[135] The ripened fruit of this widely-distributed shrub is variable in colour. In dry and exposed situations about the higher parts of the mountains, we have met with the berries of a deep purple, while in the low grounds, they are fulvous or nearly white. On the Cannon-ball creek we saw also the common virgin's bower. Clematis _virginica_, Ph. Lycopus _europeus_, Liatris _graminifolia_, Sium _latifolium_, Œnothera _diennis_, and other plants, common in the east, with the more rare Linum _Lewisii_, Ph. and Eriogonum _sericeum_, &c.—JAMES. They also saw about the shelvings of the sandstone rocks, which formed for some distance the banks of the stream, innumerable nests of the cliff swallows, similar to those seen on the Missouri. In returning to the camp by a different route, they were much annoyed by the prickly pears, covering the ground so closely, that their feet were frequently wounded by the thorns, against which their mockasins presented but a very inadequate protection. Having killed a young antelope, they recrossed the Platte, which was here about three feet deep, and clear, and rapid, and arrived at camp at sun-set. Here a complete set of observations, for latitude, longitude, &c., had been taken. Major Long and Lieutenant Swift having preceded the party in the morning, and arrived before seven o'clock for that purpose. In the evening, observations were attempted, but without success, as the sky soon became cloudy. Robins, which we had not seen since we left the Missouri, here occurred in considerable numbers. On the following morning, soon after leaving the encampment, we crossed Vermilion creek, a considerable tributary from the south. Its upper branches interlock with those of a tributary of the Arkansa. In some part of its course, its valley is bounded by {186} precipitous cliffs of a red sand-rock, whence the name of the creek. Our guide informed us that the Indians, a few years since, destroyed every individual of a large herd of bisons, by driving them over the brink of one of these precipices.