28 THE PLAINS. 



The buffalo is in no way necessary to the formation 

 of the ' buffalo wallow,' it being found in parts of the 

 country where there are no buffalo. He simply uses the 

 mud bath provided by nature, and in doing so renders his 

 tub more shapely and symmetrical. The process of for- 

 mation is exactly similar to that of the ' hog wallow ' of 

 Southern Texas. Given certain conditions of soil, position, 

 and rainfall, and prolific nature does the rest. Besides its 

 use as a bath the ' buffalo wallow ' is an admirable reser- 

 voir for the preservation of water. The high levels on 

 which they occur are frequently far from natural springs 

 or water-courses, and the buffalo and other game would 

 suffer greatly but for the water stored and retained in 

 these holes. Often when marching in unknown regions, 

 across the hot and dusty plain, with men and animals 

 suffering for water, I have hailed with delight the appear^ 

 ance of these natural tanks, and many a pleasant camp 

 have I made beside one, the fuel for cooking being the 

 ample store of dried buffalo droppings, or chips in profu- 

 sion over the prairie. 



The plains proper are treeless. The high first plain 

 affords in its deep canons protection to a growth of 

 small pine and cedar. The second plain is entirely 

 bare on its surface. The gorges cut by the streams 

 (whether rising in the mountains or in its own bosom) 

 are filled with a fine growth of large trees, cotton-wood, 

 hockberry, elm, with shrubs, bushes, vines, and a pro- 

 fusion of flowers. As the gorges widen the timber grows 

 more and more scarce, and by the time the stream 

 arrives at the third plain, there is scarcely a tree or 

 even a shrub to be found on its banks. The Platte, the 

 Arkansas, and the Cimarron, filter their waters for hun- 

 dreds of miles through the sands of their shallow beds, 

 without a tree to give life and variety to the scene. Their 

 tributaries murmuring brooks, embowered in shade, pic- 

 turesque with festooned vines, lovely with flowers and 

 vocal with the songs of myriads of birds ; while the canons 



