"13th.--To-day, about four o'clock, we reached Fort Laramie, where we were
cordially received. We pitched our camp a little above the fort, on the
bank of the Laramie river, in which the pure and clear water of the
mountain stream looked refreshingly cool, and made a pleasant contrast to
the muddy, yellow waters of the Platte."

I walked up to visit our friends at the fort, which is a quadrangular
structure, built of clay, after the fashion of the Mexicans, who are
generally employed in building them. The walls are about fifteen feet
high, surmounted with a wooden palisade, and form a portion of ranges of
houses, which entirely surround a yard of about one hundred and thirty
feet square. Every apartment has its door and window,--all, of course,
opening on the inside. There are two entrances, opposite each other, and
midway the wall, one of which is a large and public entrance; the other
smaller and more private--a sort of postern gate. Over the great entrance
is a square tower with loopholes, and, like the rest of the work, built of
earth. At two of the angles, and diagonally opposite each other, are large
square bastions, so arranged as to sweep the four faces of the walls.

This post belongs to the American Fur Company, and, at the time of our
visit, was in charge of Mr. Boudeau. Two of the company's clerks, Messrs.
Galpin and Kellogg, were with him, and he had in the fort about sixteen
men. As usual, these had found wives among the Indian squaws; and, with
the usual accompaniment of children, the place had quite a populous
appearance. It is hardly necessary to say, that the object of the
establishment is trade with the neighboring tribes, who, in the course of
the year, generally make two or three visits to the fort. In addition to
this, traders, with a small outfit, are constantly kept amongst them. The
articles of trade consist, on the one side, almost entirely of buffalo
robes; and, on the other, of blankets, calicoes, guns, powder and lead,