32 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 
When studying on the distant and far-west plains of 
America the habits of the buffalo (for though this name is 
erroneous, still it is the appellation by which I knew them 
and daily heard them called), or pursuing them to supply 
our camp with food, I never, in the retrospect of a long 
and adventurous life, enjoyed such perfect health, for the 
air on these distant plains is the purest I have ever breathed. 
Frequently on a knoll I have stood, after some unusually 
hard run, inhaling and enjoying its freshness as the thirsty 
traveler does a cup of clear cool water drawn from a mount- 
ain stream. Each day you perform your allotted work, 
and no cares are sufficiently weighty to be dwelt upon or 
procrastinated till they return with redoubled force. Your 
horses are your companions; hardy and enduring you have 
proved them to be; and between master and steed a bond 
of sympathy springs up, the animal being all reliance, the 
owner determined that the confidence shall not be mis- 
placed. With the true-hearted sportsman, who loves hunt- 
ing for the pleasure it affords, and the opportunities of 
studying nature as it emanates from the Creator’s hands, 
carnage when useless is detestable: unnecessarily taxing 
the endurance of his steed, or paining it with uncalled-for 
punishment, is a crime he would no more be guilty of than 
the honest man of despoiling his friend. Again, your gun 
or rifle, ever a willing servant when properly taken care of, 
requires no small amount of attention; to no other hands 
than your own trust it to be cleaned. However high your 
birth, delicate your nurturing, or boundless your means, to 
do without the assistance of hirelings, and rely entirely on 
yourself, is far from derogatory; on the contrary, it is de- 
serving of commendation, and the benefit that will result 
in after-life from such lessons can not be too highly esti- 
mated. I have known a few months of wild Western life 
do more good in forming a character than years passed in 
