and some timber on its low ground.  Above this river the bluffs of the Missouri are of red earth mixed with stratas of black stone; below it we passed some white clay in the banks which mixes with water in every respect like flour.  At three and three quarter miles we reached a point on the north opposite an island and a bluff; and one mile and a quarter further, after passing some red bluffs, came to on the north side, having made twelve miles.  Here we found a rapid so difficult that we did not think proper to attempt the passage this evening, and therefore sent to captain Lewis to apprise him of our arrival.  We saw a number of geese, ducks, crows, and blackbirds to-day, the two former with their young.  The river rose a little this evening, but the timber is still so scarce that we could not procure enough for our use during the night.

Sunday, June 16.  Some rain fell last night, and this morning the weather was cloudy and the wind high from the southwest.  We passed the rapid by doubly manning the periogue and canoes, and halted at the distance of a mile and a quarter to examine the rapids above, which we found to be a continued succession of cascades as far as the view extended, which was about two miles.  About a mile above where we halted was a large creek falling in on the south, opposite to which is a large sulphur spring falling over the rocks on the north:  captain Lewis arrived at two from the falls about five miles above us, and after consulting upon the subject of the portage, we crossed the river and formed a camp on the north, having come three quarters of a mile to-day.  From our own observation we had deemed the south side to be the most favourable for a portage, but two men sent out for the purpose of examining it, reported that the creek and the ravines intersected the plain so deeply that it was impossible to cross it.  Captain Clarke therefore resolved to examine more minutely what was the best route:  the four canoes were unloaded at the camp and then sent across the river, where by means of strong cords they were hauled over the first rapid, whence they may be easily drawn into the creek.  Finding too, that the portage would be at all events too long to enable us to carry the boats on our shoulders, six men were set to work to make wheels for carriages to transport them.  Since leaving Maria’s river the wife of Chaboneau, our interpreter, has been dangerously ill, but she now found great relief from the mineral water of the sulphur spring.  It is situated about two hundred yards from the Missouri, into which it empties over a precipice of rock about twenty-five feet high.  The water is perfectly transparent, strongly impregnated with sulphur, and we suspect iron also, as the colour of the hills and bluffs in the neighbourhood indicates the presence of that metal.  In short the water to all appearance is precisely similar to that of Bowyer’s sulphur spring in Virginia.