They all, however, appeared to gain patience and hardihood as they
proceeded, and for fourteen days kept steadily on, making a distance
of about three hundred and thirty miles. For some days, the range of
mountains which had been near to their wigwam kept parallel to the river
at no great distance, but at length subsided into hills. Sometimes
they found the river bordered with alluvial bottoms, and groves with
cotton-wood and willows; sometimes the adjacent country was naked and
barren. In one place it ran for a considerable distance between rocky
hills and promontories covered with cedar and pitch pines, and peopled
with the bighorn and the mountain deer; at other places it wandered
through prairies well stocked with buffaloes and antelopes. As they
descended the course of the river, they began to perceive the ash and
white oak here and there among the cotton-wood and willow; and at length
caught a sight of some wild horses on the distant prairies.
The weather was various; at one time the snow lay deep; then they had
a genial day or two, with the mildness and serenity of autumn; then,
again, the frost was so severe that the river was sufficiently frozen to
bear them upon the ice.
During the last three days of their fortnight's travel, however, the
face of the country changed.
Pages:
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572