NOTICES OF NATURE. 243 



taining about 1200 souls. It is three miles from Sangamon 

 river, which is only navigable for small boats at the melting 

 of the snow in spring. There are good stores of all descrip 

 tions in the village. 



The word prairie is derived from the French, and signifies 

 meadow. In America it means grass-land naturally free from 

 timber, and is used in this sense by me. Prairies have not 

 been found in the eastern parts of North America, and many 

 conjectures exist regarding their origin in the west. The 

 general opinion is, they originated from, and owe their con 

 tinuance to, the agency of fire. It is quite certain fire sweeps 

 over them, at present almost every autumn, destroying 

 the entire vegetation on the surface ; but whether proceeding 

 from human or natural agency remains unsolved, and it pro 

 bably arises occasionally from both. The burning must 

 destroy seedling-trees, which would otherwise perhaps occupy 

 the whole surface by the wafting of seeds ; and the continuance 

 of prairies may be, in many instances, owing to fire, but after 

 having seen them in all situations, it does not seem to account 

 satisfactorily for their origin. Prairies of a few yards extent 

 are found in the midst of dense and extensive forests, and rows 

 of trees jutting miles into the open country, without visible 

 agency to account for their preservation. Fire cannot be 

 supposed to have originated the first case, nor the absence of 

 it the last, as it is seldom so partial in its effects. I have no 

 theory to offer instead of fire for the origin of prairies, which 

 seem productions of nature. The localities of plants are often 

 found to be partial, and Britain exhibits furze, heath, grasses, 

 and different species of trees, exclusively occupying the sur 

 face of certain parts as natural productions. In America, trees 

 vary in number on a given space, from the dense forest to the 

 oak opening, with half-a-dozen of trees to an acre. Unless it 

 be maintained that nature has allotted a certain number of 

 trees to a given extent of surface, it will be idle to deny her 

 handiwork in having formed oak openings and prairies, which 

 are met with in all situations, and which often seem to merge 

 into each other. 



My friends in the Canadas used every argument to dissuade 

 me from journeying to the junction of the rivers Mississippi 



