From the 18th to the 27th we had frosty nights; and on the 28th a fall of snow that continued throughout the day, and which still (January 3d) remained on all northern exposures; considerable sheets of ice, near three quarters of an inch in thickness, now began to invade the still water of the river, but were generally broken up by evening.
In one of the beds of grauwacke slate, which form the picturesque cliffs of the Cadron, I observed articulations of a species of orthoceratite, apparently belonging to the genus Raphanister of Montfort. Above this bed, and forming the summit of the hills, occurs a massive laminated sandstone of a grey colour and inconsiderable dip.
On the 4th of January, 1820, after waiting about a month for an opportunity of descending, I now embraced the favourable advantage of proceeding in the boat of Mr. Barber, a merchant of New Orleans, to whose friendship and civility I am indebted for many favours.
5th.] This morning we again passed the outlet of the river called La Feve's Fork, coming in on our right. It sources with the Pottoe, the Kiamesha, Little river of Red river, and with the Petit John forms an irregular and acute triangle, affording a large body of good land, and, as well as the latter, is said to be navigable near 200 miles, including its meanders. Its entrance is marked by a concomitant chain of hills and cliffs, which border the Arkansa, and proceed in a north-westerly direction. For about a mile and a half, these hills, of grauwacke slate, present the appearance of an even wall coming up to the margin of the river, and owe this singular aspect to their almost vertical stratification. Their summits are tufted with pine, and the opposite alluvial point, which was sandy, {221} and to appearance scarcely elevated above inundation, possessed also a forest of similar trees.
