Rocky Mountains. 315 



supposed to flow more directly from west to east. The 

 streams tributary to Red river are comparatively small, and 

 few in number. Above the Washita, already mentioned, the 

 principal are the Little river of the south, and the Little ri- 

 ver of the north, both entering near the north-western angle 

 of the state of Louisiana, and both hitherto, little known. 

 The next in order is the Kiamesha, rising in the Ozark 

 mountains, opposite the Poteau, and entering Red river 

 about one thousand miles from the Mississippi. The Kia- 

 mesha has been explored from its sources to its mouth, by 

 Major Long, who first visited it in 1817. The country about 

 the sources of this river is mountainous, being broken into 

 numerous irregular heaps and ridges of an old ferruginous 

 sandstone, with its stratifications highly inclined towards the 

 south. The timber in the mountainous country is the yellow 

 pine, intermixed with red, white, and mountain oak, the 

 small chesnut, the American box, or hop hornbeam, [Os- 

 trya virsrinica] the red cedar, &c. In the low lands towards 

 Red river, all the forest trees common to the valley of the 

 Arkansa are found with the addition of the maclura, which 

 is now so rare about the Arkansa that it can scarce be said 

 to make a part of the forests there. Extensive prairies exist 

 on the lower part of the Kiamesha, some of which command 

 delightful views of the surrounding country. Before you 

 lies the great valley of Red river, exhibiting a pleasing va- 

 riety of forests and lawns; beyond are the summits of the 

 Ozark mountains, imprinting their broad outline upon the 

 margin of the sky. 



At the mouth of the Kiamesha, Red river is about two 

 hundred yards wide. Its course is serpentine, forming 

 points alternately on the right and left, terminating in sand 

 bars, covered with red mud, or clay deposited from the water 

 of the river. In its lowest stage the river may be forded at 

 any place, so that a person may pass along the bed as in the 

 Canadian, by travelling on the sand bars, and occasionally 

 crossing the water between them. 



