"
What the journalist intended to say here was that at least one of the
aromatic herbs resembled sage, hyssop, wormwood, and southernwood, and
that there were junipers and dwarf cedars. The pungent-smelling herb was
the wild sage, now celebrated in stories of adventure as the sage-brush.
It grows abundantly in the alkali country, and is browsed upon by a
species of grouse known as the sage-hen. Junipers and dwarf cedars also
grow on the hills of the alkali and sage-brush country. The sage belongs
to the Artemisia family of plants.
Four days later, the journal had this interesting entry:
"The country to-day presented the usual variety of highlands
interspersed with rich plains. In one of these we observed a species of
pea bearing a yellow flower, which is now in blossom, the leaf and stalk
resembling the common pea. It seldom rises higher than six inches, and
the root is perennial. On the rose-bushes we also saw a quantity of
the hair of a buffalo, which had become perfectly white by exposure and
resembled the wool of the sheep, except that it was much finer and more
soft and silky. A buffalo which we killed yesterday had shed his long
hair, and that which remained was about two inches long, thick, fine,
and would have furnished five pounds of wool, of which we have no doubt
an excellent cloth may be made. Our game to-day was a beaver, a deer, an
elk, and some geese. . . .
"On the hills we observed considerable quantities of dwarf juniper,
which seldom grows higher than three feet.
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