204 PRAIRIE FLOWERS. 
latter there are three kinds, black, red, and 
white. About the ravines and marshy grounds 
(particularly towards the east) there are differ- 
ent kinds of small onions, with which thes 
traveller may season his fresh meats. On the 
plains, also, [ have met with a species resem- 
bling garlic in flavor. 
But the flowers are among the most inte- 
resting products of the frontier prairies. These 
gay meadows wear their most fanciful piebald 
robes from the earliest spring till divested of 
them by the hoary frosts of autumn. When 
again winter has fled, but before the grassy 
green appears, or other vegetation has ven- 
tured to peep above the earth, they are be- 
speckled in many places with a species of 
erythronum, a pretty lilaceous little flower, 
which springs from the ground already deve- 
loped, between a pair of lanceolate leaves, 
and is soon after in full bloom. But the flo- 
riferous region only extends about two hun- 
dred miles beyond the border: the high plains 
are nearly as destitute of flowers as they are 
of fruits. 
The chmate of most parts of the Prairies is 
no doubt healthy in the extreme; for a purer 
atmosphere is hardly to be found. But the 
cold rains of the ‘wet season,’ and the colder 
snows of winter, with the annoying winds 
that prevail at nearly all times, often render it 
very unpleasant. It can hardly be said, it is 
true, that the Prairies have their regular ‘dry 
and rainy seasons;’ yet the summers are often 
so droughty, that, unless some change should 
a Sp 
