The summit of the bank, at the foot of which we had landed, was surmounted by an almost impenetrable and sempervirent cane brake; we measured several {41} canes upwards of 30 feet in height. These wilds afford but little gratification to the botanist, their extreme darkness excluding the existence of nearly every herbaceous plant. Among the trees, we still continue to observe the coffee-*bean (Gymnocladus canadensis), now loaded with legumes, the seeds of which, when parched, are agreeable to eat, but produce a substitute for coffee greatly inferior to the Cichorium.
The whole country here, on both sides of the Mississippi and the Ohio, remains uninhabited in consequence of inundation, and abounds with various kinds of game, but particularly deer and bear, turkeys, geese, and swans, with hosts of other aquatic fowls; though, with the exception of the white pelican, they are such as commonly exist in many other parts of the Union.
While amusing ourselves on the 17th, we were visited by a couple of the Delaware Indians, and shortly after by a hunting party of Shawnees,[52] who reside some miles west of St. Louis. I invited one of them into our cabin, and prevailed upon him to take supper, with which he appeared to be well satisfied and grateful. On the following day, a number of the Shawnees came with our evening guest, and desired to purchase gun-powder. They behaved with civility, and almost refused to taste of spirits, but their reluctance was at length overcome by some of our neighbours, and the night was passed at their camp with yells and riot. Although the Delawares and Shawnees are proximately allied to each other, yet we perceive the existence of that jealousy among them, which has ever
