BUFFALO KILLED. 15 



May 25. — It has rained violently during all of last night, and has 

 not ceased this morning. When this long storm will abate we do not 

 pretend to form even a conjecture. It has occurred to me that possibly 

 these rains may fall annually in the basin of Upper Red river ; thus, 

 perhaps, accounting for what is termed the June rise in the river. As 

 to the cause of this rise there have been various conjectures ; some sup- 

 posing the river to have its sources in elevated mountain ranges, where 

 the melting of the snows would produce this result ; others, again, con- 

 sider it to be by rains upon the head-,waters of the river. This latter 

 idea, however, seems rather improbable, as the country west of the Cross 

 Timbers, so far as known, is generally subjected to very great drought 

 from May to August. We are now in the immediate vicinity of the 

 Witchita mountains, and it is possible they may have an effect upon 

 the weather by condensing the moisture in the atmosphere, and causing 

 rain in this particular locality. 



May 26. — Some of the mountains which we ascended yesterday 

 upon the east side of the creek, exhibited a conformation and composi- 

 tion similar to those upon the west side — that of a coarse, soft, flesh- 

 colored granite, the peaks conical, occasionally terminating in sharp 

 points, standing at intervals of from a quarter to one mile apart. In 

 some instances the rocks are thrown together loosely, but here and 

 there showing a very imperfect and irregular stratification, with the 

 seams dipping about twenty degrees with the horizon. The direction 

 of this mountain chain is about south 60° west, and from five to fifteen 

 miles in breadth. Its length we are not yet able to determine. Red 

 river, which passes directly through the western extremity of the chain, 

 is different in character at the mouth of Otter creek from what it is 

 below the junction of the Ke-che-ah-qui-ho-no. There it is only one hun- 

 dred and twenty yards wide ; the banks of red clay are from three to 

 eight feet high, the water extending entirely across the bed, and at this 

 time (a high stage) about six feet deep in the channel, with a rapid 

 current of four miles per hour, highly charged with a dull-red sedi- 

 mentary matter, and slightly brackish to the taste. Two buffaloes 

 were seen to-day, one of which was killed by our guide, John Bash- 

 man. 



Deer and antelopes are plenty, but turkeys are becoming scarce as we 

 go west; grouse and quail are also occasionally seen here. As Otter 

 creek continues very high, I intended, if Red river had been fordable, 

 to have crossed that stream this morning and continued up the south 

 bank ; but we found the water about eight feet deep, and have no other 

 alternative but to wait until it falls. Along the banks of Red river for 



