Descending eastward, the highland meadows are a stairway to the plain. In July the inland slope of the Rockies is luxuriant with flax and buckwheat, stonecrop and larkspur. The earth unfolds and the limit of the land recedes. Clusters of trees and animals grazing far in the distance cause the vision to reach away and wonder to build upon the mind. The sun follows a longer course in the day, and the sky is immense beyond all comparison. The great billowing clouds that sail upon it are shadows that move upon the grain like water, dividing light. Farther down, in the land of the Crows and Blackfeet, the plain is yellow. Sweet clover takes hold of the hills and bends upon itself to cover and seal the soil. There the Kiowas paused on their way; they had come to the place where they must change their lives. The sun is at home on the plains. Precisely there does it have the certain character of a god. When the Kiowas came to the land of the Crows, they could see the dark lees of the hills at dawn across the Bighorn River, the profusion of light on the grain shelves, the oldest deity ranging after the solstices. Not yet would they veer southward to the caldron of the land that lay below； they must wean their blood from the northern winter and hold the mountains a while longer in their view. They bore Tai-me in procession to the east.
高原的草地向东面铺下，如同通向平原的阶梯。七月，落基山脉面向平原的内坡上长满了亚麻、荞麦、景天和翠雀等各种植物。此时，大地在我们的面前无限伸展，土地的界限渐渐隐去。远处的树丛和吃着草的动物开阔了我们的视野，使人萌发了畅想的渴望。白天日照时间很长，天空无可比拟的广袤无垠。在天空中飘浮着的如波涛般翻滚的大片云彩，在谷地里投下的影子如同水波一样流动，将光线分割开来。再往下，在克罗人和黑足印第安人的土地上，平原是黄色的。草木樨长满了山丘，它低垂的枝叶盖到地上，密密地封住土壤。克尔瓦人在这里暂时停下了旅程，他们到了必须改变生活的地方，在平原上，太阳如同回到了家里。的确是在那里太阳蕴涵了某种上帝的灵性。当克尔瓦人来到克罗人的土地时，他们可以隔着比格霍恩河看到黎明中的山脉的背风处，照在层层谷地上的充足的光线和在夏至后出现的最古老的神像。但是他们并不愿意改变方向，向南到下面这块大锅似的土地；他们必须放弃已经适应了北方冬季的血液，他们也想使雨山在他们的视野中留存得更长久。他们把太米也带到了东方。
A dark mist lay over the Black Hills, and the land was like iron. At the top of a ridge I caught sight of Devirs Tower upthrust against the gray sky as if in the birth of time the core of the earth had broken through its crust and the motion of the world was begun.
一层阴暗的薄雾笼罩了黑山，土地看起来就像钢铁一般。在一座山脊顶上，我看到魔鬼塔高高插入灰蒙蒙的天空，似乎在时间诞生之时，地核打开，地壳破裂，宇宙的运动从此开始。