[26] | 10 
name’of Pawnee <por It is a yellow sandstone, overlaid pis surrounded 
by ferruginous sandstone and the scoriaceous rock. ne gradual transi- 
tion of the ferr hey eg esate into the scoriaceous reek is here very 
distinct, and leaves no doubt as to the origin of the ‘latter. Having no 
other light but the moonshine, I was not able to examine the surrounding 
hills closer. Late in the night we reached Ash creek; there was plenty of 
; os not a drop of wa ater in the creek: it did not, ‘howe ever, prevent us 
ng first some roasted hump-ribs, and then sleeping soundly in 
Vent in the morning but six miles, to Pawnee Fork. Near that 
red again yellow and red san dstone, uplifted, as it were, 
northeast, by the a rock. ss ferruginous 
n the Having 
Bont 16 saites Pia Pawnee Fork, in the prairie, without wood and water, 
and with but tolerable grass. On ‘the road we saw the grave of the unfor- 
tunate man who but a i week ago had been poe by the Indians, as his 
companions, from Bent’s Fort, had already tol 
June 7.—We reached in the morning Litéle Coon creek, (six miles,) and 
rested near a water-pool. In ie av we travelled on; and finding no 
ed again in the prairie, without water, 
Ne niles.) Although we teres yet through the same plain, with the Ar- 
kansas to our left, less and less buffaloes are sets every day. 
ne 8, Bice Shy a few miles march we fou n the morning some wedi 
ing water ina ne probably a branch of Big. Coon creek. The bluffs of 
the creek consist of common sandstone below, and a white, fine-grained 
marl, without fossils, 2 above it. This marl also resembles some specimens 
brought by Mr. Nicollet from the upper Missouri, and belonging to the 
cretaceous formation. Having refreshed our animals, we travelled in the 
forenoon 10 miles oe hai inlay ascending till we reached the Arkan- . 
sas, and halted at n The Arkansas, like all prairie rivers, is rath 
monotonous and Br kscie: broad, but shallow and sandy, with low bluffs 
or none at all, bordered sometimes with cotton trees, but generally quite 
ge. 
100 miles through the e prairie, one is contented even with a less beautiful 
river, and considers it an improvement in the scenery. On the place of 
our 60e halt I found low bluffs on the river, formed by a grayish lime- 
stone, with some very small and rather indistinct fossils, and granulated, 
like a fine conglomerate. In the oo we went about 12 miles up the 
river. The valley of the Arkansas is here several miles wide, ri soil 
es and the bluffs mere hills, covered with grass. Our night camp was 
the ‘* Caches;? so called from a party ——e in 1822, hid their 
goods here. Neat this place, it is understood, passes the hun dredth degree 
of longitude west of Greenwich, but I had no sae to make an observa- 
tion 
June 9.—Moved about 20 miles - the Arkansas; sometimes travelling 
in the valley, sometimes on the bluffs, and over a high plain into which 
they run out. The biuffs to- day were formed by a coarse Beene 
td 
