On The Hills
Are Many Aromatic Herbs, Resembling In Taste, Smell, And Appearance
The Sage, Hyssop, Wormwood, Southernwood, Juniper, And
Dwarf cedar; a plant
also about two or three feet high, similar to the camphor in smell and taste;
and
Another plant of the same size, with a long, narrow, smooth, soft leaf,
of an agreeable smell and flavor, which is a favorite food of the antelope,
whose necks are often perfumed by rubbing against it."
What the journalist intended to say here was that at least
one of the aromatic herbs resembled sage, hyssop, wormwood,
and southernwood, and that there were junipers and dwarf cedars.
The pungent-smelling herb was the wild sage, now celebrated
in stories of adventure as the sage-brush. It grows abundantly
in the alkali country, and is browsed upon by a species
of grouse known as the sage-hen. Junipers and dwarf cedars
also grow on the hills of the alkali and sage-brush country.
The sage belongs to the Artemisia family of plants.
Four days later, the journal had this interesting entry:
"The country to-day presented the usual variety of highlands
interspersed with rich plains. In one of these we observed
a species of pea bearing a yellow flower, which is now
in blossom, the leaf and stalk resembling the common pea.
It seldom rises higher than six inches, and the root is perennial.
On the rose-bushes we also saw a quantity of the hair of a buffalo,
which had become perfectly white by exposure and resembled the wool
of the sheep, except that it was much finer and more soft and silky.
A buffalo which we killed yesterday had shed his long hair,
and that which remained was about two inches long,
thick, fine, and would have furnished five pounds of wool,
of which we have no doubt an excellent cloth may be made.
Our game to-day was a beaver, a deer, an elk, and some geese. . . .
"On the hills we observed considerable quantities of dwarf juniper,
which seldom grows higher than three feet. We killed in the course
of the day an elk, three geese, and a beaver. The beaver on this part
of the Missouri are in greater quantities, larger and fatter, and their fur
is more abundant and of a darker color, than any we have hitherto seen.
Their favorite food seems to be the bark of the cottonwood and willow,
as we have seen no other species of tree that has been touched by them,
and these they gnaw to the ground through a diameter of twenty inches."
And on the twenty-first of April the journal says:
"Last night there was a hard white frost, and this morning
the weather was cold, but clear and pleasant; in the course
of the day, however, it became cloudy and the wind rose.
The country is of the same description as within the few last days.
We saw immense quantities of buffalo, elk, deer, antelopes, geese,
and some swans and ducks, out of which we procured three deer
and four buffalo calves, which last are equal in flavor
to the most delicious veal; also two beaver and an otter."
As the party advanced to the westward, following the crooked course
of the Missouri, they were very much afflicted with inflamed eyes,
occasioned by the fine, alkaline dust that blew so lightly
that it sometimes floated for miles, like clouds of smoke.
The dust even penetrated the works of one of their watches,
although it was protected by tight, double cases.
In these later days, even the double windows of the railway
trains do not keep out this penetrating dust, which makes one's
skin dry and rough.
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