sandy, bordered on the northern side of the valley by a low ridge; and on
the south, after seven or eight miles, the river hills became higher. Six
miles from our resting-place we crossed the bed of a considerable stream,
now entirely dry--a bed of sand. In a grove of willows, near the mouth,
were the remains of a considerable fort, constructed of trunks of large
trees. It was apparently very old, and had probably been the scene of some
hostile encounter among the roving tribes. Its solitude formed an
impressive contrast to the picture which our imaginations involuntarily
drew of the busy scene which had been enacted here. The timber appeared to
have been much more extensive formerly than now. There were but few trees,
a kind of long-leaved willow, standing; and numerous trunks of large trees
were scattered about on the ground. In many similar places I had occasion
to remark an apparent progressive decay in the timber. Ten miles farther
we reached the mouth of Lodge Pole creek, a clear and handsome stream,
running through a broad valley. In its course through the bottom it has a
uniform breadth of twenty-two feet and six inches in depth. A few willows
on the banks strike pleasantly on the eye, by their greenness, in the
midst of hot and barren sands.

The _amorpha_ was frequent among the ravines, but the sunflower
(_helianthus_) was the characteristic; and flowers of deep warm
colors seem most to love the sandy soil. The impression of the country
traveled over to-day was one of dry and barren sands. We turned in towards
the river at noon, and gave our horses two hours for food and rest. I had
no other thermometer than the one attached to the barometer, which stood
at 89 deg., the height of the column in the barometer being 26.235 at
meridian. The sky was clear, with a high wind from the south. At 2 we
continued our journey; the wind had moderated, and it became almost
unendurably hot, and our animals suffered severely. In the course of the
afternoon, the wind rose suddenly, and blew hard from the southwest, with