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Show 24 APPENDIX TO PART II .. and evening. The Spanish lcuclcr, further, delivered to Characterish a gTand medal, two mules, and a commission bearing the signature or the govcmor, Ci\il antllllilitury, of Santa Fee. He <tlso had similar r11arks of <listinction for the G nmd Pawnees, the Pawnee Mahaws, ~ ahaws Proper, Otos ancl Kanses. On the 6th of October we made some few purchases of mi· serable horses at the most exorbitant prices, unci on the 7th, unmoved b) the threats of the chief relative to onr proceeding farth t' r to the \\est, we marched in a close and compact body until we p:.<sscd their \'illag·e, and took the large Spanish beaten trace fo1· the A . knnsaw 1'1\'er. \V c passed the following clay, an encampment of the Spalllards, where we counted sixty-nine fires. On the 9th, as us u<l l, made an easy march, and about noon, when we halted to rc· fresh ou1 se lves, were overtaken by three hun<lt·cd Pawnees, on theit· way to the salines of the Kanscs to hunt buffalo. Their· evrry acl shewed a strong- dispo~ition to qual'J'el, and in fact they seemed to cour·t hostility; but, iinuing us without fear· and prepared, to a man, they oi1"erecl no outt·age, and having grazed out· horses au hour, we p arted from this tmbulent band, slung our packs and proceeded on to Solomon's Fork of the Kanses, and pitched our tents on an old encampment of tl.e Spaniards, whose trace we were following, as we found the next morning many tent-pins made of wood, different from any in that counu·y. At mid-day lieuteuant Pike, Dr. Robinsun, and the interpreter llaroney, pushed on to search for water, and lr~ mainccl with the troops. [ pushed on as briskly as 0\ll' pOOl' half-famished horses would pc!Tnit, and at nig-ht fall could discover uothing of Mr. Pike, and had not a tree in view. This induced me to quicken my p <tce, and, U!:. chtrkness had rendered n•y compass useless, I coursed by the polar sta1·; but the hol'izou becoming· overcast, I halted on a naked stony prairie, without water or grass for our horses. On the following moming I di1·ected n1y course mo1·e to the southward, and about ten o'clock came to the creek and encampment of lieutenant Pike. L ate in the cvcnit1g of the same day, after pus~iu g over a mountainous tract of country, we reached tlw G r. ud Salina, which we found so strongly impre~nated, as to rcu,lel' unpalatal.Jle corn, wl1cn boiled in it. On the 12th after a distre!> sinl{ day's march, we reached the Second, or Small Saline, and on the following day encamped on the most western IJr·anch of the K •• nscs ri·. cr. \ V c were de tained, on the morning of the 13th, by a small rain, bu1 . ,l!:. time wa::. pr·cs:-,ing, we ma1 ched about noon, crossed the di vidwg ridge oi the Kunses and Arkansaw rivers, and halted on • APPENDIX TO P AHT II. small branch of the latter. For several days past we had been so bewildered by buffalo paths, that we lost the Spanish tmcc, and this being an object of moment, we rcsol\'cd to m ake search for it. Accorclingly, on the following day at noon, Mr. Pike and Dr. RolJinson stl· 1r.k off from the party a due west course, and I marched the dctachmCJJt for a copse of wood, which we could ban~Jy disccm in the c;outh-west, and reached it about midnig·ht. At day-break I was :nvoke by my old and faithful Osage, who iuformcd me that we were on the banks of the Arkansaw rive1·. I immccliatly arose, and dis<' Ovcrctl my tent to have been pitched on the maq;in of a wat e rcourse, nearly four lnuHlred yards wide, with banks not three feet high, and a stream of water running through it about twenty feet in width, and not more than six OI' eight inches deep. I remained her·e fom days in great anxiety and suspcnce, as neither l\'h. Pike nor Dr. Hobinson made their appcaraucc, nor could be found, although I had all my hunters out in search of them. But I was agreeably s urprised on the ftrth clay, e arly in the mor·ui11g, by thci1· arri val. lt appeared &ur upprchcnhions were mutual, as they expected I had been cut off, and I believed they had been mur· de red. On the 17th it commenced raining atul continued for· several days, dming which time the r iver rose ~o much as to fill its bed, from bank to bank; uud lieutenant Pike having determined that I should descend the Arkansaw, we cut down a sm.tll green cottonwood, and with much labor split out a canoe, which being insuHicient, we formecl a second of buffalo and elk skins . After the rain had ccasccl the weather l.Jecame extt·emely cold, and on the 27th, in the evening, a severe snow-storm com menced, and continued nearly ull ni g h t. In the morni11~ the river w:1s almost cboaked with drifting icc ; but the sun bursting out at noon, t he icc disappeared, and I took lcaYe or Mr. Pike, who marched up the l'i11er at the moment I embarked on board my newly constructed canoe; but, unfortunately, we hacl not proceeded more th.m one hundr ·ccl yards when my boats grounded, and the men were obliged to d1·ag them through sand and icc five miles, to a copse of woods on the south-western bank. I here hauled up my canoe, formed a h.ind of a cabin of it, and wrapped myself up in my butf.llo robe, disheartened and dissati&ficd with the commencement of tuy voyage. The night was seve1·cly cold, and in the morning- the river was so full of ice as to p1·cvent all possibility of proceeding. The day continued stormy, witl1 snow from the north-west. |