224 FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 



Mr D i soon took possession of the corner and blankets, 

 which the girls had abandoned ; and I was amused to see these 

 individuals, who had evidently been long familiar with the 

 luxuries and refinements of European society, accommodate 

 themselves to circumstances, and take possession of a sleeping 

 place, which, in cleanness and softness, was inferior to the bed 

 of many an East Lothian pig. The farmer and trader soon 

 followed their example, and I was left standing by the fire 

 drying my shirt, after accomplishing which, I stretched myself 

 alongside of the trader, and was asleep in an instant. 



At five the waggon and the rest of the party arrived, and 

 at seven we again set out, and reached Chicago in time for a 

 late breakfast ; the countenances of all bore evidence of the 

 fatigues of the preceding evening, and my limbs felt them. 

 The old soldier had drunk too freely on his arrival at and de 

 parture from the hut, and his ravings while under intoxication 

 in praise of republicanism and General Jackson, as well as in 

 censure of England, were amusingly absurd. His wife seemed 

 to feel for her husband s conduct, and the influence both of 



the driver and Major W was scarcely sufficient to keep 



him in order. 



Soon after leaving Niles, we crossed by a ford the river St 

 Joseph s, which seemed to me to contain rather more water 

 than the largest sized rivers in Britain. For miles on both 

 sides, the country is uninhabited, and seems to combine the 

 features of forest oak openings and prairie, the trees being 

 small, thin, and standing in groups, so as to produce the best 

 effect, often reminding me of the finest English parks. Six 

 or seven miles from St Joseph s river, the prairie country 

 commences, and continues with little intermission to the west 

 ward as far as the country has been explored. On the 

 southern margin of Lake Michigan, there is a range of sand 

 hills, from 100 to 200 feet in height, apparently formed by 

 the drifting of sand from the beach, and the same character is 

 maintained up the west side of the lake, although the eleva 

 tions are quite inconsiderable. 



The country from the river St Joseph s, round the south 

 side of Lake Michigan, \vith exception of a small spot, be 

 longed, at the time of my visit, to the Pottowatamy tribe of 



