soil, which afforded an abundance of soft green grass to our horses, and
where I found a variety of interesting plants, which made their appearance
for the first time. A rain to-night made it unpleasantly cold; and there
was no tree here, to enable us to pitch our single tent, the poles of
which had been left at our _Cache camp_. We had, therefore, no
shelter except what was to be found under cover of the _absinthe_
bushes, which grew in many thick patches, one or two and sometimes three
feet high.



AUGUST.


1st.--The hunters went ahead this morning, as buffalo appeared tolerably
abundant, and I was desirous to secure a small stock of provisions; and we
moved about seven mules up the valley, and encamped one mile below Rock
Independence. This is an isolated granite rock, about six hundred and
fifty yards long, and forty in height. Except in a depression of the
summit, where a little soil supports a scanty growth of shrubs, with a
solitary dwarf pine, it is entirely bare. Everywhere within six or eight
feet of the ground, where the surface is sufficiently smooth, and in some
places sixty or eighty feet above, the rock is inscribed with the names of
travelers. Many a name famous in the history of this country, and some
well known to science, are to be found mixed among those of the traders
and travelers for pleasure and curiosity, and of missionaries among the
savages. Some of these have been washed away by the rain, but the greater
number are still very legible. The position of this rock is in longitude
107 deg. 56', latitude 42 deg. 29' 36". We remained at our camp of August 1st
until noon of the next day, occupied in drying meat. By observation, the