ST. LOUIS. 223 
beyond the fair valleys of the Ohio, towards the 
great rocky chain of mountains which forms the 
backbone of North America, before you car 
reach the buffalo, and see him roving in his 
sturdy independence upon the vast elevatcd 
plains, which extend to the base of the Rocky 
Mountains. 
Hie with us then to the West! let us quit the 
busy streets of St. Louis, once considered the 
outpost of civilization, but now a flourishing 
city, in the midst of a fertile and rapidly grow- 
ing country, with towns and villages scattered 
for hundreds of miles beyond it; let us leave 
the busy haunts of men, and on good horses 
take the course that will lead us into the buf- 
falo region, and when we have arrived at the 
sterile and extended plains which we desire 
to reach, we shall be recompensed for our toil- 
some and tedious journey; for there we may 
find thousands of these noble animals, and be 
enabled to study their habits, as they graze and 
ramble over the prairies, or migrate from one 
range of country to another, crossing on their 
route water-courses, or swimming rivers at places 
where they often plunge from the muddy bank 
into the stream, to gain a sand-bar or shoal 
midway in the river, that affords them a resting 
place, from which, after a little time, they can 
direct their course to the opposite shore, when, 
