carrying their furs to the Missouri; but this season, as has already been
mentioned, on both forks of the Platte they had entirely failed. The
greater number of the springs, and many of the streams, which made halting
places for the _voyageurs_, had been dried up. Everywhere the soil
looked parched and burnt, the scanty yellow grass crisped under the foot,
and even the hardest plants were destroyed by want of moisture. I think it
necessary to mention this fact, because to the rapid evaporation in such
an elevated region, nearly five thousand feet above the sea, almost wholly
unprotected by timber, should be attributed much of the sterile appearance
of the country, in the destruction of vegetation, and the numerous saline
efflorescences which covered the ground. Such I afterwards found to be the
case.

I was informed that the roving villages of Indians and travelers had never
met with difficulty in finding abundance of grass for their horses; and
now it was after great search that we were able to find a scanty patch of
grass sufficient to keep them from sinking; and in the course of a day or
two they began to suffer very much. We found none to-day at noon; and, in
the course of our search on the Platte, came to a grove of cottonwood,
where some Indian village had recently encamped. Boughs of the cottonwood
yet green covered the ground, which the Indians had cut down to feed their
horses upon. It is only in the winter that recourse is had to this means
of sustaining them; and their resort to it at this time was a striking
evidence of the state of the country. We followed their example, and
turned our horses into a grove of young poplars. This began to present
itself as a very serious evil, for on our animals depended altogether the
further prosecution of our journey.

Shortly after we had left this place, the scouts came galloping in with
the alarm of Indians. We turned in immediately towards the river, which