164 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. 



at present is undoubtedly to be found in the fact, that our 

 immense territories have as yet formed an. outlet for such 

 fierce unbending spirits, in the better work of pioneering, 

 than the worse of emeutes, as in hampered France. Crowd 

 such natures too much, and the friction assuredly causes an 

 explosion ! They are too combustible to be trusted near the 

 fires which rage beneath such cauldrons as Paris ! Give them 

 air and "elbow room!" Cool them beneath the shadows of 

 wide forests, and beside the rivulets that murmur, glistening 

 here and there — or by the deep beds where mighty torrents 

 roll and roar — then you make human beings of them — you 

 temper down that savage restlessness of restraint which makes 

 of them beasts and devils elsewhere. However stern the code 

 their passions and necessities may cause them to adopt, yet 

 it is sure to be based upon justice, and lead to wide utility. 

 Society had always better let such men go — if they want to 

 go — if it be even to "the fartherest Ind" — for it is as sure in 

 that event to hear of them again for ultimate good, as it is 

 certain, if they are restrained, to feel them for immediate evil- 

 Young Boone passed through Virginia until he reached the 

 wooded slopes, dark glens, and lofty cliffs of the Alleghany 

 Mountains. Here at last it was lonely and wild enough for 

 him. Here he felt was home and peace. Parts of this region 

 were singularly picturesque and lovely, as they indeed still 

 are. The fine open woods, heavily sodded with a rich and 

 nutritious grass, afforded at that time the most abundant 

 pasturage for great herds of deer, while now these lovely 

 slopes are covered with large grazing farms, sustaining some 

 of the finest cattle in the world. 



The young adventurer soon built him a little hut in a ravine 

 on the side of a mountain, about twenty miles beyond what 

 he then supposed to be the outermost boundary of settlement. 

 He then quietly proceeded to explore the region round about 

 — pursuing industriously, in the meanwhile, his chosen voca- 

 tion of hunter. This was at that time a far more honorable 



