Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 V13.djvu/174

 the Pottoe. It is also said to be navigable near 100 miles, and possessed of a gentle current.

From Mr. Pettis, the surveyor, I obtained two small specimens of the oil-stone, or hone of the Washita. It is a siliceous slaty rock, of a conchoidal and sometimes splintery fracture, bordering on hornstone; some of it is as white as snow, and it splits so evenly as to afford hones without any additional {118} labour. Occasionally it appears divided by ferruginous illinitions, presenting muscoid ramifications in relief, but scarcely discolouring the surface. It feebly absorbs oil or water, and then becomes somewhat diaphanous. It is infusible by the common blowpipe.[136]

31st.] This evening we proceeded to David M'Ilmery's, about three miles above the Cadron, who lived about a mile and a half from the bank of the river, at the head of a small alluvial plain or prairie, apparently well calculated for a superior farm. While passing through this prairie, I observed five deer feeding, and passed almost without disturbing them.

Wild cats of two kinds, both striped and spotted, as well as panthers, bears, and wolves (black and grey), are in considerable abundance in this country. The bison (improperly called buffaloe) is also met with occasionally in the distance of about a day's ride towards the Washita.

The inhabitants were just beginning to plough for cotton, an operation here not very laborious, except when breaking up the prairies, as the soil is friable and loamy.

In a small prairie adjoining, where a second family were residing, a single tree of the bow-wood (or Maclura) existed, having a trunk of about 18 inches diameter.