^^■^^^^S^S^t^t^f ^ 



NOTICE or THE ROUTE. ^^^ 



ehoulderward, when it unceremoniously discharged itsell, buryiug lis ball 

 in the lights of the butTalo-the very spot I should have selected had it been 

 optional with myself. The old fellow staggered a few steps and/e/Z dead! 

 My companion coming up, we soon completed the process of butch enng, 

 and, after furnishing ourselves witli an ample supply of choice beef, pro- 

 ceeded to a neighboring creek, where, finding a few sticks of dritt-wood, a 

 fire was quickly kindled, and we ended our fast office sriccessive dayt and 



' nighls with feasting and glad hearts. t, . , , 



I jiave always regarded this event as a special Providence, and evei re- 

 vert to it with 110 ordinary feelings of gratitude. Had the ball, thus avXii- 

 dentally di!?charged, missed the animal, or had it only wounded him, in aU 

 human probability, becoming alarmed at the presence ot danger, and 

 prompted by the instinct common to the species, he would soon have been 

 beyond the reach of pursuit, leaving me to the dernier resort ot slaughter- 

 ing my horse or perishing among the snows and chill blasts of the praine. 

 Enfeebled as we were from continued toil and suffering, we could have 

 scarcely held out a day longer, and even the partial rehet afforded by a 

 poor supply of horse flesh, left, as we would have been, to travel on toot and 

 carry our beds, guns, and provisions, must have served only to prolong our 

 miseries a brief space, finally to meet the inevitable fate that threatened 

 us ! as this solitary buffalo was the only hving creature that met our view 



. during the entire journey. , , , . . , 



I have never consented to dispose of the rough-lookmg piece long pre 

 viously christened « Old Straightener," and, when asked the reason, ha.vi, 

 uniformly replied, " It is the only gun I ever saw or heard of Uiat has kiU- 

 ed game of its own accord ! 



■ The second day succeeding this occurrence, my companion left me to ob- 

 tain his mule, and I completed the remainder of my journey alone,— arnvmg 

 the appointed rendezvous late in the afternoon of tlie 20th of Marcli. 



The country travelled over, from the Platte to the Arkansas, near th« 

 mouth of Fontaine qui Bouit, has been fuDy described m former pages. 



My route, from the mouth of this stream, followed the Arkansas for some 

 forty miles. The landscape, back from the river-bottoms, was quite undu- 

 lating, presenting upon the left a superfice of gravel, clay, and sand, mixed 

 with vegetable nTatter ; and, upon the right, a light, sandy soil, somewhat 



sterile and unproductive. r ^u * n«. ;- 



Many rich spots of a deep bluish loam meet the eye of the traveller, in- 

 terspersed with spreads of naked sand, or clay whitened by exuding e^lta, or 

 clothed in dwarfish grass ; among which numerous clusters of absxiUtix, 

 frequently five or six feet high, are seen in almost every direction. 



The country, as a general thing, is evidently ill-adapted to other thar 



^TwlbroS°Ss of sand-creeks are passed upon the left, a few miles be- 

 low Fontaine qui Bouit, one of which is Black Squirrel creek, and the other 

 is known as the Wolf's Den. Upon the right, the Rm San Carlos, Cor- 

 nua Virda, Apache, and Huaquetorie, after tracing their serpentine courset 

 from the Taoa Mountains, commingle with the Arkansas. 

 Some 8ix miles below the mouth of Fontauie qui Bouit are the rums of 



