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Show 174 JOUHNAL OF A VOYAGE. what discovery I could make, and after marc~ing about two tn{..1 c s nor· th , IrIe ll on a river 40 yards Wide, frozen over .; w h1. c h a(; fter some investigation, I fo.u nd run north east, t h1. s was tile occasion of n. luch surpnsc, as we wRe rde taugh t to expeC t to ha' ve met with the branches of the. e . . h" h should run south east. Quere. Must lt not flVCl, w IC M' . be the head waters of the river Platte? If so the Issoun tnust run Inuc h more wes t ' th a n is generally represe.n ted; for the Platte is a small river by no Inea.ns presentm~ an expectation of so extensive a course. Distance 18 nules. Oue horse gave out and was left. 14tb December, Sunday.-Marched. Struck the river ascended it four miles, and encamped on the north 'd ~ ' rl'he prairie being about two miles wide, was cover- S! c. . • 1 h ed at least six miles (on the banks of the nver) Wit 1 orse dung and the marks of indian camps, which had b~en since the cold weather' as was evident by the fires whic.h were in the centre of the lodges ; the sign nlade by their horses was astonishing, and would have taken a thous~nd horses some months. As it was impossible to say which course the Spaniards pursued, amongst this n1ult1·p rI C·it y 0r signs we halted carl y, and discovered that they or the savag'e s had ascended the river. ·we determ1.n e d to Pe r· sue them, as to the geography of the count:y, had turned out to be so different from our expectatiOn; we were some what at a loss which course to pursue, unless we at· tempted to cross the snow cap'd mountains, to the southf cast of us which was almost impossible. Bursted one 0 our rifles, which was a great loss, as it made three guns which had bursted, and the five which had been broken on the march, and one of my men was now armed with my sword and pistols. Killed two buffalo. 15tb December, Monday.-.t\ftc.:r repa1· n·n g ou r guns ' we marched, but were obliged to leave another horse. TO THE SOUHCES OF TilE ARKA'NSA \V, &c. 17:; Ascended the river, both sides of which were covered with old Indian camps, at which we fotmd corn cobs ; this induced us to believe that those savages although erratic, must remain long enough in one position to cultivate this grain, or obtain it of the Spaniards ; fr01n their sign they must have been extremely numerous, and possessed vast numbers of horses. My poor fellows suflc red extremely with cold, being almost naked. Distance 10 miles. 16th December, Tuesday.-Marchcd up the river about two miles and killed a buffalo. When finding no road up the stream., we halted and dispatched parties different courses; the doctor and myself ascending high enough to enable me to lay down the course of the river into the mountains. Fron1 a high ridge we reconnoitered the adjacent country, and concluded putting the Spanish trace out of the question, and to bear our course south west, for the head of Red river. One of our party found a large camp, which had been occupied by at least 3000 Indians, with a large cross in the middle. Qucrc. Arc those people catholics ? . 17th December, fVedncsday.-Marched, and on strikmg a left hand fork of the river we had left, found it to be t~e main branch; ascended it some distance, but findmg lt ~o bear too much to the north, we encamped about two mll:s from it, for the purpose of benefitting by its , ater. D1stance 15 miles. 18th December, Tbursday.-lVfarched and crossed the mountain which lay south-west of us, in a distanc • of seven miles, arrived at a small spring ; some of our lad~ llbserved, they suppo~etl it to be Red riv •r, to which I then gave v 1' 1 d. 0 . next 111'0 •c ry Itt c ere It. 11 cnt nn•\ 1" a g~•l i) in the .J untam, came past an excellent sprmg· \vhH:h form-e\! a fmc ere I~ 1 . h c 11 ' • h e .... , w 11c we ro owed through narrows Hl t e mountains fi b · ·1 · or a out SLX ll11 cs; found many cvacu:neJ |