34 VALETUDINARIANS. 



season of departure, therefore, it is a place of 

 much bustle and active business. 



Among tlie concourse of travellers at tliis 

 * starting point,' besides traders and tourists, a 

 number of pale-faced invalids are generally 

 to be met with. The Prairies have, in fact, 

 become very celebrated for their sanative 

 effects — more justly so, no doubt, than the 

 most fashionable watering-places of the North. 

 Most chronic diseases, particularly liver com- 

 plaints, dyspepsias, and similar affections, are 

 often radically cured ; owing, no doubt, to the 

 peculiarities of diet, and the regular exercise 

 incident to prairie life, as well as to tlie purity 

 of the atmosphere of those elevated unem- 

 barrassed regions. An invaUd myself, I can 

 answer for the efficacy of the remedy, at least 

 in my own case. Though, like other valetudi- 

 narians, I was disposed to provide an ample 

 supply of such commodities as I deemed ne- 

 cessary for my comfort and health, I was not 

 long upon the prairies before I discovered that 

 most of such extra preparations were unne- 

 cessary, or at least quite dispensable. A few 

 knick-knacks, as a httle tea, rice, fruits, crack- 

 ers, etc., suffice very weU for the first fortni^ 

 after which the invalid is generally able 

 take the fare of the hunter and teamster. 

 Though I set out myself in a carnage, be- 

 fore the close of the first week I saddled my 

 pony; and when we reached the buffldo 

 range, I was not only as eager for the chase as 

 the sturdiest of my companions, but I enjoy- 

 ed far more exquisitely my share of the buf- 



to 



