258 ST CHARLES. 



sitting at table with the landlord and his wife, and tended by 

 a female slave, who was addressed by all in terms of civility. 

 The landlord was a Virginian, and had lately commenced 

 hotel-keeping at St Charles, in consequence of having been 

 unfortunate in another calling in the place of his birth. I 

 found him kind and gentlemanly in manner, and communica 

 tive and intelligent on a variety of subjects. He presented me 

 with a glass of wine, as made from the grape of the country, 

 and which I considered good. 



In course of conversation I learned the landlord intended 

 going to St Louis next day, immediately after breakfast, and 

 he agreed to give me a seat in his waggon on the same terms 

 as the regular conveyances carried passengers. Before going to 

 bed, it was arranged that I should visit the Mamelles in the 

 morning, and at daybreak I found a horse waiting for me, 

 which proceeded over the ground at a rapid pace. The road 

 leading from St Charles to the prairie passes through a rich 

 and beautiful country, something like a narrow valley, with 

 swelling heights to the west, the opposite side forming good 

 farms. I followed a diverging pathway leading up the ascent, 

 and soon found myself on the brow of an eminence, command 

 ing an extensive view of the prairie, over which I had tra 

 velled the preceding evening. The scene was so different 

 from the conceptions I had formed of it, that I fancied myself 

 occupying a wrong position, and seeing a cottage on the plain 

 below, I descended to ascertain the point. On asking for 

 the Mamelles, a person pointed to a bluff a few hundred yards 

 distant, forming the termination of the ridge I had just left, 

 and considerably more to the east than the spot where I had 

 been. Leaving my horse attached to a railing in front of the 

 cottage, into which I was invited, I ascended the Mamelle on 

 foot, from the top of which the scene was unvaried from that 

 I had seen before, with exception of the addition of part of 

 the small valley running towards St Charles, and which 

 seemed the most interesting part of the landscape. Strong 

 indications exist of the Missouri and Mississippi having once 

 united their waters at this spot ; and if such was the case, the 

 prairie must then have formed the bottom of a lake, and be 

 come dry when the rivers assumed a lower level. The prairie 



