Their situation, on Christmas-day, was not very enviable. All the food they possessed, was buffalo-flesh, without salt. Before this time, they had been accustomed to some degree of comfort, and had experienced even some enjoyments: but now, at the most inclement season of the year, and eight hundred miles distant from the frontiers of the United States, not one person was properly clad for the winter; many were even without blankets, having cut them up for socks and other articles; and all were obliged to lie down at night, upon the snow or wet ground, one side burning and the other frozen. For shoes and clothing they were obliged to adopt a miserable substitute in raw buffalo hides. In their further progress, they suffered excessive hardships for several days. Food became so scarce, that they were obliged to separate into eight different parties, in order to procure subsistence. The roads were so mountainous, stony, and slippery, that it was with the greatest difficulty the horses could be prevented from stumbling; and many of them fell. In one instance, the whole party were four days without food; and some of them had their feet frozen. At length, they were obliged to leave the horses; and each man had to carry a heavy load, and, at the same time, to march through snow two feet and half deep. Several of the men, unable to keep pace with the rest, were left behind. On the 27th of January, Mr. Pike observed, at a distance, a large river, which he imagined to be the Red river; and, on the 30th, he reached its banks. This, afterwards, proved to be the _Rio del Norte_. They proceeded along its banks, for about eighteen miles; and, at length, came to a spot, where they established a temporary residence, whilst they sent men to assist, and collect together the unfortunate stragglers who had been left in the rear. The region they had traversed betwixt the Arkansaw and the Rio del Norte, was covered with mountains and small prairies. From the Missouri to the head of the Osage river, a distance of about three hundred miles, Mr. Pike says that the country will admit of a numerous, extensive, and compact population. From the Osage to the rivers Kanzes, La Platte, and Arkansaw, the country could sustain only a limited population; but the inhabitants might, with advantage, rear cattle, horses, sheep, and goats. On the 16th of February, whilst Mr. Pike and one of his men were hunting, in the vicinity of their residence, they observed, at a distance, two horsemen, armed with lances. They proved to be a Spanish dragoon and an Indian, who had been sent from Santa Fe, a town of New Spain, about four days before. On the 17th, some of the stragglers arrived: several of them had lost the joints of their toes, by the intensity of the frost, and were rendered cripples for life.