hunters, and has very much the flavor of Alleghany mountain sheep. I have
frequently seen the horns of this animal three feet long and seventeen
inches in circumference at the base, weighing eleven pounds. But two or
three of these were killed by our party at this place, and of these the
horns were small. The use of these horns seems to be to protect the
animal's head in pitching down precipices to avoid pursuing wolves--their
only safety being in places where they cannot be followed. The bones are
very strong and solid, the marrow occupying but a very small portion of
the bone in the leg, about the thickness of a rye straw. The hair is
short, resembling the winter color of our common deer, which it nearly
approaches in size and appearance. Except in the horns, it has no
resemblance whatever to the goat. The longitude of this place, resulting
from chronometer and lunar distances, and an occultation of Arietis, is
107 deg. 13' 29", and the latitude 42 deg. 33' 27". One of our horses, which had
given out, we left to receive strength on the island, intending to take
her, perhaps, on our return.

31st.--This morning we left the course of the Platte, to cross over to the
Sweet Water. Our way, for a few miles, lay up the sandy bed of a dry
creek, in which I found several interesting plants. Leaving this, we
wended our way to the summit of the hills, of which the peaks are here
eight hundred feet above the Platte, bare and rocky. A long and gradual
slope led from these hills to the Sweet Water, which we reached in fifteen
miles from Goat Island. I made an early encampment here, in order to give
the hunters an opportunity to procure a supply from several bands of
buffalo, which made their appearance in the valley near by. The stream is
about sixty feet wide, and at this time twelve to eighteen inches deep,
with a very moderate current.

The adjoining prairies are sandy, but the immediate river bottom is a good