 gave them the appellation of meadows. As the English
succeeded the French, and found a peculiarity of nature, differing from all they
had yet seen on the continent, already distinguished by a word that did not
express any thing in their own language, they left these natural meadows in
possession of their title of convention. In this manner has the word Prairie
been adopted into the English tongue.
    The American prairies are of two kinds. Those which lie east of the
Mississippi are comparatively small, and exceedingly fertile, and are always
surrounded by forests. They are susceptible of high cultivation, and are fast
becoming settled. They abound in Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana. They
labour under the disadvantages of a scarcity of wood and water, - evils of a
serious character, until art has had time to supply the deficiencies of nature.
As coal is said to abound in all that region, and wells are generally
successful, the enterprise of the emigrants is gradually prevailing against
these difficulties.
    The second description of these natural meadows lies west of the
Mississippi, at a distance of a few hundred miles from that river, and is called
the Great Prairies. They resemble the steppes of Tartary more than any other
known portion of the world; being, in fact, a vast country, incapable of
sustaining a dense population, in the absence of the two great necessaries
already named. Rivers abound, it is true; but this region is nearly destitute of
brooks and the smaller water courses, which tend so much to comfort and
fertility.
    The origin and date of the Great American Prairies form one of nature's most
majestic mysteries. The general character of the United States, of the Canadas,
and of Mexico, is that of luxuriant fertility. It would be difficult to find
another portion of the world, of the same extent, which has so little useless
land as the inhabited parts of the American Union. Most of the mountains are
arable, and even the prairies, in this section of the republic, are of deep
alluvion. The same is true between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific. Between
the two lies the broad belt, of comparative desert, which is the scene of this
tale, appearing to interpose a barrier to the progress of the American people
westward.
    The Great Prairies appear to be the final gathering place of the red men.
The remnants of the Mohicans, and the Delawares, of the Creeks, Choctaws, and
Cherokees, are destined to fulfil their time on these vast plains. The entire
number of the Indians, within the Union, is differently computed, at
