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Show 524 Ex. Doc. No, 41. l'-l ·in lH fo re vrnturing to cro~g the 1_1aton: 'l'bey told u~ that .pt ~ . ·y 'li>tln!ltnt· tint thl'y daily loll ed gnat numbns of 1-!:Cl.l I' was 't'J • ' ' • · k 1'1 tlu· IJl,,,· k-tai lt·d dl'<.>r, com111on dt·er, antl·lopr,and tur <'y~.. _1cre ·J< .; (''\('(.• 11 t' lll I 1r y W<> o I 1 ht·r<' 1.11 hr rrc•'· tt <: -~bundanr· c··' · the stream lS l•1 r~cd \\ith gro \< S of de<HI ](JC'u,,t nnd rolton wood,wbLrh ha\c bl'<n lolled b y ti r <' o r t n u n d a I 10 n . . . . . W <. w t• r e 11 0 w r I ear of 1 h r m n e h cl r r n d c cl p a~ s, . but o 1.11 t 1 o u h 1 t s ..,till <'O JJtinu t·d; tlu~ BH'al-lcs Sf'l'Int'd to _he ~ pr c•ad1ng :1lll 0 1~~sl my ml'n, :llld already four of thrm wt·rc ~o 1ll that_ we had to ltft them in and out of tb<· wacrons. We marrh<·d 14 miles .. .frrnu1rr·1; Jf>. - \V c I~l <HI<' an enrl: ~tar t this morn_tny;, nnd aftrr :! lJlarrh of 12 Inil t'S \\C readH>d '' llol <'s in the Pra1 ne,'' "lu•rc· w<· <'nl':tlllpt·cl. As W<' kuc·" tbat \',(.' sho uld find no \\ oocl hen·, Nt! h rowrh t a latg-t· qna1Jtity f1om the Purgatory._ . Tht• ro.ld 0\t'r "llil'h \'. c· tr a\'(•l l{'cl ''a~ quilt: lt•vr l, ancl erdtrcly f t ( • c• f' r 0111 s ll o \ ·. \\T e t h n (' fo r (' r c ·a <: h l' d 0 11 r r <l m p j ll g' p J a C' t' a t . a l c·:u ly l·our. Tht•rr Wl' mel C'aptnin l\1urphy, who w.l~ conv<'ytng "f''-f:ral w.won loads of SJH' <:ic to Santa F{·. 1 told !ti~.,n of tht• sUttl' of fc·cling- in New l\Trxico t_ow;-~rcl R our JWOplc, <11111 lt'ill'nt>d that he had already lH·cn pnl on lll~ gtta t d by an (•Xpt t·ss, wlti<"h he had mrt n<·:n Bt>nt's fort. . II<' told nH' that my rnult·s wc•re too poor to bo thro.ur;h th1s trq>r n1 d cautioJif·d me ngain:-,l th l' .Arrapahot·s, who, he S<Hcl, we' re> then t' llt'illtip t· d ltl'ar Chouteau's island, and ·who !Jad a ~r(•at numb~r ot llllll 1· s t h <' t w l'l' e h r a n d c d w i t h t h f' 1d I n s l 1. S . , w h u· h t h < y r d u "Po 1o ~~i \' <' up. lie also informed Jn(' that t~ll tlH• ~rnss was burnt up o 11 l h P p r a j r i c · s b r t w c' c n P a w 11 <' c • F o 1 k a n d C o 11 n r 1 I ( i r n Y e . . lu t h <' t• \' l' n in g- t h c wind sudden I y chang P d to l h <' north; 1 t be - C'il int' \.(•ry told, and b<.'fore ni ght we l1 ad a snow sto rm. . A"' o u r m nl <' • w <' r <' losi ng 11 t •-: h fa s 1 , n o t w i l !J s I n n d i n g- o u r . f <' <' d 1 n g 1IH:m wit h corn rvcry night, I t!Ptnmincd to adopt Captatn Mur pit y ' !'-. p ! a n , i n I f't t i n g 1 h (' m r u n 1 o o s e a II n i g h t. . To clay anothu of my IO<'ll was taken ill; hi: ryPs w<>rr tr_rnhly swollc u, aud b<'l'ore cYen ing he se< me d to be the sickc·s t man m the 1wrty. . .lnnuary 16 -t\ltbough our mulrs had strayrd off some clt stnnre. stil l \\ t> utnn<,~c d to rateh thrm all in good tim <', and at 1 o'c loc·k "f' rc•a c·ltt·d "Jlolc in th e• r o1· k," whPrc wr encamped in the ('(•ntrc· 1d. itn c xt<'ll !'l\<' ftHt•st of C"dar. Huge trunks of these trc c•s Jay strnn•d a rn1 nd in a ll tlirrcti0n s, and tb <' rr wBs plenty of good ctrass <l 11 d w a 1 ( \ I' i 11 () II r " i (' i ll i 1 )' . r n <I I i t I I () t i Ill (.' ' li I"(' s w e I"(. k i n d lc d 0 II c·,·ny s idr· ; c·ad1 person ll<1<l on of his own to ~it by; till' dt:nse folia;~<· of th<' <'<·dar tr<'PS c·ompl<'tl·ly shdt<·rc·d ns front th <·.wwd. Could wp alw ap; havr hnd su!'h a place as thic; to ('iltnp w, we could nt• vt·r b .t \C' :-uff•red from the ··old. Duri11g tbe lll<li' I'IJ we• saw a gr<'at many pr:.1irir dorrs. Laing kill ed o Ill' \\ it h It is 1'1 fl e, but t b c b 111 \(. t l1r1< I m a o·l e cl t h: , itt I 1 • anima I ~ 0 that it \\a s not worth skin nin g; this dog wb as so fat nnd ln okcc I s_() 11il'l' t!J,It w · had it cook c·d, h11t it S(' (' lnC'cl to be very tou gh, a'1d Lt }J,ul a fl.t\'O r whil'!t \'n: not altogeth<'r paltltahl('. January 17.-Last night tbc wind blew very hard from tLc south , • Ex. Doc. N.o. 41. 525 but w c w rr c o rom fort a h 1 y situ a f <' d that w c r1 i c1 not l1 e r cl it m u c h . This morning it was still blowing with gr(•at violence, a/thougl1 at our bark~; our mult• travelled slowly, and \\Ou)d uot go fast. ~Ve s:nv ~reat numbns of an~<·lopr, but killrd ~lOne'. After marchingSIX mtl<'s we rc·a('lted :1 C':1Jton c·nllrd the "\Vtll o\\ S, ' throtJIT!t whirh the ' 4 T1mpa" flows. I had intend<'d cn<'amping· thcrr, but 7hl' wind rushed through the gorge at sn('h a rate that our teut s C'Ould not hav<• stood a. single in stant. \Vc therefore proceed ed two miles Jurtlter, and encamped again in a grove of cedar trees on th<' Jnargin of the vall<'y o~· tl1e ''Hio Timpa." \Vc could no{ find any dry wood and were obl~gcd to usc the g·rc('n cedar, whi ch Inflde pr<'tty good fin•s, and a~ lt crackh·d iu the c.:heerful flam s gave forth a dclightf11l odor. Th.c Timpa wa: guit<• hiddl•n. from view, as the haJJI.:" ar<' ]H' r P en d ' c ul a r ell! d a b 0 u t 2 0 f e ct Ill g h. A l t h 0 lJ g h a fe w (" () t t 0 II w () 0 ( r trcr grew along the bottom of the stream, they were hardly tall enough to be SL'Cn. Th<' icc wns sn thick thnt it was '"ith difTiC"ulty we <'Ould obtain watc.·r for ourscln•s and our animals. We found (hat it w a · not so sa 1 t as t hal near c r t h c mouth of t h c s t n· am. January_ 18.- Wc.]~ft c·amp as th · SHn was rising. Th<' air, al-though s t Ill , was b 1 tIll g <' o I d . 0 u r b rea t h con d <' n s <' d i n .stan t 1 y ll p 0 ll t h c (' 0 11 a r s 0 r 0 ll r (' 0 at ) e \' (' r y p (1 r t 0 r 0 u r fa(' e s was l' () v c r c ( l with frost -work. Our road b<'ing lev •I and in good order, we progressed rapidly. Pas ·ing a little to the north of the u~ual camping ground we encamped. II~rc we found a few sticks of wood, which had Lccn 1cfl by some prereding travellers, and tit' greatest abundan<'c of prairie age, "(Htcmisia," which burns brilliantly and throws out a great h cat. 13 u t it <'on sum e s so r a pi !II y that it k <' <' p s s c v c r a l per, on s busily engagcd supplyiug the fi1e with fuPl. On of IllY mc•n kill ed an antelope during tbc march. Althnu rd' we saw a great guilntity of game daily, still tl1c extreme cold deterred cv ry one fro1u hunting. As we approached the three cvn i(~~ l "buttes,'' whi ch arr described and figured in the report of the journ y pursued by Licutenaut Peck and my:elf, in 1845, we found an inuum crable quantity of fossil shells of the genus inoc ramus; the calcarious rock on which these . he] Is arc found is of a slaty fracturr, and breaks into very thin sh ects, which arc covered on both sid cs with imp rf·s~i ons of those ~hells. Janua.1·y 17.-- Wc had a long search tl1is morning for our mules, which 11ad wandered off to a great distanec during th' night. It was ten o'clock before we succ<.'cded in catching ltH·m all. lnow s t a r t c d f o r ]3 en t s' Fort , h a\' i 11 g g i v c n d i r c ct i on s to m y p a r I y to camp <IS soon as they reached the Arkansas river. 1 rc·ac/H•d the fort at 2i o'clock after a rapid rot over a distanrr (Jf 27 mil Hc1ds of antelope abounded on both si des of the ro·'CI. 'I'hr) w~rc feeding among the wild sngc whic.h cov~rs the valley vf 11H: T1mpa. As my approach set the herds m mot10n, the start led Jwr<· would ~pring up before them and da~h across my road. Daving reached the fort, l immediately ruade my arrn.ngcmeJJ t · |