76 WHITE RIVER SCENERY. 



it is hard to conjecture. Its surface, though quite elevated, is not 

 sufficiently so to make such marked difference in cHmate between it and 

 adjoining sections. 



The next day proved cloudy ; we, however, resumed our course which 

 led over a rough, tumulous country, covered with snow and darkened by 

 occasional clusters of pines. 



Early in the morning our Indians left us and took a nearer route to the 

 village. Soon after we became bewildered in the obscurity of the atmos- 

 phere, and travelled till night unconscious whether right or wrong. 

 Finally, coming to a deep ravine that obstructed further progress, we turned 

 to a neighboring grove of pines, at the point of an eminence, and made 

 camp. It was a bleak airy place, but by aid of a huge fire of dry pine 

 we were quite comfortable, despite a heavy fall of snow during the night. 



With the morning our perplexities were renewed. Directly in front lay 

 a broad and impassable ravine, beyond which a high mountain range arose 

 to view. vShould we go up or down ? After much debate we decided 

 upon the latter, and, bearing northward during the day, struck the head 

 of a stream which subsequently proved White river. 



This stream traces its way through a broad valley, enclosed upon either 

 Bide by high pine hills. Its banks are studded with thick groves of cotton- 

 w^ood, elm, ash, box-elder, and willow, — with nearly all the varieties of 

 fruit-bearing shrubs and trees indigenous to the mountains. In the item 

 of plums and cherries, it gave evidence of exuberant fecundity. The 

 bushes, in many instances, yet bore the dried relics of their burthen, 

 as if to tempt the beholder's taste, — while the tall grass and rosebuds,* 

 every where attested the summer-verdure and beauty of the valley in 

 which they grew. 



The snow that had hitherto impeded our progress, now gradually became 

 less as we advanced down the valley, and soon gave place to bare ground. 

 Game appeared in great numbers, attracted from the adjoining hills to pass 

 the winter in this inviting locality. 



A journey of two days brought us to the site selected for houses, and, 

 consequently to a halt, for the present. 



The place was surrounded by wild and romantic scenery. Directly in 

 front, upon the opposite side of the creek, arose a perpendicular wall of 

 marl and half formed sandstone, towering, stratum above stratum, to a 

 height of three or four hundred feet, and overlooking the valley above and 

 below, — while further on, a steep hill-side, covered with tall, straight, and 

 almost branchless pines, burst upon the view. 



Rearward a gradual acclivity led to a high plateau, some two miles 

 broad, coated with long, tall grass, when a ridge of abrupt pine hills in- 

 troduced the more distant mountains, witli their rugged sides and frowning 

 ^ulnmits, — and, higher up, an immense pile of earthy limestone, sur- 



*Ro?ebudi' are found in great quantities in many places, throughout the mountains, 

 during the winter, and attain a large nize. I'hey are highly esteemed by many as 

 an article of <ood, and have not unfrequenlly been the means of preserving life in cases 

 of extreme hunger and lack of other eatables. 



