128 Expeditio7i to the 



Extensive tracts of the great woodless plain, at a distance 

 from the river, appear to be based on a naore compact varie- 

 ty of sandstone, usually of a dark gray colour, and less per- 

 vious to water than the red. For this reason some copious 

 springs are found upon it, and a soil by no means destitute 

 of fertility, yielding sustenance to inconceivable numbers of 

 herbivorous animals, and through them to innumerable birds 

 and beasts of prey. It must be supposed, however, that the 

 herds of bisons, daily seen about the river, range over a much 

 greater extent of country than was comprised within our li- 

 mited views; the want of water in many places, may compel 

 them to resort frequently to the river in dry weather, though 

 at other times they may be dispersed in the high plains. 



18th. In speaking of a country, whose geography is so lit- 

 tle known, as that of the region southwest of the Arkansa, 

 we feel the want of ascertained and fixed points of reference. 

 Were we to designate the locality of a mineral or any other 

 interesting object, as twenty or thirty days' journey from 

 the Rocky Mountains, we should do nearly all in our pow- 

 er; yet this sort of information would probably be thought 

 vague and useless. The smaller rivers of this region have as 

 yet received no names from white hunters; if they have names 

 among the Indians these are unknown to us. There are no 

 mountains, hills, or other remarkable objects, to serve as 

 points oi reckonings nearer than the Rocky Mountains and the 

 Arkansa. The river itself, which we supposed to be the Red 

 river of Natchitoches, is a permanent land mark, but it is a 

 line, and aids us only in one direction in our attempts to de- 

 signate locality. The map accompanying this work was pro- 

 jected in conformity to the results of numerous astronomical 

 observations for latitude and longitude, but many of these 

 observations were made at places, not at present to be known 

 by any names we might attempt to fix upon them. More exten- 

 sive and minute examination, than we have been able to be- 

 stow, might establish something like a sectional division, 



