EXTENT OF ARABLE LAND. 85 



This extensive belt of woodland, which forms one of the most prominent 

 and anomalous features upon the face of the country, is from five to 

 thirty miles wide, and extends from the Arkansas river in a southwesterly 

 direction to the Brazos, some four hundred miles. 



At six different points where I have passed through it, I have found it 

 characterized by the same peculiarities ; the trees, consisting principally 

 of post-oak and black-jack, standing at such intervals that wagons can 

 without difficulty pass between them in any direction. The soil is thin, 

 sandy, and poorly watered. This forms a boundary-line, dividing the 

 country suited to agriculture from the great prairies, which, for the most 

 part, are arid and destitute of timber. It seems to have been designed 

 as a natural barrier between civilized man and the savage, as, upon the 

 east side, there are numerous spring-brooks flowing over a highly 

 prolific soil, with a superabundance of the best of timber, and an exu- 

 berant vegetation, teeming with the delightful perfume of flowers of the 

 most brilliant hues; here and there interspersed with verdant glades and 

 small prairies, affording inexhaustible grazing, and the most beautiful 

 natural meadows that can be imagined ; while on the other side com- 

 mence those barren and desolate wastes, where but few small streams 

 greet the eye of the traveller, and these are soon swallowed up by the 

 thirsty sands over which they flow. Here but little woodland is found, 

 except on the immediate borders of the water-courses. 



From the point where Red river leaves the timbered lands, the entire 

 face of the country, as if by the wand of a magician, suddenly changes 

 its character. The bluffs now approach nearer the river, and the alluvial 

 bottoms, which below here have been exceedingly rich and productive, 

 contract, and do not support that dense and rank vegetation which 

 characterizes the lower portion of the valley. The undergrowth of cane- 

 brakes and vines disappears, and is no more seen throughout the entire 

 extent of the valley. The lands adjacent gradually rise, and exhibit 

 broad and elevated swells of surface, with spacious valleys intervening, 

 and the soil continues to become more and more sterile as we ascend, 

 until we reach the 101st degree of longitude, when from this point, with 

 few exceptions, there is no more arable land. 



Previous to my departure upon the expedition, I had been led to 

 believe, from the representations of the Indians and others, that after 

 passing Cache creek, no more good timber or land suited to cultivation 

 would be met with upon the waters of Red river ; but in this (as will 

 have been observed) I was greatly in error, as we found much good 

 timber and fertile land above this point. 



The country drained by the numerous branches of Cache creek alone 



