Page:A Topographical Description of the State of Ohio, Indiana Territory, and Louisiana.djvu/202

190 eighteen miles, to the mouth of a large fork of the river, which comes from the north, and encamped on a plain. At this encampment, the snow-topped mountains appeared to be at no great distance. Here we found beaver in plenty; and as the fur had become good, we began to trap them. One of the Indians killed a beautiful wild cat, about one half larger than the house cat. Its fur was long and exceedingly fine, covered with black and white spots on a bright yellow ground. Its belly was pale yellow, and its tail about two inches long. It is the richest looking skin I ever saw. On the 28th, we killed two grizzly bears. In the evening we had a severe storm of hail, and the hail stones which fell were larger than musket balls. Here the mountain sheep are plenty, but they keep mostly on high ridges and the tops of the inaccessible mountains. On the 30th, moved further up the river, and caught a number of the lynx, marten and ermine. The ermine is a beautiful little animal, as white as milk, except the tip of the tail, which is of a jet black. On the 2d of September, had a heavy shower of snow, after which we returned to our encampment of the 28th of August. We continued trapping here until the 12th, when we crossed the river, took a branch which comes from the southward, and followed it up about six miles, where we encamped in a small bottom. Here we found fur plenty, and caught a number of beaver, otter, marten, ermine, and two spotted wild cats.