pericarp of soft pulp enveloping a number of small whitish seeds, and
consisting of a yellowish, slimy, mucilaginous substance, with a sweet
taste; the surface of the berry is covered glutinous, adhesive matter,
and its fruit, though ripe, retains its withered corolla. The shrub
itself seldom rises more than two feet high, is much branched, and has
no thorns. The leaves resemble those of the common gooseberry, except
in being smaller, and the berry is supported by separate peduncles or
foot-stalks half an inch long. There are also immense quantities
of grasshoppers, of a brown color, on the plains; they, no doubt,
contribute to the lowness of the grass, which is not generally more than
three inches high, though it is soft, narrow-leaved, and affords a fine
pasture for the buffalo."

Chapter XI -- A the Heart of the Continent

Captain Clark continued his observations up the long series of rapids
and falls until he came to a group of three small islands to which
he gave the name of White Bear Islands, from his having seen numerous
white, or grizzly, bears on them. On the nineteenth of June, Captain
Clark, after a careful survey of the country on both sides of the
stream, decided that the best place for a portage was on the south, or
lower, side of the river, the length of the portage being estimated
to be about eighteen miles, over which the canoes and supplies must
be carried. Next day he proceeded to mark out the exact route of the
portage, or carry, by driving stakes along its lines and angles. From
the survey and drawing which he made, the party now had a clear and
accurate view of the falls, cascades, and rapids of the Missouri; and,
it may be added, this draught, which is reproduced on another page
of this book, is still so correct in all its measurements that when a
Montana manufacturing company undertook to build a dam at Black Eagle
Falls, nearly one hundred years afterwards, they discovered that their
surveys and those of Captain Clark were precisely alike. The total fall
of the river, from the White Bear Islands, as Lewis and Clark called
them, to the foot of the Great Falls, is four hundred twelve and
five-tenths feet; the sheer drop of the Great Fall is seventy-five and
five-tenths feet. The wild, trackless prairie of Lewis and Clark's
time is now the site of the thriving town of Great Falls, which has a
population of ten thousand.

Here is a lucid and connected account of the falls and rapids,
disc