[5] These three young men, with eight or ten others, were sent out by the order of the Black Dog and the other chiefs, with the regiment of dragoons, as guides and hunters, for the expedition to the Camanchees, an account of which will be found in the following pages. I was a fellow-traveller and hunter with these young men for several months, and therefore have related in the following pages some of the incidents of our mutual exploits whilst in the Camanchee country. LETTER—No. 39. MOUTH OF FALSE WASHITA, _RED RIVER_. Under the protection of the United States dragoons, I arrived at this place three days since, on my way again in search of the “Far West.” How far I may _this time_ follow the flying phantom, is uncertain. I am already again in the land of the _buffaloes_ and the _fleet-bounding antelopes_; and I anticipate, with many other beating hearts, rare sport and amusement amongst the wild herds ere long. We shall start from hence in a few days, and other epistles I may occasionally drop you from _terra incognita_, for such is the great expanse of country which we expect to range over; and names we are to give, and country to explore, as far as we proceed. We are, at this place, on the banks of the Red River, having Texas under our eye on the opposite bank. Our encampment is on the point of land between the Red and False Washita rivers, at their junction; and the country about us is a panorama too beautiful to be painted with a pen: it is, like most of the country in these regions, composed of prairie and timber, alternating in the most delightful shapes and proportions that the eye of a connoisseur could desire. The verdure is everywhere of the deepest green, and the plains about us are literally speckled with buffalo. We are distant from Fort Gibson about 200 miles, which distance we accomplished in ten days.