Salt springs and hot springs of various temperatures abounded here, and many of the latter were so hot that meat could be boiled in them.
Salt existed in all directions in abundance and of good quality.

A sulphurous spring was also discovered, bubbling out from the base of a perpendicular rock three hundred feet high, the waters of which were dark-blue and tasted like gunpowder.

In short, the land presented every variety of feature calculated to charm the imagination and delight the eye.
It was a mysterious land, too; for broad rivers burst in many places from the earth, flowed on for a short space, and then disappeared as if by magic into the earth from which they rose.

Natural bridges spanned the torrents in many places, and some of these were so correctly formed that it was difficult to believe they had not been built by the hand of man.

They often appeared opportunely to our trappers, and saved them the trouble and danger of fording rivers.
Frequently the whole band would stop in silent wonder and awe as they listened to the rushing of waters under their feet, as if another world of streams, and rapids, and cataracts were flowing below the crust of earth on which they stood.