62 Expedition to the 



the horse which they had led with them, and which, accord- 

 ing to their account, had recently been caught from among 

 the wild horses of the prairie. This made some new arrange- 

 ment of their baggage necessary, and we were surprised to 

 witness the facility and despatch with which the squaw con- 

 structed a new pack-saddle. She felled a small cotton-wood 

 tree, from which she cut two forked sticks. These were soon 

 reduced to the proper dimensions, and adapted to the ends 

 of two flat pieces of wood about two feet in length, and de- 

 signed to fit accurately to the back of the horse, a longitudi- 

 nal space of a few inches in width being left between them to 

 receive the ridge of the back. The whole was fastened to- 

 gether without nails, pins, or mortises, but by a strong cover- 

 ing of dressed horse-hide sewed on wet with fibres of deer's 

 sinew. 



The Indian informed us he was called " The Calf.'* He 

 appeared excessively fond of his squaw ^ and their caresses 

 and endearments they were at no pains to conceal. It was 

 conjectured by our guide, and afterwards ascertained by the 

 detachment that descended the Arkansa, that this mutually 

 fond couple had married in violation of the laws and usages 

 of their tribe; she being already the wife of another man, had 

 stolen the horse they sold us, and deserted their band to es- 

 cape punishment. 



The low grounds, on the upper part of the Arkansa, have 

 a sandy soil, and are thinly covered with cotton-wood, inter- 

 mixed with the aspen poplar (P. tremuloides. Mx.) and a few 

 willows. The undergrowth is scattering and small, consist- 

 ing principally of the Amorpha yrMfico^a and a syngeneceous 

 shrub, probably a vernonia. Along the base of the moun- 

 tains and about this encampment, we had observed a small 

 asclepias, not easily distinguished from A, verticillata^ but 

 rarely rising more than two or three inches from the ground. 

 Here we saw also the A. longifolia and A. v'lridifiorn of 

 Pursh. The scanty catalogue of grassy and herbaceous 



