86 HUNTING ADVENTURES. 



of herbage called buffalo-grass, somewhat coarse, but, at the proper 

 season, affording excellent and abundant pasturage. At pn sent it 

 was growing wiry, and in many places it was too much parched 

 for grazing. 



"The weather was verging into that serene but somewhat arid 

 season called the Indian suminer. There was a smoky haze in 

 the atmosphere that tempered the brightness of the sunshine into a 

 golden tint, softening the features of the landscape, and giving a 

 vagueness to the outlines of distant objects. This haziness was 

 daily increasing, and was attributed to the burning of the distant 

 prairies by the Indian hunting parties. We had not gone far upon 

 the prairie before we came to where deeply-worn footpaths were 

 seen traversing the country. .Sometimes two or three would keep 

 parallel to each other, and but a few paces apart. These were 

 pronounced to be traces of buffaloes, where large droves had 

 passed." p. 153. 



Turn we now to a more refreshing scene : "About ten o'clock 

 in the morning we came to where this line of rugged hills swept 

 down into a valley, through which flowed the north fork of the Red 

 River. A beautiful meadow, about half a mile wide, enamelled 

 with yellow autumnal flowers, stretched for two or three miles along 

 the foot of the hills, bordered on the opposite side by the river, 

 whose banks were fringed with cotton-wood trees, the bright foliage 

 of which refreshed and delighted the eye, after being wearied by 

 the contemplation of monotonous wastes of brown forest. 



" The meadow was finely diversified by groves and clumps of 

 trees, so. happily disposed that they seemed as if set out by the 

 hand of art. As we cast our eyes over this fresh and delightful 

 valley, we beheld a troop of wild horses quietly grazing on a green 

 lawn about a mile distant to our right, while to our left, at nearly 

 the same distance, were several buffaloes, some feeding, others re 

 posing and ruminating among the high rich herbage, under the 

 shade of a clump of cotton-wood trees. The whole had the appear 

 a'nce of a broi d, beautiful tract of pasture- land, on the highly orna- 

 mented estate of some gentleman-farm r, with his cattle grazing 

 about the lawns and meadows." p, 220. 



