52 LIFE IN THE FAR WEST. 



themselves ; whilst on the level meadow-land, topes of 

 trees with spreading foliage afford a shelter to the game 

 and cattle, and well- timbered knolls rise at intervals from 

 the plain. 



Many clear streams dashing over their pebbly beds inter- 

 sect the country, from which, in the noonday's heat, the 

 red-deer jump, shaking their wet sides as the noise of 

 approaching man disturbs them ; and booming grouse rise 

 from the tall luxuriant herbage at every step. Where the 

 deep escarpments of the river-banks exhibit the section of 

 the earth, a rich alluvial soil of surpassing depth courts the 

 cultivation of civilised man ; and in every feature it is evi- 

 dent that here nature has worked with kindliest and most 

 bountiful hand. 



For hundreds of miles along the western or right bank of 

 the Missouri does a country extend, with which, for fertility 

 and natural resources, no part of Europe can stand compari- 

 son. Sufficiently large to contain an enormous population, 

 it has, besides, every advantage of position, and all the 

 natural capabilities which should make it the happy abode 

 of civilised man. Through this unpeopled country the 

 United States pours her greedy thousands, to seize upon 

 the barren territories of her feeble neighbour. 



Camping the first night on "Black Jack," our moun- 

 taineers here cut each man a spare hickory wiping-stick for 

 his rifle ; and La Bonte, who was the only greenhorn of the 

 party, witnessed a savage ebullition of rage on the part of 

 one of his companions, exhibiting the perfect unrestraint 

 which these men impose upon their passions, and the bar- 

 barous anger which the slightest opposition to their will 

 excites. One of the trappers, on arriving at the camping- 

 place, dismounted from his horse, and, after divesting it of 

 the saddle, endeavoured to lead his mule by the rope up to 

 the spot where he wished to deposit his pack. Mule-like, 

 however, the more he pulled the more stubbornly she re- 

 mained in her tracks, planting her fore legs firmly, and 

 stretching out her neck with provoking obstinacy. Truth 

 to tell, it does require the temper of a thousand Jobs to 

 manage a mule ; and in no case does the wilful mulish- 



