Our camp was near the head of a dry ravine, communicating to the south-east, with a considerable stream, which we could distinguish at the distance of eight or ten miles, by a few trees along its course.[44] Continuing our journey on the ensuing day, July 25th, we soon found ourselves in a tract of country resembling that on the Arkansa near the mountains. A similar horizontal slaty sandstone occurs, forming the basis of the country. There is also here a coarse, somewhat crystalline, variety, resembling that of St. Michael's in the lead mine district, but exhibiting no trace of metallic ores. These rocks are deeply channeled by the watercourses, sunk to a great depth, but at this time containing but little, if any, {257} water. These ravines are, the greater number of them, destitute of timber, except a few cedars, attached here and there in the crevices of the rock. The larger valleys, which contain streams of water, have a few cotton-wood and willow trees. The box elder, the common elder, (sambucus canadensis,) and one or two species of biburium are seen here. It was perhaps owing to our having followed more carefully than they deserved, the directions of the Calf, that we did not arrive as early as we had expected, upon the stream we designed to ascend. In the middle of the day on the 25th, we fell in with a small river, at the distance of thirty-six miles from the point where we had left the Arkansa. This we concluded could be no other than that tributary, whose mouth is said to be distant eighteen miles from the same spot. This stream, where we halted upon it to dine, is about ten yards wide and three feet deep, but appeared at this time unusually swollen. Its immediate valley is about three hundred yards in width, bounded on both sides by perpendicular cliffs of sandstone, of near two hundred feet elevation. A very large part of the area included between these, showed convincing evidence, in the slime and rubbish with which its surface was covered, of having been recently inundated. This stream, like all others of similar magnitude, having their sources in high mountains, is subject to great and sudden floods. A short time before we halted, our two hunters, Verplank and Dougherty, were sent forward to hunt, and joined us with a deer soon after we had encamped.