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Show APPENDIX TO PART IJ. rnountal·l t!->, t o ·ltS source ' a tlist:mcc of about .I 10 miles; (by th.e l1lt'~IH)CI .S · ) ·I t ·l S. a ltC, l· tn' lcly hounded by pcrpen(hculat· prec•q nccs 10 small narrow pt... u· t:J cs, o n which the buffalo and elk. have foun. d the llleans to .,\I.J ·t vc, , an d a t· c a' lmost sec fire from danger, from thc1r dcs-troyn-::\ lan. . . . . . In 11l<II1Y p 1c, tc cs. the river prcctpttates . ttself ovct . t.o cks, s.o .a s ,a t one momcn t to be vis· jblc only in the foam. mg and botlmg of Its w, ,t-tet ·s ; at the next moment it disappears mthc charms of the orr hangi 1w pn:ripices. · Tl~c .Arkansaw river, taking its meanders ~grec~tbly .to Lt. "\Yi lkinson's survey of the lower part, ~ s 1981 ~lies from Its ~n- trance .m t o tl 1e 11\.1·1. ....: "1ssiJ)pi to the mountams, and from thence to tts " ·"' • f ~.omce 192 miles, making jts total len gth 2,173 nnles, all o "hich may be rHwigatecl with proper boats, constructed for the purpose ; except the 192 miles in the ~nr· tmtai.ns. It has. e~ptr· l·n p· 1·1 1 to 1· t ' ",, 'even< l small rivet·s navq• p ble for I 00 mtles •n nd ., ... 1., 'If Poats bound up the whole length of the navJ~a- \1p\\,u c.,. J' ~' , • • ti on, should embark at its entrance, on the lst ~f l cbtttnty., whrn tht y would have the fresh quite to the moun tams, and m~ct "ith 110 detention. llut if they !>hould start later, they ~vou ld f~nd the ri\ et· 1500 miles up nearly clry. It has one sin gul n n ty~ wluch struck me very forcibly at first Yiew, hut on. reflcctio~1, I am md uc~rl to believe it is the same case "ith all the 1'1\'crs \\Inch run through a low, dry, and sandy soil in warm c l~m a tes. This I observrll ~o b~ the case with the Rio del Norte, v1z: for the extent of 4 ~~ 50. miles before you arri\·e near the mountains, the ~ed of the 1~n·er. 1 ~ extensive, ar.d a perfect sand b::t~·, which at certam seasons I.s clty, at least the water is standing in ponds, not atTording s Jfflcicn: to l)rocme a runm· ng course. "\V' l1 cn }· ou com e ne•a rer the mounta.m s, you find the river contracted, a g ravelly bottom, an c] a (1 c ep na' nga' · ble stream. From these circumstances it is evident, that the sandy soil imuibcs all the waters which the somces project from the moun· tains, and renders the n.v cr c·m (1 r y seasons ) 1e ss nav1' gable five /iu71- drcd milrs · than 200 miles from its source. The borders of the Arkansaw r' iver may be termed the para(h· se (terrestrt·a J) o [ our ter· dtorics, for the •wandering savage8. or all countries ever visited J.,y the footsteps of civilized man, there never was one probably that produced game in greater abundance, and we know that the manners and morals of the erratic nations, arc such (the reasons I leave to be gi,·cn by the ontologists) as never to give them a numerou ~ • See Lt. Wilkinson's rcrort of the lower Arkansaw. APPENDIX TO PART II. 7 population; and I belic,·e that there arc bufl'Jlo, elk, and deet· suffi ci(:llt on the banks of the Al'lcansaw alone, if used without waste, to feed all the savages in the United States tenitot·y one centmy. By the route of the Arkansaw and the Rio Colorado of Califor·uia, I am confident in asserting· (if my information from Spanish gentlemen of inform\.ltion is correc t) there can be established the best communication on thb side the l sthmus of D:1 ri en between the Atlantic and Pacif1c oceans, as, admitting the utmost, the land caniuge wuuld not be more than 200 miles, and the route may be made q11itc as eligible as our public high ways over the Alleghany mountains. The Rio Colorado is to the ~t·eat Gulph of Calif01niu, what the 1\fississij,pi is to the Gulph of .Mexico, and is navi1~able fot· ships of considerable IJurdcn, opposite to the upper part of the province of Senot·a. From the Arkansaw to the Rio del Norte (the route I passecl) the country was covered with mountains of small pl'Uit· ics, ( ~s per chart) but the game became much more scarce owi11g· to the vici11ity of the Spani:>h lndiuns and the Spaniards thcmschcs. In this western traver8e of Lonisiana, the following genrral obset·vations n1ay be made, viz: that from the Missouri to the hcucl of the Osngr. rive r, a distance in a st raight line of prob.tbly 300 miles, the country\\ ill admit of i.t numerous, exten!:>irc nncl con1pact popu~ lation; from thence on the rivers Kanses, La PLttte, Arkansaw, and their various branches. 1t appears to me to IJe on ly jiO.Y8ibLe, to inti'Oduce a limi ted population on their banks. The inhabi tants would find it most to their advantug·e, to pay attention to the multiplication of cattle, horses, sheep, and gnats; all of wlticlt they can raise in abundance, tile earth p rod ttt:ing spontt~ncou sly suflicient for their sup .. port, both wintet· and summer, by which means tllcit· herds might become immensely numct·ous; but the wood now iu the country, would not be sufficient f'oe. a moderate share of population, more than 15 years, and then it would be out of the question to think of using any of it in m.lllufactorics, consequently their houses would be built entirely of mucl-bt jck (like those in New Spain ) or of the b1·ick manufac tured with fire. llut possibly time may make the distore, ·y of coal mines, which would render the country habi ta ble. Tltc SOlll'Cl! or the La Platte, is situated in the same chain of mountains with the .\rkansaw, (sec chan) and comes from that grand rcscJ·voi1· of snows and fountain<; wltich gives bi1·~h on its nonh eastet ·n sirlc to the H~.:d river ;1: or the Missouri, (its fil'Cat SL'llth wes· • The yellow ~toll.: 11 vcr of Lew·'· J () |