THE WATERS. 99 



either door of the van, in which were myself and my 

 dogs, set wide open to admit the refreshing air caused 

 by the rush of carriages for not a breath of wind else 

 where stirred in that hot sunny day I gazed from side 

 to side to catch a glimpse of bird or beast, but with the 

 exception of the turkey-buzzard or an occasional hawk, 

 no Hying wild thing presented itself to notice. 



Pigs, which seemed to stray masterless wheresoever they 

 pleased in an attempt to gain their own living in the 

 woods, were occasionally on the line, and as we passed 

 the White River, and more than once stopped directly 

 over its course or on the branches of its back waters, the 

 mud of the shoals gave me the pad of the racoon, of the 

 skunk, I think, and certainly the " seal" of otters. In 

 all the brooks or streams that I observed throughout the 

 flat country around this portion of the White River, there 

 was not even a ripple of clear water ; all was thick, slug 

 gish, and muddy, reminding me much of the hue that I 

 afterwards saw pervading the dangerous tide of the Mis 

 souri. Occasionally cows strayed leisurely across the 

 line before us, or fed on the green herbage afforded by 

 any little embankment that raised but did not protect 

 the rail, I suppose the property of some small settler 

 whose cabin was not in sight. The aspect of the forest 

 throughout was one of desolate decay, struggling with a 

 fresh growth of younger timber; and though there were oc 

 casional patches of fair wood where the roots and branches 

 of fallen trees were not so much grown up with those 

 innumerable weeds and creepers, among them the wild 

 vine, that make the cover, in a sporting point of view, 

 so severe, still I at once perceived the terrible difficulty 

 that must generally exist in regard to the successful work 



