pool at which he may water his horse; and those who traverse the unsettled parts of the country, complain of this as one of the greatest inconveniences of the journey. On the other hand, it is a fact equally well ascertained, that water is every where found, in great abundance, at a distance of a few feet below the surface. We have known but a very few spots at which water could not be procured by digging; there are few countries in which the sinking of wells is performed with so much ease, or with such uniform success. There is, in general, no rock to perforate; after removing the rich soil, a stratum of hard clay presents itself, then gravel, and then another layer of clay, all of which are so compact as to require no curbing, during the progress of the operation. The water is found in a stratum of fine clean sand. The depth of the wells varies from twelve to forty feet, but most usually is from eighteen to twenty-five; it very seldom varies much from twenty feet.

There is therefore, in fact, no dearth of water. It is present in great abundance, but not in the position most desirable to the farmer, who, if settled at a distance from the woodland, must adopt some artificial mode of supplying his stock, with this indispensable article. At present this want is not felt as an existing evil; and we think it will not become a subject of complaint for many years, for the same reason' which we suggested in relation to timber. The present inhabitants of the prairie region, are settled in situations amply supplied with water, and there is still a great abundance of choice land remaining vacant, on the margins of the rivers and smaller water courses, to accommodate several generations of new settlers. It is worthy of remark also, that the practice' of suffering cattle and other stock to roam at large over the natural pastures, which now prevails universally, and must long continue to be pursued, renders this rather an imaginary want, than one of practical inconvenience.

The family is supplied, either by a spring or well, with a sufficient quantity of good water for household purposes, and for work-horses; while the animals which seek their own food on the wild lands, roam off to the streams which are more or less distant. But the open prairie lands possess some advantages, which will go far towards counterbalancing this deficiency. These, as we have remarked, are their great fertility, the ease with which they may be brought into cultivation, and the lightness of the soil, which renders the tillage less laborious than that of other lands. To these may be added, the facility of making good roads, in consequence of the levelness of the country, and the dryness of the soil, and the remarkable adaptation of this whole region for internal communication by railroads and canals.

A great mistake has been made by travelers, and adopted by the compilers of books, in reference to wet prairies, which they suppose to exist to a much greater extent than is true. Taking it for granted that the prairie region is a vast plain, they infer prima facie, that the water which falls from the clouds, is slowly drained off, and remains long on the ground, constituting extensive pools and marshes. But the truth is, that the surface is undulating, and that the process of draining has, in the lapse of ages, gradually worn down the edges of the plains. nearest to the water-courses, so that the centre is in most cases the highest. This conformation is not invariable: there are prairies which are level, and upon others, even the most elevated, will be found depressions, from which the water is not drained. Taking into view these exceptions to the general rule, and considering them as characteristic features in the topography of the country, a writer, otherwise accurate, has said that "most of our large prairies are so nearly level, or slightly concave in the centre, as to render many places wet, and others inundated." A country of which this remark should be true would be

scarcely habitable. As well might the writer deny the convexity of the globe, because there are valleys upon its surface, as to deny the same general shape to the prairies, because in the almost imperceptible undulations of their outline, the latter sometimes assumes for a short distance the appearance of an exact plane, and sometimes sinks into a hollow. The idea is contrary to the analogy of nature, for the natural drainage of a country, will leave those parts most elevated which lie at the greatest distance from the rivers or valleys into which the rains flow off from the surface. In a region of rock formation, this effect will be modified by other causes; but on plains of light soil, resting on clay and gravel easily worn by the attrition of water, its operation is obvious and uniform.

In the spring of the year, or at any other season when rain has fallen copiously, the light and porous soil of the prairie becomes saturated with water, and as the process of draining cannot be carried forward rapidly, in a country so nearly level, the whole land seems almost inundated. The slope of the entire plain of the west, has been shown to be gentle; the channels of its rivers have but little declination, and carry off their waters slowly. The smaller water courses, by the same law, have but little fall; they are therefore soon filled to overflowing. Creeks assume the appearance of rivers-brooks are filled to their brinks the ravines in the prairies, dry at other seasons, become the channels of immense floods, which slowly flow off with an almost imperceptible motion. The whole land is like a saturated sponge. But whenever the waters subside, the porousness of the soil, and the rapidity of the evaporation in so open a country, produce the effect of drying the soil with remarkable celerity.

The objection to the prairie region, is not excess of moisture either in the soil or climate; the opposite, if it be an objection, is that which might be alledged with more propriety. It is a country of boundless plains, ac

cessible to the winds from every direction-but little shaded by timber-and having a small proportion of springs or running streams of water. Early in the summer all the streams except the largest, are dried up; the traveler is astonished as he passes over deep channels, perfectly dry, to see, by the marks of water above his head, that immense floods have recently filled them to overflowing, and at finding in the beds of rivers of sounding name, in which for months together a ship of the line might float, rivulets almost exhausted, over which he could jump at a single bound.

Wet prairies occur where the surface of the plain is perfectly level, or slightly concave. A very small proportion of the whole country is comprised within this description; and all of it may be easily drained. We have scarcely ever seen a prairie from which the standing water might not be conveyed by a ditch a few feet in depth. They are not sufficiently extensive to produce any effect upon the atmosphere; and as the waters are rapidly evaporated, they become dry in the early part of the summer, and are covered like the other lands with grass; so that they do not generate miasma in any quantity which can perceptibly effect the salubrity of the air.

The quality of the water in the interior, or prairie region, is often made a subject of complaint by travelers. The reason is obvious. The first settlers in a new country, and those who keep the houses of entertainment at which travelers stop, are persons who care little for the luxuries of life, and who have been accustomed to the use of spring water. They know little, and care less, about the art of procuring the pure element by means of artificial wells. When obliged to resort to this method of getting water, they consider it a matter of importance to find it as near the surface as possible, or rather, if they do not find it after digging a few feet, they desist and seek it at another spot; and choice of a place at which to reside, K

depends on the finding of water at the depth of twelve or fifteen feet. The well is often so shallow that the water may be warmed by the action of the sun. It is curbed with green wood, from which sometimes the bark is not removed or more frequently with a hollow log termed a gum-which is constantly decaying and imparting a bad taste to the water; while no pains are taken to remove the leaves and woody fibre which are continually falling into it. When wells are properly dug, and walled with stone or brick, the water is generally pure and excellent; nor can we conceive how it could be otherwise, passing, as it almost invariably does, through a stratum of fine clean sand.

CHAPTER IX.

Wild Animals.

There are several works on natural history, which accurately describe the animals of this region. In ornithology especially, the labors of Wilson, Nuttal, and Buonaparte, have left no room for additional remarks. We shall confine ourselves to a few desultory hints relating to the settled parts of the country.

The buffalo has entirely left the inhabited districts. Before the country was settled our immense prairies afforded pasturage to large herds of this animal; and the traces of them are still remaining, in the "buffalo paths" which are to be seen in several parts of the new states. These are well beaten tracts, leading generally from the prairies in the interior, to the margins of the large rivers; shewing the course of their migrations as they changed their pastures periodically, from the low marshy alluvion, to the dry upland plains. In the heat of summer they