358 Expedition to the 



black ash, swamp cedar, red elm, coffee tree, yellow wood, 

 sugar tree, box elder, white and black walnut, wild cherry, 

 mulberry, &c. in the river valley, and hickory, white and post 

 oak, black-jack, black oak, &c. upon the adjacent uplands. 

 On a progress westward, the most valuable of the timber 

 trees above enumerated, disappear, till at length occasional 

 groves of cotton wood, mingled with mulberry, red elm, and 

 stinted shrubbery of various kinds, constitute the only wood- 

 lands of the country. On this occasion, it may be observed, 

 that the cane or reed, the pea vine, pawpaw, spice wood, hop 

 vine, and several other varieties of shrubs and vines, com- 

 mon only to rich soils, are no where to be found within this 

 section, or westward of the proposed meridian. 



The country of the Canadian, above that just mentioned, 

 or that portion of it west of the assumed meridian, appears 

 to be possessed of a soil somewhat richer than the more 

 northerly parts of the section, but exhibits no indications of 

 extraordinary fecundity in any part of it. Proceeding west- 

 ward, a very gradual change is observable in the apparent 

 fertility of the soil, the surface becoming more sandy and 

 sterile, and the vegetation less vigorous and luxuriant. The 

 bottoms appear to be composed, in many places, almost ex- 

 clusively of loose sand, exhibiting hut few signs of vegeta- 

 tion. Knobs, and drifts of sand driven from the bed of the 

 river by the violence of the wind, are piled in profusion 

 along the margins of the river, throughout the greater part 

 of its length. It is remarkable, that these drifts are, in many 

 instances, covered with grape vines of a shrubby appearance, 

 bearing fruit in the greatest abundance and perfection. The 

 vines grow to various heights, from eighteen inches to four 

 feet, unaccompanied in some instances by any other vegeta- 

 ble, and bear a grape of a dark purple, or black colour, of a 

 delicious flavour, and of the size of a large pea, or common 

 gooseberry. 



The waters of this section, almost in every part of it, ap- 

 pear to hold in solution a greater or less proportion of com- 

 mon salt and sulphate of magnesia, which, in many instances, 

 render them too brackish or bitter for use. Saline and ni- 

 trous efflorescences frequently occur upon the surface, in 

 various parts of the country — and incrustations of salt of 

 consideracle thickness, are to be found in some few places 

 south of the Arkanea river. As to the existence of rock salt 

 in a mineral state, some doubts are to be entertained, if the 

 decision is to rest upon the character of the specimens ex- 



