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Show [ 174 J 16 ul The had apparently killed buffalo here, us many bones . were J · y. y nd the frames where the hides had been stretch~d wete. yet lymgd .aboutT, al . d of the day had kept the valley, which lS sometimes stan mg. 1e roa · 11 swdy lVlinaled rich and well timbered, though the conn try Is genera y ~ d ~ . . tl l t with the usual plants, a thistle (cm·duus /euc6g_1·aphus) 1a o~ 1e ~~ da or two made its appearance; and along the ~1ver b~ ~tom, tra es~a.n. za ( ~ · · ) ld milk phnt (asclepias syn:aca"") lll considerable qnantlttes. Vl0r gt.n zca . aht to-day lta'd been twemy-·o ne rn1·1 es, an d tl 1e as t1 · onomical. ob - scrv~~i~~\~~~a ve us a ~hronometric longitude of g~o 22, L.2 ",. a~1d btttu~e 40o 26 • so". We wore moviug forward at seven 111 the momwg, aml In about five miles reached a fork of the Blne, where the road leaves that n·v ei., all d c, ross"e·s over to the Platte. No water wa·s to1 be1 f.o undJl on dt he lividiiJO' ridge and the casks were filled, and the amma s. ~e1 e. a owe a cl 0 s wrt repose. ''J'he 1·oad led across" a. hiba h a.n d level pnune nd, gc. , wl here) were but few plants: and those priuctpally th1stle (cm·duus leucog1 (jp t~~s, and a kind of dwarf artemisia. A utelope were s~n fr~q uently dnung !he mornin<Y which was very stormy. Squalls of ra111,. wtth thnllder and lightning ,~~re around ll$ in every direction; and w lnle we were enve~oped in ~11e of them, a flash, which seemed to scorch onr ~yes as 1t passed, struck in tlle prairie within a few hundred feet, scndmg 11p a column of dus~. • . Crossing on the way several Pawnee roads to the Arkansas, w~ ICach-ed, in abont twenty-one miles from our halt 0~1 the Blue, wh~t IS called the coast of the Nebmska, or Platte river. Thts bad seemed 111 the distance a range of high and broken hil.ls ; but o~ a n en.r~r approa~h were found to be elevations of forty to stxty feet, mto winch the wmd had worked the sand. They were covered with the usnal fine grasses, of the conn! ry, n.ud bordered the eastern ide of the ridge on a breadth ot about two miles. Change of ... oil and country appeared ltere to have produced some change in the vegetn.tion. Cacti were numerous? and a ll the plants of the region . appeared to flourish among the ~var?'l htlls. Among t~~ e m the amorpha, in full bloom, was remarkable fo_r 1ts lar~e and .luxnnant purple clusters. From the foot of tiJe coast, a d1stauce oJ two mtles a~ross the level bottom brought ns to our encampment on the sl:ore of the nver, about twenty miles below the head of Grand island, whiCh lay extended before us, covered with dense and heavy woods. From the mou1h of 1he Kansas, aceording to our reckoning, we had travell ed three hundred and twenty-eight miles; and the geological formation of the coulltry we h~d passed over consisted of lime and sandstone, covered by the same er~·a.tlc deposits of sand and gravel ~h~cl~ fo_nr:s the SL\rface r?ck of the pr~ Htes between the .M issoun and M ts ISS I ppt n vars. Except m some occasiOnal limestone boulders, 1 bad met with no foss ils. The elevation of the Platt.e vullcy above the sea is here about two thousand feet. The astrOIJ011llcal observations of the uigbt placed us in lo11oitude 98° 45' 49", latitndo 4 0° 4 1 , 0 6,. • "This plant is very o<loriferous, an<l in Canada charms the traveller, especially when passing through woods in the evening. The French there eat the tender shoots .n the spring, as we do asparagus. The native& make a sugar of the flowers, gath~ ring ti:cm in the morning whe~ the~ a~o covered with dew, and collect the cotton from the pods to !111 the1r beds. On account ol the s!lkl· ness of this cotton, Parkinson calls the plant V 1rginian silk. "-Loudon'l:i Encyclopedia of Plants. The Sioux Indians of the Upper Platte cat the young pods of this plant, boiling them with the meat of the bufia.lo. 17 [ 174 J Juue 27.-Thc animals_ were some~vhat fatigued by their march of yesterday, a11d, after a short Jnumcy of eighteen miles along t!Je river bottom I cucamp d tlCar the heaJ of Grt9nd island, in Jongitn<..lc, by ob, crvation: 95° 05' 24", latitude 40° 39' 32". The soillwrc was li~l1t but rich thouafl m. sotuc pIa ce rat I1 er san d y; au d, w.a h the exception o~ f a ~catlcrec'l bfrinae along the bank, the timl1er, cou isting principally of poplar, (populus mbonilijer( J,) elm , and hackberry, (celtis crassijuliu,) i · cotJfiued almost entirt'l y to 1 he i:-:lands. Junf' 28 - \Vc halted to noon at an open r each of the river which occupies rat It er more than a fourth of rho vnll<'y, ltrrc ouly abour' ftHlf miles b road. The camp had been di po,ed witlt the u ual prl'cattlion the ho rsn~ grazing at a little di~tanct>, attend<'d by the gua rd, mtcl we wc~·c a ll sittiug qtlletly at our dirlller on tile grass, when sudden ly we heard the startliug cry "du mondt: .'" In an iuslallt, evCJy man's weopnn was in his ha11d, the hors('s were driven i11, ht>bhled a11cl picketed, and horsemen wen· gal.loping. at full sp?cd in tltc_ direction of !he lH'W comer., sen at11i11g and yeilJtlg wtth the wtld t•st cxcttement. "C~et ready, my lads ! ' said the lt·ncler of tit~ approaching party to llis meu, when our wi l<l-loo l<ing horsemen were <..ltscovered be.Hil!g down upcu 1 hem; "nous ollons all?·aJJe'1' des cuu1,s de bagufltc." Tiley proved to be a :-;uJall p<uty of f(JU rt een, ,.. umde_r .tl1c charge of a ma1~ tlaHted John Lee, anJ, wit It their bng~<lge and p roviSIO tts st rapped to their b:1cks, were ruakillg their way on foot to the frortlit·r. A brief acconllt of their ·rL)ftlltleS will give ~on10. idea of unviaa.tion i11 tlw Nl·braska. Sixty days .. ittce, they had left tlte mouth of L~rumie'~ fork, some tlm·c hundred mil t>s above, in barges laden w1th the furs of tile An1ericnn Fur Co1upany. They started with the anuua l flood and, drawit Jg but r~iue i1 1~1les \\'ate r, hoped to malw a , pcmly and pros~ J>erous voy:1gc to St. L otlls; but, after a lap, e of f,)rty clay~, found thcm- ·l' lve~ only CHIC huuclrrd ami thirty miles from their pnint of dt>pa rturc. rrtJCy cattle down rapidly as far as Scott's blum.:, wltere their dillic ultir.· began. SlH\I('IinJcs they camv upon places where the water wa ~prcad o_, ver a ' great de :xtcut , •n ucbl here they toiled from nHHniu'r")r nutil n tglt t en- I ucnvonug to rr~g tltetr oat through the sa11ds, tllakii JO' 011ly two or tl1rcc mile::, i11 as 111:111Y days. Some time~ they would Clller an ann of tlte river, w here tl1cte <l ppcared a fiuc charmcl, n11d, afrt'r dPseclldlllg prosJ•cronslr for <·i~ht or teu uJilcs, woulJ come suddculy upon dry sall(h, ana Le conJpellcd to retum, dragging their boat for days ngniust the rnpid ClllTeut; a nd_ at ortter . .;, they carne npou places where the wat r IDy i11 hole~;, :wd, gettlltg out to floal off tll('ir hoat, would fall into w:JtC'r np to tl1eir m·cks, aud ll H· t1e.xt 1nomeut f11tnble over ngainst a 8auuhar. Di<>courng(•u, at lcllgtll, ttnd fittdwg the Platte growing every dny more shal 1ow, they di - c llutged the prittc1pal part of their cargoes oue hundreu a11d thirly ·miles rtwlow Fort L.nrnmie, which they sccmc..:u as well as possibl<>, ::tltd, l('av iug a few ~~H~ tl lo guard them, atteutpted to continue their voyage, l<Hicn with f'ome ltghl f11r u11d their per~oual baggage. After fifrl~Cn or twetJty days ~lJOrt! srr:tgglt11g in the sanu~, during which they made but oue htwclrcd and fony tudes, tht•y swllc their bargt·s, mnde a carl1e of tht>ir rt·nwi11ing furs aud property, iu !rt•cs on tl1c ba11k, and, packiug ou hi · ba rk wlmt eaclt lll<lll cottld carry, had commenrcd, the d.ty before we eucouutercd ahcru, lllcir j tl lllllCY Oil foot to St. Louis. \tVc laughed tlteu at 1lteir forloru aucl vagabond appcaralJce, and, in our turu, a uwut.h or two afterwatds, furni hed the same occasion for merri- 2 |