A beautiful species of lizard[130] (agama), is occasionally met with in this territory. It runs with great swiftness. The form of its scales, their arrangement and proportions, considerably resemble those of polychrus marmorata, with the exception of the caudal ones, the series of which are equal, and the scales near the tip of the tail only are mucronate. A band over the shoulders somewhat resembles that of stellio querto paleo.
In addition to our usual fare, served upon the earth, we here enjoyed the luxury of wild honey and Indian corn, or maize bread, spread upon a table; and felt perhaps a little of that elation which the possession of a new coat communicates to the beau, when we found ourselves mounted on stools and benches around it.
The sassafras (laurus sassafras) occurred this morning; and soon after our departure from the trading-house, we saw the cane (miegia macrosperma), and were soon involved in a dense cane brake. Here we were hardly fanned by a breath of air, and during the prevalence of the extreme heat of the day, which was 96 degrees, the state of the atmosphere was extremely oppressive. A short ride brought us to the Neosho, or Grand river, better known to the hunters by the singular designation of the Six Bulls.
It enters the Arkansa very near to the confluence of the Verdigrise, and at the ripple, which offers us a facility of crossing, is about eighty yards wide, the water clear, above and below moving with a gentle current, and its bed and shores paved with large pebbles. At the entrance of the opposite forest, our guide, to whom the direct and very obvious path was supposed to be so familiar, now became bewildered, and { 118} after reconnoitring to his heart's content amongst the entangled briers, vines, and nettles, ushered us into a trace which conducted to an old Indian encampment, and terminated there. Further progress was in a great measure intercepted by the cane brake, which not presenting any path, obliged us to break our passage with much labour. The dusk of the evening found us still pursuing a devious course through a world of vegetation impenetrable to the eye, vainly seeking a spot upon which an encampment could be fixed, when, to our unspeakable joy, and without previous intimation, the prairie of Bayou Menard[131] appeared suddenly before us. The timber of these bottoms is large and various. The extreme heat of the day, 96 degrees. Distance, eighteen miles.