— I14I— 
carelessness of one of the company the grass near our 
camp was once set afire and we could save our baggage 
only with difficulty. Buffalo became more and more 
scarce. On September 15th we reached Penn’s Fort. 
It lies on the left bank of the Arkansas, close by the 
river, and is the finest and largest fort which we have 
seen on this journey. The outer wall is built of im- 
perfectly burnt brick; on two sides arise two little 
towers with loop holes. In the ample court yard were 
many barn-yard fowl. In addition, they have cattle, 
sheep and goats, and three buffalo calves, that peace- 
fully graze with the rest of the herd. At the time 
they had no superfluity of horses at the fort, because 
only a short time before a band of Indians with incred- 
ible audacity had driven away a hundred head of 
horses. The fort is about one hundred and fifty miles 
from Taos in Mexico, and about three hundred from 
Santa Fe. Little expeditions go frequently to the for- 
mer city, to barter for flour, bread, beans, sugar, etc. 
Then, too, much merchandise is annually transported 
by ox-teams to this point from the boundary of Mis- 
souri, which is only six hundred miles distant. Four 
miles above, there is a second smaller fort, Peebles’ 
Fort, occupied chiefly by French and Mexicans. We 
bought here some Spanish flour, which rather 
deserved to be called bran; but as our appetite was 
none too squeamish, we enjoyed it immensely. On the 
17th we started off again. The many wagons which 
go each year from Missouri to the forts on the Ar- 
kansas have made a tolerably plain road, generally 
Return to 
the 
Boundary of 
Missouri 
