first of these falls into the Missouri and receives the waters of a great number of tributary streams. Of these tributaries we counted as many as eighteen before we reached the Platte. Hence we may infer that the country abounds in springs, and that the soil is compact and covered with verdure. The reverse may be said of the neighborhood of the Platte, where springs and verdure are seldom seen. Even on the bluffs that run parallel to its banks the waters that fall from the clouds upon a sandy and porous soil run down into the valleys. But the prairies that receive the overflowing waters of the river are extremely fertile and appear beautiful in spring, being enameled with a great variety of flowers.
Here I cannot but speak again of the Platte, although I have described it in the account of my first journey. The sight of the river itself is still more pleasing; though in spite of all its beauties, it has, like the most remarkable of its bluffs, received a vulgar name. This proceeds from the custom which some travelers have of applying to objects the names of things with which they are well acquainted. They have called it Platte or Flat river, on account of its width and shallowness ; the former often exending 6,ooo feet, whilst its depth is but from three to five feet, and sometimes less. This want of proportion destroys its utility. Canoes cannot be used to ascend it, and if barges sometimes come down from Fort Laramie to the mouth, it is because they are so constructed that they may be converted into sledges and pushed on by the hands of men. The author of Astoria has properly defined it " the most magnificent and most useless of rivers." Putting its defects aside, nothing can be more pleasing than the perspective which it presents to the eye; though besides the prairie flowers and the ranunculus, its banks bear only the eglantine and the wild vine; for on account of the fires made in the autumn the lofty vegetation is entirely confined to the islands that stud its surface. These islands are so numerous that they have the appearance of a labyrinth of groves floating on the waters.