sheds, which are rough timber tunnels built up to protect the rails from
the great drifts arising out of heavy snowstorms. At the highest point
is a pyramid, commemorating a certain Mr. Oakes Ames, which looked 20
feet high and very near the line; it is however, 75 feet high and
half-a-mile off. The air is so rarefied that distances are most
deceiving.

As our descent proceeds, we catch sight, in the distance, of a herd of
wild elk, and where these rolling prairies have better herbage, we see
herds of horses with ranch buildings here and there. We pass the ranch
of William Cody, who, by virtue of his being a Senator of the State of
Nebraska, is called Honourable, but who was known in London, a short
time ago, at Mr. Whitley's "Wild West" show as "Buffalo Bill." As we
pass Fort Laraime, one of the forts erected by the United States
Government as a protection against the Indians, I was told some stories
of Cody's exploits against the Indians. In former days, emigrants
traversing these great prairies to found a home in this Wild West, were
often harassed by Indians, and the soldiers at the fort had to protect
them. Buffalo Bill has been in many a skirmish, and, if rumour is true,
many redskins have succumbed to him; the Government took counsel with
him in all Indian difficulties in that part of the country, and the day
before I passed his ranch he had been sent for by the authorities that
they might confer with him as to the outbreak which then existed, and
which cost "Sitting Bull" his life. We passed a house cut clean in two
by the wind, great herds of horses and cattle, beautiful specimens of
the bald and other eagles and vultures, some deer, and a very fine grey
wolf about the size of a Newfoundland dog. The distant mountain
scenery at times is very grand, and everywhere snow-capped. The air is
very pure and keen. I much enjoyed the society of two fellow travellers
over this part of my journey, Mr. Lee, of General Lee's family, of