102 Hills and Lakes. 



I was awaj in the midst of tlie broad prairies of 

 tbe West. They lay there, as they came from the 

 Creator's hand. The eye of civihzation had never be- 

 fore looked upon them, and no civilized man had set 

 his foot upon the green grass that vegetated npon 

 their bosom. All around me Avere vast plains, — tree- 

 less and shrubless as a shorn meadow. Away off, 

 on the one hand, hanging like a blue dim shadow 

 upon the horizon, was a belt that I knew to be tim- 

 ber, while on the other, on the very outside boundary 

 of vision, loomed up the lofty peaks of the Eocky 

 Mountains, — moveless and fixed, like sentinels of 

 God, watching the boundless plains beneath them. 

 The tall grass waved, like vast fields of grain in the 

 summer y/inds ; rich flowers of the most gorgeous 

 hues, sent their wild fragrance abroad on the air, 

 charming the vision by their glory, and entrancing 

 the senses by their sweetness. In all this vast plain, I 

 saw no living thing. All around me was silence ; 

 vegetation alone seemed to live there, and that grew 

 and flourished in richest and wildest luxuriance. It 

 was like a vast garden, planted and nourished by the 

 hand of nature, unaided, as it was unchecked, by the 

 ingenuity or the industry of man. Suddenly a blight 



