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Show .... 134 haYe not yet been given, except "water side wood," are here met with; as also persimons and srnall black grapes. 'I'he margin_ of the river is ~ringed with a variety of plants and vmes, an1ong \\'h1ch are several species of convolvulus. On the left they passed a hill and cliff one hundred feet perpendicular, crowned with pines, and called "Cote de Finn" (Fin's · hill) fron1 which a chain of hio-h land continues son1e distance. The cliff prese~ ts the appearance of an ash coloured clay. A little farther to the right is the Bayau cl' Acasia (Locust creek). 'fhe river varies here frmn eighty to an hundred vards in width, presenting frequent indications of iron along its banks, and sotne thin strata of iron ore. The ore is from. half an inch to three inches in thickness. On the morning of the 22d of November, they ar-rived at the road of the Chadadoquis Indian nation, leading to the Arkansa nation; a little beyond this is the Ecor a Frabri ( Fabri 's cliffs) fron1 80 to 100 feet high; and a little distance above, a stnaller cliff called " Le Petit Ecor a Fabri" (the Little Cliff of Frabri): these cliffs appear chiefly to be composed of ash coloured sand, with a stratum of clay at the base, such as runs all along under the banks of this river. Above these cliffs are several rapids; the current is swifter, and denotes their ascent into a higher country : the water becomes clear, and equal to any in its very agreeable taste, and as drinking water. In the river are immense beds of gravel and sand, over which the water passes with great velocity in the season of its floods, carrying with it vast quantities of drift wood, which it piles up, in many places, to the height of twenty feet above the pre3ent surface, pointing out the difficulty and danger of navigation in certain times of the flood ; accidents, however, are rare with the canoes of the country. As the party ascended they found the banks of the river less elevated, being only from nine to twelve 135 feet, an.d are l?robably surmounted by the frcshes son1e feet. fhc nver becomes 1nore obstructed by rapids, and sand an~l gravel_beaches, among 'vhich are found fragments of stone of Qll form::> and a \·ariety of colors some hi~hly p_olisi:cd a~1d rou'ndcd by friction. T'h~ banks of ~he nver 111 .th1s upper country sufrer g-reatly by abrasiOn, one Slde and somelimcs both ueinrr broken do\!rn by evcrv flood. 0 At a P.lace ~ailed "'~, Auges cl' Ardon," ( Arclon's troughs) IS laminated Iron ore, and a stratum of black sand, very tenacious, shining ·with minute chnrstals. The breadth of the river is here about eio·ht)· y"' ards: · • b . m some places, however, it is enlarged by islands, in others, contracted to eighty or one hundred feet. Rocks of a greyish colour, and rather friable are here found in many places on the river.* On tl1e banks grow willows of a different form frmn those found below, anc~ on the margin of the Mississippi; the last ar~ very bnttle; these, on the contrary, are extren1ely phant, resctnbling the osier, of which they are proba-bly a species. "' At noon on the 24.th, they nrrived at the confluence o. f the lesser Missouri with the 'Vashita '· the former 1s a considerable branch, perhaps the fourth of the Washita, and comes in from the left hand. The h. un.t ers often ascend the Little ~1issouri , but are not mclmed to penetrate far up, beca usc it reaches near the great plains or prairies upon the red ri\'er, Yisited by the lesser Osage tribes of Indian~, settled on Arkansa ; tl:ese last frequently carry war into the Chadadoqui~ tnbe settled on the Red river, about west, south. west from this place, and indeed they arc reported not to spe:~r: any nation or people. 'fhey arc prevented frorn. VISitmg the head waters of the Washita by the steep hills in which they rise. 1'hcse mountains are so dif- * The banks rise into h1lls of free stone of a very sharp and fine grit, fit for grind stones. The strata irregular, inclinin~ from 20° to ~0° down the river. |