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132°.

of which, in dry seasons, has the temperature of 150° of Fahrenheit; another 145°, a third 136°, a fourth When suffered to cool, the water is clear, without smell, and agreeable to the taste. These springs are frequented by invalids, and are found extremely efficacious in the cure of chronical complaints arising from exposure to cold and moisture. These waters were resorted to for their medicinal virtues by the Indian tribes of this country, who, though enemies in war, here meet as friends, and hence the country to a certain distance around was called the "Land of Peace."

Forest Trees.-The low grounds produce cotton wood,

ed with water, but if we had arrived twelve days earlier, (before the rains fell,) we should have found the whole plain covered with a beautiful clean white salt from two to six inches in thickness, of a quality rather superior to the imported blown salt, perfectly clean and fit for use. In this state the saline bears a striking resemblance to a brilliant white snow with a crust on it after rain. Had we arrived the day after the rain commenced, we should have found the salt collected in vast quantities in the little hollows worked by the rains, exhibiting the appearance of masses of ice and snow covered with water and rapidly dissolving. These indications were described to me by an intelligent and respectable Osage, who has visited this saline almost every year since he was a boy, and has seen it in all its various stages."

The above is an extract from the MS. journal of Dr Sibley, which was politely communicated to the author by General Mason, American Agent for Indian affairs. By comparing the route of Mr Sibley with that of Major Pike, the Great Saline is found to be situated in 34° 35′ of latitude, and 22o 35' of longitude west of Washington. The Rock Saline is in 33° 57′, and 23° 18′ longitude. A similar salt plain, four days' journey in extent from north-east to southwest, is seen in Abyssinia, near the country of the Assa Deerwa, about fifty miles west of Amphila.See Salt's Journey into Abyssinia in 1805.

swamp maple, the plum-tree, sumach, and hazel, sycamore, aspen, papaw, willow and nettle-tree, or hackberry. The high grounds, the persimon, red cedar, mulberry, chestnut, oak, seven or eight kinds, iron-wood, and crab-apple. Near the ruins of Fort Orleans, 240 miles from the mouth of the Missouri, Mr Bradbury crossed a swamp, which was so thickly covered with the prickly ash, that his face and hands were continually scratched. The ash does not grow on the Missouri above the latitude of 40°. Groves of cedar adorn the banks of the Maramek, St Francis, and the Missouri; the alluvial soil is covered with the willow and cotton-wood trees. The undergrowth consists of hazel, arrow-wood, red-berry, crab-apple, wild pea vine, and rushes. Two species of vines grow throughout this country, the Vitis æstivalis, or summer grape ; and Vitis vulpinum, or fox grape; the former in the prairies, the latter in the woods, where it climbs to the tops of the tallest trees. Two new species are found on the banks of the Missouri. Some of the vine stems measure six or seven inches in diameter, at the height of six feet above the surface of the soil. The fruit, which ripens in the month of June, as far north as latitude 40°, is sweet and pleasant. Above Fort Osage the sides of the hills are covered with the hop plant. The yellow plum, cherry, mulberry, currants, and strawberries of this country, are superior in flavour to those of Louisiana. A plant has been lately discovered in the mountains of the Upper Missouri, which is supposed to be a new species of flax. Near Cannonball river Mr Bradbury found a species resembling that which is commonly cultivated.

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Animals.-The forests are said to contain fifty species of indigenous animals; and game is so plenty, that in any place on the Missouri river above the white settlements, five or six hunters can provide for forty or fifty men. * "On the Arkansas," says Pike, "there are buffalo, elk, and deer sufficient, if used without waste, to feed all the savages in the United States' territory one century.' The mammoth was formerly an inhabitant of this region. The bones have been lately dug up near the salines on the Osage river, a few feet below the surface; and also on a small lake near the banks of the Qui Court river, about 150 miles from its confluence with the Missouri. Buffaloes are seen on the plains of the Missouri in flocks, some travellers say, of from 40,000 to 50,000. In winter they emigrate from north to south; and their passage across the Missouri river is said to occupy several days. In spring great numbers perish in crossing on the ice, which often breaks under them, and they are carried by the stream against islands, where heaps of them are The wool of this animal is considered as supe.. rior to that of the Merino sheep, but it is a tedious operation to separate it from the hair. Excellent gloves are made of it. Of Elk there are two kinds, both of which are numerous. Wild horses are found in the prairies between the Arkansas and Red river of various colours, and exceedingly fleet. Deer are numerous, even in the vicinity of settlements. Mr Bradbury saw nine flocks of elk and deer feeding. (p. 51.)

seen.

Bradbury, p. 11.

In moon-light the deer visit the sandy beach of the Missouri river, for the purpose of amusement, or to avoid the musquitoes which swarm in the thickets, where they are shot by the hunters from a scaffold ten or fifteen feet in height, which conceals them from their view. The Antelope inhabits the borders of the Missouri above the river Platte, and goes in flocks of several hundreds. Rock mountain sheep, or grosse corne, inhabits the rugged and unfrequented sides of mountains. It is about the size of a large deer, with horns two feet in length, and four or five inches in diameter resembling those of a ram. The goat appears in flocks during summer on the plains of the Mississippi. In winter they migrate westward to the Black mountains. The great brown, or grizzly bear, not yet known by European zoologists, lives in the vicinity of Yellow river and the Little Missouri, and is not seen lower than the Mandan villages. Its favourite place is a thicket in the neighbourhood of a stream. This animal weighs from 800 to 900 pounds; and so great is his muscular strength, that he destroys in a moment the largest buffalo. Pursuing the hunter by his track, he is the terror of Indians, who honour the

warrior by whom he is killed, more than if he were the triumphant bearer of a human enemy's scalp. The fur is employed for muffs and tippets, and the skin is valued at from twenty to fifty dollars. The badger, or blaireau, the beaver, otter, fox, wolf, racoon, opos

Ovis montane of Geoffroy, known to the Mandan Indians by the name of Ahsahta.

*

sum, hare, squirrel, porcupine, and skunk, inhabit this region. The prairie dog, or barking squirrel, which burrows in families in the natural meadows, is an animal of singular form and habits. In size it is about one-third larger than the fox-squirrel; it is of a light grey colour, except on the belly, which is white. It lives in burrows, feeds on grass, and is torpid in winter. It is easily domesticated, but not easily caught, as it retires to its hole, which is generally very deep. Another very curious animal is the gopher, which lives under ground, and throws up mounds three or four feet in height. It is about twice the size of the mole; and has a remarkable bag, or pouch, at the side of each jaw, of an inch and a half in length, which serves the double purpose of carrying food, and removing the earth in the formation of its subterraneous abode. Above the junction of La Grande rivière, the hunters of Lisas's party found a bee-hive in a hollow tree, the combs of which gave three gallons of honey. Before the year 1797, the honey-bee was not found to the west of the Mississippi; they are now seen as high up as the Maha nation on the Missouri, having proceeded westward 600 miles in fourteen years. †

Birds.-130 species have been numbered, of which

* Mr Bradbury, quoted by Mr Brackenridge, considers this animal as a nondescript, if not the Mus bursarius of Linnæus. It is described by Shaw, in the 5th volume of the Linnæan Society: "Mus cinereus, cauda tereti brevi subnuda, genis saccatis, unguibus palmarum maximis fossoriis."

+ Bradbury, p. 36.

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