: transparent & colourless crystal which are found on its surface ; they are gé. nerally surmounted by pyramids at one end, rarely on both. These crystals do not produce a double refraction of the rays of light. Many searches, have been made over these mountains for the precious metals, but it is believed without success. At the hot springs they found an open log cabin, and a few huts of split boards, all calculated for summer encampment, and which had been erected by persons resorting to the springs for the recovery of their health. They slightly repaired these huts, or cabins, for their accommodation during the time of their detention at the springs, for the purpose of examining them and the surrounding country, and making such astronomical observations as were necessary for ascertaining their geographical position. It is understood that the hot springs are included within a grant of some hundred acres, granted by the late Spanish commandant of the Washita, to some of his friends, but it is not believed that a regular patent was ever issued for the place ; and it cannot be asserted that residence, with improvement here, form a plea to claim the land upon. On their arrival they immediately tasted the waters of the hot springs, that is, after a few minutes cooling, for it was impossible to approach it with the lips when first taken up, without scalding : the taste does not differ from that of good water rendered hot by culinary fire. On the 10th they visited all the hot springs. They issue on the east side of the valley, where the huts are, except one spring, which rises on the west bank of the creek, from the sides and foot of a hill. From the small quantity of calcareous matter yet deposited, the western spring does not appear to be of long standing : a natural conduit probably passes under the bed of the creek, and supplies it. There are four principal springs rising immediately on the east bank of the creek, one of which may be rather said to spring out of the gravel bed of the run ; a fifth, a smaller one than that above mentioned, as rising on the west side of the creek; and a sixth, of the same magnitude, the most northerly, and rising near the bank of the creek: these are all the sources that merit the name of springs, near the huts ; but there is a considerable one below, and all along, at intervals, the warm water oozes out, or drops from the bank into the creek, as appears from the condensed vapour floating along the margin of the creek where the drippings occur. The lill from which the hot springs issue is of a conical form, terminating at the top with a few loose fragments of rock, covering a flat space twentyfive feet in diameter. Although the figure of the hill is conical it is not en. tirely insulated, but connected with the neighbouring hills by a very narrow ridge. The primitive rock of this hill, above the base, is principally sili. cious, some part of it being of the hardest fint, others a freestone extremely compact and solid, and of various colours. The base of the bill, and for a considerable extent, is composed of a blackish blue schistus, which divides into perpendicular lamina like blue slate. The water of the hot springs is, therefore, delivered from the silicious rock, generally invisible at the surface from the mass of calcareous matter with which it is incrusted, or rather buried, and which is perpetually precipitating from the water of the springs a small proportion of iron, in the form of a red calx, is also deposited ; the colour of which is frequently distinguishable in the lime. In ascending the hill several patches of rich black earth are found, which appear to be formed by the decomposition of the calcareous matter : in other situations the superficial earth is penetrated, or encrusted, by limestone, with fine lamina, or minute fragments of iron ore. The water of the hot springs must formerly nave issued at a greater ele. vation in the hill, and run over the surface, having formed a mass of calcar reous rock one hundred feet perpendicular, by its deposition. In this high situation they found a spring, whose temperature was 1409, of Farenheit's thermometer. After passing the calcareous region they found the primitive hill covered by a forest of not very large trees, consisting chiefly of oak, pine, cedar, holly, hawthorn, and others common to the climate, with a great variety of vines, some said to produce black, and others yellow grapes, both excellent in their kinds. The soil is rocky, interspersed with gravel, sand, and fine vegetable mould. On reaching the height of two hundred feet perpendicular, a considerable change in the soil was observable; it was stony and gravelly, with a superficial coat of black earth, but immediately under it lies a stratum of fat, tenacious, soapy, red clay, inclining to the colour of bright Spanish snuff, homogeneous, with scarcely any admixture of sand, no saline, but rather a soft agreeable taste: the timber diminishes, and the rocks increase in size to the summit. The whole height is estimated at three hundred feet above the level of the valley. On examining the four principal springs, or those which yield the greatest quantity of water, or of the highest temperature, No. 1 was found to raise the mercury to 150°. No. 2 to 154°. No. 3 to 136°. and No. 4 to 132 degrees of Farenheit's thermometer: the last is on the west side of the creek: No.3 is a small basin in which there is a considerable quantity of green matter, having much the appearance of a vegetable body, but detached from the bottom, yet connected with it by something like a stem, which rests in calcareous matter. The body of one of these pseudo plants was from 4 to 5 feet in diameter; the bottom a smooth film of some tenacity, and the upper surface divided into ascending fibres of or of an inch long, resembling the gills of a fish, in transverse rows. A little further on was another small muddy basin, in which the water was warm to the finger: in it was a vermes about an inch long, with a moving serpentine or vermicular motion. It was invariably observ ed, that the green matter forming on stones & the leaves covered a stratum of calcareous earth,sometimes a little hard,or brittle,at others soft and imperfect. From the bottom of one of the hot springs a frequent ebullition of gas was observed, which not having the means of collecting, they could not ascertain its nature it was not inflammable, and there is little doubt of its being car bonic acid, from the quantity of lime,& the iron,held in solution by the water. They made the following rough estimate of the quantity of water deliv. ered by the springs. There are four principal springs, two of inferiour note one rising out of the gravel, and a number of drippings and drainings,all issu ing from the margin, or from under the rock which overhangs the creek. Of the four first mentioned, three deliver nearly equal quantities, but No. 1, the most considerable, delivers about five times as much as one of the other three; the two of inferiour note may, together, be equal to one; and all the droppings, and small springs, are probably underrated at double the quanti ty of one of the three; that is, all together, they will deliver a quantity equal to eleven times the water issuing from the one most commodiously situated for measurement. This spring filled a vessel of eleven quarts in 11 seconds, hence the whole quantity of hot water delivered from the springs at the base of the hill is 165 gallons a minute, or 37714 hogsheads in 24 hours, which is equal to a handsome brook, and might work an over-shot mill. In cool weather condensed vapour is seen rising out of the gravel bed of the creek, from springs which cannot be taken into account. During the sum mer and fall the creek receives little or no water but what is supplied by the hot springs at that season itself is a hot bath, too hot, indeed, near the springs; so that a person may choose the temperature most agreeable to himself, by selecting a natural basin near to, or farther from, the principal spring. At three or four miles below the springs the water is tepid and unpleasant to drink. AMERICAN STATE PAPERS. From the western mountain, estimated to be of equal height with that from which the hot springs flow, there are several fine prospects. The valley of the Washita, comprehended between the hills on either side seemed to be a perfect flat, and about twelve miles wide. On all hands were seen the hills, or mountains, as they are here called, rising behind each other. In the direction of north, the most distant were estimated to be fifty miles off, and are supposed to be those of the Arkansa river, or the rugged mountains which divide the waters of the Arkansa from those of the, Washita, and prevent the Osage Indians from visiting the latter, of whom they are supposed ignorant, otherwise their excursions here would prevent this place from being visited by white persons, or other Indians. south west direction, at about forty miles distance, is seen a perfectly level ridge, supposed to be the high prairies of the Red river In a. Notwithstanding the severity of the weather, a considerable number, and some variety of plants were in flower, and others retained their verdure: indeed the ridge was more temperate than the valley below; there it was. cold, damp, and penetrating; here dry, and the atmosphere mild. Of the plants growing here was.a species of cabbage: the plants grow with expanded leaves spreading on the ground, of a deep green, with a shade of purple :. the taste of the cabbage was plainly predominant, with an agreeable warmth, inclining to that of the radish; several tap-roots penetrated into the soil, of a white colour, having the taste of horse-radish, but much milder. A quantity of them taken to the camp and dressed, proved palatable and mild. It is not probable that cabbage seed has been scattered on this ridge; the hun-, ters ascending this river have always had different objects. Until further elucidation, this cabbage must be considered as indigenous to this sequestered quarter, and may be denominated the cabbage radish of the Washita.. They found a plant, then green, called by the French "racine rouge," (red root), which is said to be a specifick in female obstructions; it has also been used, combined with the China root, to dye red, the last probably acting as a mordant. The top of this ridge is covered with rocks of a flinty kind, and so very hard as to be improper for gun-flints, for when applied to that use it soon digs cavities in the hammer of the lock. This hard stone is ge-. nerally white, but frequently clouded with red, brown, black, and other co-, lours. Here and there fragments of iron stone were met with, and where. a tree had been overturned, its roots brought to view fragments of schistus, which were suffering decomposition from exposure to the atmosphere. On digging where the slope of the hill was precipitous, they found the second stratum to be a reddish clay, resembling that found on the conical hill, east of the camp. At two-thirds down the hill, the rock was a hard freestone,, intermixed with fragments of flint, which had probably rolled from above. Still lower was found a blue schistus, in a state tending to decomposition, where exposed to the atmosphere, but hard and resembling coarse slate in. the interiour. Many stones had the appearance of Turkey oil stones: at the foot of the hill it expands into good farming lands. Dr. Hunter, upon examining the waters of the hot springs, obtained the. following results: If differed nothing from the hot water in smell or taste, but caused a slight eructation shortly after drinking it. Its specifick gravity is equal to rain or distilled water. It gave to litamus paper, a slight degree of redness, evincing the presence of the carbonick acid, or fixed air sulphurick, and threw down a few detached particles. Oxylat of ammoniack caused a deposition and white cloud, shew, ing the presence of a small portion of lime. Prusiat of potash produced a slight and scarcely perceptible tinge of blue, designating the presence of small quantity of iron. Vol. III. Appendix. L a Sixteen pounds of water, evaporated to dryness, left ten grains of a grey powder, .which proved to be lime. The myrtle was tree grows in the vicinity of the springs. At the season in which the royagers were there, the wax was no longer green, but had changed its colour to a greyish-white, from its long exposure to the weather. The berry, when examined by the microscope, is less than the smallest garden pea, approaching to an oval in form. The nuclus, or real seed, is the size of the seed of a radish, and is covered with a number of kidney shaped glands, of a brown colour and sweet taste ; these glands secrete the wax which completely envelopes them, and, at this season, gives to the whole the appearance of an imperfectly white berry. This is a valuable plant and merits attention : its favourite position is a dry soil, rather poor, and looking down upon the watet. It is well adapted to ornament the margins of canals, lakes, or rivulets. The cassina yapon is equally beautiful, and proper for the same purpose : it grows here along the banks of this stony ' creek, intermingled with the myrtle, and bears a beautiful little red berry, very much resembling the red currant. The rock, tlırough which the hot springs either pass or trickle over, appears undermined by the waters of the creek. The hot water is continually depositing calcareous, and, perhaps, some silicious matter, forming new rocks, always augmenting and projecting their promontories over the running water of the creek, which prevents its forniation below the surface. Wher. ever this calcareous crust is seen spreading over the bank and margin of the creek, there, most certainly, the hot water will be found, either running orer the surface, or through some channel, perhaps below the new rock, or dripping from the edges of the overhanging precipice. The progress of nature in the formation of this new rock is curious and worthy the attention of the mineralogist. When the hot water issues from the fountain, it frequently spreads over a superficies of some extent ; so far as it reaches, on either hand, there is a deposition of, or growth of green matter. Several lamina of this green matter will be found lying over each other, and immediately under, and in contact with the inferiour lamina, which is not thicker than paper, is found a whitish substance resembling a coagulum ; when viewed with a microscope, this last is also found to consist of several, sometimes a good number of lamina, of which that next the green is the finest and thinnest, being the last formed; those below increasing in thickness and tenacity, until the last terminates in a soft earthy matter, which reposes in the more solid rock. Each lamina of the coagulum is penetrated in all its parts by calcareous grains, extremely minute, and divided in the more recent web, but much larger and occupying the whole of the inferiour lamina. The understratum is continually consolidating; and adding bulk and height to the rock. When this acquires such an elevation as to stop the passage of the water, it finds another course over the rock, hill, or margin of the creek, forming in turn, accumulations of matter over the whole of the adjacent space. When the water has found itself a new channel, the green matter, which sometimes acquires a thickness of half an inch, is speedily converted into a rich vegetable earth, and becomes the food of plants. The surface of the calcareous rock also decomposes and forms the richest black mould intimately mixed with a considerable portion of soil ; plants and trees vegetate luxuriantly upon it. On examining a piece of ground, upon which the snow dissolved as it fell, and which was covered with herbage, they found, in some places, a calcareo'is crust on the surface; but in general a depth of from fire inches to a foot of the richest ck mould. The s'irface was sensibly warm to the touch. In the air the mercury in the thermometer stood at 44o ; when placed four inches under the surface, and covered with earth, it rose rapidly to 63o; a and upon the calcareous rock, eight inches beneath the surface, it rose to 80°. This result was uniform over the whole surface, which was about a quarter of an acre. On searching they found a spring, about fifteen inches under the surface, in the water of which the thermometer shewed a temperature of 130° Beneath the black mould was found a brown mixture of lime and silex, very loose and divisible, apparently in a state of decomposition, and progressing towards the formation of black mould; under this brownish mass it became gradually whiter and harder, to the depth of from six to twelve inches, where it was a calcareous sparkling stone. It was evident that the water had passed over this place, and formed a flat superficies of silicious lime stone; and that its position, nearly level, had faciliated the accumulation of earth, in proportion as the decomposition advanced. Similar spots of ground were found higher up the hill, resembling little savannas, near which hot springs were always discovered, which had once flowed over them. It appears probable that the hot water of the springs, at an early period, had all issued from its grand reservoir in the hill, at a much greater clevation than at present. The calcareous crust may be traced up, in most situations on the west side of the hill looking down the creek and valley, to a certain height, perhaps one hundred feet perpendicular; in this region the hill rises precipitously, and is studded with hard silicious stones; below the descent is more gradual, and the soil a calcareous black earth. It is easy to discriminate the primitive hill, from that which has accumulated, by precipitation, from the water of the springs; this last is entirely confined to the west side of the hill, and washed at its base by the waters of the creek, no hot spring being visible in any other part of its circumference. By actual measurement along the base of the hill the influence of the springs is found to extend seventy perches, in a direction a little to the east of north along the whole of this space the springs have deposited stony matter, calcareous, with an addition of silex, or crystalized lime. The accumulation of calcareous matter is more considerable at the north end of the hill than the south; the first may be above a hundred feet perpendicular, but sloping much more gradually that the primitive hill above, until it approaches the creek, where not unfrequently it terminates in a precipice of from six to twenty feet. The difference between the primitive and secondary hill is so striking, that a superficial observer must notice it; the first is regularly very steep, and studded with rock and stone of the hardest flint and other silicious compounds, and a superficies of two or three inches of good mould covers a red clay; below, on the secondary hill, which carries evident marks of recent formation, no flint, or silicious stone, is found; the calcareous rock conceals all from view, and is, itself, frequently covered by much fine rich earth. It would seem that this compound, precipitated from the hot waters, yields easily to the influence of the atmosphere; for where the waters cease to flow over any portion of the rock, it speedily decomposes; probably more rapidly from the heat communicated from the interiour of the hill,as insulated masses of the rock are observed to remain without change. : The cedar, the wax myrtle, and the cassina yapon, all evergreens, attach themselves particularly to the calcareous region, and seem to grow and thrive even in the clefts of the solid rock. A spring, enjoying a freedom of position, proceeds with great regularity in depositing the matter it holds in solution; the border or rim of its basin forms an elevated ridge, from whence proceeds a glacis all around, where the waters have flowed for some time over one part of the brim; this becomes more elevated, and the water has to seek a passage where there is less resistance; thus forming, in miniature, a crater, resembling in shape Ahe conical summit of a volcano. The hill being steep above the progress |