characteristic on the creek bottoms, and buffalo grass is becoming
abundant on the higher parts of the ridges.

21st.--During the forenoon we traveled up a branch of the creek on which
we had encamped, in a broken country, where, however, the dividing ridges
always afforded a good road. Plants were few; and with the short sward of
the buffalo-grass, which now prevailed everywhere, giving to the prairies
a smooth and mossy appearance, were mingled frequent patches of a
beautiful red grass, (_aristida pallens_,) which had made its
appearance only within the last few days.

We halted to noon at a solitary cottonwood in a hollow, near which was
killed the first buffalo, a large old bull.

Antelope appeared in bands during the day. Crossing here to the affluents
of the Republican, we encamped on a fork, about forty feet wide and one
foot deep, flowing with a swift current over a sandy bed, and well wooded
with ash-leaved maple, (_negundo fraxinifolium_,) elm, cottonwood,
and a few white oaks. We were visited in the evening by a very violent
storm, accompanied by wind, lightning, and thunder; a cold rain falling in
torrents. According to the barometer, our elevation was 2,130 feet above
the gulf.

At noon, on the 23d, we descended into the valley of a principal fork of
the Republican, a beautiful stream with a dense border of wood, consisting
principally of varieties of ash, forty feet wide and four deep. It was
musical with the notes of many birds, which, from the vast expanse of
silent prairie around, seemed all to have collected here. We continued
during the afternoon our route along the river, which was populous with
prairie dogs, (the bottoms being entirely occupied with their villages,)