152 Expedition to the 



During the extreme heat of the day the mercury stood at 

 99^ in a fair exposure. This extraordinary degree of heat 

 may have been, in some degree, occasioned by the stagnation 

 of the air between the hills, and, possibly, by the reverbera- 

 tion of the sun's rays from the naked sands; but the instru- 

 ment was one of an approved character, and was exposed in 

 the deep shade of an extensive grove of trees. 



As yet no running water appeared in the river, but, as the 

 pools were large, and some of them little frequented by the 

 bisons, we were no longer under the necessity of digging. 



Sept. 1st. The sycamore, the sesculus, the misseltoe, and 

 the parroquet, are conspicuous objects in the deep and heavy 

 forests of the Ohio and Mississippi: with these we now found 

 ourselves surrounded. Bisons were comparatively scarce 

 along this part of the river; but whether this was owing to 

 the near approach of inhabited countries, or to the great ex- 

 tent and almost impenetrable density of the forests on each 

 side of the river, we were unable to determine. At night 

 we still heard the growling of the herds in the distant prai- 

 ries, and occasionally saw bisons in small bodies crossing the 

 river. 



The Kaskaia Indians had told us that before we arrived 

 at the village of the Pawnee Piquas, we should pass a range 

 of blue hills. These we concluded could be no other than 

 hills whose sides were covered with forests, like those we 

 were now passing, and, accordingly, we watched with some 

 anxiety for the appearance of something to indicate the vici- 

 nity of an Indian village. 



As we pursued our way along the serpentine bed of the ri- 

 ver, the valley became narrower, the hills more elevated, and, 

 as we crossed the rocky points of their bases, we observed 

 that the sandstone was of a different character from any we 

 had before seen. It contains more mica than that of the 

 AUeghanies, or that of the secondary hills along the base of 

 the Rocky Mountains. It glitters conspicuously like mica 



