Page:Archæologia Americana—volume 2, 1836.djvu/176

 140 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. is very intractable, and is not known to have ever been domesti- OEted by the Indians. Some unforeseen circumstances have prevented General Ashley of Missouri, from communicating to me in time, as he intended, some further information respecting the country, which he explored in the Rocky Mountains, and thence in a southwesterly direction beyond Lake Timpanogo. But he has transmitted to me a manuscript map, accompanied with numerous explanatory notes, the materials for which consist of various journeys and explorations by some of our enterprising traders and hunters. It is on that authority, and subject to such corrections, as more complete explorations and scientific observations will hereafter render necessary, that several geo- graphical innovations have been introduced in the small map annexed to this Essay. It will be seen by this, that the sources of the Multnomah do not reach farther south than the forty-third degree of latitude ; that some rivers, which had been believed to belong to it, are southern branches of Lewis's River ; that the sources of the Rio Colorado of California are as far north as almost the forty- third degree of north latitude, whilst those of the Rio Norte do not reach the thirty-ninth degree ; and that the river commonly called Rio Rojo, that heads nearly opposite to Taos and Santa Fe on the Rio Norte, is a branch, not of the Red River of the Mississippi, but of the Canadian fork of the Arkansa. The most important discoveries, however, relate to the country be- tween the Rio Colorado of California and the Pacific Ocean south of the forty-second degree of north latitude. The Lake Timpanogo has been found, and is laid down, in the same latitude and longitude nearly, as had been assigned to it by Baron Humboldt. It receives two rivers from the east, bull thus raised was for a number of years owned in my immediate vicinity by a farmer living on the Monongahela, adjoining Mason and Dixon's line. He was permitted to roam at large, and was no more dan- gerous to man than any bull of the common species. But to them he was formidable, and would not suffer any to approach within two or three miles of his own range. Most of the cows 1 knew, were descended from him. For want of a fresh supply of the wild animal they have now merged into the common kind. They were no favorites, as they yielded less milk. The superior size and strength of the buffalo might have improved the breed of oxen for draught; but this was not at- tended to, horses being almost exclusively employed in that quarter for agricultural purposes,