The Hillsborough Recorder

OF THE NORTH WESTERN REGION OF THE U. STATES.

Washington City, Nov. 23

We were yesterday gratified with a few minutes conversation with captain J. R. Bell, who arrived in this city on Tuesday, from Cape Girardeau, in Missouri, which place he left on the 13th October last. The information derived from him was so interesting to us, that we believe our readers will be pleased with some account of it.

Capt. Bell was second in command of an exploring expedition, under the command of major Long, the objects of which were topographical and scientific information respecting the vast wilderness of country which stretches from the Council Bluffs, on the Missouri, to the foot of the Rocky mountains, of which little is yet known. The expedition being wholly pacific in its objects, consisted of some twenty soldiers only, and the following officers and artists, besides the two officers already mentioned, lieut. Graham, lieut. Swift, Dr. Say, Dr. James, and Messrs. Seymore and Peale, designers and painters.

The expedition set out from the Council Bluffs, on the 6th of June, directing their course first to the Pawnee villages, on a fork of the La Platte, distant about one hundred and twenty miles from the Council Bluffs; and thence proceeded to the Rocky Mountains, distant about four hundred miles from the Pawnee villages. The interval is a rolling prairie country, of course destitute of hills and wood, so that the mountains are visible at the distance of one hundred and twenty miles. Time has not yet allowed a calculation of the observations, which were made as accurately as circumstances would allow, but it is supposed the greatest height of the ridge does not exceed the elevation of four thousand feet above the base of the mountain.

The expedition separated into two parties, near the point on the Arkansas, designated on the maps as Pike's block-house. The one party, under the command of major Long, proceeded thence with a view to strike the head waters of Red river. But, it appears the maps which we have are very defective, the courses of the rivers being always wholly conjectural, and entirely fabulous. The expedition did not attain the object sought, because it was not to be found where it is laid down in the maps, and fell upon the Canadian fork of the Arkansas, which it pursued, and terminated its tour at Belle Point on the Arkansas, the post mentioned in the late message of the president to congress, as being the advanced post of our cordon in that direction.

The other party, under the command of capt. Bell, proceeded down the Arkansas to Bell Point, which place they reached on the 9th Sept. after an absence of three months from the haunts of civilization.

Below the First Fork of the Arkansas, as it was named by Pike, they met several hunting parties of strange Indians, whose names have rarely, if ever, been heard of before—belonging to the tribes of the Arrapahoes, the Kaskayas, the Kiawas, and the Chayennes. They are frequently, and perhaps at present, engaged in war with the Pawnees, Osages, and other tribes of whom we have some knowledge. Of the Indians met by our party, none have ever been into our settlements. They appeared to be wholly ignorant of the existence of such a people as those of the United States, or indeed of any people of a fairer complexion than those of Mexico, or the adjacent Spanish provinces, of whom it appeared they had some knowledge. Being made to understand the existence of such a government, its power and humane policy, as exemplified in its treatment of other Indian tribes, they expressed a great desire to be taken by the hand by the United States, and to place themselves under their protection.

The topographers, medical gentlemen, and painters, attached to the expedition, have collected abundant materials for correcting some of the gross errors in the received geography of this part of our country, for making important additions to medical botany, and to the stock of our geological knowledge of our own territory; and the painters have many interesting and valuable sketches of the prominent features of the country. Besides possessing the government of such information as was indispensable to judicious arrangements for the support and protection of the American population penetrating into that country, this expedition ought and we hope will form the subject of one of the most attractive works ever published in this country.

What struck us most impressively in this brief narrative was, that, some thousand miles on this side of our utmost western boundary, or in other words, about half way between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean, an exploring party has met with several tribes of men, the aborigines and proprietors of the soil of the country, who were ignorant, not only of the people of the United States, but of the existence of a race of white people! It gives us an awful idea of the magnificent extent of the dominion of the republic.