Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 6).djvu/157

 and better wooded than above, but the upland much the same. We found the lowlands almost every where under water—were in consequence compelled this evening to encamp on some drift wood. It was dangerous to proceed after night on account of the number of trees fixed in the bottom of the river, and besides in almost every bend there were a number which had fallen in: even in the day time there was frequently great difficulty in passing along, we several times narrowly escaped being dashed to pieces. The arks, or flat boats, in use on the Ohio and {202} Mississippi, could not possibly navigate this river.

The following day we passed the Blackbird hill, and the river Platte. The navigation in this part is much more dangerous than above, from the number of trees fixed in the bottom. The bottoms are also much wider, and better wooded; in some places for twenty miles and upwards, we were out of sight of the high lands: but the low grounds were every where inundated. The water rushed into the woods with great velocity, and in bends it poured over the gorge into the river again; a sheet of water sometimes for a mile, flowed over the bank, forming singular cascades of eighteen inches in height.

In something more than two days afterwards, we arrived at Fort Clark, having come a thousand miles in eight or nine days, without meeting a living soul. Here we were treated politely by the officers. Mr. Sibly, the factor, had returned but a few days before, from a journey to the interior, and shewed us specimens of salt, which he had procured at the salines, on the Arkansas.

{203} We arrived at St. Louis early in August, having made fourteen hundred and forty miles in little better than fourteen days. Here we experienced all the pleasure of a safe return after an absence of nearly five months. I was