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Show 4 APPENDIX TO PART II. only limited by the imbecility of our sight. The watet·s of the " 'hitc rivet· and the Osag·e, arc divided merely by a small ridge in the prairie, and the dry branches appear to intcl'lock at thcit· head. Jo'rom thence to the main branch of said river, the country appeared high unci gravelly ridges of prairie land. On the main \Vhite rivet· is large timber and fine g-round for cultivation. lienee a doubt arises as to the clisembo~uing· of this stream. Lt. Wilkinson from some authority, has drawn the conclmion, thnt it discharges itsel!' into the Arkansaw, a short di!:>tance below the Vermillion riverbut from the voyages of capt. 1\I:moy, on the TV/dtc river, the information of hunters, Indians, &c. I am t·athet· induced to believe it to ue the 'Vl1ite ri' er of the Mississippi-as at theit· mouths thcrr is not so great a oiHcrcnce between their· magnitude; ancl all persons agree in ascertaining- that the \Vhite river heads between the Osage Tiver, Ark.ms:nv and Kanses rivers, which would still leave the Arkansaw 11car 800 miles more lengthy than the 'Vhite river. From these proofs, I am prctly confident in assct·ting·, that this was the \IVhitc river of the Mississippi which we crossed. At the place where we traversed it, the stream was amply navigable for canoes, even at this dry season (August) of the year. Up this river to the dividing ridges, between it and the V crdigrise rirer, the bottom is of some magnitude and importance, but the latter river is bounded here in a nanow hcd of prairie hills, affording not more than sufficient timber for fire wood for a limited number of inhabitants for a few years. I• rom the Verdigrisc, out· cour·se again lay ovet• g-ravelly hills ancl a prairie country, but well watered by the branches or the V erdigrisc and \Vhitc rivers (alins Grand river.) From this point to the source of ''Vhite river, there is very little timber, the grass short, prairies high and dt·y. From the l1ead of \IVhite river over the dividing ridge between that and the Eastern br:.mch of the Kans river, the ridge is high, dry, and has many appearances of iron ore, and on the vV est side some spnw springs-Here the country is very deficient of water, from the East Branch of the Kans rivet· (by our route) to the Pawnee republic on the republican fork, (sec chart) the prait·ies are low, Jiigh grass, and the country abounds with salines, and the earth appears to be impregnated with nitrous and common salts. The immcdiat~ b~rder of the _republican fork neat· the village is high ridges, but tins 1s an exceptton to the general face of the country. All the co_untry, between the iol'l\.s of the Kans river, a distance of 160 mtles, may be called prairie, notwithstanding the b01·dcrs of wood !and which ornament the banks of those streams, but are no more APPENDIX TO PART II. 5 than a line traced on a sheet of paper, when compared to the immense tract of meadow countt·y. For some distance from the Osage ..,illnges, you only find c.Jecr, then elk, then cabrie and finally buffalo. But it is worthy of remark, that although the m<.1le bufTalo were in great abundancr, yet in all out· route from the Osage to the Pawnees we never saw one female. I acknowledge myself at a loss to detct·minc, whether· this is to be attributed to the clecic.lcd preference the suvag-c.., gi\·e to the meat or the female ; and that consequently they arc almost exterminated in the hunting gTOUncls or the nations-or to t:.Ot1lC ])hy!:>ical causes, lot· I afterwards di5covet·ccl the females with }'OUJ)g' in such immense herds, as gare me no re<.1son to belie' e, they yielded to the males in numbers. From the P~! \Vtlce town o11 the Kanses river, to the Arkansaw, the country may almost be ternH:d mountainous, but want of timbet· gives the hills less claim to the appellation of mountains. They arc watered and created as it were by the various branches of the.Kans rivet·. One of those branches, a stleam of considcraule magnitude (say 20 }ards) whtcb 1 ha,·e designated on the chart by the name or the Saline-was so salt at where '\ e crossed it, on our route to the Arkansaw, th<tt it salted sufftciently, the soup of the meat which my men boiled in it. 'Ve were here, very eligibly 5ituatccl, had a fresh spring, issuing [1•0111 a hank ncar us; plenty of the necessaries of life all around, viz: buffalo; a beautiful little sugar loaf hill, for a look out post; fine g"l':l.S~ fat· our horses; ancl a saline in front or us. As you approach the Arkansaw (on this route) within 15 or 20 miles the country appears to he low and ~wampy; or the land is covered with ponds extending out fro1~1 tl.lc nvct· SOllie distance. The river at the place where I struck It, lS nearly 500 yards wide, from bank to b:1nk. Those banks not more than four icet high, tl1inly covered with cotton wood The north side a swampy low prairie, •mel the south a s:.mdy ster.il~ desctt. From thence, about half way to the mountains, the coun~ ry contin.ued the low prairie hills, with scat·ccly any streams putting Hlto the nver; and on tltc bottom many bare spots, on which when th.e sun is in tl 1e men·( 1 I· an, 1· s congealed a species of salt, sufl'lcicntly tlucl~ .to be accumulated, but it is so strongly impregnated with nitl'ic q~alttl~s, .us to rcndet· it unfit for usc until purified. The grass ia thts cltstnct on the rivet· bottoms, has a great nppcar:mcc of the gl'ass on out· salt nuu·5hes. From the first south fork (sec ch:ut) the hordct·s .of the river have more wood, and the hills are higher, until you atTtve at its entrance, into the mountains. The whole of the timber is cotton wood, from the cntt'm\ce of the Arkansaw, in the |