VARIETIES OF PRAIRIE. 19 



There are four different kinds of prairies, though 

 I sincerely trust the English hunter who visits 

 America in search of game may never have occasion 

 to hunt on the fourth, which consists only of barren 

 sands. There are several of these deserts, but none 

 so large in extent or so well known as that lying to 

 the south of Santa Fe, which bears the dismal name 

 of Jornada del Muerte (Journey of Death.) 



Of course, so vast an area of prairie land presents 

 a great variety of climate, as well as of animal and 

 vegetable produce. On the frozen plains of the 

 north, a stunted growth of grass barely suffices to 

 save the reindeer from starvation. In the central 

 regions the climate is temperate, and the prairies 

 produce a large quantity of vegetable food for the 

 support of the many animals that roam over them. 

 To the south, where the sun is more powerful, there 

 grows a thick tall grass, sometimes reaching higher 

 than a horse's belly, though there are spots where 

 the herbage has been consumed, and the surface 

 presents a sweet, succulent, short food for the animals 

 that eagerly seek it. 



From the west bank of the Mississippi to the foot 

 of the Eocky Mountains, the prairie stretches, being 

 neither a horizontal plain nor a continuous meadow. 

 There are many streams, — tributaries to the great 

 river, — and these streams have generally along their 

 banks small detached groups of trees, the cotton- 



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