H2 EXPEDITION TO THE 



sensibly when travelling on the prairies west of the Missis- 

 sippi, was the great range of the thermometer. We noticed 

 this day, that at sunrise it stood at 38^, (of Fahrenheit's 

 scale,) while at noon it had risen to 72°. So great a variation 

 of temperature is productive of very heavy dews, to which 

 we were frequently exposed, as we often neglected pitch- 

 ing our tents at night. In rising in the morning we 

 found our clothes as wet as if they had been drenched in 

 water. Whether the usual elevation of these prairies pre- 

 vents the dew from being attended with the sickliness 

 which generally prevails in the vicinity of rivers, or 

 whether the life, to which men are exposed in crossing 

 the prairies, protects them against the noxious influence 

 of the dew, we know not; but it is remarkable that none 

 of the party suffered from it. In no instance were any of us 

 affected with either cold or rheumatismal pains ; and if in 

 one or two cases symptoms of fever prevailed, it was at a 

 time when we had left the prairies. 



A few Potawatomi Indians were met this day on their 

 way to Fort Wayne. The trail which we followed was 

 struck by that which leads to one of their villages about 

 fifteen miles distant. The weather was hazy throughout 

 the day ; in the evening light clouds were observed. A gen- 

 tle breeze from the north-west prevailed during the day. Our 

 liorses had been fastened, to prevent their rambling in 

 the woods ; meeting with but a scanty supply of grass in 

 the neighbourhood of the river which was overgrown with 

 bushes, and which offered them no other food but the bark 

 of trees, many of them broke the bark ligaments with 

 which they were secured, and strayed to a considerable dis- 

 tance from the camp ; these ligaments are called in the lan- 

 guage of the travellers to the west " hobbles." The pursuit 

 after the horses in the morning occasioned a great loss of time, 



