e passed several bends of the river, and encamped in the centre of one
on the south, having made twenty-one miles. Here we found a small grove
of the narrow-leafed cottonwood, there being no longer any of the
broad-leafed kind since we entered the mountains. The water of these
rivulets which come down from the mountains is very cold, pure, and well
tasted. Along their banks as well as on the Missouri the aspen is very
common, but of a small kind. The river is somewhat wider than we found
it yesterday; the hills more distant from the river and not so high;
there are some pines on the mountains, but they are principally confined
to the upper regions of them: the low grounds are still narrower and
have little or no timber. The soil near the river is good, and produces
a luxuriant growth of grass and weeds; among these productions the
sunflower holds a very distinguished place. For several days past we
have observed a species of flax in the low grounds, the leaf-stem and
pericarp of which resemble those of the flax commonly cultivated in the
United States: the stem rises to the height of two and a half or three
feet, and spring to the number of eight or ten from the same root, with
a strong thick bark apparently well calculated for use: the root seems
to be perennial, and it is probable that the cutting of the stems may
not at all injure it, for although the seeds are not yet ripe, there are
young suckers shooting up from the root, whence we may infer that the
stems which are fully grown and in the proper stage of vegetation to
produce the best flax, are not essential to the preservation or support
of the root, a circumstance which would render it a most valuable plant.
To-day we have met with a second species of flax smaller than the first,
as it seldom obtains a greater height than nine or twelve inches: the
leaf and stem resemble those of the species just mentioned, except that
the latter is rarely branched, and bears a single monopetalous
bell-shaped blue flower, suspended with its limb downwards. We saw
several herds of the big-horn, but they were in the cliffs beyond our
reach. We killed an elk this morning and found part of a deer which had
been left for us by captain Clarke. He pursued his route,

Friday, 19, early in the morning, and soon passed the remains of several
Indian camps formed of willow brush, which seemed to have been deserted
this spring. At the same time he observed that the pine trees had been
strippe