INTRODUCTION. 
3 
while ravines run from them to the rivers. These are, at some 
points, quite deep and difficult to cross, and, to a traveller unac¬ 
quainted with the country, somewhat vexatious, especially where 
the prairie grass is as high as a person’s head while seated in a 
carriage. There is little trouble, however, if travellers keep back 
from the water-courses, and near the high lands. These ravines 
are in many instances pictures of beauty, with tall, graceful trees, 
cotton-wood, black walnut, hickory, oak, elm and linwood, stand¬ 
ing near, while springs of pure cold water gush from the rock. 
The bluffs are a formation unknown in form and appearance, in 
any other portion of the West. At a little distance, a person 
could scarcely realize that art had not added her finishing touches 
to a work, which nature had made singularly beautiful. Many of 
the bluffs appear like the cultivated grounds about fine old resi¬ 
dences within the Eastern States, terrace rising above terrace, with 
great regularity; while others look like forts in the distance. In 
the eastern part of the territory, most of the timber is upon the 
rivers and creeks, though there are in some places most delightful 
spots ; high hills crowned with a heavy growth of trees, and deep 
vales where rippling waters gush amid a dense shade of flower¬ 
ing shrubbery; all reminding me of dear New England homes, 
where art and taste had labored long. Higher than the bluffs are 
natural mounds, which also have about them the look of art. 
They rise to such a height as to be seen at a great distance, and 
add peculiar beauty to the whole appearance of the country. 
From the summit of these the prospect is almost unlimited in 
extent, and unrivalled in beauty. The prairie for miles, with its 
gently undulating rolls, lies before the eye. Rivers, glistening in 
the sunlight, flow on between banks crowned with tall trees; —- 
beyond these, other high points arise. Trees are scattered here 
and there like old orchards, and cattle in large numbers are graz¬ 
ing upon the hillside, and in the valleys, giving to all the look of 
cultivation afid home life. It is, indeed, difficult to realize that 
for thousands of years this country has been a waste, uncultivated 
and solitary, and that months only have elapsed since the white 
settler has sought here a home. 
