Quite dried up, a few flowers, and a bee-shaped cactus.
The heat was very oppressive, a hot sirocco, wind blowing which;
obliged us to keep our windows shut on account of the fine
alkaline dust. E - - had her window open last night, and awoke this
morning to find herself in a layer of ashes.
We skirted the South Platte River most of the time; it was only a
bed of shingles, wide and shallow, with not a drop of water in it.
These plains, extending for thousands of miles in all directions,
are the great "ranching," or cattle-farming districts, formerly
the favourite breeding-grounds and pastures of the buffalo, which,
alas! have all disappeared. We only saw a few tame ones amongst
the herds of cattle; they have been killed in the most ruthless,
indiscriminate way for their furs, and will soon be "things of the
past."
We wondered much, with the river and every visible stream so dry,
how the large herds of cattle and horses were watered; but have
since been told that water is so near the surface the herdsmen
have no great depth to dig to procure any quantity. We thought we
could have made a good pick or two amongst the horses, but we
didn't care for long-legged ugly big-horned cattle brutes.
