120 C. Atwater, Esq. on the 



mountains there neither is, nor was there ever, any thing like 

 these prairies and barrens, if we except those found in the 

 western part of New-York, in the Genesee country,, and in 

 the vicinity of the lakes in that quarter. These, the writer of 

 this saw nearly thirty years since, and before that country was 

 much settled. Those prairies were similar in appearance 

 to ours in the west, and were, beyond doubt, formed by similar 

 means. 



Speculations on the Origin of the Prairies and Barrens. 



What were the causes which contribute to form these natural 

 meadows ? That water was the principal agent in their for- 

 mation, we very little doubt ; but this is not the common 

 opinion. According to that opinion, our prairies and barrens, 

 and especially the latter, were occasioned entirely by the 

 burning of the woods by the Indians, in order to take the wild 

 game. Let us try this opinion by the indubitable appearances 

 exhibited by these prairies and barrens. 



They are invariably found in a level country, or in one 

 which is nearly so ; and the soil is generally, if not always, 

 more moist than that which is uneven and hilly. Would not 

 the leaves, where the land is dry, burn over with as great 

 facility, or even with greater facility, than the grass would 

 where the land is wet ? Would there not be more wild game 

 where they could find their food in plenty, such as acorns and 

 hickory nuts, on which they feed in winter, than on land 

 where no food, except dry grass and weeds, were to be found ? 

 It is well known that these prairies and barrens could not 

 be burnt over when the vegetable productions which cover 

 them were growing. At the only season when it is possible 

 to burn them, that is in winter, to what kind of regions do the 

 wild animals resort ? Is it not to the thick woods ? Every 

 hunter will answer in the affirmative. For the space of twenty- 

 five years, the writer of this lived in the vicinity of Indians, 

 and from information on which he relies, as well as from his 

 own actual observation, he confidently avers that the Indians 

 neither are,- nor ever were, in the habit of firing the woods 



