| | 1 | Author: | Irving
Washington
1783-1859 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The Crayon miscellany  | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | In the often vaunted regions of the Far West,
several hundred miles beyond the Mississippi, extends
a vast tract of uninhabited country, where
there is neither to be seen the log house of the
white man, nor the wigwam of the Indian. It
consists of great grassy plains, interspersed with
forests and groves, and clumps of trees, and watered
by the Arkansas, the grand Canadian, the
Red River, and all their tributary streams. Over
these fertile and verdant wastes still roam the
Elk, the Buffalo, and the wild horse, in all their
native freedom. These, in fact, are the hunting
grounds of the various tribes of the Far West.
Hither repair the Osage, the Creek, the Delaware
and other tribes that have linked themselves
with civilization, and live within the vicinity
of the white settlements. Here resort also,
the Pawnees, the Comanches, and other fierce,
and as yet independent tribes, the nomades of
the prairies, or the inhabitants of the skirts of
the Rocky Mountains. The regions I have mentioned
forms a debateable ground of these warring
and vindictive tribes; none of them presume
to erect a permanent habitation within its borders.
Their hunters and “Braves” repair thither
in numerous bodies during the season of game,
throw up their transient hunting camps, consisting
of light bowers, covered with bark and skins,
commit sad havoc among the innumerable herds
that graze the prairies, and having loaded themselves
with venison and buffalo meat, warily
retire from the dangerous neighbourhood.
These expeditions partake, always, of a warlike
character; the hunters are all armed for action,
offensive and defensive, and are bound to
incessant vigilance. Should they, in their excursions,
meet the hunters of an adverse tribe,
savage conflicts take place. Their encampments,
too, are always subject to be surprised
by wandering war parties, and their hunters,
when scattered in pursuit of game, to be captured
or massacred by lurking foes. Mouldering
skulls and skeletons, bleaching in some dark ravine,
or near the traces of a hunting camp, occasionally
mark the scene of a foregone act of
blood, and let the wanderer know the dangerous
nature of the region he is traversing. It is the purport
of the following pages to narrate a month's
excursion to these noted hunting grounds, through
a tract of country which had not as yet been explored
by white men. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
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