396 Ex. Doc. No. 41. 



in its general character that it at once catches the eye of the trav- 

 eller. 



On either side of us we observed little circular spots marking the 

 places where the buffalo once wallowed; for these huge animals have 

 a habit of throwing themselves on their sides upon the ground; 

 they then commence walking, a s h were, 'with their feet on the 

 circumference of a circle; this causes their bodies to revolve, and 

 thus result circular depressions in the prairies; these, after a rain, are 

 for a long time filled with water, with which the traveller is often 

 fain to slake his thirst. 



These old wallows are now overgrown with plants that grow 

 more luxuriantly than on other portions of the prairie. There is 

 the splendid coreopsis (coreopsis tinctoria) and the silver margined 

 euphorbia; (euphorbia marginata;) these at once arrest the at- 

 tention. 



It is seldom, now, that the buffalo range this far; no signs of old 

 excrements are to be seen, and the bleached bones left upon the 

 plains by the hunter have long since mouldered away. Towards 

 the close of the day we found the frontal bone of a buffalo's skull, 

 the only sign, in addition to the wallows, of this animal having 

 been once abundant. 



Along the road were numbers of the beetle, laying in their win- 

 ter stores, "baud nonignari au't incauta futuri." We stopped to 

 noon, at 11| o'clock. After a halt of half an hour, we started 

 again, and at I2g o'clock, formed our camp on". Turkey creek. 

 Here r>ot a stick of timber is to be seen^ but we found some beau- 

 tiful plants with brilliant scarlet flowers (malva pedata) and roots 

 which are eatable. We also obtained specimens of the pomme 

 blanche, (psoralea esculenta,) and in the waters of Turkey creek 

 we caught some sun perch and catfish. 



The men killed several rattlesnakes near our camp, and one a 

 grey snake, marked with a row of blackish spots along the back; 

 it is said never to exceed two feet in length, and is called the 

 grey rattlesnake. Before dark, the sky became black with clouds, 

 whose 'appearance was soon followed by a heavy shower of rain. 



Tiiis day, 9th. at daylight, we struck our tents and commenced 

 our march; heavy clouds were at intervals passing over us and 

 completely, deluging us with rain. When the rain would cease, 

 We would stop a few moments and let our animals rest. We 

 noticed some buffalo skulls near the road; they must have lain 

 here many 3-ears, as they were crumbling to pieces. At 3 o'clock 

 we reached the Little Arkansas, a tributary of the great river 

 the name of which it bears. This stream is from five to eight feet 

 in width, and averages five inches in depth; on its banks were 

 some large elms and box elder; we also saw the common elder, 

 (sambucus,) narrow leafed willow, and the grape, (vitis aestivalis,) 

 the sorel (oxalis stricta) and lamb's quarter, (chenopodium album,) 

 grew near the stream. 



The rain had ceased as we entered camp, and as the ante- 

 lope appeared abundant and at no great distance, Menard was 



