A RARE CUSTOMER. 293 



passing notice and hasten with becoming brevity to a conclusion of the 

 task in hand. 



The fourth day succeeding my departure I overtook a division of the 

 caravan of mountain traders, numbering ten men and three vt^aggons, with 

 which I proceeded to the Big Timber of the Arkansas, distant about two 

 liundred miles southeast from Fort Lancas^ter. 



The country at this place, in the immediate vicinity of the river, is fertile 

 and well timbered, but the prairies are slightly undulating, arid, and gener- 

 ally unproductive. The prevailing rock is exhibited in abrupt clitts and 

 bold escarpments from the hill-sides and banks of watercourses, and con- 

 sists of various conglomerates, with limestone and sandstone ; the latter being 

 very fine-grained and admirably suited to the preparing of edgetools. I 

 noticed indications of coal in some parts, and the usual quantity of saUne 

 efflorescences, particularly upon the south side of the river. 



On the 10th of April, the caravan being augmented by an accession of 

 three other waggons and several men, we again resumed our journey, and, 

 on the 28th inst, struck the Santa Fe trail near the Crossing of the Arkan- 

 sas, one hundred and ten miles below the Big Timber. 



The geological character of the prairie and the river bottoms is much 

 the same as that previously described, with the exception of a general scar- 

 city of rock ; though to the southward it is very sterile in appearance, and 

 a continuous chain of hills, that in some places are mere knobs of naked 

 sand entirely destitute of every semblance of vegetation, plainly points out 

 the cheerless llanos of the Great American Desert. 



Below the Big Timber the rank growths of absinthe, which have been 

 heretofore so prevalent, almost entirely disappear. 



The river gradually expands to the width of nearly two miles, forming 

 several small islands, and scatters its waters in numerous chajmels, over 

 beds of quicksand, so shallow and variable as to preclude the possibility 

 of successful navigation. 



Timber becomes very scarce, — so much so, that in many places it is 

 difficult to obtain a sufficiency even for the camp-fires of travellers. The 

 bottoms are usually broad and fertile, but possess a highly saline cha- 

 racter. 



One of the above, known as the Big Salt Bottom, is some forty miles 

 in length and four or five miles broad. It contains frequent streams and 

 pools of brackish water, with spots in which vegetation entirely gives 

 place to thick coatings of mineral salts. 



Among the prairie hills I occasionally noticed extensive spreads com- 

 pletely covered with a singular species of blue flower in full bloom, 

 which imparted to the otherwise forbidding prospect an air of loveliness 

 and beauty ; but, in glancing over the far-reaching landscape, I looked in 

 vain for the floral attractions peculiar to mountain regions. 



A few miles above the Crossing, an incident occurred which renewedly 

 aroused my recollection of other lands. This was the appearance of a 

 fine-looking coon, the first I had seen since leaving the States. These 

 animals are strangers to the mountains, and were never before known to 

 ponetrat© thus far westward. 



