206 EXPEDITION TO THE 



CHAPTER V. 



General description of the country traversed by the Kx' 

 pedition, designed as a topographical report to the 

 War Department, by S. H. LONG, Major United 

 States' Topographical Engineers. 



THE region, whose description is intended in the pre- 

 sent essay, as embracing the route of the Expedition, is 

 limited, on the N. W. by the intersection of the 51st de- 

 gree of N. latitude with the 97th of W. longitude, and, on 

 the S. E. by that of the 40th degree of latitude with the 

 74th degree of longitude west of Greenwich. Its figure is 

 rhomboidal, about thirteen hundred miles long, from E. 

 S. E. to W. N. W. and has an average width of between 

 four and five hundred miles. Its boundaries may be traced 

 on the accompanying map, being coincident with the route 

 of the Expedition. 



The researches of the Expedition were more immediate- 

 ly limited to the region above specified, but our attention 

 has been nevertheless directed to the attainment of new in- 

 formation relative to other parts of the country, whenever 

 a favourable opportunity presented. The substance of the 

 w'hole is briefly embodied in the following remarks, with 

 the view of giving a geographical outline as complete and 

 satisfactory as circumstances will permit. 



In order to render the description as plain and perspi- 

 cuous as practicable, we shall arrange our remarks under 

 separate heads, corresponding to particular divisions of the 

 route of the Expedition, and conclude with a few observa- 

 tions of a more general nature and application. The follow- 



