Ex. Doc. No. 41. 



15 



N0TE8. 



• August Sj 1S46. — I looked in the direction of Bent's Fort; and 

 saw a huge United States flag flowing to the breeze, and straining 

 every fibre of an ash pole planted over the centre of a gate. The 

 mystery was soon revealed by a column of dust to^ the east, ad- 



vancing with about the velocity of a fast walking horse 



it was 



"the Army of the West." I ordered my houses to be hitched up, 

 * and, as the column, passed, took nxy place with the staff*. 



A little below the fort, the river was forded without difllculty, 

 being paved with well attritioned pebbles of the primitive rock, 

 and not more than kn^e deep. 



We advanced five miles along the river, where its bed slides 

 over a black carbonaceous shale, which has been mistaken for 

 coal, and induced some persons to dig for it. 



Here we turned to the left, and pursued our course over an arid 

 elevated plain for twenty miles, without water. When we reached 

 the Timpas, we found the water in puddles, and the grass bad. 



Colonel Doniphan was ordered to pursue the Arkansas to near 

 the mouth of the Timpas, and rejoin the army by following the 

 bed "of that stream. ' ■ . 



Near where we left the Arkansas, we found on the side of the 

 slope- several singular demi-spheroids, about the size of an um- 

 • brella, coated wnth' carbonate of lime, in pyramidal crystals, 

 which, at a distance, resembled the bubbles of a huge boiling cal- 

 dron. * ' 

 . Along the Arkansas the principal growth consists of very coarse 



grass, and a few cotton-woods, willows, and ^euphorbia marginata. 



The plains are covered w^ith very short grass, sesleria dactyloides, 

 now burnt to cinder; artemisia, in abundance; Fremontia vermicu- 

 laris; yucca angustifolii, palmillo, of the Spaniards; verbena; eu- 

 rotia lanata, and a few menzelia nuda. 



The only animals seen were one black-tailed rabbit and an ante- 

 lope; both of which w^ere killed. 



Our march was 26 miles, that of the army 37; the last 20 miles 

 without wa' er. 



The artillery arrived about 11, p. m.; both men and horses were 

 parched with thirst. The teamsters, who had to encounter the dust, 

 sufTered very much. When water was near, they sprang from their 

 seats and ran for it like mad men. Two horses sank under this 

 day's march. 



Our ascent w^as considerable to-day. The height, indicated by 

 the barometer, being 4,523 feet above the level of the sea. 



August 3. — We ascended the Timpas six and three-quarter miles. 



