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Show [ 174 J 108 a articular description. Now and thet:, we caught a glimp~~ o.f a small P of elk. and occa ionally a band o.t. antelop~s, whose cmwstty some-h. erd b 'ht tl Clll ,vit11in rifle ranae would cucle round 11s, uud then tlmes rong t ¥ o d . . d tl I ' ff · tl e prairies ~ s we ad vance on o Ul 1 oa . 1ese )ecame scour o mto 1 · • 1· ll " II d b more f requeu t '. bttt 'a s we J·ourne.y cd ro n the lldle 0u ,slu a . y 10I odw' e y the trappm· a an d lltltltt·11g p.a. rties of the h .ansas au I bc aware 1I1 . 1la ns, game r of every::> 1 · d tt.tltlcd very shy and. wild. T 1e ottoms w nc 1 Jorm the {Ill con , I b h 'l . . d' t ll v of tl1n main river were bcrenern.l y a ont t ree 1111 es Wide; 1mme w. eva c "' r .. h a vm· g a t. ·L C 11 so. .tl of 1u- lack vc·c~r etable mould, and, 10r a lp rante cou. ndtr y,. wI ell m· terspCI.S Cd "v 't ll \Vood Tile countl"r was every w wre covete Will a 1 · J. • d l · 1 r . . ~"'Onsiderable variety of grasses-occasiOnally poor an t nu, Jllt tl.lL more fre ucntly luxuriant and rich. 'Vc ltud becu gradn~tlly and regularly as. ql. · 11• 1)1· cenc wa mot 0 .r..r, 1·ess· wes.. t w'a rd ' i..llld on the evf.mug of the 14th, when 1 1 . . We enc;:a, m pe'd 011 .~..•. -litL'l e creek in the valley or f the Repu ) tcan, 265 mj tles b our travellina road from tbe n,wuth of the h .unsas, we were at an e ev~~- ti~n of 1,520 fcc~. That p~rt of~ the rivet.· wl~crc w.e. were tlOW enc~mp~u IS called by the Ittdi aus the Btg Ttmber. Ilttii ~L to om 1 oute had ?~eulab?ttons and ex tt.e mc, ly slow ' the unusually wet ::;pnng und consbt a·nc1 t tum llavlllg so saturated the whole country that it was Hecessary to rt ge every w:.~tc.r-course, at ld , 1r10 r ·u'al;v s• to:a:::> ethcr ' our usnal ma• rch a ver:.t O'C•d only• five 01 SIX mt·1 e s. F'11 1u•1 in;a:, that at such a rate o. f travel1t .w ould be un po,th 1c to com- 1 _,. · . 1 1 . ply with your i1tslructions, I detcm11ncd a~ tilts pace to ulVtuc .t ~e pmty, and, leaving .Mr. Fit:tpatrick with 25 meum cllar~e of the prov.L 'lOllS ~nd h ea, v1·e r. 'L·) acbrba aoa c of the camp ' to })l'Oceed .m yself 111 ad vance, wtth a l1ght 1 . h 1 · 1 party of 15 men, taking with me the h o wtl:t~r aud tltc 1g t wagon w llCl carried the instruments. . Accordinrrlv on the morning of the 16th, the purttes separated; and, bear· ing a little on/from the river, with a view of llcadiug some of th e numerous affiuents after a few hours' travel over somewhat broken ground, we entered up~n an extensive and high level pr.airie, on which we euc~tl~ped to· wards even ina at a little stream, where a smgle dry cottouwood uilo rd.ed the necess:uy fuel for preparing supper .. Among a variety of grasses winch to· day made their first appearance, I not1ced bnnch grass, (fesluca, ) aud b~llfalo grass, (sesle1·ia dactytoides.) Amorpha canesceus (leud plant) contmued the characteristic plant of the country, and a narrow-leaved_lathy?·us OC· curred durilJO' the momiug iu beautiful patches. Sida coccznea occnrred frequently, \\~Lh a psoraLia ncar' pso1·alia .floribunda, and a num.ber of plants no't hitherto met ju t veraing into bloom. The water on whrch we had encamped ueloug~d to Solo 0 mon's fork of the Smoky-hill river, along whose tributaries we continued to trnvel for several days. The couutry afforded us an excellent road , the route being generally over high aud very level prairies; and we met with no other delay .than be· ing frequently obliged to briJge 0110 of the numerous streams, whrch were well timbered with ash, elm, cottonwood, o.nd a very large oak.-the latt~r being, occasionally, five and six feet in diamete1:, with a sprcadwg sum~11t. Sida coccinea is very frequent in vermilion-colored patclles 011 the hrgh and low prairie; and I remarked that it has a very plea. ant perfume. The wild sensitive plant (schrrmkia anguslatu ) occurs freqneutly, gen· erally on the dry prairies, in valleys of streams, and frequently on ~he broken prairie bank. I remark that the. leaflets close iu. tautly to a very ltght tou~h. .llmorpha, with the same psora lea, and a dwarf species of lupinus, are t 1e characteristic plants. 10.9 [ 17-1 J On the UH!t, in the t.. flernoon, we cro,srd tile Pawnee road to the Arka usa~ aud travclli11g :1 few 1niles ouward tl 1c monotony of the prninc was snddeuly di~pclled hy the appearn.11ce of Jive or six bnfialo bulls, formiua a vangnarJ of inm1euse herds, (lmoug whi r lt we were travf'llillg a few da~rs afterwards. Pr•ti ric dogs were .se 11 lor the fir~t rime during the day; and we !tad the good fortu11e to obta1n a11 nllll'lope lor snppl'l'. Onr clcva.tiou had uow iue;reascd to 1 900 t8ct. Siria coccinea was a clwracteri tic on the creek bot toms, ~ n d hufl~1.lo grt1s::; i::; beco1uing abnudaut O!l the hi•,hcr . I ::::> parts or tltc l'ltcges. June 21.-~D t1ri 11~ tllP fc)}'(.·noou we trnvellotlnp n IH"anch of the creek on which \Vl' llnd CllC'HJtl pe·l iu a broken rotllltry, whcr ·, however, the dividino· nd[l'cs nlwdys afJ'ordC'd a good r ud. Plnnts wvre few; Uticl 'Vith tlr~ short swurd or th<' butlitlo rrrass, w!Jich llOW prevailrd every wber rriv iLJ O' - 'b b to the pr:tiries a smooth aml lltO~sy appc•arauce, wvrc mingled fretlllcnt patches of l1. hca~lti~'ttl red ~WS~, (arislir/a JNtflcns .) whicit IJad IllUde itsappcnrattCe only wtth111 tilL' ln·,t f1'W days. We lla lt<'U to nonll nt a solitary rnttmnvood in a ho llow, Jlear which was killed the first bnfl'ttlo, rt large old bull. Anlc)opr. i.l ppearcd ill ha.IH.ls d miu~ tilL' d:1y. Crossing he rc to I ]l(' a nl ucnls of tbc Hcpnbl icatt, we C11Ci.tl1lpcd 011 a li.> t k, r.tbotlt fony f(•c t wide aiJd oue lootJel~p, !lowing with a swift currcut over n. sandy l'tH.I, <llld well wooded with ash-leaved rn aplc, (nrgundo .fi·a.?'iJoj(J/ittm,) elm, cottouwood, aud a few wbite oaks. \\"c were visited in tlw evc11ing by a very viole11t storm accompani d by wind, li~·htlling-, and thnlld<'r; a col<l r~in t:tiJiug in torrents: Accorditlg to tl1c ba rnuwtcr, om clcv~1tion was 2 130 ft'et above tltc gulf. .'\t 110011, Oil tlte ~:3d, \VG de~cenc.led into the \'allt•y fa },rincipal fork of tltc Republicau, a I>Pautii'ttl ::;trenm with a d<'IJse bordt•rof wood . consi::;tillO' principally or varieties of ash, forty feet wide nud four feet deep. ll was mu~ sical with the notes l)i ll\any birds, wlticlt, from the vast expause of ilent prairie arount.l, ::;eL'Llwtl all to have rol lrctcd here. vVe cou1inued duriug tbc afteruoon om rontc along the river, wlliclt was populous with prairie dogs, (the bottonJ,' lwinn C11tirely occupied with their villa ere~,) and late in the cvoiJillg t·nc.ampod 011 its banks. The prcYail i11g timber is a bluc-lc>liagcd ash, (fru:vinus, n 'nr .f: .!lmc·ricana,) aud ash-leaved mnplc. vVirll these werc.Jra.rim.Ls .!lm e?·icruw, cottoll\vood, and long-leaved \l.rillow. \.Yc gave to tins stre~rn tile name of Prai ric Do~ river. Elcvatiou 2,350 feet. Onr roa~ on. the .25th lay over high suwoth ridges, 3: 100 feet above the sea; bufia.lo lll great LHllllbcrs, absolntely covering the bee or the CO liLJtry. At cvenmrr we encamped within a few miles of tiJc main RepnbiJCall , 011 a little~ rGek, where tiJC air Wll frrtgrant with the P('l'fltlllC of m·temisia filifo/ia, wh1ch we here saw for tile first time, and which was now in lJioom. Sbortlv after len.ving OUl' CllCampmcut Oil the 26th, we fOUIJd snddculy that the nature of tbe Ct?LLIJtry I tad e11tire ly ciLtllgetl. T3nre SCliHl hill8 every wliCrc surrounded u 111 the uucJ nlatiug grotllld aloug which we were movina; and t.he pla.nts peculiar to a saucly soil made their appParance in abnndut~cc. A lew mde' lnrthcr we ente rPd the valley of a large stream, afterwards known to be the Hc publica~l fork of the Kans;1s, whose shallow waters, with a depth of only a few mches, were spreatl ou t over a bed of yellowish white sand 600 yards wide. With the exception of one or two distant and detached groves, no t imbcr of any kind was ~o be seen; and the features of th~ country .assumed a desert ~haracter, with which the broad river, strugglmg for extsteuce amoug qmcksands along the treeles banks, was s~rik- |