— I19— 
roots. That is to say, along the boundary of civili- 
zation live various peaceful Indian tribes that have 
in part accommodated themselves to agriculture, and 
on the other side, on the Columbia River, near the 
Pacific Ocean, several, as yet quite unimportant set- 
tlements have been made by Americans and English- 
men. ‘The area between these extremes as yet no 
plow has touched; no homely roof of the settler in- 
vites the traveler to rest. The roving Indian alone 
here puts up his portable tent, and moves daily on 
with his faithful companion, the buffalo, who, like 
himself, retreats before the “pale faces.” The char- 
acter of the country favors the hunter’s life of these 
savage bands, and interposes great obstacles to the 
advance of the settler. For this enormous stretch of 
country is really only one huge prairie, rolling on in 
wave-like hills and broad plateaus, plentifully tra- 
versed, it is true, by brooks and rivers, but so scantily 
provided with wood, that even the mere traveler can- 
not always find the necessary firewood, but must take 
dried buffalo dung as an inadequate substitute. From 
north to south this prairie is crossed by the lofty 
mountain chain which traverses all western America 
in the direction just mentioned, bearing various names 
in the different countries it crosses, but known in 
North America under the general name of Rocky 
Mountains, and in South America as the Andes. Out 
of these mountains, whose peaks are covered with 
everlasting ice and snow, issue the streams which 
traverse this wilderness, and send their waters to 
Geographical 
and 
Historical 
Survey~ 
