The experience of the Arkansas division had, in most particulars, been quite similar to that of Long's, but on the whole less vexatious. The chief event, however, involved an irreparable loss to the expedition. This was the desertion, on the night of the thirtieth of August, of three soldiers, who wantonly took with them all the manuscripts completed by Dr. Say and Lieutenant Swift since leaving the Missouri. The stolen books contained notes on the manners, habits, history, and languages of the Indians, and on the animals which had been examined, a journal of the expedition, and a mass of topographical data. During part of the journey, Bell's party was even more astray than Long's. Soon after passing the Great Bend of the Arkansas, they mistook the Nennescah River for the Negracka, or Salt Fork of the Arkansas; similar errors added to their bewilderment, and for some time they were unaware whether they were near Fort Smith or still far distant--until, on the first of September, they met friendly Osage Indians near Verdigris River. They reached Fort Smith on the ninth. From Fort Smith the reunited party followed the Arkansas to the Cherokee towns on Illinois Creek, in Pope County, Arkansas, whence they proceeded overland directly to Cape Girardeau, Missouri. James and Swift, parting from their companions at the Cherokee towns, visited the Arkansas Hot Springs, now a famous health resort, and returning to the Arkansas at Little Rock, also crossed the country to Cape Girardeau, where all members of the expedition were assembled on October 12. Here nearly all of the party were attacked by intermittent fever. Two or three weeks later, the expedition being now disbanded, Major Long and Captain Bell set out for Washington, leaving their colleagues to act according to their own pleasure. About the first of November, Messrs. Say, Seymour, and Peale departed by steamboat, intending to return home by way of New Orleans. They were accompanied by Lieutenant Graham, who, on completion of the special duties assigned to him at Engineer Cantonment, had met the exploring party at Cape Girardeau with the "Western Engineer." Lieutenant Swift and Dr. James essayed to ascend the Ohio to Louisville with the vessel; but at Golconda, Illinois, James experienced a recurrence of fever, which for some time prevented his proceeding farther, while Swift, leaving the boat at Smithland, Kentucky, continued his journey on horseback.