Rocky Mountains. 155 



scarcely be said to shade, and on which famine and terror had 

 imprinted a frightful expression of ghastliness. Perhaps 

 some consciousness of having acted an imprudent and rep- 

 rehensible part, prevented any demonstrations of joy he might 

 otherwise have shown at sight of us. Under the apprehen- 

 sion that accidents of this kind might occur it had repeated- 

 ly been enjoined upon all the party, never to lose sight of 

 the main body when on the march. But on this occasion, no 

 regard was paid to this necessary regulation. 



From his statement, we learned, that after separating from 

 us on the morning of the 29th August, he had returned a 

 mile or two, to search for his canteen, but not finding it, m 

 his hurry -to rejoin the party, he had missed the trace, and 

 presently found himself bewildered. Taking the bed of the 

 river as his guide, he urged on his mule without allowing it 

 time to rest, or to feed, till on the third day it refused to 

 proceed, and he left it. He then took his baggage, musket, 

 &c., and pushed forward on foot, evidently with the hope oi 

 arriving at the Pawnee village; but by the end of the day, 

 found his strength so exhausted that he could go no farther, 

 and was compelled to encamp. Having expended his am- 

 munition in unsuccessful attempts to shoot turkies, he had 

 been trying to make a substitute for fish hooks by bending 

 up some needles; but this project he had not brought to per- 

 fection, and assured us he had not tasted food since the 

 breakfast of the 29th, a period of more than five days. 



The Small leaved and the White elm,* the Nettle tree or 

 Hackberry, the Cotton-wood, Mulberry, Black walnut, Pe- 

 can, Ash, Sycamore, and most of the trees common to the 

 low grounds of the Mississipi, are intermixed here to form 

 the dense forests of the river valley; while in the more scat- 

 tered woods of the highlands, the prevailing growth is Oak, 

 with some species of Nyssa, the Dyospiros and a few other 

 small trees. 



* Ulmus americana, and U. alata. 



