The country is of the same description as within the few last days.

We saw immense quantities of buffalo, elk, deer, antelopes, geese, and some swans and ducks, out of which we procured three deer and four buffalo calves, which last are equal in flavor to the most delicious veal; also two beaver and an otter." As the party advanced to the westward, following the crooked course of the Missouri, they were very much afflicted with inflamed eyes, occasioned by the fine, alkaline dust that blew so lightly that it sometimes floated for miles, like clouds of smoke.

The dust even penetrated the works of one of their watches, although it was protected by tight, double cases.

In these later days, even the double windows of the railway trains do not keep out this penetrating dust, which makes one's skin dry and rough.
On the twenty-fifth of April, the explorers believed, by the signs which they observed, that they must be near the great unknown river of which they had dimly heard as rising in the rocky passes of the Great Divide and emptying into the Missouri.

Captain Lewis accordingly left the party, with four men, and struck off across the country in search of the stream.