They are generally healthy—­the only disorders which we have had occasion to remark being of a scrophulous kind, and for these, as well as for the amusement of those who are in good health, hot and cold bathing is very commonly used.

The soil of these prairies is of a light yellow clay intermixed with small smooth grass:  it is barren, and produces little more than a bearded grass about three inches high, and a prickly pear, of which we now found three species:  the first is of the broad-leafed kind, common to the Missouri.  The second has the leaf of a globular form, and is also frequent on the upper part of the Missouri, particularly after it enters the Rocky mountains.  The third is pecular to this country, and is much more inconvenient than the other two:  it consists of small thick leaves of a circular form, which grow from the margin of each other as in the broad-leafed pear of the Missouri:  these leaves are armed with a greater number of thorns, which are stronger, and appear to be barbed; and as the leaf itself is very slightly attached to the stem, as soon as one thorn touches the moccasin it adheres and brings with it the leaf, which is accompanied by a reenforecement of thorns.

END OF VOLUME 1.