Continue my voyage up the Arkansa--Geological remarks--Pass
several lesser rivulets, and the outlet of the Canadian
and the Illinois--Salt springs--Obstructions in the
navigation--Indications of coal--Pass Grand river, and enter the
Verdigris.
July 6th.] Having obtained accommodation in the boat of Mr. Bougie,
agent for Mr. Drope, I left the garrison in order to proceed to the
trading establishment, at the confluence of the Verdigris, by the
course of the river about 130 miles distant.[186] The day being
very warm we did not proceed more than 10 miles, having delayed our
departure until near noon. Eight miles from the garrison we had
another conspicuous view of the Cavaniol.
Among three or four other new plants afforded me by examining the
sand-beaches, was a _Portulaca_, apparently the same with _P. pilosa_
of the West Indies; its taste was almost as disagreeably bitter as
the succulent _Stapelias_ of Africa. On these sand-flats we also
saw abundance of deer, brought to the river in search of water, as
well as to escape the goading of insects; and it is customary for
them to remain for hours licking the saline efflorescences which are
deposited upon the alluvial clay. We encamped four miles below Skin
bayou, and our party amused themselves by searching for turtle’s
eggs, which the females deposit in the sand at the depth of about
eight or ten inches, and then abandon their hatching to the genial
{166} heat of the sun. They are spherical, covered with a flexible
skin, and considered wholesome food.
7th.] The river land on both sides appears to be of a good quality,
and generally elevated above inundation. The depression of the forest
also begins to be obvious. About half a league below Skin bayou occur
low cliffs of dark-coloured grauwacke slate, resembling sand-stone,
which continue for about a mile along the right hand bank. The rock
is entirely similar to that of the garrison (or Belle Point, as the
situation is called), equally horizontal, and probably underlaid
by coal. The under stratum was singularly undulated in short and
broken waves, while the upper was almost perfectly horizontal. Not
far from the place of our encampment, on the left, we passed the
Swallow (or Hirundel), rocks, a projecting cliff, about 150 feet
high, adorned with bushes of cedar, in the centre of which there
appears to be an entrance into a cavern, and several other fretted
excavations scattered over with clusters of martin nests. The rock
consists of two beds; the upper a lighter coloured ferruginous and
laminated sand-stone, excavated with appearances similar to nitre
caves; the lowest bed, with a more considerable dip (about 10° to the
south-east), consists of thinner greenish grey lamina, containing
a little mica, and exhibiting the usual zoophytic carbonaceous
impressions, indicative of coal. The river bars now abound in gravel,
which is principally petrosiliceous. After passing Cajou creek, on
the left, about two miles, we encamped near a bar, to avoid the
visits of the musquetoes, our progress to-day being about 24 miles.
8th.] Four miles further we again obtained a view of Point de Sucre
and the Cavaniol. On Sambo island, about 12 miles from our departure
this morning, we stopped to dine; and here on a bar of gravel I
found a new species of the Mexican genus _Stevia_, and never saw
it afterwards in any other locality. To {167} the taste it was
quite as bitter as many of the _Eupatoria_. This plant, and the
_Portulaca_ already mentioned, appear to have been recently, and
almost accidentally, disseminated from the interior. The cane still
continues abundant, and the alluvial lands are extensive and fertile,
with a basis of sand-stone, which two miles below appears in the same
dark and ferruginous rocky mass as near Skin bayou. On some of our
party going out a hunting, we concluded to spend the remainder of the
day on the island.
9th.] This morning we crossed the river to the mouth of Sambo creek,
and went out into the neighbouring prairie to hunt for bison;
but after walking about nine miles, going and returning, were not
fortunate enough to find any game. The grass was now so loaded with
honey dew as to give our mocasins and pantaloons the appearance of
being soaked in oil, seeming totally inexplicable as the produce of
aphides, and rather attributable to some vitiation in the proper
juices of the plant, taking place apparently at the ultimate period
of vegetative vigour, and being more or less copious in proportion to
the prevailing degree of heat. The cane brake which we here crossed
by a hunting path, was about half a league wide, and flanked by low
hills, whose declivities gently subside into the adjoining prairie,
of about 20 miles in circuit, and five in width. Here the Cavaniol
and Sugar-loaf mountains appeared, at least the latter, not more than
15 or 18 miles distant, towards the south-east. We proceeded about
five miles above the creek, and spent the night on the margin of a
sand bar, according to our usual custom, to avoid the musquetoes.
10th.] I went out this morning on the second bar we arrived at,
which continued uninterruptedly for about five miles; we found a
few Chicasaw plumbs, with natural orchards of which every beach
abounds, but this year, in consequence of the late frosts, they
were generally destitute of fruit. The current of the {168} Arkansa
was here unusually rapid; on the right hand side the water was
clear, but on the left, red and muddy. The clear water issued from
the Illinois river, to which we were now contiguous. Among the
scattered boulders and gravel of the bar, there were fragments of
limestone and petrosilex, containing organic remains, also pebbles
of chalcedony; we likewise saw specimens of coal, accompanied by the
usual carbonaceous, tessellated vegetable, or zoophytic remains. One
of the masses of chalcedony contained chrystalline illinitions of
coal.--About breakfast time, we passed the mouth of the rivulet or
brook, called by the French Salaiseau,[187] from some hunters having
here killed a quantity of bison, and salted the beef for traffic.
Major Bradford, who explored this stream, informed me, that the
uplands as well as the prairies along this creek, were uncommonly
fertile, and well watered by springs, and that the upper side of the
creek presents a calcareous soil. Here, for the first time, near
the Arkansa, we meet with the hazel (_Corylus americana_), and the
American raspberry (_Rubus occidentalis_). In consequence of the
rapidity of the current, we only proceeded about 12 miles.
11th.] After ascending about six miles, we passed the outlet of
the Canadian,[188] 60 miles below the confluence of Grand river,
or the Six Bull, a navigable river of considerable magnitude. Its
main south branch sources with Red river, while another considerable
body keeps a western course through the saline plains, where it
becomes partially absorbed in the sands of the desert, but afterwards
continues towards Santa Fe or the Del Norte. The Canadian, like Red
river, always continues red and muddy, and is often impotably saline;
100 miles from its mouth, its banks are said to abound with selenite,
disseminated through beds of red clay. Above the confluence of this
stream, the Arkansa, where deep, appears clear, green, {169} and
limpid. The alluvial lands now begin to be somewhat narrower, though
neither hills nor cliffs approach the bank. This morning, however,
we again observed a horizontal ledge of the grauwacke slate. About
four miles above the Canadian, we passed the river Illinois,[189] on
the right, a considerable stream of clear water, as are all the other
rivers flowing into the Arkansa from the north. A few miles from
its mouth, its banks present salt springs similar to those of Grand
river, and scarcely less productive; indeed, most of the streams
on this side the Arkansa are said to afford springs of salt water
which might be wrought with profit. On the south side, the salines
commencing about the Canadian, occur in the red clay formation,
forming as it were a belt which extends to the third Red fork, or
saline rivulet of the Arkansa. The salines on the north, appear
rather in connection with the coal formation, at least, they do not
belong to the same series as those on the south side of the river.
This afternoon, two of the hunters went out and brought in the most
part of the meat of a fat bison, whose track they had followed from
the bar.
About four miles above the Illinois, we came to a cascade of two or
three feet perpendicular fall. In endeavouring to pass it, our boat
grounded upon the rocks, and we spent several hours in the fruitless
attempt to pass them, but had at last to fall back, and attempt it
again in the morning, which we then (on the 13th) effected by the
assistance of the wind without much difficulty, by passing further
into the shute. At this season, in which the water is far from being
at its lowest ebb, no boats drawing more than from 12 to 18 inches
water, could pass this rapid without lightening, and it appears to
form one of the first obstacles of consequence in the navigation of
the Arkansa.[190]
The variety of trees which commonly form the North American forest,
here begin very sensibly to {170} diminish. We now scarcely see any
other than the smooth-barked cottonwood, the elm, box-elder (_Acer
Negundo_), curled maple (_Acer dasycarpon_), and ash, all of them
reduced in stature. From hence the forest begins to disappear before
the pervading plain. To-day we were favoured with a fine south-east
breeze, and sailed along with rapidity. Early in the afternoon we
passed Bougie’s island, near to which, and in two other places, the
hills, of about 300 feet elevation, approach the river; the rocks
being still a slaty sandstone. Elk and deer now appeared common on
the sand beaches, being obliged to come to the river for water, as
the springs in the prairies are at this season nearly all dried up.
We continued to pass several rapids, with the water curling over beds
of gravel. According to the common estimate, we proceeded to-day 45
miles, and in the evening were only two leagues from our destination.
14th.] This morning we passed a low ledge of rocks on our left,
apparently the usual dark-coloured slaty sandstone, and which has
received the name of the Charbonniere,[191] from the appearances
of coal which it exhibits. On this side, the prairie approaches
the immediate bank of the river, and presents a very unusual open
prospect. We again passed three or four difficult rapids, within
the short distance which remained to complete our present voyage,
but presently after saw the outlet of Grand river,[192] (or the Six
Bulls as it is called by the French hunters), and now entered the
Verdigris,[193] where M. Bougie and Mr. Prior had their trading
houses. The water of both these rivers was quite pellucid; while that
of the Arkansa was now whitish and muddy, from the partial influx and
augmentation of some neighbouring streams.
FOOTNOTES:
[186] Disregarding the river’s windings, the Verdigris is only sixty
miles above Fort Smith.--ED.
[187] Salaison (meaning “salt meat”), is the correct French
orthography. On modern maps the name is spelled Sallison, and
Sallisaw.--ED.
[188] The Canadian is the chief tributary of the Arkansas, and was
long confused with the Red. In 1820 Major S. H. Long (see our volumes
xiv-xvii), mistaking it for the Red, followed the Canadian from its
source until near its confluence with the Arkansas. The name is a
corruption of Rio Cañada, given to the stream because its upper
waters flow through cañons.--ED.
[189] This is the second tributary of the Arkansas bearing the name
Illinois. The first debouches opposite Dardanelle (see _ante_, p.
177). The second rises in northwestern Arkansas, but most of its
course is in Indian Territory.--ED.
[190] This cascade is known as Webber’s Falls. Near this spot
Samuel Houston kept a store ten years later than the date of our
narrative.--ED.
[191] Charbonniere means coal-bearing, and was frequently applied by
the French to natural objects in carboniferous regions. See _ante_,
note 156.--ED.
[192] The Grand, or Neosho, River, enters the Arkansas from the north
at the point where the Cherokee-Creek boundary crosses the Arkansas.
Near its mouth Fort Gibson was later built.--ED.
[193] The Verdigris River debouches about a quarter of a mile above
the mouth of the Neosho.--ED.
{171} CHAPTER XI
Character of the surrounding country of the Verdigris
river--Remarks on the Osage Indians
14th.] This morning, accompanied by Mr. Prior, I walked over a
portion of the alluvial land of the Verdigris, the fertility of
which was sufficiently obvious in the disagreeable and smothering
luxuriance of the tall weeds, with which it was overrun. This neck
of land, situated betwixt Grand river and the Verdigris, is about
two miles wide, free from inundation, and covered with larger trees
than any other I had seen since leaving Fort Smith. Among them were
lofty scarlet oaks, ash, and hackberry, and whole acres of nettles
(_Urtica divaricata_), with whose property of affording hemp, the
French hunters and settlers have been long acquainted. Contiguous
to the lower side of Grand river, there was a thick cane-brake,
more than two miles in width, backed by the prairie, without the
intervention of hills. As is common in large alluvions, so in this
of the Verdigris, a second terrace or more elevated bottom succeeds
the first, beyond which, occur thinly timbered hills. We then enter
upon the great western prairies, or grassy plains, separated from
each other by small rivulets, exhibiting belts of trees along their
margin. About eight miles from the Arkansa, commences the great Osage
prairie, more than 60 miles in length, and, in fact, succeeded by a
continuation of woodless plains to the banks of the Missouri. Mr.
Prior informed me, that in the first hills below, not far from the
Arkansa, on the east side, and about six miles distant, there is
calcareous rock. On entering the prairie, I was greatly disappointed
to find no change in the vegetation, and indeed, rather a diminution
of species. The _Amorpha canescens_, which I had not heretofore {172}
seen, since leaving St. Louis and the Missouri, and a new species of
_Helianthus_, however, instantly struck me as novel.
Leaving the path to the Osage village, we visited the rapids of the
Verdigris, which are situated five miles above its embouchure. This
obstruction is occasioned by a ledge of rocks, which traverse the
river, now bare, except about three or four yards, over which the
water foamed in a small cascade. The stream was quite pellucid, and
along the ledge we saw great numbers of buffaloe-fish, as well as
gars (_Esox osseus_), accompanied by several other smaller kinds.
While viewing the surrounding objects, my attention was attracted to
a beautiful green-striped lizard, resembling, except in the colour
and larger size, the _Lacerta vittata_.
If the confluence of the Verdigris, Arkansa, and Grand rivers,
shall ever become of importance as a settlement, which the great
and irresistible tide of western emigration promises, a town will
probably be founded here, at the junction of these streams; and this
obstruction in the navigation of the Verdigris, as well as the
rapids of Grand river, will afford good and convenient situations
for mills, a matter of no small importance in the list of civilized
comforts. From the Verdigris to St. Louis, there is an Osage trace,
which reduces the distance of those two places to about 300 miles,
and that also over a country scarcely obstructed by mountains. The
low hills contiguous to the falls of this river, and on which there
exist several aboriginal mounds, were chosen by the Cherokees and
Osages to hold their council, and to form a treaty of reciprocal
amity as neighbours. This first friendly interview with the
Cherokees, was soon after broke through by jealousy, and accompanied
on both sides with the most barbarous revenge. Scarcely any nation
of Indians have encountered more enemies than the Osages; still they
flatter themselves, by {173} saying, that they are seated in the
middle of the world, and, although surrounded by so many enemies,
they have ever maintained their usual population, and their country.
From conversations with the traders, it appeared, that they would not
be unwilling to dispose of more of their lands, provided that the
government of the United States would enter into a stipulation, not
to settle it with the aborigines, whom they have now much greater
reason to fear than the whites. The limit of their last cession
proceeds in a north-east direction from the falls of the Verdigris,
and enters the line which was run from Fire prairie, on the Missouri,
to Frog bayou, about 60 miles from the Arkansa; but, as it would
appear, through a culpable oversight, the saline of Grand river was
omitted, on the supply of which the whole territory so much depended
for salt.
Limestone appears to exist along the banks of the Verdigris, not many
miles above the falls, as large rolled fragments charged with shells
were scattered along the shores. The slaty sandstone, also, which
forms the falls, dipping about 10° to the north-west, exhibits, in
some of its beds, organic impressions, resembling a very serpentine
caryophyllite, and traversed with calcareous sparry illinitions.
15th.] The first village of the Osages lies about 60 miles from the
mouth of the Verdigris, and is said to contain 7 or 800 men and their
families. About 60 miles further, on the Osage river, is situated the
village of the chief called White Hair.[194] The whole of the Osages
are now, by governor Clarke, enumerated at about 8000 souls. At this
time nearly the whole town, men and women, were engaged in their
summer hunt, collecting bison tallow and meat. The principal chief
is called by the French Clarmont,[195] although his proper name is
the Iron bird, a species of Eagle. The right of governing is commonly
hereditary, but not always directed by primogeniture. {174} Tálai,
the son of the last chief, being considered too young at the decease
of his father, the rule was conferred on Clarmont, son of the chief
of White Hair’s village, on the Osage river, and his behaviour as
regent for many years, secured to him the undivided controul of the
village. Like most of the rulers among the aborigines, he neither
affects nor supports any shadow of pomp or distinction beyond that
of his office as supreme commander, and leader of the council. His
influence is, however, so great as to be prudentially courted by
all who would obtain any object with the village. He appeared to be
shrewd and sagacious, and no way deficient in Indian bravery and
cunning.
The Osages at this time entertained a considerable jealousy of
the whites, in consequence of the emigration of the Cherokees to
their frontiers; they considered it as a step of policy in the
government to overawe them, and intended to act in concert with the
establishment of the garrison. This consideration, as well as the
power and wealth of the whites, which have been witnessed by their
chiefs on their deputation to Washington, has, within these two years
back, had a salutary tendency to restrain their pretensions. Still
the white hunters and trappers are frequently insulted and chastised
by them. And, on the other hand, we have surely no just reason to
expect from the Indians an unstipulated licence to rob their country
of that game, which is necessary to their convenience and subsistence.
From the Osage interpreter, of whom I made the inquiry, I learned,
that, in common with many other Indians, as might be supposed from
their wandering habits and exposure to the elements, they are not
unacquainted with some peculiar characters and configurations of
the stars. Habitual observation had taught them that the pole star
remains stationary, and that all the others appear to revolve around
it; they were acquainted {175} with the Pleiades, for which they had
a peculiar name, and remarked the three stars of Orion’s belt. The
planet Venus they recognised as the Lucifier or harbinger of day;
and, as well as the Europeans, they called the Galaxy the heavenly
path or celestial road. The filling and waning of the moon regulated
their minor periods of time, and the number of moons, accompanied by
the concomitant phenomena of the seasons, pointed out the natural
duration of the year.
The superstitions of the Osages differ but little from those which
have so often been described, as practised by the other natives.
The importance of smoking, as a religious ceremony, is such as to
be often accompanied by invocations for every aid or necessary of
life. Before going out to war they raise the pipe towards heaven
or the sun,[196] and implore the assistance of the Great Spirit to
favour them in their reprisals, in the stealing of horses, and the
destruction of their enemies, &c. &c. They are acquainted with the
value of wampum, know the destructive effects of guns and gunpowder,
and the fascinating, but deleterious qualities of spiritous liquors.
Their minds have not been deluded into a belief in sorcery, which,
from its supposed fatality, is by many of the eastern Indians
punished with death. At their festivals, as among most of the other
natives, the warriors recount their actions of bravery, and number
them by throwing down a stick upon the ground for every exploit, or
striking at a post fixed for the purpose. On such occasions, they
sometimes challenge each other with a mutual emulation, to recount a
like number of warlike deeds. Yet this ostentation is rarely suffered
to degenerate into insult or envious combat; vulgarity is unknown
amongst {176} the aborigines of America; and the crest-fallen
warrior, superseded by a competitor, only seeks an equal share of
honour in the claims of patriotism, in the wars of his nation.
After scalping, the greatest feat of the Indian warrior is the
stealing of horses from the enemy, which they effect with notorious
dexterity. The bad effects, which may be easily anticipated to arise
from this thirst for martial fame, is a perpetual and obstinate
continuance of war upon the slightest pretext; to which may also be
added, their inability often, or unwillingness to distinguish betwixt
public and personal wrong. Instead of punishing offenders against
the peace, and thus endeavouring to keep up a good understanding
with their neighbours, the friends of the incendiary, who has
hurried his nation into war, hearken perhaps with indulgence to
his misrepresentations, and thus too often effectually prohibit
the application of salutary punishment. In fact, the want of legal
restraint, and of an efficient government, in spite of all our
admiration of patriarchal rule, have proved the ever baneful means
of aboriginal depopulation. It is this anarchy which has so often
prevented their common union against the encroachment of foreigners,
and deprived them, in a great degree, of the advantages and comforts
of public security and civilization. The most tyrannical oligarchy,
as we have seen in the example of the Mexicans, the Peruvians, and
the Natchez, would have been less injurious in its effects on their
society, than this paternal form of government, which, unfortunately,
however natural and virtuous in its principle, proves, by its lenity,
insufficient to check a vicious populace.
FOOTNOTES:
[194] White Hair was also known by the French equivalent, Cheveux
Blancs, or as Pahuska. He had gained power through the support of
Pierre Chouteau, a prominent St. Louis trader who had encouraged
factional divisions among the Osage, several years previous to the
time of our narrative, in order to break the monopoly of their
trade, which had been purchased by Manuel Lisa, a rival St. Louis
operator.--ED.
[195] Clarmont (Clermont) had been tribal leader for some time.
Lieutenant James Biddle Wilkinson, who visited the Verdigris village
in 1807, while exploring the Arkansas River under orders from General
Zebulon M. Pike, reported that “Clermont, or the Builder of Towns,”
was the most influential man of the nation, and that his hereditary
right to rule the Grand Osage had been usurped during his infancy by
White Hair. If this be true, Clermont was but regaining his rights
when he supplanted Tálai. Clermont was said to possess four wives and
thirty-seven children.--ED.
[196] The Naudowessies, and, as we are told by La Hontan, the Hurons,
smoked to the sun and the four cardinal points of the compass, which,
according to Sir William Jones, is the characteristic ritual of the
Tartars.--NUTTALL.
{177} CHAPTER XII
An excursion up Grand River to visit the Osage salt
works--Geological observations--Return across the prairie; its
general appearance and phenomena.
17th.] To-day I proceeded with two young men in a canoe up Grand
river, with an intention of visiting the salt works. We found the
water of this stream very clear, and the channel little inferior in
breadth to some parts of the Arkansa; also full of rapids, and now
so shallow as to admit of no vessel drawing more than 12 inches of
water. The islands are very numerous and small, and the bars and
bends, except by the predominance of gravel, resemble the Arkansa on
a reduced scale. The gravel is entirely composed of lime-stone and
chert. In the distance of about seven miles we found the first ridge
terminating on the borders of the river to be calcareous. Below this,
and about two or three miles from the mouth of the river, the usual
dark-coloured slaty sandstone prevails. In the course of the day we
killed several large buffaloe fish, which are very abundant in all
the shallow and gravelly ripples, apparently a _Cyprinus_, and very
palatable when fried in oil. The boney gar (_Esox osseus_), and the
large grey catfish, are also sufficiently common. We proceeded about
30 miles.
18th.] The morning was fine, and we embarked at sunrise. About eight
o’clock we passed a bend called the Eagle’s nest, a mile above which,
and its island, a fasçade of calcareous rock appears, inlaid with
beds of whitish hornstone. While examining these cliffs, I recognised
as new, a large shrub, and to my great surprise found it to be a
simple-leaved _Rhus_, scarcely distinct from the _R. Cotinus_ of the
south of Europe and of our gardens. Hills and cliffs, but {178}
partly hid in woods, were now of frequent occurrence along the river
bank. The neighbouring thickets abounded with game, amongst which two
bears made their appearance. The gravel bars were almost covered with
_Amsonia salicifolia_, with which grew also the _Sesbania macrocarpa_
of Florida.
This evening I arrived at Mr. Slover’s, two miles below the saline.
The farm which this hunter occupied was finely elevated and
productive, and apparently well suited to the production of small
grain. Up to this place, which is said to be 50 miles from the
Arkansa, the cane continues to be abundant. In this elevated alluvion
I still observed the Coffee-bean tree (_Gymnocladus canadensis_),
the overcup white oak (_Quercus macrocarpa_), the pecan (_Carya
olivæformis_), the common hickory, ash, elm; and below, in places
near the margin of the river, the poplar-leaved birch (_Betula
populifolia_).
Mr. S. informed me, that on the opposite side of the river, and two
miles from hence, another strong salt spring breaks out through the
incumbent gravel; and that there are other productive springs 25
miles above.
19th.] This morning, I walked with Mr. Slover to see the salt
works, now indeed lying idle, and nearly deserted in consequence of
the murder of Mr. Campbell, by Erhart, his late partner, and two
accomplices in their employ. Melancholy as were the reflections
naturally arising from this horrid circumstance, I could not but
congratulate myself on having escaped, perhaps a similar fate.
At the Cadron, I had made application to Childer’s, one of these
remorseless villains, as a woodsman and hunter, to accompany me for
hire, only about a month before he had shot and barbarously scalped
Mr. Campbell, for the purpose of obtaining his little property, and
in spite of the friendship which he had uniformly received from the
deceased.
{179} But to return to the subject. We proceeded two miles, along
the hilly and woody skirts of the river, and through the adjoining
prairie to the saline, which appeared to be a gravelly, alluvial
basin, of about an acre in extent, and destitute of all vegetation.
A small fresh water brook, now scarcely running, passed through
this area, and the salt water, quite pellucid, issued copiously to
the surface in various directions. In one place it boiled up out
of a focus of near six inches diameter, emitting fetid bubbles of
sulphuretted hydrogen, which deposited a slight scum of sulphur.
All the springs are more or less hepatic, which circumstance is
attributable to a bed of bituminous and sulphuretted slate-clay,
visible on the margin of the stream, and, probably, underlaid by
coal, through which the water rises to the surface. In the adjoining
heights, a coarse-grained sandstone occurs, answering the purpose of
mill-stones; the stream then contracts at the entrance of a ledge of
slaty rocks, and, about a half mile from its immediate outlet, the
water is perfectly fresh. The only well dug upon the premises for
the salt water, was about five feet deep, and quarried through a bed
of dark-coloured limestone, containing shells and nodules of black
hornstone, similar to the chert of Derbyshire. This salt appears to
be concomitant with a coaly or bituminous formation. No marine plants
appear in this vicinity, as at Onondago, where we meet with the
Salicornia of the sea marshes. When the works were in operation, 120
bushels of salt were manufactured in a week, and the water is said
to be so strong, that after the second boiling, it became necessary
to remove the lye. No mother water, or any thing almost but what
is volatile, appears mixed with this salt, which is of the purest
whiteness on the first boiling, and only takes about 80 gallons
of water to produce a bushel. Hitherto these springs have been
unaccompanied by any fossil remains of quadrupeds.
{180} This forenoon I was disagreeably surprised by a slight attack
of the intermittent fever, which was also beginning to make its
appearance in the family of Mr. Slover. In the spring, they were
likewise affected by the influenza, which prevailed in the Osage
village, and induced several pulmonary consumptions. No medicines
being at hand, as imprudently I had not calculated upon sickness,
I took in the evening about a pint of a strong and very bitter
decoction, of the _Eupatorium cuneifolium_, the _E. perfoliatum_ or
Bone-set, not being to be found in the neighbourhood. This dose,
though very nauseous, did not prove sufficient to operate as an
emetic, but acted as a diaphoretic and gentle laxative, and prevented
the proximate return of the disease.
20th.] This morning I left Mr. Slover’s, and proceeded, by compass,
across the Great Osage plain, towards the mouth of the Verdigris. My
course was south by west, the distance being about 30 miles. Twenty
miles of this route was without any path, and through grass three
feet deep, often entangled with brambles, and particularly with the
tenacious “saw-brier” (_Schrankia horridula_). The honey upon the
grass, as at Sambo prairie, was so universally abundant, that my
mockasins and pantaloons were soaked as with oil. Several insulated
eminences, appearing almost artificial, served to diversify the
cheerless uniformity of the extensive plain, still wrapt in primeval
solitude. Not even a tree appeared, except along the brooks of Grand
river and the Verdigris, which rivers, for 25 or 30 leagues, are
not more than 12 to 15 miles apart. About a mile from the base of
one of those prominent hills, insulated like an aboriginal mound,
and towards which I was directed to proceed, passed the path to the
Indian village, and the outlet of the Verdigris. It was evening when
I arrived at this hill, which had been a prominent object in view,
ever since my outset this morning. From {181} its summit, the wide
and verdant plain appeared visible for 40 miles. Proceeding about
four miles from this eminence, much fatigued, I lay down to sleep
in the prairie, under the clear canopy of heaven;--but alone, and
without the necessary comforts of either fire, food, or water. The
crickets, grashoppers, catidids, and stocking-weavers, as they are
familiarly called, kept up such a loud and shrill crepitation, as
to prove extremely irksome, and almost stunning to the ears. Every
tender leaved plant, whether bitter or sweet, by thousands of acres,
were now entirely devoured by the locust grashoppers, which arose
before me almost in clouds. I slept, however, in comfort, and was
scarcely at all molested by musquetoes. The next day, after spending
considerable time in botanizing, I arrived at the trading houses.