treated them to a taste of the bitter, as they had robbed him of the
sweets.

It is but justice to this gallant chief to say that he gave proofs of
having acquired some of the lights of civilization from his proximity
to the whites, as was evinced in his knowledge of driving a bargain. He
required hard cash in return for some corn with which he supplied the
worthy captain, and left the latter at a loss which most to admire, his
native chivalry as a brave, or his acquired adroitness as a trader.




3.

Wide prairies Vegetable productions Tabular hills--Slabs of
sandstone Nebraska or Platte River--Scanty fare--Buffalo
skulls--Wagons turned into boats--Herds of buffalo--Cliffs
resembling castles--The chimney--Scott's Bluffs Story
connected with them--The bighorn or ahsahta--Its nature and
habits--Difference between that and the "woolly sheep," or
goat of the mountains

FROM THE MIDDLE to the end of May, Captain Bonneville pursued a western
course over vast undulating plains, destitute of tree or shrub, rendered
miry by occasional rain, and cut up by deep water-courses where they had
to dig roads for their wagons down the soft crumbling banks and to throw
bridges across the streams. The weather had attained the summer heat;
the thermometer standing about fifty-seven degrees in the morning,
early, but rising to about ninety degrees at noon. The incessant