48 NEW TRACKS EST NORTH AMEEICA. 



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nearly doubled, and diu^ing montlis wh-ich used always to 

 pass by with cloudless skies, reviving showers arc of Acquent 

 occurrence, and heavy dews refresh the ground. We may 

 confidently expect, therefore, that the area of arable land on 

 these vast plains will gradually increase, and that the dry 

 belt of country will become narrowed indefinitely, by the 

 ' skill and industry of the husbandman. 



At sunset, on this Sunday evening, unusual activity might 

 June 23. havc been seen in our camp. We had crossed 

 the Smoky Hill Fork for the last time, and had pitched our 

 tents on its banks, in a spot known as Death Hollow. The 

 name was not a prepossessing one, but so many traias had 

 been attacked there, and so much Kfe had been taken on 

 that piece of bottom-land, that it was, at all events, appro- 

 priate. Trains which camped there, it was said, were sure 

 to be attacked; there were, however, three most temptmg 

 inducements to remain — abundance of wood, water, and 

 grass. 



On one side were the blnffs, which abruptly separated the 

 depressed valley from the general level of the plain. On the 

 other flowed the stream, its banks clothed with willow, cotton- 

 wood trees, and tall rank grass ; beyond were the bluffs of the 

 opposite side, lying pretty close to the river. About a mile 

 farther up the stream, on a carpet of the greenest grass, 

 beneath a cluster of large cotton-wood trees, the bleached 

 skeletons of a great many buffalo lay altogether, showii 

 that this place had been a favourite cam ping- ground for 

 Indian hunting parties. 



At seven o'clock we were roused from our languid enjoy- 

 ment of the cool evening breeze and the glorious sunset^ by 

 two or thi'ee shots fired in quick succession from the plains, 

 and one retmn shot from oiu: sentinel on the bluffs, who ran 



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