SPRING VALLEY. 23 
cluded upon, much to our advantage, as our 
gama were rather in a weak condition. Old 
£ ab and his party then left us to join his band, 
‘which, he said, was located on the Faux 
Ouachitta river, and we never saw aught of 
them more. 
After leaving the Fort we generally kept on 
the ridge between the Canadian and the 
North Fork, crossing sometimes the tributary 
brooks of the one and sometimes those of 
the others. Having travelled in this manner 
for about eighty miles, we entered one of the 
most charming prairie vales that I have ever — 
beheld, and which in the plenitude of our en- 
thusiasm, we named ‘Spring Valley,’ on ac- 
count of the numerous spring-fed rills and 
rivulets that greeted the sight in 
every direction; in whose limpid pools 
swarms of trout and perch were goon 
playing. Much of the country, indeed, over 
which we had passed was somewhat of a 
similar character—yet nowhere quite so beau- 
tiful. I must premise, however, that west- 
ward of this, itis only the valleys immediately 
bordering the streams that are at all fit for 
cultivation : the high plains are too dry and 
sandy. But here the soil was dark and mel- 
low, and the rich vegetation with which it was 
clothed plainly indicated its fertility. ‘ Spring 
Valley’ gently inclines towards the North 
ork, which was at the distance of about five 
miles from our present route. It was some- 
where along the border of this enchanting 
vale that a little picket fort was erected in 
