in quality. It comprises pine, cedar, and cotton wood, with here
and there patches of small and crooked oak bushes. The rivers in
the mountains are formed from melting snows and springs. They come
tumbling down through rough gorges and rocky cañons, until they are
free in the valleys, where, they form bold and beautiful rivers. The
brook trout are the fish which mostly inhabit them, and, a singular
fact, in many of these streams this kind of fish treat the presence of
a man with perfect indifference, which has led me to believe, that in
their primitive state, the "shy trout" fear neither man nor beast. The
Indians catch them, and it may be that this fish is first frightened
by them. In the Rocky Mountains, south of the head waters of the
Arkansas, comparatively speaking, there are but few small birds and
squirrels. The raven, the crow, the hawk, the owl, and occasionally
the eagle, are seen. Wild geese, ducks, and cranes, are common.
Pigeons, including the wild dove, are not often seen. The magpie is
found in abundance. Turkeys and grouse are also in abundance. Wild
rabbits and a species of hare are also common. Indeed a man can travel
for days in the Rocky Mountains and never hear the musical notes of a
bird. In these mountains, rattle-snakes are only found in the
valleys, where it is warm. In the summer, the deer and elk live in the
mountains; but, when cold weather sets in, they are driven out of
them by the deep snows. The antelope of the plains seek the mountain
valleys during the winter. The buffalo migrate south as the season
becomes too severe for them. Sometimes they are caught by the storms,
and are obliged to winter also in the mountain valleys. The pine
trees of the Rocky Mountains bear a small nut, which is called by the
Mexicans _piñon_, which, when cooked, are quite pleasant to the taste.
There are many small salt lakes in the mountains, and many marshes,
where the ground is covered white by the salt deposit. The mineral
wealth of the Rocky Mountains is very great, and there is no doubt but