iSO Expedition to the 



The loose soft sands of the river bed, yielding to our 

 horses' feet, made the travelling extremely laborious; and the 

 intense reflection of the rays of the sun almost deprived us of 

 the use of our eyes. Mr. Peak's horse soon became unable 

 to proceed at an equal pace with the remainder of the par- 

 ty; but, as no suitable spot for encampment appeared, he 

 dismounted and, by great exertions, was able to urge his 

 animal along in the rear. The travelling in the bed of 

 the river became so extremely inconvenient, that we resolv- 

 ed upon attempting to penetrate the thick woods of the bot- 

 tom, and ascend to the open plains. We found, however, 

 the woods so close and so interlaced with scandent species 

 of Smilax, Cissus, and other climbing vines as greatly to retard 

 our progress, and we were soon induced to wish ourselves 

 again upon the naked sands. Notwithstanding the annoy- 

 ance they gave us, we took a pleasure in observing the three 

 American species of Cissus growing almost side by side. The 

 C. qu'inquefolia^ the common woodbine, cultivated as an 

 ornament about yards and summer-houses, grows here to an 

 enormous size, and as well as the C. hederacea^ seems to pre- 

 fer climbing on elms. The remaining species, the C. bipin- 

 nata^\ is a smaller plant, and though much branched, is rare- 

 ly scandent. They all abound in ripe fruit, which, notwith- 

 standing its external resemblance, and its close affinity to 

 the grape, is nauseous to the taste, and does not appear to be 

 sought with avidity even by the bears. 



In ascending the hills, we found them based upon a va- 

 riety of sandstone, unlike the red rock of the salt formation, 

 to which we had been so long accustomed. We observed that 

 a corresponding change also takes place in the conformation of 

 the surface and the general aspect of the country. The hills 

 are higher and more abrupt; the forests more extensive; the 

 streams of water more copious, and more serpentine in di- 

 rection; in other words, we here begin to recognize the fea- 



* Ampelopsis 5«m5Mc/b/za of Michaux. f C. stomof Persoon. 



