No. 216.] 179 



" Encamped to-night in a beautiful valley, called Bayou Sclare, 

 28 miles from the head of the south fork of the Platte. It is a level 

 prairie, thirty miles long and three wide, and was covered with a 

 thick growth of flax, which every year springs up spontaneously." 



Whether the Rocky Mountain flax will prove to be as near the 

 common flax as is supposed by Mr. Parker, may be doubted; but 

 that it is unlike and far superior to the two or three kinds of native 

 wild flax that have before been discovered in the United States, 

 would also seem to be clear. A tract of 90 square miles of flax, 

 such as Mr. Oakley described, would be a sight in any country, and 

 would rival the grass-covered prairies of Illinois. 



Flax of the kind mentioned above, can be seen in A. Walsh's 

 garden. 



