which yesterday and to-day had approached so near the river, became lower, and, receding from the water, left a valley seven or eight miles wide.

Tuesday, 30th. The wind was high from the north during last evening, and continued so this morning; we, however, continued, and found the river more winding than usual and with a number of sand islands and bars, on one of which last we encamped, at the distance of twenty-four miles. The low grounds are fertile and extensive, but with very little timber, and that cottonwood, very bad of its kind, being too small for planks, and broken and dead at the top and unsound in