ollowing
interesting entries:--

"We set out early and proceeded on very well; the banks being firm and
the shore bold, we were enabled to use the towline, which, whenever
the banks will permit it, is the safest and most expeditious mode of
ascending the river, except under sail with a steady breeze. At the
distance of ten and one-half miles we came to the mouth of a small creek
on the south, below which the hills approach the river, and continue
near it during the day. Three miles further is a large creek on the
north; and again, six and three-quarters miles beyond this, is another
large creek, to the south; both containing a small quantity of running
water, of a brackish taste. The last we called Rattlesnake Creek, from
our seeing that animal near it. Although no timber can be observed on
it from the Missouri, it throws out large quantities of driftwood, among
which were some pieces of coal brought down by the stream. . . .

"The game is in great quantities, but the buffalo are not so numerous as
they were some days ago; two rattlesnakes were seen to-day, and one of
them was killed. It resembles those of the Middle Atlantic States, being
about thirty inches long, of a yellowish brown on the back and sides,
variegated with a row of oval dark brown spots lying transversely on the
back from the neck to the tail, and two other rows of circular spots of
the same color on the sides along the edge of the scuta; there are one
hundred and seventy-six scuta on the belly, and seventeen on the tail."

Two days later, the journal records that one of the party killed a
grizzly bear, "which, though shot through the heart, ran at his usual
pace nearly a quarter of a mile before he fell."

The mouth of the Musselshell River, which was one of the notable points
that marked another stage in the journey, was reached on the twentieth
of May. This stream empties into the Missouri two thousand two hundred
and seventy miles above its mouth, and is still known by the name given
it by its discoverers. The journal says:

"It is one hundred and ten yards wide, and contains more water than
streams of that size usually do in this country; its current is by no
means rapid, and there is every appearance of its being susceptible of
navigation by canoes for a considerable distance. Its bed is chiefly
formed of coarse sand and gravel, with an occasional mixture of black
mud; the banks are abrupt and nearly twelve feet high, so that they are
secure