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Show 14 Ex. Doc. No. 41. several vari lies of solidc~o, <rnothcra, and hcliantlnt; among whirh was the common sunflower. The animals of this section of the country arc the buffalo, deer, an tel ope, elk, marmot, wolf, a gam a. cornu ta, &c.; bul, _for a more .·fi. l·now lec\crc of the natural history ancl h rbanum. of the ~l~ei~n fr'"om Fort Leavenworth to 13cnt's Forl, r _ft·rcnce ts made to gtbe int rcstinf,!: note of one of my assiHtants, L1eutenant Abert, in appendix No.6. ,_ 1 , tl Except th buffalo, game is very s :uce, and cannot u~ < epen<le upon to support a party of men, howcve: small th c1r numbe~. The bulfalo whcr they range, 1nay be. rclte1l ':lpon to supp?rt a column or' many thou and men; but the1r range 1s very uneertam. Thi. year it was :vc. twartl, betwc n the 98th degree and the 101 t meridian of long1tude. IJ ·r. 1 For an account of the country from H •nl s Fort to the a.cwc, submit my notes, in which I have set down what passed under my own observation. . . . . The accompanying map 1 " a.~s? l11~1t e<l lncfly l? the rontc fol-lowed, ba ed upon the data cxhtbtlcd m the appcndtces, and num-b zred from 3 to 5. . For a more specific knowlcclgc o_f the ]~lant s pe eul1ar to th e c 0 u n try t r a v c r s c c1 than will u e f_o u n d 111 t h ~ .1 o u r n al , I ref~ r . : o the catalogue prcparccl by that cm1nent botanist_, Dr. J ~>h n _l ollry, to whom all the plants ancl drawin gs w r submtl_tccl-f?rmmg _a pp ~ nllix No.2. The sp cimens broup;hl home to a1d_me w elu('ldattng th geology of th e_ rout~, we~·c ubmilt d to Pro_Jcssor .John F_raz er! of the Pennsylvanta Unt•·erstty, to whose lcarnmg aud kno~lcdge I am U!lder g.rcat obligation. r • The military force under Colonel I~ earny, d e. twcd [ or the conquest of New l\'lcxico and the counlncs b eyoncl, co ns1st •d o[ t~vo batteries of artill<'ry, (G-pouncl ers,) uncler the comma.n_cl of NTaJOL' Clark, three squadrons of the fn t dra goons, under .l\1aJOr St~mncr, the fnsl r ccri men t of Missouri cavalry, under Coi oncl Do~u P ~1a.n , and two co~1panics of infantry, under Captain Agncy. Thts force was detach etl in d i fTc rent columns fr om Fort L a vcn worth , and were concentrated with aclmirttble order and prec ision on the 1st of August, nt a camp nine mil_s br1ow Bent's Forl. , , . Ancl here I would take occas1on to speak of the excellent und tslanuing which preYailcclthroughoul bdwe n re g ulars and volunteers and the cheerfulness with which they came to each others a!:sist'ancc whenever the privati ons nncl harchhips of the mar<.:h callecl for the interchange of kindly offic s among them. The volunteers thouo·h but rec ntly aecuslomccl to the case ancl comforts of st~iling bhomcs, bor up agaiu sl fatigu e, hun ge r, and the viciss i\nclcs of a long and l e<lious march, throu p;h unexplored regions, with a zeal, courage, and dev?tion tba.t ~vould h<~vc graced t i m e-w o r n y e t <' r a n s, an d r cfl e c l t h e b 1 g h c s t c r e d tt o n l h c 11' co n ll u cl a soltliers. There was a noble cmnhtion in the conduct of regu_lars and volunlrcl :-i , which, in no sma11 dcgrcP, hen_cfi~t e d. the ~c r_vtcc; while at the same time, it promotecl that cordtahty 111 thetr wtercsts ,~hid1 will mak their future meetings, in the more p eaceful walks of life, a gladsome event to both. Ex. Doc. No. 41. 15 NOTE 1 ~ .......... .ll.ugust 2, 1846.-L lookrd in the direction of Bent's Fort and saw a huge ~ nitctl ~ta les Ilag flowing to the urccze, and s tr ai ning every ftbre oi an a ·h po le planted ove r t he ee nlrc of a gate . The mystery was soon revealed by a colurnn of dust to the east advancing with about the velocity of a fa.t walkinrr horse-it' was " b ( the Army of the W c!->l." l ordered my ho.·scs to be hi tched up and, a· the column p~ ssed, look my place with the staff. ' -!'-- little bclo_w the for t, lh? river was ford •d without difTirulty, bemg pav cl wtth well altntwncd pebbles of the primitiv rock and not more than kn e cl eep. ' We ~dvancecl five miles along the river, whrrc its bed slides over a black carb onaceous shale, which has been mi ·taken for coa l, and indu ·cd some' persons to dig for it. Jl ere we tu rned to th' len, and pursued our course over an ariel eleva led plain for t w 'n t y mil es, with o ul w at cr. \V hen we reached the Tim pas, we fountl the water in puddl s, and the grass bad. Colonel Don iphan was ordered to pursue Lhc Arkansas to ncar the mouth of the Tim pas, and r ·join the army by fo11 owing the bee\ of that stream. N ar where we l <'fl the Arkansas, we foun1l on the . ide of the slope several si ngula r clemi-~phcroicls, about the size of an umbre_ lla, coate~l with carbonate of lime, in pyramidal cry tals, wht ch, at a cllstan ce, resembled the uubblcs of a l1 uge boiling caltlron . A long the Ark(lnsas the principal growlh consists of very ·oar. c r~ra s, <ll_lcl a few collon-w_oods, willows, an cl cuphor_bia marginata. Ihc plcnn s are _covered wltl~ :rcry sh0rl grnss, - ~siena dactyloicles, n o w b u r n t to c 111 d c r ; a r l e nu s 1 a , 111 a b u n cl a n c e ; li r c m on t i a v c r 111 i c ulari~; yucca a.nguslifo lia, palm illo, of the Spaniards; Yerbrna · eu-rotia lanata, and a f'w mcnzelia nucla. ' The only animals seen were one black-tailed rabbiL and an antelope; both of which wcr' killed. Our march was 26 miles, that of the army 37; the last 20 miles without wa: cr. The artillery arrivecl about 11, p.m.; both men anti horses were parchccl with thirst. The teamsters, who had to encounter the dust, suffered very muC'h. When water was nca r, they sprang from their seals and ran for it like mad men. Two hor es sank under this day's march. Our ascent was consicl erable to-day. The height, indicated by the barometer, being 4,523 fe el above the level of the ea . .flu,gust 3.-W e ascended the Tim pas six and three· quarter miles, |