Rocky Mountains. 263 



physicians, and above all the want of cleanliness, and the 

 destructive habits of intemperance, are causes operating 

 powerfully to produce and aggravate these diseases. The 

 settlements about Fort Smith were sickly, and we saw num- 

 bers with that peculiar sallowness of complexion which ac- 

 companies those chronic derangements of the functions of 

 the liver so often the consequence of billious fevers. It is 

 obvious that the causes of the acknowledged sickliness of 

 the recent settlements in the south and west are, in a great 

 measure local, and unconnected with the climate. By the 

 increase of settlements, and the progress of cultivation, they 

 will be in part removed. 



Fort Smith was garrisoned by one company of riflemen, 

 under the command of Major Bradford. Among other im- 

 portant designs contemplated in the establishment of this 

 post, one was to prevent the encroachments of the white set- 

 tlers upon the lands still held by the Indians. Some of the 

 most fertile portions of the Arkansa territor) are those about 

 the Verdigris, Skin Bayou, Illinois, Six Bulls, &c., in which 

 some unauthorised settlements were heretofore made, but 

 have recently been abandoned, in compliance with the re- 

 quirements of the commandant at Fort Smith. 



The opportunity offered by a few days' residence at Fort 

 Smith, was seized for the purpose of" ascertaining, by several 

 successive observations, the latitude and longitude of the 

 place. The results of several observations of the sun's me- 

 redianaltitude,andof lunar distances, taken, between the 14th 

 and 19th of September, give for the latitud«i of Belle Point 

 34° 50' 54", and for the longitude 94'' 21' west of Green- 

 wich. 



On the 19th Captain Bell left the fort to proceed on his 

 way to Cape Girardeau, accompanied by Dougherty and 

 Oakley, two of the engagees, whose services were no longer 

 required. On the 20th Dr. James and Lieutenant Swift de- 

 parted in company with Captain Kearney, who had visited 



