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Show Ex. J)oc. N 0. 41. 546 Mr. Hoffman'~ party; tlH'Y h~Hl bet•n a~n1o. t stan lllg for th,• l:Hl t w 0 < \ a y s , an c I w r r <' t raY ell in g rap i < \ l y , 1 n hop 's of. so on r a du n g some lndian h;nnlets where thc•y nnght pro< ure foo~; they ~oon rea c h c c 1 a h o usc , t h r fi r s t tlw y h a !I . <' e n f o r 0 I o n ~ w h d ': an <~ t h l:' y th n a~kecl for food for thetn~('1vcs, an<l fotldt•r for thrtr nn1n1als The Indian~ ,1.hn livecllterc told them that it :...-oulcl bt> w ron~ tn sell anything, as it \\aS 'unda~. Bu they snon found other lnd1an-. who were not so ~rrupu1ou .. When w r<'a<'hccl the Kansar-; river, we found it full ot tl'l', w hi(' h w n s so pack<' d t o g d h c r t hal i t s l o o d u p c d g e wise, an cl s r e nH' d to offer an impt·tH'trabl<.• barrier to our progrc::;~. \Ve ballocd to the lncliHn ft·rrytn(•n who wcrr on tlH' opposite siclt' of the river; they jumpecl into a fi,lt boat ;nul sta.rtt•d to reach us; but, findi11g they could not get through tht• ic t-, thry rdurncd; we ''.t!'·r, hov. · ever, determined to noss 1f it wctt• po~. ible ; and , gettinrr into ,1 fiat boat which happenPd to bt' on thi. ·ide of the tiVl'r, we pu heel off from thr shore; soon our bo::t het:amc '\edged in !11• ice; we t h c n p us h c d i t b a l k f n r c n o u g h t o a c q u i r t' i tn 1 H' t 11 • t o r u h f o r v. 11. r d ; by innumcrahl1• rrprtitions of this tuiJilCI'll\'rt:', wt• forced our v,;1y dear into the rapid rurrrnl of thr strN1m; the long poles that WI' were u~ing could not touch the Jivt•r bottom. But we fortunatrly bad " s we r p ~" on b o a r d ; wit h t h e II) w P r 1) w e d o u r h o a , :HH I n an · aget1 to land on th r. oppl)'itc side. Our men now JUinp l<i a.· hor<' and" corclcllc<l' 1 our rr:tf't up the ~trenm lo the proprr landing pla<'r. Our su< <·«·ssful pa~sagt• over ,\,l~ entirely 1lu to tbc prr:<'· vernn(' · an1l good man(lgcmt•nt of tht· wogonma. ter, 1\Tr. Smith. W c c n l' a m p c < l o n t b e r i ,. c r ban k , " h r r e h e r e 1 s n o s ( a r <.: i t y o f all the varieties of timbt !' tha the hear 0f man can desin• . • Ma1·ch 1.-\t the d·nvn of d:1y we pn•p<HI'l' ot r frug:"l rcpa.~t. W c 11 ow felt a. t hom c, an c l a t h (' s u 11 r o ~ c t h c r e s c em<· d to h c n c h c c r i 11 ~ b r i ~ h l n t ~ ~ in hi t a) g w hi(; h is not to b c s c P n in '' N P w Me xi eo," nor on t tH' prairie". · The r c w a o..; a m a j t' sty in t b c l o ft y g r o v t'"' w hi c h n o \\ ~ u rr on i1 d l' ii u , and a music in the plash of the wild duck a. it l1t upor tbt> bosom of the riYl'r; t} crt• wa. tr.u L( ~''en in the scream of th(' p:-~rroqnrllc lhill swept o\cr our i eads; there wa5 a charm in every thing, for \\ L' now real ly felt that our tria1· ,~·ere at an f:'ntl. At a rapid pare l start eel otr for t hP for . A I pa. ~ell th r0ugh ' the bottom land~ of the Kan:a-;, the prairie chicktns were c ollstantly fl)ing up with n loud whirring :ounct At an (•arly hour in the afternoon I re'\rhPd fort Le.1vcnv. orth, where I wa~ most kincll) recci,cd h', Colonel Wh:1rton the LOlli mandcr of this po::.l. · ' V cry n:"lH·ctfnll), y.o ur obet1ient r-;crv~nt, J. W. ABERT, Lieut. ('orps 'fopograph1calJ•]ngi~te eJs. 1' o Colon ·l J. .1 . A B t-: RT f'h i cf CJrps Top. Engi 11 eet .. l I' l . j'. II It' C [ 1 1 I |