In midsummer the scene was more pleasant. "Beyond Ombra we enter a Tartarian meadow," wrote Volney in 1804, "interspersed with clumps of trees, but in general flat and naked, and windy and cold in winter. In summer it is filled with tall and strong shrubs, which brush the legs of the rider in his narrow path so much, that a journey out [to Kaskaskia] and back will wear out a pair of boots. Water is scarce [for drinking], and there is danger of being bewildered, as happened to one of my fellow travellers, three years before, when, with two others, he roamed about for seventeen days. Thunder, rain, gnats, and horse flies, are very troublesome in summer."[43] Of the journey from Vincennes to Kaskaskia in 1804 Volney gives the following itinerary: "_Road from Fort Vincennes to Kaskaskias_ MILES HOURS To Ombra creek[44] 9 2 To Elm in the meadow 13-1/2 3 To Cat River[45] 13-1/2 3 To the Yoke[46] 15 3 To the Salt spring[47] 6 1-1/2 To the Slaves gibbet[48] 15 3 To Great Point[49] 15 2-1/2 To the Coffee-pot[50] 12 2 To the Yellow bark[51] 15 3 To Walnut Point[52] 15 2-1/2 Beyond this is a beaver dam,[53] destroyed. At a cross road you take the left, which is shortest. There is no water for eighteen miles, and you fall into the main road at Pointe aux Fesses.[54] To the [Beaver] Dam 4-1/2 1 To the three-thorned Acacia[55] 12 2 To Pointe aux Fesses[56] 15 3 To the Meadow of the Hole[57] 15 3 To the Great Rib[58] 15 3 To Lepronier[59] 12 2 To Kas[kaskia] 18 4 Totals[60] 220-1/2 43-1/2"