{69} The soil of the afternoon journey was a deep fine white sand, which rendered the travelling very laborious, under the debilitating influence of an extreme temperature of 94 degrees of Fahrenheit's scale, and affected the sight, by the great glare of light which it so freely reflected. The chief produce of these tracts of unmixed sand is the sunflower, often the dense and almost exclusive occupant. The evening encampment was formed at the junction of a small tributary with the river, at a distance of about twenty-four miles from the last-mentioned creek.[107] The very trifling quantity of timber supported by the immediate bank of the river in this region, is almost exclusively the cotton-wood; we are therefore gratified to observe on this creek, besides the elm, the walnut, mulberry, and ash, which we hail with a hearty welcome, as the harbingers of a more productive territory. {70} CHAPTER XI {V} Termination of the Great Bend of the Arkansa--Ietan War-party--Little Arkansa--Red River Fork--Little Neosho and Little Verdigrise Creeks. Thursday, 10th. The great bend of the Arkansa terminates here;[108] and as our horses have fed insufficiently for several days past, we lay by for the day to give them an opportunity of recruiting themselves. A S.S.E. wind prevailed, and at noon exerted a considerable force; the extreme degree of heat was 96 degrees. The hunters brought in a deer and bison. Friday, 11th. Left the encampment at the confluence of the creek and proceeded onwards. The sandy soil and growth of sunflowers still continue on the river bottoms, and the surface of the opposite bank still swells into occasional hillocks of naked sand. The rice bird (emberiza oryzivora, L.) was feeding on the seeds of the sunflower, and the bald eagle was seen sailing high in the air. We have hitherto generally been able to procure a sufficient supply of small drift-wood for our culinary purposes, but at this noon-day halting-place we were obliged to despatch a man across the river to collect enough to kindle a fire. From our evening encampment not a tree was within the range of sight. This day was extremely warm, the mercury at three o'clock indicating 96 degrees, a temperature not decreased by a nimbus in the west, pouring rain, with some thunder. In the evening, silent lightning played beautifully amongst the mingled cirrostratus and cumulus clouds with which the heavens became overcast. In the afternoon, we passed the termination of the sand-hills of the opposite shore. A fine male {71} antelope was shot by Lieut. Swift, and a skunk was also the game of the day. Distance, twenty-five miles.