or a great part of which, long residence had made him familiar. In a few
miles we reached the Red Buttes, a famous landmark in this country, whose
geological composition is red sandstone, limestone, and calcareous
sandstone and pudding-stone.

The river here cuts its way through a ridge; on the eastern side of it are
the lofty escarpments of red argillaceous sandstone, which are called the
Red Buttes. In this passage the stream is not much compressed or pent up,
there being a bank of considerable though variable breadth on either side.
Immediately on entering, we discovered a band of buffalo. The hunters
failed to kill any of them; the leading hunter being thrown into a ravine,
which occasioned some delay, and in the mean time the herd clambered up
the steep face of the ridge. It is sometimes wonderful to see these
apparently clumsy animals make their way up and down the most broken
precipices. We halted to noon before we had cleared this passage, at a
spot twelve miles distant from _Cache_ camp, where we found an
abundance of grass. So far, the account of the Indians was found to be
false. On the banks were willow and cherry trees. The cherries were not
yet ripe, but in the thickets were numerous fresh tracks of the grizzly
bear, which are very fond of this fruit. The soil here is red, the
composition being derived from the red sandstone. About seven miles
brought us through the ridge, in which the course of the river is north
and south. Here the valley opens out broadly, and high walls of the red
formation present themselves among the hills to the east. We crossed here
a pretty little creek, an affluent of the right bank. It is well timbered
with cottonwood in this vicinity, and the absinthe has lost its shrub-like
character, and becomes small trees six and eight feet in height, and
sometimes eight inches in diameter. Two or three miles above this creek we
made our encampment, having traveled to-day twenty-five miles. Our animals
fared well here, as there is an abundance of grass. The river bed is made