194 EXPEDITION TO THE 



two, and *6-te'-nV>, hills.) Our guide informed us that 

 the hill marked on the maps as the Smoky-hill, ( Mon- 

 tagne qui bouccane of the French,) lay at a long 

 day's march, (about thirty miles,) in a north-easterly 

 course from our noon encampment of the 16th. This hill 

 has received from the Indians the appellation of Mu-ch^6- 

 w^a-kii'-nHn, (Smoky mountain,) from the circumstance 

 of its summit being generally enveloped with a cloud or fog, 

 and, as we were told, not from any tradition of smoke having 

 ever issued from it. To the left a point of highland is in 

 sight, which is said to be at the mouth of the Moschioko, 

 (always full,) a stream that falls into the Mississippi. In 

 the evening we encamped on the left bank of the W4ss6- 

 moii, a beautiful tributary of the Pektannon ; it is called af- 

 ter an Indian chief of that name, who resided on its banks ; 

 it means, in the Sauk language, lightning. On the 

 banks of this stream we observed the limestone in place, 

 forming cliffs of about fifty feet in height ; the rock is in 

 very distinct horizontal stratification; its structure is in 

 many parts crystalline, or perhaps it may more properly be 

 called gravelly and sandy ; it contains many cells or cavities, 

 some of which are filled with crystallizations of carbonate of 

 lime ; much white hornstone appears disseminated through- 

 out the mass. The hornstone is sometimes seen to constitute 

 small beds or layers from one to three or four inches in 

 thickness, which are continued for several feet in length ; 

 frequently also appearing under the form of flattened ir- 

 regular nodules, lying in an almost continuous line for a 

 considerable distance, and with their long or flattened 

 side parallel to the stratification ; resembling in this respect * 

 the disposition of the clay-iron stone in the slaty strata 

 that accompany the bituminous coal. Organic remains 

 are by no means uncommon, though they are not found as 

 abundantly as in some other spots of our route ; they consist 



