a fine turf of low grass, some herbs and vast quantities of prickly pear.  The country on the south is high, broken, and crowned with some pine and dwarf cedar; the leaf of this pine is longer than that of the common pitch or red pine of Virginia, the cone is longer and narrower, the imbrications wider and thicker, and the whole frequently covered with rosin.  During the whole day the bends of the river are short and sudden; and the points covered with some cottonwood, large or broad leaved willow, and a small quantity of redwood; the undergrowth consisting of wild roses, and the bushes of the small honeysuckle.

The mineral appearances on the river are as usual.  We do not find the grouse or prairie hen so abundant as below, and think it probable that they retire from the river to the plains during this season.

The wind had been moderate during the fore part of the day, but continued to rise towards evening, and about dark veered to northeast, and blew a storm all night.  We had encamped on a bar on the north, opposite the lower point of an island, which from this circumstance we called Windy island; but we were so annoyed by clouds of dust and sand that we could neither eat nor sleep, and were forced to remove our camp at eight o’clock to the foot of an adjoining hill, which shielded us in some degree from the wind:  we procured elk, deer, and buffaloe.

Wednesday 22.  The wind blew so violently that it was deemed prudent to wait till it had abated, so that we did not leave the camp till ten o’clock, when we proceeded principally by the towline.  We passed Windy island which is about three quarters of a mile in length:  and five and a half miles above it a large island in a bend to the north:  three miles beyond this we came to the entrance of a creek twenty yards wide, though with little water, which we called Grouse creek, from observing near its mouth a quantity of the prairie hen with pointed tails, the first we have seen in such numbers for several days:  the low grounds are somewhat wider than usual and apparently fertile, though the short and scanty grass on the hills does not indicate much richness of soil.  The country around is not so broken as that of yesterday, but is still waving, the southern hills possessing more pine than usual, and some appearing on the northern hills, which are accompanied by the usual salt and mineral appearances.

The river continues about two hundred and fifty yards wide, with fewer sandbars, and the current more gentle and regular.  Game is no longer in such abundance, since leaving the Muscleshell.  We have caught very few fish on this side of the Mandans, and these were the white catfish of two to five pounds.  We killed a deer and a bear:  we have not seen in this quarter the black bear, common in the United States and on the lower parts of the Missouri, nor have we discerned any of their tracks, which may easily be distinguished by the shortness of its talons from the brown, grizzly, or white bear, all of which seem to be of the same family, which assumes those colours at different seasons of the year.  We halted earlier than usual, and encamped on the north, in a point of woods, at the distance of sixteen and a half miles.