The Project Gutenberg eBook of Early Western Travels, 1748-1846 (Volume XVI) Part III of James's Account of S. H. Long's Expedition, 1819-1820, edited by Reuben Gold Thwaites.

55 More commonly called Pawnee Picts; now probably represented by the Wichita, a remnant of which still exists on the Kiowa agency in Oklahoma. They had no connection with the Piqua Indians, and, according to some authorities, bore no resemblance, either in language or customs, to the Pawnee of the Platte. Others regard them as an offshoot of the Grand Pawnee. Indeed, the history of the tribe is somewhat of a puzzle. The name suggests the belief held by some (e.g., Stoddard, in Sketches of Louisiana) that there was a race of Welsh origin on Red River. The Pawnee Picts were sometimes called "White Pawnee," suggesting the same belief. They were intimately associated with the Comanche. Their name in their own language was Toweeahge, of which variant forms are Towiache, Towcash, and Toyash. As late as 1877 their home was still on the Washita. The site of their village at the time of Long's expedition is uncertain; probably it was not permanent. John Sibley (American State Papers, "Indian Affairs," ii, p. 731) located it (1806) thirty or forty miles above the False Washita; while Melish's map of 1816 places it opposite the mouth of Boggy River. The Indians of this region seem to have had intercourse with the Spaniards from an early date. One Brevel, born among the neighboring Caddo, told Sibley (1805) that he had visited Santa Fé forty years previous.—Ed.

56 G. linifolia, Nuttall's Manuscript.—Stem erect, sparingly branched, smooth leaves, smooth sessile, alternate linear lanceolate entire, with the midrib translucent. Flowers in a terminal crowded spike; after flowering the rachis extends itself, and in the ripened fruit the spike is scattered; nut triquetrous, much shorter than the linear bractea.

The flowers are white, having in the calyx a tinge of brownish purple. They are about as large as those of G. coccinnea. The plant is three or four feet high, the leaves small and short, and the stem slender.

This is the fifth species of gaura we have met with west of the Mississippi. The G. biennis of the Eastern States has not hitherto been found here.—James.

57 The entire courses of both streams lie within the state of Texas; they head in the Staked Plains and flow southeast to the Gulf. The Colorado (Blood Red) was named Brazos del Dio (Arms of God) by a Franciscan monk; but the Mexicans confused the streams and exchanged the names.—Ed.

58 The misinformation was not necessarily given intentionally. Many of the rivers of the southwest are colored red, and the Mexicans habitually called them Rio Colorado (Blood Red River). Especially was the Canadian so known; the upper Red seems to have been called Rio Negro. The Indians borrowed the Spanish nomenclature.—Ed.

59 Alexander Wilson (1766-1813), the son of a Scotch weaver, came to Philadelphia in 1794. After working as printer, weaver, peddler, and schoolmaster, his natural love for the sciences, quickened by the acquaintance of William Bartram, led him (1804) to begin the excursions and collections which resulted in the American Ornithology (Philadelphia, 9 vols., 1808-14). Much of the plate work for these volumes was personally prepared by Wilson. His death was due to exposure in swimming a stream to capture a rare bird.—Ed.

60 Charles Alexander Lesueur (1778-1857) was the author of numerous studies of molluscs and reptiles, which were published in various scientific journals. During a residence at Philadelphia (1815) he was a contributor to the Journal published by the Academy of Sciences. Upon returning to France, he became curator of the Havre museum.—Ed.

61 This is Dry River, in Texas, a short distance above the Antelope Hills, of Oklahoma. It is noted by Lieut. J. H. Simpson (1849).—Ed.

62 This is a portion of the country famed for the supposed cure of consumption.—Ed.

63 On this day the party probably crossed the line between Texas and Oklahoma. The Antelope Hills lie south of the river at this point.—Ed.

64 For the same reasons it is practically impossible to follow the progress of the party; the camping places can only be approximated from the longitude indicated on the map, which is thirty to fifty miles too great for the western area, but substantially correct at the mouth of the Canadian.—Ed.

65 The magnetic variation was here from 12° to 13° east.—James.

66 The Washita (an Indian word meaning either "male deer," or "country of large buffaloes") should be distinguished from the river in Arkansas (Ouachita) near the sources of which are the Hot Springs (see Nuttall's Journal, in our volume xiii, note 125). The Washita, which, as the text states, is the chief northern tributary of Red River, rises in the "pan-handle" of Texas and flows east and southeast, roughly parallel with the Canadian. Its confluence with the Red is between the ninety-sixth and ninety-seventh meridians. At the western boundary of Oklahoma, the Washita approaches within fifteen miles of the Canadian; farther east, the approximation of its tributaries is so close as, in one place, scarcely to admit the passage of a single wagon.—Ed.

67 The latitude of this point was ascertained by Major Long, in December, 1819, to be a few minutes below 34° north.—James.

Comment by Ed. On the Kiamesha (Kiamichi) see Nuttall's Journal, in our volume xiii, note 177.

68 Just east of the ninety-ninth meridian, the Canadian almost touches the thirty-sixth parallel, and then turning southeast passes below the thirty-fifth, turning northeast again near the ninety-sixth meridian. The party is now near the bend to the southeast; the map probably shows them on the nineteenth too far along the southeast course. The stream flowing southeast was doubtless a tributary of the Washita. Gypsum (sulphate of lime) occurs in great abundance along the Canadian, especially between the ninety-ninth and one hundredth meridians. Near the ninety-ninth meridian begins a wooded district known as the Cross Timbers; it varies in width from five to thirty miles, and is four hundred miles in length, extending from the Arkansas to the Brazos.—Ed.

69 This elegant centaurea has a head of flowers nearly as large as that of the cincus lanceolatus, so commonly naturalized in the East. Some specimens from seeds, brought by Major Long, have flowered in Mrs. Peale's garden, near Germantown. The plant will be easily naturalized, and will be found highly ornamental.—James.

70 Chapter i in volume iii of the original London edition.—Ed.

71 Later explorations proved that the divide between the Red and Canadian was well supplied with springs.—Ed.

72 In places where the absence of crocodiles permits people to enter the river, Humboldt and Bonpland observed, that the immoderate use of baths, while it moderated the pain of the old stings of zanceadores, rendered them more sensible to new. By bathing more than twice a day, the skin is brought into a state of nervous irritability, of which no idea can be formed in Europe. It would seem as if all feeling were carried towards the integuments. Humboldt's Personal Narrative, vol. v. p. 105.—James.

73 These are the three largest tributaries of the Arkansas from the west. The Ne-sew-ke-tonga is the modern Cimarron; the Negracka is the Salt Fork. The Cimarron is between the other two, in size as well as place; the Canadian is largest and most southerly. All united with the Arkansas between the thirty-fifth and thirty-seventh parallels. The two smaller streams between the Cimarron and Negracka, named Saline Creek and Strong Saline on the map, are now respectively known as Black Bear and Red Rock creeks.—Ed.

74 Ampelopsis quinquefolia of Michaux.—James.

75 The name is a corruption of the French aux arcs (with bows), applied to the Indians of Missouri and Arkansas. The hills here meant are known as the Shawnee Hills, from the Indians of that tribe, who later had villages on the Canadian about a hundred and twenty-five miles from Fort Smith.—Ed.

76 See Cuming's Tour, in our volume iv, note 108.—Ed.

77 Strobilaria of Nuttall, belonging to the heteromorphous genus phytolithus of Martin.—James.

78 Probably Sand (sometimes called Topofki) Creek. The much larger Little River, entering from the other side a few miles below, is not mentioned.—Ed.

79 Ulmus americana and ulmus alata.—James.

80 Maclura Aurantiaca, Nuttall.—A description of this interesting tree may be seen in Mr. Nuttall's valuable work on the Genera of North American Plants, vol. ii. p. 233. That description was drawn from specimens cultivated in the garden of Mr. Choteau, at St. Louis, where, as might be expected, the tree did not attain its full size and perfect character. In its native wilds, the Maclura is conspicuous by its showy fruit, in size and external appearance resembling the largest oranges. The leaves are of an oval form, with an undivided margin, and the upper surface of a smooth shining green; they are five or six inches long, and from two to three wide. The wood is of a yellowish colour, uncommonly fine and elastic, affording the material most used for bows by all the savages from the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains. How far towards the north its use extends we have not been informed; but we have often seen it among the lower tribes of the Missouri, who procure it in trade from the Osages and the Pawnees of Red river. The bark, fruit, &c. when cut into, exude a copious, milky sap, which soon dries on exposure, and is insoluble in water; containing, probably, like the milky pieces of many other of the urticæ, a large intermixture of caotchouc, or gum elastic. Observing this property in the milky juice of the fruit, we were tempted to apply it to our skin, where it formed a thin and flexible varnish, affording us, as we thought, some protection from the ticks.

The fruit consists of radiating, somewhat woody fibres, terminating in a tuberculated and slightly papillose surface. In this fibrous mass the seeds, which are nearly as large as those of a quince, are disseminated. We cannot pretend to say what part of the fruit has been described as the "pulp which is nearly as succulent as that of an orange; sweetish, and perhaps agreeable when fully ripe." In our opinion, the whole of it is as disagreeable to the taste, and as unfit to be eaten as the fruit of the sycamore, to which it has almost as much resemblance as to the orange.

The tree rises to the height of twenty-five or thirty feet, dividing near the ground into a number of long, slender, and flexuous branches. It inhabits deep and fertile soils along the river valley. The Arkansa appears to be the northern limit of the range of the maclura, and neither on that river, nor on the Canadian, does the tree or the fruit attain so considerable a size as in warmer latitudes. Of many specimens of the fruit examined by Major Long, at the time of his visit to Red river, in 1817, several were found measuring five and an half inches in diameter.—James.

81 Pike was the first to describe as a desert the fine grazing lands of the Great Plains; Long and Pike agreed in thinking them providentially placed to keep the American people from ruinous diffusion. The myth of the Great American Desert lived for half a century.—Ed.

82 The South Fork of the Canadian is a much smaller stream than the map indicates. Its sources are in the Shawnee Hills, not far west of the ninety-sixth meridian, near those of Boggy River, a tributary of the Red.

On the sources of the North Fork, see ante, note 51.—Ed.

83 Journal of Travels into the Arkansa Territory, by Thomas Nuttall, &c. page 200.—James.

Comment by Ed. See reprint of Nuttall's Journal, in our volume xiii, p. 265, and note 204.

84 This tree, the populus angulata of Pursh, has received its common name from the downy cotton-like appendage to the seed, which being ripened and shed in May, or the beginning of June, is then seen floating in the air in great quantities, and often proves somewhat troublesome to the eyes and noses of persons who are much in the open air. Baron Humboldt in speaking of the unona aromatica of South America, says, "Its branches are straight, and rise in a pyramid nearly like those of the poplar of the Mississippi, falsely called Lombardy poplar." Pers. Nar. vol. v. p. 163. As far as our observation has extended, the poplar most common in the country of the Mississippi, and indeed almost the only one which occurs, is the angulata, very distinct from the populus dilatata, the Lombardy poplar of our streets and yards, which is not a native of this country. The branches of the cotton-wood tree are not very numerous, particularly where it occurs in forests, as is the case on the Mississippi, below the confluence of the Missouri, and in the alluvial lands of most of the rivers in the United States, and show less tendency to arrange themselves in a pyramidal form than those of almost any other tree. In the open country west of the Mississippi, where, in the distance of one hundred miles, some dozens of cotton-wood trees may be found scattered, their tops are peculiarly low and straggling, as is the case with individuals of the same species which have grown in open fields, and by the road sides in various places. This tree is, perhaps, as widely distributed as any indigenous to North America, extending at least from Canada to Louisiana, and from the Atlantic to the lower part of Columbia river. It is, however, so peculiarly frequent in every part of the country watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries, that it may, with as little absurdity as usually attends names referring to locality, be called the Mississippi poplar. It is probable, that nearly one half of the whole number of trees in the recent alluvial grounds or bottom-lands of the Mississippi and its tributaries, are of this species. Whether it was considered by Humboldt as identical with the Lombardy poplar of our streets, we cannot decide.

The cotton-wood varies in magnitude in proportion to the fertility of the soil; and on the Ohio, the Mississippi, and the Arkansa, it attains the size of our largest forest trees. It is sometimes exceeded in girth, and in the number and extent of its branches, by the majestic sycamore; but in forests where the two are intermixed, as is commonly the case, it is seen to overtop all other trees. A cotton-wood tree mentioned in the journal of the exploring party who ascended Red river in 1806, and spoken of as one of many similar trees standing in a corn field three or four days' journey above Natchitoches, measured one hundred and forty-one feet and six inches in height, and five feet in diameter. [Freeman's MS. Journal.] Though we have not actual admeasurements to compare with this, we are of opinion that many trees on the Arkansa would rather exceed than fall short of these dimensions. The cotton-wood affords a light and soft timber, not very durable, except when protected from the weather. Before expansion, the buds of this tree are partially covered with a viscid, resinous exudation, resembling that so conspicuous on the buds of the populus balsamifera, and diffusing in the spring and the early part of summer an extremely grateful and balsamic odour.—James.

85 This estimate of distances is excessive, unless sinuosities of the trail are included, but this is not clear from the text. The distance from Fort Smith to the western boundary of Texas, near where the party reached the Canadian proper, is less than six hundred miles; to Santa Fé, less than eight hundred miles. If the length of Major Long's Creek be added, the estimate is still more than a hundred miles too great.—Ed.

86 For Point Sucre and Cavaniol Mountains and the Poteau River, see Nuttall's Journal, in our volume xiii, notes 167, 169.—Ed.

87 For the Arkansas Cherokee, see ibid., note 145.—Ed.

88 We have adopted this name from the author of the "Manual of Botany," as a substitute for that of the 1712 genera of Persoon, which has been so severely censured by President Smith in Rees's Cyclopedia. It is equally appropriate with the old name, and contains no offensive allusion.—James.

89 At this time, Hugh Glenn had a trading-house about a mile above the mouth of the Verdigris. See Nuttall's Journal, volume xiii of our series, note 35. Whether there was another person named Robert, or whether the name is an error, is uncertain.—Ed.

90 For sketch of Major William Bradford see ibid., note 166.

James H. Ballard was appointed from Maryland (1813) as second lieutenant in the Thirty-sixth Infantry. He was transferred to the Rifle Regiment in 1815, and two years later made captain. In 1821 he was transferred to the Second Infantry, and died in 1823.—Ed.

91 Thomas A. Smith entered the army in 1803, from Georgia, on an appointment as second lieutenant of artillerists. In 1808 he became captain in the rifles, and was promoted successively to lieutenant-colonel (1810), colonel (1812), and brigadier-general (1814). On the reorganization of the army in 1815 he was retained as colonel in the Rifle Regiment, with brevet rank of brigadier-general. He resigned in 1818. See volume xiv, note 118.—Ed.

92 Nuttall's Travels into the Arkansa Territory, p. 144.—James.

Comment by Ed. Page 202 of the reprint in volume xiii of our series.

93 Skin (sometimes called Big Skin) Bayou is a small northern tributary of the Arkansas, which debouches about ten miles above Fort Smith. The Six Bulls is the Neosho (or Grand) River. For the Verdigris, Illinois, and Neosho, see Nuttall's Journal, in our volume xiii, notes 189, 192, 193.—Ed.

94 The country traversed by the Canadian, explored for the first time by Long's party, soon became familiar to traders through the increasing intercourse with the Mexican provinces; but it was not again examined under government auspices until 1845, when Lieut. James W. Abert, detached by Frémont near Bent's Fort on the upper Arkansas, crossed to the Canadian somewhat west of Long's route, and descended it, visiting en route the sources of the Washita. For his report see Senate Document No. 438, Twenty-ninth Congress, first session. In 1849, Lieut. J. H. Simpson surveyed a route for a road from Fort Smith to Santa Fé, and the map accompanying his report shows in considerable detail the course of the Canadian. See Senate Executive Document No. 12, Thirty-first Congress, first session.—Ed.

95 The following six chapters are from the pen of Mr. Say.—James.

96 In contradistinction from Spaniards, near whose frontier these Indians rove.—James.

97 The Spanish-American frontier was, during this whole period, the scene of almost constant friction, and several filibustering expeditions invaded Texas during the first two decades of the century. In 1811 Bernardo Gutierrez, a Mexican refugee, and Augustus Magee, an ex-officer of the United States army, led a force into eastern Texas, seized Nacogdoches, and drove the Spanish troops in confusion across Trinity River. On some such exploit as this—possibly this very one—the Indians doubtless based their story. During the year of Major Long's expedition, another man of the same patronymic (James Long, a Natchez merchant) led another party into Texas, but achieved slight success. See Garrison, Texas (Boston, 1903). An article in Niles' Register (xix, p. 133), speaking of the Comanche, says: "These Indians consider themselves the most powerful nation in the world, and next to them, the Americas (as they call the people of the United States). But, since Long's defeat, they rank Spain before America, considering Long to have the command of all the United States."—Ed.

98 We do not know that any writer has visited these Indians since the expedition of Mr. Bourgmont, Commander of Fort Orleans of the Missouri, which took place in the year 1724. They were then, and have since continued to be, distinguished collectively by the name of Padoucas. Du Pratz informs us, that they were then very numerous, "extending almost two hundred leagues; and they have villages quite close to the Spaniards of New Mexico." And that "from the Padoucas to the Canzes, proceeding always east, we may now safely reckon sixty-five and a half leagues. The river of the Canzes is parallel to this route." From this statement of the course and estimate of the distance to the country of the Padoucas, it is evident, that at this day these Indians do not habitually wander in that direction so near to Missouri as they then did, owing probably to the hostilities of the more martial nations residing on that river.—James.

99 Bufo cognatus.—Fuscous, with cinereous lines; head canaliculate, groove abbreviated before. Body above, dark brownish, papillous, the papillæ and their basal disks black; they are more numerous, prominent, and acute, on the sides and legs; not prominent on the back. A vertebral cinereous vitta, from which an oblique cinereous irregular line is drawn from the vertex to the side behind the anterior feet; another double one from the middle of the back to the posterior thighs. Sides and legs with irregular cinereous lines. Head with a groove, which hardly extends anteriorly to the line of the anterior canthus of the eyes; verrucæ behind the eyes, moderate; superior maxilla emarginate; beneath granulated.

Length from the nose to the cloaca, 3¾ inches. A specimen is placed in the Philadelphia museum.—James.

100 The Arrapaho, or Rappaho nation, is known to the Minnetarees of the Missouri, by the name of E-tâ-léh, or Bison-path Indians.—James.

101 The intoxicating bean is the fruit of a variety of mesquite tree (prosopis glandulosa), which is common in the semi-arid districts of the Southwest. It bears a pod similar to that of the locust, to which it is related, containing eight to twelve beans. The Indians use the bean as food for themselves and their horses, as well as in the preparation of an alcoholic drink.—Ed.

102 Amongst the herds of these animals, we frequently saw flocks of the cow bunting (emberiza pecora). The manners of this bird, in some respects, are very similar to those of the Tanagra erythroryncha of Lord Stanley, in Salt's travels; flying, and alighting in considerable numbers on the backs of the bisons, which, from their submission to the pressure of numbers of them, seem to appreciate the services they render, by scratching and divesting them of vermin. This bird is here, as well as in the settlements, remarkably fearless. They will suffer us to pass very near to them, and one of them to-day, alighted repeatedly on the ground near our horses' feet: he would fly along our line, and balance himself on his wings, to gratify his curiosity, within striking distance of a whip.—James.

103 This is the first notice of any of the natural features along the route since the division of the expedition two weeks previous, and two hundred and fifty miles up stream. The Great Bend of the Arkansas begins in Ford County, Kansas, and culminates in Barton County. The chord of this great arc is nearly a hundred and twenty-five miles long. Above the bend the country north of the river is flat, while to the south it is hilly, causing the deflection of the stream toward the northeast.—Ed.

104 See preceding volume, note 134.—Ed.

105 "Demun's Creek" is Pawnee River, flowing eastward from Finney County and emptying into the Arkansas at the present town of Larned, Pawnee County, on the west side of the Great Bend. Eight miles above its mouth is the site of Fort Larned, established in 1859.—Ed.

106 Ash Creek, Pawnee County.—Ed.

107 At the culmination of the bend is the mouth of Walnut Creek, which is a large stream flowing east from Lane, across Ness, Rush, and Barton counties, and reaching the Arkansas four miles below the town of Great Bend, seat of Barton County. A small tributary of Walnut Creek, called Little Walnut, debouches four miles from the Arkansas; possibly the party confused the two streams.—Ed.

108 At this point Pike reached the Arkansas in October, 1806, on his way to the Rocky Mountains from the Pawnee village on Republican River. Here, also, the Santa Fé trail reached the Arkansas. From Independence and Kansas City the trail followed the divide between the Arkansas and Kansas, crossing the headwaters of the tributaries of the former. Above the Great Bend, the main route followed the river to Bent's Fort, where it forked as already described (see ante, note 43). A branch of the trail crossed the river in Gray County, Kansas, and traversed the semi-desert region to the southward, to the upper Cimarron; this branch was known as the Cimarron route. The use of the Santa Fé trail dates from time immemorial, but for purposes of trade was long precarious. It was of considerable commercial importance from the early twenties to the age of railroad building; in some years the value of the goods carried amounted to nearly half a million dollars. See volumes xix and xx of our series.—Ed.

109 The Comanche (a word of Spanish origin, but of unknown meaning) were of Shoshoni stock, and roamed a vast territory extending from western Texas and Kansas to the foot of the mountains. They were fierce and predatory, and superb horsemen. Notwithstanding bloody wars and the ravages of small-pox, the tribe numbered probably about ten thousand at the middle of the nineteenth century. A remnant of about fourteen hundred of these tribesmen now lives on the Kiowa reservation, in Oklahoma.—Ed.

110 We have since learned, from Major O'Fallon, that Ietan, the distinguished Oto partizan, had informed him, within a few days of this date, that he had just then returned from a war excursion in company with a small party of Otoes that he led. And the narration of his adventures satisfactorily proved, that it was he and his party that reduced the Ietan war-party to the condition in which they presented themselves to us.—James.

111 Cow Creek, the largest tributary of the Arkansas between Walnut Creek and the Little Arkansas. It flows from Barton County southeast across Rice County; Hutchinson, seat of Reno County, is at its confluence with the river. The Santa Fé trail crossed the headwaters of several of its tributaries not far from the Great Bend.—Ed.

112 The chief branch of the Little Arkansas heads near the northern line of Rice County, traverses the northeast corner of Reno County, and joins several smaller creeks in Harvey County. Thence its course is almost south; Wichita, Sedgwick County, is at its mouth.—Ed.

113 Probably Chisholm's Creek, a small Sedgwick County stream.—Ed.

114 Bell's party mistook the Nennescah (Nenescah, Nenesquaw, an Indian word meaning "good river") for the Negracka, which on the map is given the alternate name of Red Fork. Lieutenant Wilkinson's detachment of Pike's expedition made the same mistake in 1806; their report may have misled Bell's party. The Negracka is much farther south, but the members of the party were confused relative to their whereabouts from this time until shortly before they arrived at the Verdigris. The Nennescah drains most of the area inclosed by the Great Bend; Whitman, Sumner County, is at its mouth. The Negracka is now often called Salt Fork; the name Red Fork applies more properly to the Cimarron. The names, locations, and relative sizes of the western tributaries of the Arkansas between Great Bend and the Canadian made up a cartographical puzzle which resisted solution for another generation.—Ed.

115 This is the modern Walnut Creek, formerly called Whitewater River. Its course is nearly south through Butler and Cowley counties; Arkansas City is near the confluence. This creek should be distinguished from the stream of the same name mentioned ante, note 107.—Ed.

116 Now Grouse Creek; its course lies almost wholly within Cowley County, and its mouth is almost on the line separating Kansas and Oklahoma. The map is far from accurate in showing the tributaries of the Arkansas in this region. The Nennescah is much nearer to Walnut Creek than to the Little Arkansas; while the Negracka and all the other western streams marked on the map are south of the Kansas boundary (the thirty-seventh parallel). Slate Creek, in Sumner County, Kansas, was evidently mistaken for the Strong Saline (now Red Rock Creek, Oklahoma); but there is no tributary from the west, above Walnut Creek, corresponding to the Saline (Black Bear) Creek of the map. The cartographer appears to have forced matters here.—Ed.

117 Doubtless (Big) Beaver Creek, in the Kansa reservation.—Ed.

118 Being now opposite the mouth of the Negracka, or Salt Fork of the Arkansas, for which five days previous they had mistaken the Nennescah, Bell's men naturally infer that they are at the Cimarron, to which alone the names used in the text were ever applied; it is much larger than the "considerable stream" noted. Its confluence is, on a straight line, some fifty miles farther down, about midway between the present camp and the mouth of the Verdigris. By abandoning their route along the immediate bank of the Arkansas on the twenty-eighth, the party missed the Cimarron.—Ed.

119 The path of the party on August 23 and 24 followed an eastward bend of the river, beginning at the northwest corner of the Pawnee Reservation. Several creeks enter along this bend, the most important of which now bear the names of Buck and Gray Horse.—Ed.

120 The creek nearly opposite the camp of the twenty-seventh, unnamed on the map, is Saline (Black Bear) Creek, which the party thought had been passed far up stream.—Ed.

121 The route of the party on the twenty-ninth and thirtieth probably led them across the upper course of Hominy Creek, a tributary of the Verdigris, flowing parallel with the Arkansas. They evidently mistook it for a tributary of the Arkansas; the map shows such a tributary crossed on the twenty-ninth, but there is none at the place indicated. This supposition is borne out by the misconception relative to the direction of the ravine crossed on the thirtieth; this depression may have been the dry course of the same creek. The stream visible from the elevated ground was either the Verdigris or Bird Creek, which unites with Hominy Creek on the Osage-Cherokee boundary.—Ed.