CHAPTERS AARES 
JOURNEY TO THE KANZAS RIVER— 
THE KANZAS INDIANS 
N the first days our journey was straight 
I west. ‘The first day we marched over 
the broad Santa Fe road, beaten out by 
the caravans. Then leaving it to our 
left we took a narrow wagon road, es- 
s tablished by former journeys to the 
Rocky Mountains, but often so indistinctly traced, 
that our leader at times lost it, and simply followed 
the general direction. Our way led through prairie 
with many undulating hills of good soil. The region 
is watered with a few brooks and rivulets, along 
whose banks there is usually a narrow strip of decid- 
uous timber. On the prairie itself there is no wood. 
Several times we had to content ourselves with mud- 
dy standing water; but usually we found pleasant, 
even romantic camping places on clear brooks. We 
saw no large game as yet. A few prairie chicken was 
all that we shot. However, a weather-worn buffalo 
skull and the antlers of an elk, which we found, re 
