such a distance as to appear like black spots or dots. How different are the feelings in the midst of this romantic scenery, from those experienced in the close forests of the Ohio?
At four o'clock hoisted sail with a fair wind. From the moment of our departure, we were hardly ever out of sight of herds of buffaloes, feeding on the hills and in the plains, and in the course of the day saw elk and antelopes in abundance. These objects enliven the scenery, but there is something strange in thus passing day after day without meeting any human beings. A vast country inhabited only by buffaloes, deer, and wolves, has more resemblance to the fictions of the 'Arabian Nights Entertainments' than to reality. Towards evening, seeing a number of buffaloes crowded on a small beach at the foot of an island, orders were given to observe silence, while seven or eight of us posted ourselves to the best advantage. They suffered us to approach within thirty or forty yards, while they stood gazing at the sail with blank indifference. We selected the fattest and fired on him together. Notwithstanding his wounds, which must have been mortal, he endeavoured to make off with {134} the rest. We pursued him into the island—the animal had now become ferocious from his wounds, and it was found dangerous to approach him. He received twenty balls in his body before he was brought to the ground.
The island is beautiful. It is completely surrounded by cotton wood and cedar trees, but the space within is a handsome clear meadow. Along the edges of the woods in the inside, there are great quantities of gooseberry bushes; all these islands are much alike in this respect, and surpass any I have seen on the lower part of the river.
Monday 10th. During the whole of this day had a fine wind which enabled us to make thirty-five miles. En-
