and the bottom or valley is very narrow. Some of the hills may even be called mountains.
The islands of the Missouri are, in general, well wooded, and present on all sides most agreeable views. On some is found the red cedar, the most durable wood of the country, lasting longer than any other when plunged in water or buried in earth. If we except the space between the Niobrara and Mankizita, where the low prairies are rare, and where the upland is almost entirely unwooded, this district has many fine sites, which seem to invite the pioneer and say "The time is not far off; here you will raise your
cabin and till your field." Coal is also very abundant, and will supply the failure of the forests.
From the Mankizita to the great bend of the Missouri, and thence to Fort Mandan, and even about the mouth of the Yellowstone, on both banks, the country is very fine; the fertile soil gives most abundant crops. Here and there on the banks of the great rivers the forests are pretty fine, while in the upland plains, as you recede from the river, the country is destitute of trees and even of bushes.
In my visits to the Indian tribes, I have several times traversed the immense plains of the West. I have traveled over various sections, from the frontiers to the Pacific, and from the Hudson Bay territory, along the Saskatchewan and Athabasca, to Great Salt Lake, now the headquarters of the Mormons. Every time that I have traveled over these plains, I have found myself amid a painful void; Europe's thousands of poor, who cry for bread and wander
without shelter or hope, often occur to my thoughts. " Unhappy poor," I often cry, "why are ye not here? Your
industry and toil would end your sorrows. Here you might rear a smiling home, and reap in plenty the fruit of your
toil." Yes, this void exists; and when I say it must be filled by an industrious and persevering population, I concur with the experience of all travelers.
It would be impossible for me to describe the sombre silence that reigns in this vast desert. You may pass weeks