The Arkansas advocate., 1835-04-17

' Cumanches, mounted on noble swift hoF- ses, with their long lances, their quiyer at the back. their bow, perhaps their gun, and their sfiieid ornamented gaudiy with ieath- CTS and red cloth, and round as Nnrval's, or as the full moon; if you imagine them lowering about in the prairie, chasing the buffalo or attacking an enemy, you have an image ot the prairie. such as no book ever described adequately to me.
 l have seen the prairie under all it's tli- versailles, and in all it's appearances. from those which have described, to the uneven, bushy praries which lie south of Red Ri- yer, and to the llimtable Stake Prairie which lies from almost under tie shadow of the mountains to the heads of the Brazos and of Red River, and in which neither bubaloes nor horses are to be found. | have seen the prairie, and lived in |, in sum- mer and ln winter l have seen 1t with the sun rising calmly from is hreaat, like sudden fire kindled in the dim distance; and with the sunset flushing in its sky with quiet and sublime beauty. There IS less of the gorgeous and grand character, however, belonging to them, than that which accom- panies the rise and set of the sun upon the ocean or upon the mountains; but there is beauty and snblimity enough in them 10 at- tract the attention and interest the mind.
 l have seen tie mirage, too, painting lakes dnd fires and groves on the grassy ridges near the bounds of Missouri, in the stlli autumn afternoon, and cheating the traveller by.Its splendid 9eeepiong. have seen the prairie, and stood long and weary guard in il, by moonlight and starlight and stern. It strikes me IS the most magnif- cent, stern, and terribly grand scene on earth-a storm in the prairie. It is like a storm al sea, except ln ene respect--and in that It seems 10 me to be superior. The stiffness of the desert and illinitabie plain. while the snow IS raging over it's surface, is always more fearful to me than the wild roar of the waves;s and it seems unnatural --this dead quiet, while the upper elements are so tiercely disturbed; it seems as if there ought to be the roll and the roar of the waves. The sea, the woods, the mountains all suffer in comparison with the prafie--that is, on the whoIe--although in particular circumstances either of them is superior. We may speak of the ineessant motion and tumut of the waves, the un. bounded greenness and dimness, and the lonely music of the forests, and the high magailicence, the precipitous grandeur, and the summer snow of the gliitering cones of the mountains: but still, the prairie has stronger iloid upon ihe soul, and more powerful Ii not so vivid an impression upon the feelings. It's sublimity arises from it's nnbounded extent, it's barren manotony and desolaiion, it's still, unmoved, calm. stern, almost selt-coniident grandeur, its strange power of deception, its want of echo, and Tn fine, it's power of throwing man back upon himself and giving him feeling of lone helplessness, strangely mingled at the same time with a feeling of liberty and free- dom from restraint. It is particularly sub- lime, as you draw nigh to the Rocky Mountains, and see them shot up in the west, with their lofty tops looking like white clouds resting upon their summits. No- thing ever equaIled the intense feeling of delight with which I first saw the eternal mountains marking the western edge of the desert. But let Us return to Lewis.
 After leaving the Cherokees, he and his companions kept up the Washta for eight days, until it became so small that they could step across 1t, and branehad out into q number of small heads, coming down from different parts ol the prairie. In these eight days they travelled two hundred and fifty miles. Lewis was loaded with his heavy gun, his saddle bags full of clothes. and generally from ten to forty pounds of buffalo meat. Game was abundant thus far, and they suffered nothing but fatigue
 Ger 20.-On this day, in the morning, they left the main Washita, now very small, and struck course nearly west two de- grees north, through the prairie. After tra- yelling in treeless and broken prairie un- til midnight, they came upon deep hollow, near the head of 1t, in which water was running towards tho main iT'asilita, and en- camped under big elm.
 21.-Started again, and travelled all day towards the dividing land between them and the waters of the Canadian, and at midnight came to the head of another hollow, similar to the one the night before. This Lewis takes to be the head of the longest branch of the Fausse Washita. From this head of the Washita to the Cross Timbers Is probably three hundred and forty miles, not calculating the bends of the river, brt keep ing course nearly straight.
 22.-This morning they Jeff the head waters of the Washita, and affer travelling about twenty miles in course yves, two de- grees north, they came upon q hollow from