416 Expedition to the 



derable stream, its steep muddy banks were now almost filled, 

 by the reflux occasioned by the freshet in the Missouri. It 

 was not without great difficulty we at length effected a pas- 

 sage, at a point three miles distant from our encampment, 

 thence directing our course by the compass, we travelled 

 north, 45° west, twenty-two miles. In this distance we cross- 

 ed three large creeks, two of them running eastward into 

 Grand river, the other westward to the Wahconda, 



In the plains we met with nothing to obstruct travelling. 

 They had been perfectly denudated by the burning of the 

 last season, and the annual growth of grasses and weeds, 

 had as yet risen but about a foot from the ground. Among 

 the grasses are intermixed great numbers of the legumina, with 

 pinnated leaves, and these are so commonly canescent as to 

 give their peculiar silvery colour to the whole plain. This 

 effect is the more striking, when a slight breeze agitates the 

 leaves of the numerous species of astragalus, psoralen, bap- 

 tisia, and the beautiful amorpha canescens, all of which have 

 their inferior surfaces beset with a shining silk-like down. 



In the afternoon of the 14th, a storm of rain commenced, 

 which continued with little intermission for several days. 

 Having no tent we were much exposed to the weather, but 

 at night we constructed a partial shelter, by stretching our 

 blankets over the spot on which we laid down to rest. 



As we approached the sources of Grand river, the coun- 

 try became more hilly. Horizontal limestone, like that about 

 St. Louis, appears in the sides of the deep vallies. 



In the scanty soils along these declivities, the ferula fce- 

 niculacea sometimes occurs, diffusing its powerful and pecu- 

 liar odour, perceptible after a shower at the distance of se- 

 veral rods. 



18th. — The rain of the preceding day, continued with in- 

 creased violence during the night. Our encampment was 

 completely inundated, and the wind so high as to render our 

 blanket tent wholly useless. The small port folio, in which 



