remains. One of the masses of chalcedony contained chrystalline illinitions of coal.—About breakfast time, we passed the mouth of the rivulet or brook, called by the French Salaiseau,[187] from some hunters having here killed a quantity of bison, and salted the beef for traffic. Major Bradford, who explored this stream, informed me, that the uplands as well as the prairies along this creek, were uncommonly fertile, and well watered by springs, and that the upper side of the creek presents a calcareous soil. Here, for the first time, near the Arkansa, we meet with the hazel (Corylus americana), and the American raspberry (Rubus occidentalis). In consequence of the rapidity of the current, we only proceeded about 12 miles.
11th.] After ascending about six miles, we passed the outlet of the Canadian,[188] 60 miles below the confluence of Grand river, or the Six Bull, a navigable river of considerable magnitude. Its main south branch sources with Red river, while another considerable body keeps a western course through the saline plains, where it becomes partially absorbed in the sands of the desert, but afterwards continues towards Santa Fe or the Del Norte. The Canadian, like Red river, always continues red and muddy, and is often impotably saline; 100 miles from its mouth, its banks are said to abound with selenite, disseminated through beds of red clay. Above the confluence of this stream, the Arkansa, where deep, appears clear, green, {169} and limpid. The alluvial lands now begin to be
