The singular clay hills continued on the 24th July. The left bank of the river consisted of a high clay wall, divided into cubical figures, rent with many small clefts, and partly of overhanging {221} masses, looking like chimneys, or pillars, which threatened, every moment, to fall. There was here a stream with little water, and a marshy bed, which is, perhaps, the Sticklodge Creek of Lewis and Clarke.[28] While the wind allayed the heat of the day, we rambled through the prairies on the bank; as far as the eye could reach there were the bleached bones of the buffaloes and elks, and their immense horns. A couple of sparrow-hawks, a kind of lark, and a flock of wild geese, which had made an excursion from the river into the prairie, were the only large living creatures that we met with here. Thousands of grasshoppers, many of them of beautiful colours, were hopping and flying about: numerous butterflies, but only three or four species, were hovering about the shrubs in these dry clay steeps, which were bare of grass. There were a great many ant hills, and mosquitoes, and several other kinds of troublesome stinging insects. On the offsets of the clay hills which bounded the prairie on our right, there were banks of sand-stone and clay-slate standing out; and the detached fragments of stone, which lay about near them, were covered with beautiful orange-coloured, yellow, bluish-white and blackish lichens. Several deep ravines, or clefts, were all dry, and opened towards the high, steep bank of the Missouri. At some accessible places these ravines were crossed by the deeply trodden paths of the herds of buffaloes, which wind through the whole prairie along the chains of hills and the bank of the river. As we looked round on an eminence, whence we perceived our boat sailing with a fair wind, we saw an immense buffalo bull, which approached us slowly, not suspecting any danger: we quickly hid ourselves behind some bushes on the edge of a deep cleft, and, as the majestic animal passed through it, we killed it with three well-directed shots. The magnificent creature lay stretched out about forty paces above the ravine, and only the advance which our boat had gained obliged us to leave our prize. At length, however, by firing some shot on the steep bank of the river, we succeeded in drawing the attention of our people, and they despatched a boat for us. We took advantage of the interval to make a second attempt at buffalo hunting, and Dreidoppel, who was endeavouring to drive some of these animals towards me, killed a young bull, on which the boat arrived, the crew of which took away the tongues and part of the flesh of the buffaloes which we had killed. Much fatigued and heated, we reached our vessel at four o'clock in the afternoon, after having been exposed, since eight o'clock in the morning, without a drop of water, to the heat of the sun in the barren, withered prairies. During our absence, Mr. Bodmer had sketched some interesting tops of the neighbouring eminences, one of which[29] is called Half-way Pyramid, because it is half way between the Milk and Muscleshell Rivers. The whole chain of hills, with its manifold tops, ravines and hollows, was of a greenish-grey colour, with here and there some dark spots of pine forest; and this country, with its bright green meadows, with wood and willows on the bank of the river, has a most original, singular appearance.
On the 25th July we rambled through the prairies on the north bank, where we found {222} blackbirds, flycatchers, and the Fringilla grammaca, and roused a large covey of the prairie cock, which flew up before us with loud clapping of their wings, but which, for want of a good pointer, we were unable to find again. We took nothing but a hare and an owl, with some birds which had assembled in great numbers to teaze the poor light-shunning tyrant of evening. Mr. Bodmer sketched some more of the remarkable mountain tops.[30] Near that marked Fig. 16, some of our hunters returned with two black-tailed deer and a young fawn; and, soon afterwards, two buffalo bulls were killed, a great part of the flesh of which we brought away, because we were approaching the part of the country called Mauvaises Terres,[31] where we could not expect to find much large game. In the afternoon we saw some Indian huts under high poplars on the bank; and, on the northern bank, sketches were taken of singular mountain tops. In general, the bare grey masses of the eminences on the bank were so singularly formed that it was impossible not to wish that an able geologist might make a minute investigation of the chain. Their tops, like towers, pillars, &c., were contrasted with the clear blue sky, and the sun caused them to cast deep shadows. As we were sailing with a fair wind, I was obliged to submit to the necessity of rapidly passing these highly interesting scenes. The mountains continued to increase in height; they were more and more naked and sterile; their colour was whitish-grey, grey-brown, often spotted with white, the upper part disposed in horizontal strata, or in narrow stripes; and some isolated summits rose in the most grotesque forms, and the general appearance reminded me of the calcareous mountains of Appenzell, in Switzerland. In the steep wall of the south bank we saw, at a great height, the antlers of a stag projecting, which must have been imbedded in the alluvium, which was now washed away by the river. On these rude, naked mountains, the wild mountain sheep, called the bighorn, or grosse-corne, becomes more and more numerous the further you proceed up the river. Our towers killed, in this part, a large rattlesnake, which had just caught some kind of rat, probably a goffer, and half devoured it. A thunder-storm, with high wind, suddenly caused our vessel to be in great danger; but the same wind which had at first thrown us back, became all at once very favourable when we reached a turn in the river, and sailed, for some time, rapidly upwards. This brought us to a remarkable place, where we thought that we saw before us, two white mountain castles. On the mountain of the south bank, there was a thick, snow-white layer, a far-extended stratum of a white sand-stone, which had been partly acted upon by the waters. At the end where it is exposed, being intersected by the valley, two high pieces, in the shape of buildings, had remained standing, and upon them lay remains of a more compact, yellowish-red, thinner stratum of sand-stone, which formed the roofs of the united building. On the façade of the whole building, there were small perpendicular slits, which appeared to be so many windows. These singular natural formations, when seen from a distance, so perfectly resembled buildings raised by art, that we were deceived by them, till we were assured of our error. We agreed with {223} Mr. Mitchell to give to these original works of nature the name of "The White Castles." Mr. Bodmer has given a very faithful representation of them.[32]
There were similar formations on the north bank likewise; but the increasing storm did not allow us time to contemplate these wonders: our sail rent, and we were obliged to seek for shelter at the prairie of the south bank. We took advantage of the halt to explore the adjacent country, while the trees bent under the fury of the storm, and the thunder pealed in the very sultry air. We were now in a lateral chain of the Mauvaises Terres, a prolongation of the Black Hills, which here cross the Missouri. We proceeded on a sloping, rough flat, or prairie, which, with the usual vegetation, stretched along the river, and gradually becoming uneven and hilly, rose towards the mountains, and was covered, near the foremost hills, with diversely stratified fragments and blocks of yellowish-brown sand-stone. All around rose the wonderful chains of the lofty, bare, whitish-grey or grey-brown mountains, with their conical or singularly-shaped summits, sloped or stratified in divers ways, and dotted with scattered groups of dark green pines. It was during this day's voyage that these mountains increased so much in elevation, and in originality of character, that we seemed to be suddenly transported to the mountains of Switzerland. The Missouri, which is here rather narrow, winds its course, confined between the high ridges of clay-slate, sand-stone, and clay; and the torpid, naked scenery around is only animated on the bank by verdant strips of poplars and young shrubs. On the rough plain, at the foot of the hills, the vegetation was, for the most part, withered: the Allium reticulatum, with its white flowers, quite dried up; Cactus ferox, poor and shrivelled, and the bones of the buffaloes, bleached by exposure to the air, bore testimony, even in this solitude, to the uncertainty of life. The tracks of these colossal animals soon led our hunters to recent footsteps, and several of them appeared in the ravines; but thunder-storms, in the north-east and west, soon poured down torrents of rain, and scared the animals. When the weather cleared up, we approached nearer to the White Castles, and the illusion vanished.
On the 26th of July, in the morning, we again viewed the White Castles in another point of view. The pretty squirrel, called, by Say, Sciurus quadrivittatus, lives in the clay ground of these parts; our towers caught one, which we kept alive, for a long time, in a cage. Round the trunk of an old tree the Indians had built a conical hut with pieces of wood; but in the whole voyage from Fort Union to Fort Mc Kenzie, such huts were the only signs of human beings, and we did not see a single Indian. Game was now scarce in the Mauvaises Terres, and Morrin was the only person who killed anything to-day. In these parts the singular, perfectly spherical sand-stone balls are also found in the clay hills, which have been already described at Cannon-ball River; they are sometimes double, and, here, generally of the size of canister shot. The prairies were so covered with grasshoppers that the whole surface of the ground seemed to be alive; and where the dry leaves were still lying they caused a constant rattling noise. That species was most {224} numerous which makes a humming noise when flying. Their wings are greenish-white, with a large black spot; the thighs of a beautiful orange-red, and the sheaths of the wings a dirty white, with three blackish transverse stripes.
In the afternoon, there were everywhere, on the banks of the Missouri, fragments of rock and stone, which proved that we were approaching the more solid kinds of rock which would succeed the clay mountains. The river, which was narrow, not more than 100 paces in breadth, made, at a certain place, a sudden, very short bend in a northern direction. The south bank, which was exposed to the shock of the waves, was rent in such a remarkable manner, the clay walls so cleft, split, and washed out in a thousand varieties of fragments, cones, pyramids, and isolated points, that it was not without great difficulty, exertion, and loss of time, that the towers were able to proceed. The whole of this bank is perfectly bare, and of a greyish-brown colour; no plant can grow, because the masses of clay are always ready to fall in, and are subject to perpetual change. The great heat obliged the towers to drink frequently, which they effected in a singular, often dangerous position, lying flat on the ground, with their heads downwards, and their legs above on the slope of the bank. Beyond the bend, the river was again 180 paces broad.
The night was pleasant, and on the 27th of July, at daybreak, we left the keel-boat, and followed the track of a large bear, which had dug up roots everywhere; unluckily two of our hunters had proceeded up and caused an alarm in the forest. A wilderness full of thorns and briers joined the wood to the hill, where the mosquitoes were excessively troublesome. Under its tall slender poplars grew high grass, or a thick undergrowth of roses, mostly very nourishing food for the wild animals, which we saw in several places. In the high trees there were flocks of blackbirds, some flycatchers, which built in old hollow poplars on the bank, and a beautiful swallow (Hirundo bicolor, Bon), which we had not before seen, and in pursuit of which we spent so much time that our boat got considerably ahead of us, and we had to make our way through the prairie, where the thorny bushes sadly rent our clothes. Where the bank of the river was a steep wall, we saw a great number of bones of animals imbedded in it, and very often the skulls of buffaloes, from which the earth had been half washed away, projecting over the river. Wearied by our long excursion, we refreshed ourselves with the cool waters of the Missouri, and reached the boat soon after noon. Messrs. Mitchell and Cuthbertson returned about the same time, when the thermometer was 85°, from an excursion, in which they had a delightful prospect from the heights. To the south-west, they had seen at a distance the Little Rocky Mountain range, like blue clouds; to the south-east, Muscleshell River. In the green extensive hollow towards the mountains, they saw the whole prairie covered with herds of buffaloes. They brought from the heights beautiful impressions of shells, of which we had found some, on this day, on the bank of the Missouri. With much labour they had ascended three different eminences, on the last and highest, at which they arrived, excessively heated, they were met by a high bleak wind. Here they observed a very {225} strange formation of stone, namely, a pillar supporting a slab like a table, consisting of a friable stone—doubtless sand-stone. They had likewise seen from that eminence the mountain known by the name of the Bear's-paw.
The following morning, the 28th of July, gave me another occasion to reflect on the rude manners of our crew. For some time past we had made a numerous and interesting collection of natural history, many articles of which we were obliged, for want of room, to leave on deck. The skins, skulls of animals, and the like, some of which it had cost us much trouble to procure, were generally thrown into the river during the night, though Mr. Mitchell had set a penalty of five dollars on such irregularities. In this manner I lost many highly interesting specimens; and on board our keel-boat, with the most favourable opportunities, it was hardly possible to make a collection of natural history, if I except the herbarium, which we kept in the cabin, under our eyes, so that we brought but a small part of what we had collected to Fort Mc Kenzie.
In order to find Muscleshell River, which could not be far off, I landed early, with Messrs. Mitchell and Cuthbertson, on the south bank, where there was a fine shady poplar-grove, with a high undergrowth of roses, dogwood, and gooseberries. Through this thorny disagreeable thicket we followed the tracks of the wild animals, which led us to some open places covered with high grass; and beyond the wood a verdant prairie, where we gathered many interesting plants. We, however, did not find Muscleshell River, which was further up, and a storm with heavy rain drove us back to the boat, where we arrived wet through and through. At eleven o'clock in the forenoon, however, we reached the mouth of the river which we had sought for.
Muscleshell River, the Coquille of the Canadians,[33] joins the Missouri on the south-west side, and at its mouth, which is seventy paces broad, both its banks are covered with poplars, partly high trees, partly bushes. About eight hundred paces upward there are, on its banks, high hills, covered with greyish-green short grass, and spots of pines. Its course is for a long time nearly parallel with that of the Missouri. We were told that the distance from Fort Mc Kenzie to its banks is only between thirty and forty miles, and that it is only five or six miles from its mouth that it turns towards the Missouri. Lewis and Clarke reckon 2270 miles from the junction of these two rivers to the mouth of the latter. Wandering Indians are found only occasionally on the banks of the Muscleshell, but they are said to be at all times about its sources. It is reckoned that its mouth is halfway between Fort Union and Fort Mc Kenzie: we could not hope to reach the latter in less than seventeen or eighteen days, though the navigation of the Missouri, from the mouth of the Muscleshell upwards, is more easy than before, because its course is straighter, its banks more rocky, and there are neither branches of trees nor drift-wood in its bed.