from one to two hundred feet high, and nearly perpendicular, running in a parallel direction with the great chain. The intervening valley between this rampart and the Rocky Mountains was about a mile in width, studded with insulated columnar rocks, some of a snowy whiteness, standing like pyramids and obelisks, among mounds and hillocks, formed, as it seemed, from the disintegration of similar masses. Of this sand-stone ridge or wall, Mr. James gives the following account:

This extensive range, rising abruptly from the plain, skirts the base of the mountains like an immense rampart, and to a spectator placed near it, intercepts the view of the still more grand and imposing features of the granitic ridge beyond. It is made up of rocks composed of the broken down and comminuted fragments of pre-existing aggregates, embosoming reliquiæ of the animals of a former world, known to us only by the monuments which these remains exhibit. Though rugged and precipitous, its elevation is small, when compared to that of the stupendous Andes, which rise above it far into the regions of perpetual winter. The stratifications with which it is distinctly seamed, penetrate the mass with various degrees of obliquity, sometimes running perpendicularly to the horizon; seeming unequivocally to prove, that the whole has receded from its original position, and that these immense rocky masses have, by the operation of some powerful agent, been broken off from their original continuity with the strata now found in a horizontal position in the plains.'-vol. ii. p. 188.

Beyond the valley a second crust of sandstone was found to rest against the primitive range; near the base and in the more compact parts of which, were the remains of terebratula, and other submarine animals. A detachment of the party determined to ascend to the highest peak. Having surmounted the superincumbent sandstone, on which were growing a few oaks and junipers, they reached the first range of primitive rocks of coarse red granite, with loose fragments of gneiss lying about the surface; among these was a scanty vegetation of prickly pears, yuccas, stunted oaks, and junipers. In one place they found a few large and delicious raspberries, and some red currants which, though ripe, were hard and juiceless, and occasioned a head-ache to those who ate them. At the elevation nearly of the limit of phænogamous vegetation, the hop, the box elder, the sarsaparilla of the eastern states, and many other common plants were found growing.

At the point where the Alpine plants first appeared, a change was observed in the character of the rock, which was now a compact finegrained aggregate of quartz, felspar, and hornblende. The red cedar and the flexile pine were observed to grow at a greater elevation than any other arborescent plants; they were low and stunted, with thick and rigid trunks, without limbs or bark on the upper side or that exposed to the falling masses of rock. In the neighbourhood

bourhood of this region, the beauty of the Alpine plants is spoken of with rapture by Mr. James. The flower in many of them is the most conspicuous and largest part of the plant, and in all, the colouring is said to be astonishingly brilliant. A dark blue is the most prevailing; and it was noticed that the penstemon erianthera, the mountain columbine, and some other plants common to less elevated districts, were here much more deeply coloured than in ordinary situations; which is ascribed to the intensity of the light transmitted from the bright and unobscured atmosphere of those regions, and increased by reflection from the immense impending masses of snow. This may very well be; but when it is asked, ' if the deep cerulean tint of the sky may not have an influence in producing the corresponding colour so prevalent in the flowers of these plants? We have no hesitation in saying, No;' the colours peculiar to the several flowers are elaborated in the plant, independent or nearly so of external circumstances, but the intensity of each colour depends on light, air, a clear atmosphere, &c.

As the party approached the top, the Alpine plants became less frequent, and at length entirely ceased. The summit was nearly level, containing an area of ten or fifteen acres, on which scarcely a lichen was to be seen. Here the mercury fell to 42°, while at the encampment it was 96° at the same hour, and kept above 80° to a late hour in the evening. The upper part of the peak was a compact, indestructible aggregate of quartz and felspar, with a little hornblende, in very small particles. The weather was calm and beautifully clear, but the air at one time was filled in every direction with such clouds of grasshoppers, as partially to obscure the day;' they had mounted, it would seem, too high in their flight, as numbers had fallen on the snow and perished. The view was grand and extensive. Three parts of the circle presented ranges of mountains with snowy peaks; and on the east, the immense desert was spread out like a map, with narrow strips of wood skirting the rivers, while the occasional glimpses of the streams shone like quicksilver. The party in their descent lost their way, and were obliged to pass a second night upon the side of the mountain, with the thermometer at 38°. The altitude of this peak, which when seen from the desert appears to be the highest, was determined by trigonometrical measurement to be about 8,500 feet from its base, which being estimated at 3,000 feet, gives the altitude above the level of the sea, 11,500 feet: this agrees pretty well with the tables for estimating heights by the inferior limit of perpetual snow, which was here, in latitude 40°, about 1,650 feet below the summit.

Not far from the base of the superincumbent sandstone was discovered what Mr. James calls a boiling spring.'

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'It is,' says he, a large and beautiful fountain of water, cool and transparent, and aërated with carbonic acid. It rises on the brink of a small stream, which here descends from the mountain, at the point where the bed of this stream divides the ridge of sandstone which rests against the base of the first granitic range. The water of the spring deposits a copious concretion of carbonate of lime, which has accumulated on every side, until it has formed a large basin overhanging the stream; above which it is raised several feet. This basin is of a snowy whiteness, and large enough to contain three or four hundred gallons, and is constantly overflowing.

The spring rises from the bottom of the basin, with a rumbling noise, discharging about equal volumes of air and of water, probably about fifty gallons per minute; the whole kept in constant agitation. The water is beautifully transparent; and has the sparkling appearance, the grateful taste, and the exhilarating effect, of the most highly aërated artificial mineral waters.'-James, vol. ii. p. 212, 213.

The temperature of the water was 63°, when that of the air in the shade was 68°. At the bottom was observed a great quantity of Indian beads and other ornaments, supposed to have been offerings made to the springs, which are regarded with great veneration by the savages of the desert.

The party now turned off to the southward till they reached the Arkansas, up which a detachment was sent to its place of exit from the mountains; here they found seven springs, whose waters were impregnated with muriate of soda and other salts. The river pours down with great impetuosity through a deep and narrow fissure in the gneiss rock, which, rising abruptly on both sides, to a considerable height, opposes an impassable barrier to all further progress. From hence it takes its course across those desolate plains which the party had passed higher up, and were again destined to traverse. Here they divided, one detachment under Captain Bell descending the Arkansas, and the other, under Major Long, the Canadian, farther to the southward; being a branch of the Arkansas which was mistaken for the Red River, that rises and runs through a part of the Spanish territory of New Mexico, which it had been the intention of Major Long to descend. The length of the Arkansas, to its junction with the Mississippi in lat. 34° long. 91°, is about 1500 miles; of the Canadian, to its confluence with the Arkansas, 1000 miles.

Both these parties suffered much from stormy weather, want of provisions, and particularly of water, that of the rivers being generally brackish or muddy. Naked beds of sand occupied the greater portion of the valley of the Arkansas as far as the desert extended, which were frequently covered with an incrustation of salt, like thin ice. The beds of both rivers were three or four thousand feet in width, and that of the Canadian mostly without water, except

in a few small pools, where it was stagnant; and the thermometer, at mid-day, about the middle of August, stood from 95° to 100° in the tents. Clouds of locusts filled the air, uttering shrill and deafening cries; while the Mississippi-hawk, wheeling through their ranks, seemed to enjoy his favourite prey; rattlesnakes of various kinds, and scolopendras of enormous size were crawling on the naked surface; and immense black, hairy spiders, like the bird-catching animal of South America (mygale avicularia), watching for prey at the mouth of their subterranean habitations. On these arid plains the annoyance of the mosquito is not felt; but another of a more serious kind was experienced, the moment they left the desert, from an innumerable multitude of minute and almost invisible wood-ticks, against which neither wind, nor smoke, nor close leather-dresses afforded any protection. These insects bury themselves in the flesh, occasioning large and painful swellings-like the leech of Ceylon, which works itself into the legs of those who cross pools of water, and sometimes occasions death.

Arrived within the range frequented by the larger animals, the party were no longer distressed for want of food; and it will readily be imagined, after their long and fatiguing journey over the desert, how agreeable was their return to a surface which presented some appearance of verdure; where the mulberry and the guillandina, the hybiscus, &c. reminded them of the comforts of home and civilized society, and where, above all, the vine, full of ripe clusters, afforded them a repast, rendered yet more delicious by the parched and arid deserts, the brackish and muddy pools to which they had been so long condemned. It has been said that America is not the country of the vine. The following description, however, disproves this assertion. The vitis vinifera is found there in its wild state; but with this peculiarity attending it-though in leaf and fruit it differs nothing from the cultivated vine of Europe, yet in America it is said that the male and female are different plants.

The small elms along this valley were bending under the weight of innumerable grape vines, now loaded with ripe fruit, the purple clusters crowded in such profusion as almost to give a colouring to the landscape. On the opposite side of the river was a range of low sandhills, fringed with vines, rising not more than a foot or eighteen inches from the surface. On examination, we found these hillocks had been produced exclusively by the agency of the grape vines, arresting the sand as it was borne along by the wind, until such quantities had been accumulated as to bury every part of the plant, except the end of the branches. Many of these were so loaded with fruit, as to present nothing to the eye but a series of clusters, so closely arranged as to conceal every part of the stem. The fruit of these vines is incomparably finer than that of any other native or exotic which we have met with in

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the United States. The burying of the greater part of the trunk, with its larger branches, produces the effect of pruning, inasmuch as it prevents the unfolding of leaves and flowers on the parts below the surface, while the protruded ends of the branches enjoy an increased degree of light and heat from the reflection of the sand." It is owing, undoubtedly, to these causes, that the grapes in question are so far superior to the fruit of the same vine in ordinary circumstances. The treatment here employed by nature, to bring to perfection the fruit of the vine, may be imitated; but without the same peculiarities of soil and exposure, can with difficulty be carried to the same magnificent extent. Here are hundreds of acres, covered with a movable surface of sand, and abounding in vines, which, left to the agency of the sun and the winds, are, by their operation, placed in more favourable circumstances than it is in the power of man, to so great an extent, to afford. We indulged ourselves to excess, if excess could be committed in the use of such delicious and salutary fruit, and invited by the cleanness of the sand, and a refreshing shade, we threw ourselves down, and slept away, with unusual zest, a few of the hours of a summer afternoon.'—James, vol. ii. pp. 315, 316.

The detachment who descended the Canadian fell in with a large hunting party of the Kaskaia Indians, or Bad-hearts, men, women and children, to the amount of two hundred and fifty, all mounted on horseback: their chief's name was Red-mouse; who misinformed them, designedly it was supposed, that it was the Red River on which they were. These Indians behaved with great insolence, demanded every thing they saw, pilfered whatever they could, and, what appears to have mortified the Americans more than all the rest, intimated that they had never heard of such a people before :' in return, the citizens considered them among some of the most degraded and miserable of the uncivilized Indians on this side of the Rocky Mountains.' They were covered with filth, but had well-turned features, aquiline noses, large and regular teeth, clear and brilliant eyes. Mr. James saw, he says, 'several young mothers giving suck to their children, the mother and the child at the same time standing erect upon the ground.' It was supposed, from the image of the alligator, which they wore about their necks, ornamented with beads, that they were in the habit of going where that animal was common. They are excellent horsemen, and evinced great dexterity in throwing the rope, and taking the wild horse, in the manner practised on the pampas plains of South America.— But we must have done.

It is apparent, from the works we have been examining, that a very considerable portion of the great valley of the Mississippi is capable of cultivation; that it lies wholly within the temperate zone, and, though much colder than in the corresponding degrees of latitude in Europe, is not unfriendly to vegetation; and that its

present