13 [174 J 
teen miles, on the banks of one of the many little tributaries to the Kan- 
sas, which look like trenches in the prairie, and are usually well timbered. 
After crossing this stream, I rode off some miles to the left, attracted by 
the appearance of.a cluster of huts near the mouth of the Vermillion, It 
was a large but deserted Kansas village, scattered in an open wood, along: 
the margin of the stream, on a spot chosen with the eustoma Indian . 
fondness for beauty of scenery. The Pawnees had attacked it in the early 
spring. Some of the houses were burnt, and others blackened with smoke, 
and wéeds were already getting possession of the cleared places. Riding 
up the Vermillion river, I reached the ford. in time to meet the carts, and, - 
crossing, encamped on its western side. The weather continued cool, the 
thermometer being this evening as low as 49°; but the night was sufficiently : 
clear for astronomical observations, which placed us in longitude 96° 04" 
07", and latitude 39° 15'19'. At sunset, the barometer was at 28.845, 
thermometer 64°. | 
We breakfasted the next morning at half past five, and left our encamp- 
ment early. The morning was cool, the thermometer being at 45°. Quit- 
oY 
of them four or five tons in weight, we along the hills; and- 
many beautiful plants in flower, among which the amorpha. concenene 
was a characteristic, enlivened the green of the prairie. At the heads of. 
the ravines I remarked, occasionally, thickets of salix longifolia, the most> 
common willow of the country. We travelled nineteen miles, and pitched 
our tents at evening on the head waters of a small creek, now nearly dry, 
but having in its bed several fine springs. The barometer indicated a 
considerable rise in the country—here about fourteen hundred feet above 
the sea—and the increased elevation appeared already to have some slight 
influence upon the vegetation. The night was cold, with a heavy dew; 
the thermometer at 10 p. m. standing at 46°, barometer 28.483, Our 
position was in longitude 96° 14’ 49", and latitude 39° 30' 40" wae: 
The morning of the 20th was fine, with a southerly breeze and a bright 
sky; and at 7 o’clock we were on the march. . The cou y to-day was 
rather more broken, rising still, and covered every where with fragments 
of siliceous limestone, particularly on the summits, where they were small, 
and thickly strewed as pebbles on the shore of the sea. In these exposed 
is Occupied by timber. Making our usual halt at noon, after a day’s 
march of twenty-four miles, we reached the Big Blue, and encamped on 
the uplands of the western side, near a small creek, where was a fine 
large spring of very cold water. This is a clear-and ‘handsome stream, 
about one hundred and twenty feet wide, running, with a rapid current, 
through a. well-timbered valley. To-day antelope were ‘seen r ing 
over the hills, and at evening Carson brought 1 dk fini laa seamen 
- of the camp 96° 32’ 35”, latitude 39° 45° 08". Therm 
A pleasant southerly breeze and fine morning ha 
with indications of bad weather; when, after a marc 
