502 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950 



Nest Seymour drew liis "View of the Chasm through which the Platte 

 Issues from the Eocky Mountains" (English edition only). Their 

 camp on July 5 was "immediately in front of the chasm," the view 

 being taken from a "commanding eminence" a little to the south of 

 camp. (The paragraph in which this sketch is mentioned appears 

 only in the English edition; James in Thwaites, 1905, vol. 15, pp. 

 285-286.) 



Most of this month was spent in crossing the present State of 

 Colorado from the headwaters of the Platte to the headwaters of 

 the Arkansas. At least seven views for this portion of the trip 

 exist. Of 10 Seymour water colors in the Coe Collection of Yale 

 University Library (all of which must have been among the 60 pic- 

 tures finished by the artist), 5 were never published. From their sub- 

 jects they belong to July 1820: "View near the Base of the Rocky 

 Mountains" (pi. 6), "View Parallel to Base of the Mountains at 

 the Head of the Platte" (pi. 7), "Cliffs of Red Sandstone near the 

 Rocky Mountains" (pi. 8 — possibly July 6), "Hills of the Trap For- 

 mation" (pi. 9 — probably July 28), and "View on the Arkansa near 

 the Rocky Mountains" (pi. 10). These pictures are all signed either 

 "S. S." or "S. Seymour," and the captions are in his hand. 



Two other pictures for this area were published in the American 

 edition: a "View of the Insulated Table Lands at the Foot of the 

 Rocky Mountains" (pi. 11), and a "View of Castle Rock, on a Branch 

 of the Arkansa, at the Base of the Rocky Mountains" (James, 1823, 

 vol. 2, p. 16). James mentioned another subject that was not re- 

 produced. As the party moved south it came to a hill from the 

 top of which "the High Peak mentioned by Capt. Pike" was dis- 

 covered. In this neighborhood they came on "several rock forma- 

 tions beautifully exposed," and Seymour made sketches of "these 

 singular rocks" (James in Thwaites, 1905, vol. 15, p. 302). 



On July 24 a party consisting of Captain Bell, Say, Seymour, and 

 others was detached to proceed eastward along the Arkansas. Two 

 or three days later they came upon a Kiowa encampment, and the 

 artist did another of his interesting views (pi. 12). The foreground 

 pictures the tents and flagstaff of the whites, with Indians crossing the 

 river in the middle distance, and the Indian encampment far beyond 

 the river on the horizon. It was probably on this occasion that 

 Seymour also made the sketches of the three Indians represented on 

 the plate of "Kaskaia, Shienne Chief, Arrappaho" (pi. 13). (James, 

 1823, vol. 2, p. 175 ff.) Both of these pictures were used in the 

 English edition. 



At the close of the expedition the journals and papers of the various 

 members were placed in James' hands for the preparation of a book 

 for the general public about the exploratory expedition, and for this 

 Seymour was to furnish illustrations. Work progressed slowly. On 



