258 Expedition to the 



to associate, and therefore probably regarded as a concomi- 

 tant of civilization. We left him to his own surmises, re- 

 specting our object and destination, and soon arrived at the 

 path which strikes off, for the river. After passing a distance 

 of four miles through a cane brake, we arrived at a hut and 

 small farm, belonging to a soldier of the garrison, and were 

 shortly on the strand of the river, with the long-sought Belle 

 Point before us. We were soon ferried over, and were 

 kindly received on the landing by Captain Ballard and Mr. 

 Glen, The former gentleman was at present invested with 

 the command, in consequence of the temporary absence of 

 Major Bradford on a visit to St. Louis. His politeness and 

 attt ntion soon rendered our situation comfortable, after a 

 houseless exposure in the wlderness of ninety-three days. 



The greatest heat of the day was 91 degrees, and distance 

 travelled nine miles. 



The Arkansa, below the great bend, becomes more ser- 

 pentine than it is above, and very much obstructed by sand 

 bars and islands, either naked or clothed with a recent vege- 

 tation; they are but little elevated above the surface of the 

 water, and are covered, to some depth, during the pr< valence 

 of floods in the river. At Belle Point, and some distance 

 above, these islands almost wholly disappear, but the sandy 

 shores still continue, and are, as above, alternately situated 

 on either side of the river, as the stream approaches or re- 

 cedes from the opposite river bottoms. The colour of the 

 water was now olive-green. All the red colouring matter, 

 with which it is sometimes imbued, is contributed by streams 

 entering on the southern side. The current of the Arkansa 

 is much less rapid than that of the Platte, but the character 

 of tnose two rivers in a considerable degree corresponds, in 

 their widely spreading waters of but little depth, running 

 over a bed of yielding sand. The rise of the waters at Belle 

 Point takes place in the months of March and early April, 



