chateaus, the dark ancient forests, the smiling manors, the model farms, the prairies specked with flowers, supporting innumerable herds and scattering abundance and happiness as far as its entrance into the Gulf of Mexico. 12
Often have I rested by banks of perpetual snow, or beside little lakes and marshes, a fall or noisy cascade or some fair and abundant fountain, whose tutelary spirit (to adopt an Indian idea) seems to invite the solitary passer to rest in the cool by its swift crystal flow. I have spread my bearskin and my buffalo robe, which formed my bed, and passed many nights in profound slumber, after the fatigues of a long day's travel, now at the sources of the Athabasca, Saskatchewan or Missouri, now at those of the Columbia, which in some cases are not more than a mile asunder, and then depart to opposite points of the compass, the one to the east and the other to the west, toward the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. In that elevated region, the atmosphere is of remarkable purity; by night, in the blue-black firmament, the moon and stars shine with wonderful brilliancy. Here, as everywhere, one cannot but repeat the beautiful words of Thomas a Kempis : " Lord, all that we have in the order of nature, it is thou that hast given it; and thy benefactions remind us without ceasing of thy goodness and tenderness, and the immense liberality thou usest toward us, thou from whom cometh every good. Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. Give me understanding, that I may know thy testimonies."
Excepting possibly the great Amazon river in South America, the Missouri is considered the longest stream on the globe. Its sources are in the Rocky Mountains, at 45°
north latitude and longitude 110° 30' west. Its three upper branches are the Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin. Thousands of miners are flocking thither at the present time,