In regard to this extensive section of country, I do not hesitate in giving the opinion, that it is almost wholly unfit for cultivation, and of course uninhabitable by a people depending upon agriculture for their subsistence. Although tracts of fertile land considerably extensive are occasionally to be met with, yet the scarcity of wood and water, almost {237} uniformly prevalent, will prove an insuperable obstacle in the way of settling the country. This objection rests not only against the section immediately under consideration, but applies with equal propriety to a much larger portion of the country. Agreeably to the best intelligence that can be had, concerning the country both northward and southward of the section, and especially to the inferences deducible from the account given by Lewis and Clarke of the country situated between the Missouri and the Rocky Mountains above the river Platte, the vast region commencing near the sources of the Sabine, Trinity, Brases, and Colorado, and extending northwardly to the forty-ninth degree of north latitude, by which the United States' territory is limited in that direction, is throughout of a similar character. The whole of this region seems peculiarly adapted as a range for buffaloes, wild goats, and other wild game; incalculable multitudes of which find ample pasturage and subsistence upon it. This region, however, viewed as a frontier, may prove of infinite importance to the United States, inasmuch as it is calculated to serve as a barrier to prevent too great an extension of our population westward, and secure us against the machinations or incursions of an enemy that might otherwise be disposed to annoy us in that part of our frontier. The Indians of the section last described, whose numbers are very limited compared with the extent of country they inhabit, will be considered in the sequel of this report. _Of the Rocky Mountains_ This range of mountains has been distinguished by a variety of appellations, amongst which the following are the most common, viz. Rocky, Shining, Mexican, Chippewyan, Andes, &c. The general {238} course of the range is about N.N.W. or S.S.E. Its breadth varies from fifty to one hundred miles. They rise abruptly out of the plains, which lie extended at their base on the east side, towering into peaks of great height, which renders them visible at the distance of more than one hundred miles eastward from their base. They consist of ranges, knobs, and peaks, variously disposed, among which are interspersed many broad and fertile valleys. The more elevated parts of the mountains are covered with perpetual snows, which contribute to give them a luminous and at a great distance even a brilliant appearance, whence they have derived the name of Shining Mountains.