Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 V13.djvu/164

 house of public entertainment, a tavern, has long been wanted, as the Cadron lies in another of the leading routes through this territory. It is one of the resorts from St. Louis, and the settlements on White river, as well as to the hot springs of the Washita,[135] and the inhabitants of Red river. From Arkansas to this place, about 150 miles by land, there is a leading path which proceeds through the Great Prairie.

To those southern gentlemen who pass the summer in quest of health and recreation, this route to the hot springs of the Washita, which I believe is the most convenient, would afford a delightful and rational amusement.

In the course of the day I amused myself amongst the romantic cliffs of slaty sand-stone, which occupy the vicinity of the Cadron. Here I found vestiges of several new and curious plants, and among them an undescribed species of Eriogonum, with a considerable root, partly of the colour and taste of rhubarb. The Petalostemons, and several plants of the eastern states, which I had not seen below, here again make their appearance. The Cactus jerox of the Missouri, remarkably loaded with spines, appears to forebode the vicinity of the Mexican desert.

The dip of the strata is here south-east, and the mountains, generally destitute of organic remains, {113} pass off in chains from the north of west to the south of east.

28th.] The river still continued rising. This morning I walked out two or three miles over the hills, and found