thunder and lightning, and squalls of rain; these were blown against us
with violence by the wind; and, halting, we turned our backs to the storm
until it blew over. Antelope were tolerably frequent, with a large gray
hare; but the former were shy, and the latter hardly worth the delay of
stopping to shoot them; so, as the evening drew near, we again had
recourse to an old bull, and encamped at sunset on an island in the
Platte.

We ate our meat with a good relish this evening, for we were all in fine
health, and had ridden nearly all of a long summer's day, with a burning
sun reflected from the sands. My companions slept rolled up in their
blankets, and the Indians lay in the grass near the fire; but my sleeping-
place generally had an air of more pretension. Our rifles were tied
together near the muzzle, the butts resting on the ground, and a knife
laid on the rope, to cut away in case of an alarm. Over this, which made a
kind of frame, was thrown a large India-rubber cloth, which we used to
cover our packs. This made a tent sufficiently large to receive about half
of my bed, and was a place of shelter for my instruments; and as I was
careful always to put this part against the wind, I could lie here with a
sensation of satisfied enjoyment, and hear the wind blow, and the rain
patter close to my head, and know that I should be at least half dry.
Certainly I never slept more soundly. The barometer at sunset was 26.010,
thermometer at 81 deg., and cloudy; but a gale from the west sprang up with
the setting sun, and in a few minutes swept away every cloud from the sky.
The evening was very fine, and I remained up to take astronomical
observations, which made our position in latitude 40 deg. 51' 17", and
longitude 103 deg. 07' 00".

7th.--At our camp this morning, at six o'clock, the barometer was at
26.183, thermometer 69 deg., and clear, with a light wind from the southwest.