[ 174 J 108 
a particular description. Now and then, we caught a glimpse of a small 
herd of elk ; and occasionally a band of antelopes, whose curiosity some- 
times brought them within rifle range, would circle round us, and then 
scour off into the prairies. As we advanced on our road, these became 
more frequent; but as we journeyed on the line usually followed by the 
trapping and hunting parties of the Kansas and Delaware Indians, game 
of every kind continued very shy and wild. The bottoms which form the 
immediate valley of the main river were generally about three miles wide; 
having a rich soil of black vegetable mould, and, for a prairie country, well 
interspersed with wood. The country was every where covered with a 
considerable variety of grasses—occasionally poor and thin, but far more 
frequently luxuriant and rich. We had been gradually and regularly as- 
cending in our progress westward, and on the evening of the 14th, when 
we encamped on a little creek in the valley of the Republican, 265 miles 
» by our travelling road from the mouth of the Kansas, we were at an eleva- 
tion of 1,520 feet. That part of the river where we were now encamped is 
called by the Indians the Big Timber. Hitherto our route had been laborious 
and extremely slow, the unusually wet spring and constant rain having so 
saturated the whole country that it was necessary to bridge every water- 
course, and, for days together, our usual march averaged only five or six 
miles. Finding that at such a rate of travel it would be.imposible to com- 
* ply with your instructions, I determined at this place to divide the party, 
and, leaving Mr. Fitzpatrick with 25 men in charge of the provisions and 
heavier baggage of the camp, to proceed myself in advance, with a light 
party of 16 men, taking with me the howitzer and the light wagon which 
carried the instruments. : 
_ Accordingly, on the morning of the 16th, the parties separated ; and, bear- 
‘ing a little out from the river, with a view of heading some of the numerous 
affluents, after a few hours’ travel over somewhat broken ground, we en- 
_ tered upon an extensive and high level prairie, on which we encamped to- 
_ wards evening ata little stream, where a single dry cottonwood afforded the 
» _hecessary fuel for preparing supper. Among a variety of grasses which to- 
day made their first appe »Inoticed bunch grass, ( festuca,) and buffalo 
| Brass, (sesderta daciyloides.) Amorpha canescens (ead plant) continued 
* be characteristic plant of the country, and a narrow-leaved lathyrus oc- 
curred during the morning in beautiful patches. Sida coccinea occurred 
frequently, with a psoralia near psoralia floribunda, and a number of 
_ Plants not hitherto met, just verging into bloom. The water on whic h we 
_ had encamped belonged to Solomon’s fork of the Smoky-hill river, along 
lose tributaries we continued to travel for several days. 
country afforded us an excellent road, the route being generally 
very level prairies; and we met with no other delay than be- 
bliged to bridge one of the numerous streams, which were 
ith ash, elm, cottonwood, and a very large oak—the latter 
lly, five and six feet in diameter, with a spreading summit. 
lea, anda dwarf species of /upinus, are the 
an 
