an agent of the government in Oregon Territory, were about three weeks in
advance of us. They consisted of men, women, and children. There were
sixty-four men, and sixteen or seventeen families. They had a considerable
number of cattle, and were transporting their household furniture in
large, heavy wagons. I understood that there had been much sickness among
them, and that they had lost several children. One of the party who had
lost his child, and whose wife was very ill, had left them about one
hundred miles hence on the prairies; and as a hunter, who had accompanied
them, visited our camp this evening, we availed ourselves of his return to
the States to write to our friends.

The morning of the 18th was very unpleasant. A fine rain was falling, with
cold wind from the north, and mists made the river hills look dark and
gloomy. We left our camp at seven, journeying along the foot of the hills
which border the Kansas valley, generally about three miles wide, and
extremely rich. We halted for dinner, after a march of about thirteen
miles, on the banks of one of the many little tributaries to the Kansas,
which look like trenches in the prairie, and are usually well timbered.
After crossing this stream, I rode off some miles to the left, attracted
by the appearance of a cluster of huts near the mouth of the Vermilion. It
was a large but deserted Kansas village, scattered in an open wood, along
the margin of the stream, chosen with the customary Indian fondness for
beauty of scenery. The Pawnees had attacked it in the early spring. Some
of the houses were burnt, and others blackened with smoke, and weeds were
already getting possession of the cleared places. Riding up the Vermilion
river, I reached the ford in time to meet the carts, and, crossing,
encamped on its western side. The weather continued cold, the thermometer
being this evening as low as 49 deg.; but the night was sufficiently clear for
astronomical observations, which placed us in longitude 96 deg. 04' 07", and
latitude 39 deg. 15' 19". At sunset, the barometer was at 28.845, thermometer