SOMETHING TO LAUGH AT. 61 



^oldi them ? Other sections of country, under .ess favorable circimi- 

 ■tances, are not wanting in this respect. j v , -i, 



Whv is it ? Timber of every kind adapted to the zone and chmate will 

 grow as thriaily when planted here, as elsewhere. The frontier forests of 

 our Western States have been observed for years past to make s ow bat 

 constant encroachment upon contiguous prairies, from all sides, where, ae 

 vet, they have a foothold ;-and why ? Partly, because their enlargement 

 Is not circumvented by those annual burnings that formerly devoured every 

 tender shoot daring to raise its head above ground ; and, partly, through 

 the operation of other causes, sure and gradual in their effect, which hava 

 planted the groves of other lands and taught their branches to wave in tht? 

 breeze. Doubtless the same causes would produce the same results, aL 

 over these vast regions, as elsewhere. _ ,• i, ^. „ , iciimnl,- 



But, why have they not?— why are the prames timbeness? biinp!}, 

 because a sufficiency of time has not yet elapsed for the operation of these 

 causes,— timber has hitherto had no possible chance for generation, iho 

 phenomenon, if rightly viewed, will thus explain itself. Geology ponus to 

 the time when these vast solitudes were the bed of old Ocean and the home 

 of waves,— but, gradually emerging or suddenly elevated from the watery 

 abyss they now present some of the more recent formations ot dry ^ana. 



Herbao-e and grass, being more easily propagated than trees,— sown a? 

 are their seeds by tlie birds and scattered by the winds ot heaven, —in a 

 brief interval, beswathed the new-born earth with smiling green. Ihus 

 clothed with verdancy, they soon became the favorite pastures oi t.w 

 countless herds that thronged them. With game, appeared the red m; n 

 to hunt it, and with him the yearly conflagrations that now repel the in- 

 truding woodlands and confirm the unbroken sway of solitude amid her 

 far extending domains. c i tv, iV,^ 



Here, then, we have spread before us the prairies as we hnU them,— me 

 problem of their existence needs no further solution. 



Oct. I2th StiU continumg up the Platte by its south bank, we made 

 camp at night near the head of Grand Island. During our progress we 

 saw large quantities of wild geese and cranes in the river bottom.s, that 

 presented tempting marks for our voyageurs. One of the latter,— a tall, 

 raw-boned, half-crazed, and self-coniident Missouri « Ned,"— good natured 

 and inane,— sporting the familiar soubriqvet of "Big Jim,"— wis nng lo 

 prove the truth of the Dogberry axiom, that " some things may be done as 

 well others," started to approach a large flock of sand-hill cranes, parading 

 half obscured in a plat of grass near the road side. 



The wary birds, however, caught glimpse of the approaching Nimrod 

 and flew. Still our hero advanced, crawling upon all-fours, to within sixty 

 or seventy yards of their recent position, when, raising up, he cspyed an 

 object which his excited imagination portrayed a crane, and pron\ptly yielded 

 to it the contents of his rifle. 



Of course the obstinate creature remained in statu quo. 



Re-loading with all possible speed, he again fired ! But the second ahfll 

 proved futile as the first. . »:n 



Determined the next should count whether or no, he advanced stiU 

 nearer, and had raised for his third discharge, before the naked truth bur* 

 6 



