399 2 Paap, 
| turbid bosom of the stream. We therefore camped by the side of 
the creek to await the subsiding of its waters. The country around 
was’ covered with the (cucumis perennis) prairie gourd, and we 
found it to be infested with those little striped insects that somuch 
annoy the farmerin the United States, by the ravages they commit 
amongst the young vines. 
This creek is timbered with’ the elm, (ulmus Americana,) and 
‘the box elder, (aceo negundo.) We frequently, during the day, 
. noticed the purslane and the ‘‘pinette de prairie;”” in the low 
grounds the splendid coreopsis and the euphorbia were displaying 
their beauties; and on the uplands the prickly pear was seen in 
great abundance, but it had passed its bloom 
During the afternoon a man by the name of Hughes was drowned 
in attempting to cross the stream; there were two men with him ac 
the time, but the current was so violent that it soon swept him out 
of reach. His friends brought his clothes to o p, where they 
left them until they could recover the body. 
w to-day large flocks of the tropical or yellow-headed 
blackbird, (agelajus xantocephalus,) also the common blackbird, 
{quis calus versicolor,) and the Baltimore oriole, (icterus Balti- 
< 
In the evening some of us went over to visit Mr. Hoffman’s 
camp; one of the gentlemen attached to the party had just returned 
_ from his first hunt, having killed four fat cows and brought in their 
tongues. Thus far we have noticed several plants that have been 
so common that I have neglected to mention them. One is the 
lead plant, or tea plant, —_— canescens,) and is in some places 
- $0 abundant as to displace almost every other herb; the other is 
what our men call prairie indigo, (baptisia leucantha,) it bears a 
large black cylindrical pod, filled with kidney-shaped seed. 
July 15th.—This morning we commenced making a raft, deter- 
* pe 
