cae Le 
TheIndians cjally the herds of buffalo, will be less sensibly felt 
with the gradual progress of civilization. [Illinois in 
former days had many treeless tracts that became 
’ wooded by natural means as the soil was cultivated. 
But the greatest danger threatens the Indians from 
the West; from the settlements on the Columbia. 
Along the Columbia River various Indian tribes have 
already perished; the rest live in entire dependence 
on the whites. 
So the waves of civilleaGon will draw nearer and 
nearer from the East and from the West, till they 
cover the sandy plains, and cast their spray on the 
feet of the Rockies. The few fierce tribes who may 
have maintained themselves until that time in the 
mountains, may offer some resistance to the progress 
of the waves, but the swelling flood will rise higher 
and higher, till at last they are buried beneath it. The 
buffalo and the antelope will be buried with them; 
and the bloody tomahawk will be buried too. But 
for all that there will be no smoking of the pipe of 
peace; for the new generation with the virtues of 
civilization will bring also its vices. It will ransack 
the bowels of the mountains to bring to light the most 
precious of all metals, which, when brought to the 
light, will arouse strife and envy and all ignoble pas- 
sions, and the sons of civilization will be no happier 
than their red brethren who have perished. 
