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San Diego on the Pacific.-u. Mt. Turnbull.-b. Mt. Graham.-c. Zandia.
Norte.-7-8. Valley of the Rio del Norte.-9. Ben Moore-10-11. Valley of the Gila.-11. Mouth of Gila.-12. Salt Lake.-13. Cordilleras of
1. Fort Leavenworth-2. Pawnee Fork.-3. Jackson's Grove.-3 to 4. Valley of the Arkansas.-1. Bent's Fort,-5. Raton Summit.-6. Santa Fé.-7. Rio del
Section from Fort Leavenworth, Mo., to San Diego, on the Pacific. Spaces between the parallel lines each 1000 feet-horizontal scale one-sixtieth the vertical.

California.-14.

the desert region and entering a valley in the mountains, they came upon a large sulphur spring, around which were efflorescences of sulphate of lime, sulphate of magnesia and common salt. Ascending the mountains, they were led to a hot spring near Warner's rancheria, having a temperature of 137° F., which discharged from the fissure of a granite rock, a large volume of water; and for a long distance down, it charged the air with fumes of sulphuretted hydrogen.

The accompanying cut is a much reduced copy of a sectional view of the Rocky mountains, made from the barometrical observations of the party.

Many new plants were collected in the course of this expedition, which are partly described. in an appendix by Prof. Torrey, with an account of the ferns by Dr. Engelmann. Several lithographic plates are inserted in the volume, illustrating the regions visited, besides upwards of thirty species of plants.

Lieutenant ABERT was attached to the party under Lieutenant Colonel Emory, and was principally employed in exploring the region of New Mexico.

This report, like the preceding, contains much scientific information, both geological, botanical, and also zoological, illustrated by plates of fossils, etc. There is besides a vocabulary of the language of the Cheyenne Indians, who live near Bent's Fort. The author mentions the loss of many valuable papers, and among them a grammar of the Cheyenne language, while on his winter's return to St. Louis. We cite from the report some of the facts bearing on geology, referring to it for information on its many other topics.

At Bent's Fort specimens of selenite were brought in, besides quartz crystals. Near the Raton Pass, in latitude 37° 15', longitude 104° 35', a bed of bituminous coal was discovered, in a high bluff bank. The fossil leaves associated were dicotyledonous, (one a large cordate leaf like Catalpa, and the other lanceolate), which indicates the comparatively modern age of the deposit. Not far from this place a dike of cellular rock was seen, six feet in

width. From Santa Fe, Lieutenant Abert visited the gold mines in the vicinity.

Eighty miles north of Santa Fe, in the Puebla de Taos, are a few small settlements, situated in a valley eight or nine miles long, cultivated as far as practicable by irrigation; the supply of water is scanty except during the wet season. Snow is seen on the neighboring heights in every month of the year; yet wheat and corn ripen well in the plains. Southwest of Taos, a ridge 2000 to 2500 feet high, of hard slaty rock, breaking into angular fragments, was passed. On the west bank of the Del Norte, 40 miles above Santa Fe, the table land reaches to the river, and terminates in a bluff 300 to 400 feet in height. The section exhibits layers of horizontal sandstone capped by dark vesicular lava. To the east, the country rolls away to the base of the mountains, presenting little else than a succession of gravelly hills, covered with dwarf cedars. The lava alluded to forms the capping of all the table lands in Upper New Mexico. To the west of the river in this part, at a place called Ojo Caliente, there are several mineral springs, from which sulphuretted hydrogen escapes freely.

Going south from Santa Fe, volcanic rock was often met with over the country.

On the Rio Puerco, a few miles west of the del Norte, at Poblazon, (lat. 35° 13',) the sandstone rocks were in some places six hundred feet in height. "The beds had an anticlinal dip, with reference to the axis of the valley." Besides calc spar crystallized and uncrystallized, fragments of large ammonites, hippurites and Inocerami were found, and "the little knobs around glittered with plates of selenite," an abundant mineral in that region. The species of Inoceramus is identical with one figured in Fremont's Report, plate iv. fig. 2. These cretaceous fossils occur about 6000 feet above the sea. Farther to the westward, a volcanic country was entered, and in some places a bed of volcanic rock overlay sandstone. To the northward, the village of Acoma is situated "high on a lofty rock of sandstone." "Quantities of fine large clingstone peaches were spread out on the ground, as the owners were dividing their loads."

Again, east of the del Norte, near 34° 50′ N., they met with beds of limestone containing patches of hornstone, and afterward with lofty masses of greenstone. About seventy miles east of the Del Norte, are saline lakes that afford all the salt used in the region. Just east of the river, near latitude 35° 15', they encamped on a salt plain, where the salt formed a white efflorescence over the surface. The explorations were continued south to Valverde, near latitude 33° 40'.

The return of the party to Bent's Fort, and from there to St. Louis was attended with extreme hardship. They left the Fort on the 20th of January, where the thermometer had stood all day

at 7° F., and were travelling till the 1st of March. As a winter on this route is unknown to our readers, we cite, in closing, a few paragraphs from this part of the Report. Such suffering as is here detailed in a few brief statements of facts, has rarely been exceeded.

February 2.-All night the storm raged with a fury as awful as that of the "tormentes" of Mt. Blanc. The particles of snow beat with wild rage against my tent, while the frail structure quivered, and the poles that supported it creaked and groaned so much that it was impossible for me to sleep. Such was the force of the wind, that it drove the snow through the canvass walls of my tent, and I found my bed and papers covered with it. During the night I heard one of the men, who had got his feet wet in attempting to cross the river, imploring some of his companions to let him get into the wagon with them. The night was terribly cold, and I feared that all of our animals would be frozen to death before morning. At length morning came, but when I looked out the snow was drifting along in dense clouds of hard icy particles, that flew along with extreme velocity. As the sun began to appear the storm ceased, and it was most fortunate for us that it did cease. I now forced my way out of the tent, which was banked with snow. When I looked around, a scene of utter desolation presented itself; most of my men had lain down on the ground to sleep, but now not one of them could be seen. I called aloud; they heard me not, being covered beneath the deep snow. I now went to the wagons; in one I found Pilka and Laing; in the other, two or three men, one of whom had been very ill ever since leaving Bent's Fort. He came rushing towards me half distracted, his shirt covered with snow, his head bare, and crouching at my feet, he implored me to take him to a house. “O, Lieutenant, take me to a house! I shall freeze to death! I'm freezing! I'm freezing!" His arms were drawn up and stiffened, his body almost paralyzed with cold. I took the poor fellow and put him in my own bed, and covered him with blankets and buffalo robes; it was all I could do.

We now searched about and found the men by the aid of the cracks on the surface of the snow, caused by the movements of the restless sleepers; covered by the heavy mantle of snow they had kept extremely warm, and now the chill air felt to them more intolerable.pp. 115, 116.

February 21.-This morning is the first time for thirty-six hours that any one has ventured out. My men had their provisions ready cooked, and shared them with Mr. Brown's party; of all the tents that had been pitched Friday night, mine was the only one which still remained. The snow had heaped up around the rest so that the inmates were obliged to desert them, and take refuge in the wagons. About mine, the wind had swept in such a way as to keep open a path around it, although the snow was on a level with the ridge pole of the tent. We now broke up some boards that were in the wagons, and kindled a little fire. Soon the sun rose; but, instead of one sun, we had three; all seemed of equal brilliancy, but, as they continued to rise, the middle one only retained its circular form, while the others shot into huge columns of fire, which blended with the air near their summits. The

breadth of the columns was that of the sun's apparent diameter, and their height about twelve times the same diameter; they were between twenty and thirty degrees distant from the sun. Before the sun had risen more than ten degrees, this phenomenon entirely disappeared. Some of the men called my attention to this strange appearance, but so engrossed were they with their own calamities, that they hardly seemed to be in the least astonished at what they saw.

After some little while we missed Preston and the sick man; we inquired, but no one knew anything about them. It was now evident that they had been buried beneath the snow drift, which, for some distance around had filled up the nook in which we had encamped to the level of the prairie; as the drift was of considerable extent, much time would be wasted in examining it, unless we could find where they had pitched their tent. At last I noticed one poor fellow digging away to find his boots; he showed me where the sick man had been. I called the men, and immediately set to work. The snow was six feet deep, and we had only a little piece of board to dig with, and the cold was so great that no one could work very long before his hands became perfectly rigid. After a good deal of hard digging, we found a pair of boots, which were recognized by the men as Preston's property. This urged us to renewed exertions: at length we cleared the snow from a portion of his buffalo robe, and lifting it up, we got sight of the poor fellow's face; he cried out in a weak voice, begging us for God's sake not to leave him to die. We assured him that we would not forsake him, and again covered his face until we could remove more of the snow; having dug as far as his waist, five men caught hold of him to drag him out, but the snow had been moist and was packed very hard, and he was held tight by the tent which had been broken down by the pressure of the snow; however, we dug a little more until we could get at the ridge pole of the tent, which we cut in two with our axes. We now drew Preston out of the drift, which had like to have proved his grave. His bed-fellow, who had been much weakened by sickness, was already dead; he was the man whom we had dragged from Jackson's grove to "Pawnee fork;" where he had been picked up by Mr. Brown; since which time he had been recovering fast. Poor fellow! it was his destiny to leave his bones on the desert prairies, where wolves howl his requiem. I caused the men to dig him also out of the drift, and to put his body into a wagon, in order that we might bury him at the Cotton Wood fork.

Several mules had already been frozen to death. As we proceeded, mules, that had started off in apparently good condition, would drop down in the harness, and their limbs would become perfectly rigid. Even one of the oxen fell down benumbed with cold. In a few hours we lost six mules and one ox, so that our road was marked out with dying animals. As we approached our destined camp ground, we saw a wolf that was so badly frozen as to be unable to move. One of the men put an end to its sufferings by a bullet from his rifle.-pp. 126, 127.

In connection with the above, we refer here to a former Report by Fremont, noticed in vol. iii, pp. 172, 173; also to the account of quicksilver mines in California, in this volume, p. 270.

ART. XXXVII.-Notice of the Meeting of the American Association for the Promotion of Science, held at Philadelphia, September 20-25, 1848.

THOSE who had the pleasure of joining in this scientific reunion, will long remember the harmony of the occasion, the ardor of the various members in the prosecution and presentation of their favorite branches-and the real progress which the general high character of the session evinced. The number in attendance was much larger than on any former occasion, when the association met under its old organization, and with its former more restricted plan. And yet many who before have often met on these occasions, were unavoidably detained from the present meeting. The division into two sections-of General Physics, and of Natural History,-proved highly advantageous to the rapid progress of business, and was much approved, although many were thus unavoidably prevented from enjoying the advantages of hearing all that passed in both sections.

The plan of organization, the charter and by-laws, reported by the committee appointed last year for this purpose, were unanimously adopted, and will be the basis of all future operations. The communications made at the present session were as follows:

Centripetal force indispensable to whirlwinds. By Professor HARE. Some notice of the Fossil Cephalopoda, long known by the name of Belemnites, and of the diphosphate of iron, called mullicite, found together at Mullica Hill. By PETER A. BROWNE, Esq.

Report on Meteorites. By Professor C. U. SHEPARD, communicated by Professor B. SILLMAN, Jr.

Report on Winds, or the Laws of Atmospheric circulation in the Northern Hemisphere. By Professor J. H. COFFIN.

Forces in nature, which tend to rupture, contort, depress, and upheave the superficial strata of the earth. By Professor L. G. GERMAIN. On the Volatility of Potassa and Soda, and their Carbonates. By Professors W. B. and R. E. ROGERS.

On the alleged insolubility of copper, in hydrochloric acid, and on Fuchs's Method of analysis of Iron and Copper Ores. By Professors W. B. and R. E. ROGERS.

Fossil Zoophytes of Western Ohio, with a few additions from other Western localities. By Professor J. W. VAN CLEVE.

On the Sediment of the Mississippi River. By Professor M. W. DICKERSON.

The present tendency of Chemical Philosophy. By T. S. HUNT, Esq. The Zodiacs of the Asteroids. By Professor J. J. HUBBARD, U. S. N. On Supposed Indian Antiquities in New York. By Professor O. KELLOGG.

SECOND SERIES, Vol. VI, No. 18.-Nov., 1848.

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