60 



sand, and the whole region was aptly desig- 

 nated by the travellers as the " Great Ame- 

 rican Desert." The Rocky Mountains were 

 ascertained to be primitive, and the point 

 ascended by the party was 1 1 ,500 feet high. 

 After devoting a few days to the examina- 

 tion of these mountains, they proceeded in 

 a southerly direction until they struck the 

 sources of the great Arkansaw river. Here 

 the expedition separated into two detach- 

 ments, the one following its course east- 

 wardly, and the other proceeded more to 

 the south, until they fell in with the River 

 Canadian. Both parties suffered much from 

 hunger, fatigue, and exposure ; to which was 

 superadded the desertion of two of their 

 soldiers, carrying off with them the personal 

 baggage, and what was of more importance, 

 many of the manuscripts, notes, and obser- 

 vations of the naturalists. To those unac- 

 quainted with the nature of the rivers in 

 these regions, and to whom a passage on 

 them would seem unaccompanied with much 

 risk or fatigue, it may be necessary to state 

 that during the month of August cine of the 

 parties travelled five hundred miles in the dry 

 bed of the river Canadian. In many places 



