ST. LOUIS. 223 



beyond the fair valleys of the Ohio, towards the 

 great rocky chain of mountains which forms the 

 backbone of North America, before you can 

 reach the buffalo, and see him roving in his 

 sturdy independence upon the vast elevated 

 plains, which extend to the base of the Eocky 

 Mountains. 



Hie with us then to the West ! let us quit the 

 busy streets of St. Louis, once considered the 

 outpost of civilization, but now a flourishing 

 city, in the midst of a fertile and rapidly grow- 

 ing country, with towns and villages scattered 

 for hundreds of miles beyond it ; let us leave 

 the busy haunts of men, and on good horses 

 take the course that will lead us into the buf- 

 falo region, and when we have arrived at the 

 sterile and extended plains which we desire 

 to reach, we shall be recompensed for our toil- 

 some and tedious journey ; for there we may 

 find thousands of these noble animals, and be 

 enabled to study their habits, as they graze and 

 ramble over the prairies, or migrate from one 

 range of country to another, crossing on their 

 route water-courses, or swimming rivers at places 

 where they often plunge from the muddy bank 

 into the stream, to gain a sand-bar or shoal, 

 midway in the river, that affords them a resting 

 place, from which, after a little time, they can 

 direct their course to the opposite shore, when, 



