ned supplying themselves
from the carcass until the following morning.

The next day (October 21st), the cold continued, accompanied by snow.
They set forward on their bleak and toilsome way, keeping to the
east northeast, towards the lofty summit of a mountain, which it was
necessary for them to cross. Before they reached its base they passed
another large trail, steering a little to the right of the point of the
mountain. This they presumed to have been made by another band of Crows,
who had probably been hunting lower down on the Spanish River.

The severity of the weather compelled them to encamp at the end
of fifteen miles, on the skirts of the mountain, where they found
sufficient dry aspen trees to supply them with fire, but they sought in
vain about the neighborhood for a spring or rill of water.

At daybreak they were up and on the march, scrambling up the mountain
side for the distance of eight painful miles. From the casual hints
given in the travelling memoranda of Mr. Stuart, this mountain would
seem to offer a rich field of speculation for the geologist. Here was
a plain three miles in diameter, strewed with pumice stones and other
volcanic reliques, with a lake in the centre, occupying what had
probably been the crater. Here were also, in some places, deposits of
marine shells, indicating that this mountain crest had at some remote
period been below the waves.

After pausing to repose, and to enjoy these grand but savage and awful
scenes, they began to descend the eastern side of the mountain. The
descent was rugged and romantic, along deep ravines and defiles,
overhung with crags and cliffs, among which they beheld numbers of the
ahsahta or bighorn, skipping fearlessly from rock to rock. Two of
them they succeeded in bringing down with their rifles, as they peered
fearlessly from the brow of their airy precipices.

Arrived at the foot of the mountain, the travellers found a rill of
water oozing out of the earth, and resembling in look and taste, the
water of the Missouri. Here they encamped for the night, and supped
sumptuously upon their mountain mutton, which they found in good
condition, and extremely well tasted.

The morning was bright, and intensely cold. Early in the day they came
upon a stream running to the east, between low hills of bluish earth,
strongly impregnated with copperas. Mr. Stuart supposed this to be one
of the head waters of the Missouri, and determined to follow its banks.