216 Expedition to the 



quantity of mouldy crumbs of biscuit, which had been trea- 

 sured up for time of need. 



At night ahtiost incessant lightning coruscated in the 

 north-western horizon. 



16th. Several showers of rain with much thunder and vivid 

 lightning fell during the iiight; and the early morning con- 

 tinued showery, but the clouds were evidently undergoing the 

 change from nimbus to cirrostratus, in this instance, the har- 

 bingers of a fine day. Several ravines occurred on the morn- 

 ing's journey, containing, in the deeper parts of their bed, 

 pools of standing water. The first was of considerable size, 

 with steep banks, and thickly wooded as far up its couise as 

 the view extended. The trees were principally oak, some 

 walnut, elm, ash, mulberry, button-wood, cotton-wood and 

 willow. 



A horse, presented by the Kiawa chief, could not be pre- 

 vailed upon to traverse this occasional water course; he eva- 

 ded the attempts of several men to urge him forward, and 

 after being thus fruitlessly detained a considerable time, the 

 animal was shot. 



If he had been abandoned, he must have perished for want 

 of water, having been accidentally deprived of sight, and more 

 certainly, as that fluid, so indispensable for the support of 

 animal life, was here of difficult access. 



At the ravine, which served as a halting place during the 

 mid-day heats, we first observed the plant familiarly known 

 in the settlements, by the name of Poke, (Phytolacca decan- 

 dra.^ reclining over the bank with its fecundity in the midst 

 of a crowded assemblage of bushes, and partially shading a 

 limpid pool, that mantled a rocky bed below. A large spe- 

 cies of mushroom, (Lycoperdon,) was not uncommon, nearly 

 equal in size to a man's head. 



We have now passed the boundary of the summer bison 

 range, and the wolves, those invariable attendants on that 

 animal, are now but rarely seen. The antelopes also have 



