usurped by the _artemisia_ and other odoriferous plants, to whose
growth the sandy soil and dry air of this elevated region seem highly
favorable.

One of the prominent characteristics in the face of the country is the
extraordinary abundance of the _artemisias_. They grow everywhere--on
the hills, and over the river bottoms, in tough, twisted, wiry clumps;
and, wherever the beaten track was left, they rendered the progress of the
carts rough and slow. As the country increased in elevation on our advance
to the west, they increased in size; and the whole air is strongly
impregnated and saturated with the odor of camphor and spirits of
turpentine which belongs to this plant. This climate has been found very
favorable to the restoration of health, particularly in cases of
consumption; and possibly the respiration of air so highly impregnated
with aromatic plants may have some influence.

Our dried meat had given out, and we began to be in want of food; but one
of the hunters killed an antelope this evening, which afforded some
relief, although it did not go far among so many hungry men. At eight
o'clock at night, after a march of twenty-seven miles, we reached our
proposed encampment on the _Fer-a-Cheval_, or Horse-shoe creek. Here
we found good grass, with a great quantity of _prele_, which
furnished good food for our tired animals. This creek is well timbered,
principally with _liard amere_, and, with the exception of Deer
creek, which we had not yet reached, is the largest affluent of the right
bank between Laramie and the mouth of the Sweet Water.

23d.--The present year had been one of unparalleled drought, and
throughout the country the water had been almost dried up. By availing
themselves of the annual rise, the traders had invariably succeeded in