260 MR FLINT NOTICES OF NATURE. 



the novelty and excitement at my first introduction to prairie 

 scenery had subsided. I enjoyed the highest degree of 

 mental and hodily vigour, was at peace with the world, and 

 favourably predisposed towards the object. Mr Flint was 

 differently situated. But perhaps an American poet and a 

 Scottish clodpole will ever view things through a different 

 medium. The means which I had of forming an estimate of 

 this prairie were ample, and the simple fact of it being still 

 almost uninhabited, while thousands of settlers have passed 

 over it to more distant locations, may be taken as proof that 

 my estimate is substantially just. Having spoken of Mr 

 Flint as a poet, it is but justice for me to say I have alone 

 formed my opinion of his endowments from the account 

 he has given of this prairie, which seems to have been written 

 with poetic license. &quot; The prairie itself/ he says, &quot; was a 

 most glorious spectacle, such a sea of verdure, in one direc 

 tion, extending beyond the reach of the eye, and presenting 

 millions of flowers of every scent and hue, seemed an immense 

 flower-garden.&quot; This is a description of a prairie, in lat. 39, 

 in the month of September, when the luxuriance and brilliancy 

 of vegetation is past. But it was &quot; the first prairie of any 

 great size or beauty&quot; he had seen. To me, who had already 

 become acquainted with the fertility of such places, and formed 

 opinions of their utility in relation to civilized man, the 

 scene was associated with the disease and destruction of the 

 human race, and not their enjoyment and support. 



Had the season of the year and state of the weather been 

 more favourable for viewing this prairie, I might have admired 

 its beautiful outlines ; but under no circumstances would it 

 have possessed the interest of the landscape seen from the 

 heights above Ottawa on the river Illinois. Here extensive 

 prairies are seen stretching on every hand, with beautiful 

 undulating surfaces, and adorned with masses of forest of 

 every shape and size. The junction of the Fox River with 

 the Illinois is in the foreground, and their banks are either 

 forest or prairie, in keeping with the surrounding surface. 

 Both rivers are of moderate size, and the flowing of their 

 limpid waters imparts life to the landscape, which combines 

 all the soft beauties of prairie scenery, and excites associations 



