[64] For the same reasons it is practically impossible to follow the progress of the party; the camping places can only be approximated from the longitude indicated on the map, which is thirty to fifty miles too great for the western area, but substantially correct at the mouth of the Canadian.--ED.
[65] The magnetic variation was here from 12° to 13° east.--JAMES.
[66] The Washita (an Indian word meaning either "male deer," or "country of large buffaloes") should be distinguished from the river in Arkansas (Ouachita) near the sources of which are the Hot Springs (see Nuttall's _Journal_, in our volume xiii, note 125). The Washita, which, as the text states, is the chief northern tributary of Red River, rises in the "pan-handle" of Texas and flows east and southeast, roughly parallel with the Canadian. Its confluence with the Red is between the ninety-sixth and ninety-seventh meridians. At the western boundary of Oklahoma, the Washita approaches within fifteen miles of the Canadian; farther east, the approximation of its tributaries is so close as, in one place, scarcely to admit the passage of a single wagon.--ED.
[67] The latitude of this point was ascertained by Major Long, in December, 1819, to be a few minutes below 34° north.--JAMES.
_Comment by Ed._ On the Kiamesha (Kiamichi) see Nuttall's _Journal_, in our volume xiii, note 177.
[68] Just east of the ninety-ninth meridian, the Canadian almost touches the thirty-sixth parallel, and then turning southeast passes below the thirty-fifth, turning northeast again near the ninety-sixth meridian. The party is now near the bend to the southeast; the map probably shows them on the nineteenth too far along the southeast course. The stream flowing southeast was doubtless a tributary of the Washita. Gypsum (sulphate of lime) occurs in great abundance along the Canadian, especially between the ninety-ninth and one hundredth meridians. Near the ninety-ninth meridian begins a wooded district known as the Cross Timbers; it varies in width from five to thirty miles, and is four hundred miles in length, extending from the Arkansas to the Brazos.--ED.
[69] This elegant centaurea has a head of flowers nearly as large as that of the cincus lanceolatus, so commonly naturalized in the East. Some specimens from seeds, brought by Major Long, have flowered in Mrs. Peale's garden, near Germantown. The plant will be easily naturalized, and will be found highly ornamental.--JAMES.