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Show 12 Ex. Doc. No. 41. . ha~ cost many volunteers their horses, and entailed trboublcl ~~itl1~~~t en(,d o·n many 1· nexpe1. ·I n c .< l tra< xrll cr•s ":w.e stward ount. c ne.· t day intm ensc herd. of lth(, ~~tffalo "~~Ju~cyc;Olh) whi ch is tra- W e were now on groun< ~ c map 0 . versed b the nomadic trib es of Pawnc~ s , toux, _Osagl's , and occa ionall[ the ~omanches. Th ir range t seldom farther east th an c'ouncil UroYe. The couutry th ence, t? the w e~tern bord ers of ~r · · · · t11e }1ancls of Jndians oww(r allegiance to, and rc- Jv l SSO ilrl 1 · 111 < • b · . · ] 1 cciving ~tipends from the United States; they ~tvc In og- louse s, n•ltiYntc the' soil, rear cattle, and pursu ' some o{ the arts of pc~_ ·e. Th y form ~he co nne_cting ,Enk b<.:Lwecn the savage of the pla.1ns and the wlnt r man of the latrs. The latitude of our camp, a ftw thousand fr et soull)east of wh ~e the roacl crosses the Pawnee F'ork, is 3 ° 10' 1_0"; and th longt-t 1 by · h ron om de r is 9 ° 55' 22". The he 1 g h t abo" e the ~ E a, inll(d icc, a ted approxu. nate'l y by tl~e barometer, t.s . 1,9( .'3 2 f ee• t·, tl1 e\ p_o ll1 t , ,a s will be c· non the ma11 ' rs but a. hart dt. ·ta nce from th e JU~ C-tion of the Pawnee Fork and the Arkansas nve_r. . , The section of co11ntry embraced h c tw cc~1 tht._ p omt an_cl J~cnt s F o r t i t ot a 11 y d i ff r c n t i i1 c h a r a c t e r f ~ o_ m t h a t .J u t d c s c rJ b c d , b u t the clnmge i. gradual, and may b anttctpatcd from what has bern said in referrcnce to the appearance of the co untry so far e:· st as tlH' 9 lh degree, or eYen the 97th meridian. . The position of our camp ncar Bent's Fort, determined by 29_ altitudes of polaris and 35 circum-meridian altitudes of alpha_aquii::c, is 38° 02' 53'' and the lon rritudr, by the mea urement of dtslances bel w c c n <r a 1~ d t h e * a I p li a 0 a CJ u i 1 a' an d t h c * P. i c a vi r g in _is, i. ~ J 0 3 • 0 1' , a g r c e i n cr w i t h i n 34 s . w i t 1t t h e c J ll' o u o m c t n c d el e nn 1 n a t10 n o f the same point.- (Sec Appendix.) Our route from Pa·wnee Fork to thi s point, was along the· Arkansas riv er. 'l'he approximate height of Bent's li ort above tl1e s 'a is 3 95 feet, and the heirrht where we fir.t stru<.;k the 1ivcr, at the b~nd, is 1,u5 feet, thr 0 di ·tancc between th ese two point being 311 m i 1 e s , t h e fa JI o [ t h e r i ,. c r is a b o u t s c v c n f e e t a n d f o u r-t c n t h , p e r mil<'. Its bed is of sand, somctim(•s of rounded pebbles of the primitive rock. It is seldom morc;_than 150 yards wide, and, but for the quicksand s, 1s every wbrr' fordable. The bottom land, a few feet aboYc the I 'vel of the water, vari es in width from half a mile to two mil es, and is generally CO\'ercd with good nutritious gra~s. B yond this the ground ri c.'S by gentle slopes into a wildernc. s or saud hills on the south and illto prairie on the north. There arc one or t\\"o exceptions; for in s ta.nr ',at the gr at bend, the sand hills from the south impin ge abruptly on the cou rse or the riv ·r; at Pawnee ro ck, a long swell in the g round term inates in an abrupt l1ill of hi gllly fc:rrug·inous sand stone; and ten miles above ~hot ea u's island, the hill£ along the ri\' Cr arc Vert ical, as if the river had cut a pas:age through them; and as you approach Bent's F ort, the l1iiJs g <'nerally roll in mar boldly on the riv ·r, and th bottoms become narrower, and the crra~s more preci ous. At the~e places the geological formation ran be seen distinctly. On th~ lower part of the rin:r it i a cong lomera te of p ebbles, sometimes shell s cunente<l Ly lime and day overlaying a stratum .. Ex. Doc. No. 4l. 13 of soft sand stone, which, in turn, over lays a blue shale, an<l ometimc ·the richest dc:nipti'bn of marl. Hi ghe r up the riYcr, we find the arne formati on , b~1t in addition argillaceous lime stone, containing amonit(•s nnd olhn impressi on of :-;he]] s in great Y a 1 i c t y, and in mort' than o JJ e in ·tan c c d i · tin c t imp ressions of oy ter shells. The di1> in both cases about 6°, and a lit tle north of 'a. t. The ~oil or the plains is a granitic sand, int ' rmixed ·with the ex11vi a• of animals and Yegdable matter, supporting a scanty v 'getation. The eye wanders in yain over thes' immense waste· in s t' arc h o f t r c c s. No t on e is to b e s c c n . T h c p r i n c i pal grow t h i the bt11fl'a lo grass, caC't i in eiHll ess vari ·ty, though diminutive, yucca a n g u · t if o 1 i a , (soap p l a n t ) t h e Dar I i n g ton i a b nu.: h y I o b a, s c h ran k i a un ·inata, prairie go urd (C"ucurbita aurautia,) and very rarely that wonderful plant, the Ipomea lcptophylla, called by the hunter man root, from the sim il ar ity of it· root in size and :ha11e to the borly of a man. It is escul ' Ill, and serves to 11. tain human Jifc in some of the many vicis itud{', of Jnwg rand privation to which men who roam the prai ries, as an oec up ation, arc subj ·cted. .July 21-N ar the dry mo.uth of the Big Handy creek, the yucca an rru tifolia, palmillo of the pani ard~, or soap plan.t, first made its appearance, and mar ked a new change in the soil and vegetation of t h c p r a.i r i e s . The n arrow strip whirh I have describctl as the bottom land of the Arkan,as, varying from half a mile to two or three mile. wid , co n t a ins a 1 u xu ria n t grow t h of grass c s, \v hi · h , by t h e j u d i c i o u sele ·tion and di ·tri bution of the camps, ~sustai n ed a ll the animals of the army of the we. t whilst on the river. Th only tree of any magnitud found on it course i the cotton-wood, (populu canad 'nsis,) and it frequently happens that not one of the. e i · seen in a whole day's journey, and the. buffa lo dung and wild sage constitute the only fuel to be procured. About 35 miles before r achin g] 3 c n t' s F o r t i f o u n cl w h at i s c a ll c < l t h e '' b i g t i m be r." H c r e the valley of the riYcr wid ens, and the banks on either side fall towards it in gentle s lop es. The "big limber" is a thinly scatl red growth of large cotton wood· not. more th:tn three quarter of a mile wide, and thre • or four mile long. I t is here the Chyennes, Arapahors, a n<l ihe l<ioways ·om 'limes winter, to aYail them clve~ of the scanty supply of wood for fuel, and to let their animals hrowsc on the twig· and bark of the colton-wood. The b11ll'alo 'S arc sometimes driYcn by the scYerily of the wint r, which i · here intense for the l a titud e, to the same place to f ·ed upon the cotton-wood. To this point, which has been indi cated to the governm ent as a su itable one for a military p ost, Mr. Bent thinks of moving his cstab 1 ish men t. In acldition to the grasses and cotton-wood mention d, we find in t h c bot tom s w i hl p Ju m , w j 1 d c h c r r y, w iII o w, ( s n l i x 1 on g i fo I i a, ) summer grnp , (vi tis a'~tivalis,) cat-tai l, (typha latifolia,) scouring ru. h, (equisctum hyemale,) a. powerful cliu rect ie upon hor. cs, commelina. angustifoJ ia, lVfex i can poppy, ( argcm one Me xi ·ana,) m onarda iistul o sa, cor cop-sis tinct or i a, p , or a l c a c s c u 1 c n t a, c a · ... i a c h a rmc r crista , |