untry thus abandoned by the hills is more open and the
timber in smaller quantities than below the Platte, so that although the
plain is rich and covered with high grass, the want of wood renders it
less calculated for cultivation than below that river.

The northern hills after remaining near the Missouri for a few miles at
Floyd's river, recede from it at the Sioux river, the course of which
they follow; and though they again visit the Missouri at Whitestone
river, where they are low, yet they do not return to it till beyond
James river. The highlands on the south, after continuing near the river
at the Mahar villages, again disappear, and do not approach it till the
Cobalt bluffs, about forty-four miles from the villages, and then from
those bluffs to the Yellowstone river, a distance of about one thousand
miles, they follow the banks of the river with scarcely any deviation.

From the James river, the lower grounds are confined within a narrow
space by the hills on both sides, which now continue near each other up
to the mountains. The space between them however varies from one to
three miles as high as the Muscleshell river, from which the hills
approach so high as to leave scarcely any low grounds on the river, and
near the falls reach the waters edge. Beyond the falls the hills are
scattered and low to the first range of mountains.

The soil during the whole length of the Missouri below the Platte is
generally speaking very fine, and although the timber is scarce, there
is still sufficient for the purposes of settlers; But beyond that river,
although the soil is still rich, yet the almost total absence of timber,
and particularly the want of good water, of which there is but a small
quantity in the creeks, and even that brackish, oppose powerful
obstacles to its settlement. The difficulty becomes still greater
between the Muscleshell river and the falls, where besides the greater
scarcity of timber, the country itself is less fertile.

The elevation of these highlands varies as they pass through this
extensive tract of country. From Wood river they are about one hundred
and fifty feet above the water, and continue at that height till they
rise near the Osage, from which place to the ancient fortification they
again diminish in size. Thence they continue higher till the Mandan
village, after which they are rather lower till the neighbourhood of
Muscleshell river, where they are met by the Northern hills, which h