sovereign remedy against the wound inflicted by this most venomous serpent, and Providence has rendered it very plentiful precisely in those places in which these snakes are found. The remedy is truly side by side with the ill - for it is sufficient to chew the weed and apply it to the wound, when the swelling is arrested and disappears. When an Indian, his horse or his dog, has been bitten by one of these serpents, they pursue the reptile, which dies almost directly after having given its bite. They open its stomach, take out the blood that it has swallowed and apply it to the wound; the swelling subsides at once, and the dangerous effects of the poison are prevented. When the swelling is considerable, the Indians use the sharp bones and the teeth of the rattlesnake to pick and open the swollen skin, and by this means they dissipate or remove the inflammation. The copperhead snake has a poison so subtle that its breath alone
causes death to him who inhales it. Its tongue is not forked like that of other snakes; it is of a triangular shape. When the reptile is startled and provoked, his head flattens and he throws from his mouth a great quantity of yellow poison, and then blows till he expires.
On the i ith we arrived at the upper portion of a gently sloping plain. Having crossed it, we found ourselves at Fort Alexander, situated on the banks of the Yellowstone, and at a short distance from the little river Rosebud. Fort Alexander is about 200 miles distant from Fort Union, along the dividing ridge. The winter, it is said, is extremely severe in these regions, commencing in November, and only terminating in the month of April.
After remaining six days at Fort Alexander, allowing our animals time to repose, and also awaiting the arrival of a barge belonging to the American Fur Company, which was freighted with some of our effects, we passed over the Yellowstone on the 17th of August, at about two o'clock. We passed over a high and very level plain: for a distance of five miles the soil is light, sandy and entirely covered with " green toads," as the voyageurs call different kinds of