into the country, attaining the higher and more open portions of the Indian territory, the epidemic gradually disappeared. We could again give a little time to the contemplation of the beauties of the wilderness, to reflections on the future of these interesting solitudes - above all, of their poor, despised inhabitants. I will describe them in mv future letters. They will inform you whatever striking or edifying events happened in my relations with the Indians during the long and dangerous journey which I have just terminated.
The mouth of the river Platte, or Nebraska, is the point of division between the Upper and Lower Missouri. To the early navigators on the river it was a kind of equinoctial, where, as at sea, the Neptunian tribute was exacted of all pork-eaters (mangeurs de lard), as all were styled who visited the desert for the first time. No one could escape.
The flat country or the valley of the Lower Missouri, is covered with dense forests extending from the bank of the river to the high hills that skirt it on either side at from four to six miles. The forests are successively replaced by flourishing cities, fine villages and thousands of beautiful farms. This alluvial soil is probably unequaled on the earth for the richness of some of its productions. The wood is in great demand. As the country is settled and trade becomes more important, steam-mills increase and prepare all kinds of timber and boards; the steamboats, too. consume immense quantities of wood.
Between the Nebraska and the Wasecha, or Vermillion, for about 400 miles the forests are vast and beautiful, often intersected by rich prairies of turf and verdure. This contrast delights the traveler. Every time he enters the desert he cannot refrain from admiring this succession of forests and plains, this series of hills which encircle them and present such a variety of forms,-here and there covered with trees and underwood of a thousand kinds, sometimes