126 * NOTES TAKEN. 
bluffs lining the opposite shore of the’ river below, the green 
_ belt of timber marking its course, and in front the wide prairie 
with its yellow coating of buffalo grass, studded with the pale 
green mesquite, a beautiful combination for a landscape paint- 
ing. 
My wonder has been throughout my journey that so few 
‘if any of our artists ever join expeditions to the plains, A 
portfolio eould goon be filled with novelties, compared with 
which the hackneyed subjects universally to be found on sale 
or exhibition sink into mediocrity. Every variety can be 
found there, hill, dale, lake, valley, mountain, river and plain, 
whilst color, tint, light and shade are constant in quantity and 
‘ quality. Let but the experiment be tried, and prairie scenery 
will become a valued gem in the gallery. 
Why is it that no one returns from the plains disappointed. 
It is because*their anticipations have been doubly realized. 
This fact is to my mind conclusive, that visits of artists to the 
plains would not only end in adorning the art, but give a better 
' impression of that comparatively “terra incognita.” I say a 
better, not a full impression, for to be coe realized it must 
be seen and passed over. 
We nooned near another crater, which, like the former, was 
very ancient; the ground being covered with scorie, worn 
and abraded by time and weather. We found a new species 
of cactus, growing like a tree, the stalk and branches having 
a woody fibre, and studded with the thorny pulp peculiar to 
that plant. 
