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In Cairo, on the Missouri, he conceives that he has discovered the original Eden," described by Dickens in "Chuzzlewit," and where Mark Tapley had a most favourable opportunity of "coming out strong under circumstances." Without doubting the reality of his discovery, we think he might easily have multiplied such instances along the dreary Mississippi. At New Orleans pleasure and hospitality seem to have reigned supreme amongst its semi-continental people; and ere we bid adieu to the courtesies of life, we may give a sketch of a trifling incident that marks peculiarly the easy manners of the place. On his first arrival, he fails to distinguish his own lodging under the light of the uncertain moon:—

"After a little hesitation, I entered that which I thought most probable to be the right one, and passing through the porte cochère, I went up stairs, found doors and windows all thrown open; and I continued for some time wandering through rooms where the gilding of beautiful pictures glanced in the moonlight. I had not gone far when I felt I had mistaken the house. Curiosity, however, induced me to wander a little further before retracing my steps. My situation forcibly reminded me of the account of Don Alphonso, in Gil Blas, when driven by the storm to take shelter in the old Spanish house, through which he continued wandering from room to room, amidst splendid furniture, partially lighted by expiring lamps, until he reached the apartment of Seraphine, where he found the beautiful widow sleeping heavily and uneasily, through the sultry Spanish midsummer night. These reflections, however, were quickly interrupted by a lady's voice, calling out, Who is there?" I replied hastily, informing her of my having taken apartments in the Rue Royale that morning, and also of having forgotten both the number of the house and the name of its owner. Was it Mr. So and So's, or was it Colonel S.,' she kindly suggested; but quite in vain, nothing could bring it back to my memory. Well!' at length she replied, as my brother is gone to the country, you can sleep in his room to-night. Take the first turn at the foot of the steps, cross the large landing-place, and go into the room at the head of the large stairs. Stay; I will give you a light.' After a short pause, I heard, at the other side of the closed door, a crackling noise, announcing the ignition of a lucifer match, and immediately afterwards a lighted candle made its appearance, as well as a very pretty little jewelled hand, neatly pressed at the wrist with a very pretty little lace frill. Having taken the proffered candle, I thanked my hostess, and easily found

my way to the room she had described, where I slept most comfortably. In the morning I was awakened by an old negro woman, who brought me a cup of coffee, returning, before my toilet was completed, with a pair of handsome ivory-backed hair-brushes belonging to her mistress, together with her compliments to know if I had slept well."pp. 32-34.

With the deer-hunting in the Arkansas his book may be said to commence. His first efforts are of a more simple description, being a few shots at a "deer-lick," or place where the deer come to seek some natural deposit of salt. This, however, is soon varied by a process, called "pan-hunting" at night, which reminds us of an analogous kind of warfare waged against the fish in the Mediterranean, the picturesque effect of which must always catch the traveller's eye :—

"An iron pan attached to a long stick, serving as a handle, is carried in the left hand, over the left shoulder; near where the left hand grasps the handle is a small projecting stick, forming a fork on which to rest the rifle in firing. The pan is filled with burning pine knots, which being saturated with turpentine, shed a brilliant and constant light all round, shining into the eyes of any deer that may come in that direction, and making them look like two balls of fire.

"The night was most favourable, being pitch-dark, and after creeping about for some time, I beheld, from the light thrown from my pan, a pair of shining balls of fire moving up and down a short distance off. At first I took them for fireflies; but, on more attentive observation, I saw, by their simultaneous motion, that they must be the eyes of a deer. After groping a little farther in that direction, the eyes again appeared, and as they began to approach, the distance between them seemed gradually to increase, like the lamps of a travelling-carriage to a spectator watching its progress towards him, till the animal came so near that I could trace his outline; so, holding my pan steadily on my shoulder with my left hand, I raised my rifle with the right, the barrel resting in the notch before-mentioned, and suspecting that at night, from not being able to determine the hind sight, one is apt to shoot high in catching the front one clearly, I aimed so low that I could hardly, from force of habit, persuade myself to pull the trigger. When I fired, the deer gave a convulsive bound into the shades of night, and I thought he was lost.

"I had resumed my hunting-pan and rifle, and was leaning against a tree, when, like some phantom, the faint dusky outline of an

enormous stag walked noiselessly up, and was actually passing me. It made me, from the high state of excitement in which I then was, almost superstitious enough to fancy him the departed shade of an ancient denizen of these primeval forests. I fired rapidly as he passed in front of me. On receiving the ball, he rushed violently off; but, from the way in which I heard him thresh the bushes, I knew I had a good chance of finding him at daybreak. I had hardly loaded again, when three or four pairs of glowing eyes presented themselves, glancing about in several directions. I fired a chance shot at one, which fortunately brought the animal down on his tracks: hearing him struggling on the ground, I feared, by the sound, that he was not for one moment safe, I then threw down rifle and pan, and rushed up knife in hand. It was fortunate that I did so, for the stag was recovering, and just as I had seized him with my left hand by one of his horns, which being then only in the velvet, it broke in my grasp, so that I was compelled to drop my knife, and hold on to him with both hands, holloaing loudly for assistance, till the animal tore the front and sleeve of my shirt with his fore-feet, and made such a powerful fight, that had it not been for Thibault, who came up, attracted by my shouts, and stabbed him through the heart, I should not only have lost my stag, but have got the worst of it into the bargain."-pp. 43-50.

Five capital bucks were the produce of this first night. Presently we have our traveller beginning in right earnest, making his solitary bivouac in the forest, shooting, skinning, and cutting up his own supper, with an awkwardness that subsequent practice makes him now look on with contempt, and finally, killing a panther that ventured to make too close an acquaintance with him. Henceforth we may fairly consider him as having passed through the ceremony of savage initiation.

A visit to the Mammoth caves forms a short episode: he there walks some twenty miles up and down hill, and across rivers, catches fish without eyes, and altogether passes a most subterranean day. Chacun á son gout; it seems that some people find a peculiar luxury in interring themselves alive in such a place by way of raising their spirits:

"The temperature is always uniform, uninfluenced by that of the external air, which renders them, consequently, comfortable in winter, and delightfully cool in summer. The air inside is very pure; so much so, that invalids have tried the experiment of remaining for weeks under ground, and notwithstanding the inevitable gloom that must

me.

have attended their sojourn in such a dreary abode, have found themselves greatly invigorated, and their appetites much increased. One gentleman recovered in a most wonderful manner, after a residence of several months in a cottage there, which was pointed out to The young ladies had, the year before, voted too hot to dance above-ground, and had actually planned and given a subterranean ball; choosing a very fine cavern, spacious enough, but not too large to admit of its being properly lighted, and having a boarded floor laid down for the occasion.". p. 72.

Our traveller now commences the ascent of the Missouri, aided by an intrepid little steamer, which once a-year faces the rapid current for 2,000 miles to Fort Union, a great depot of the Fur Company's trade, and again descends, freighted with the costly skins collected during the past winter. Taking advantage of this for but 500 miles, he then abandons such civilised refinements for a more primitive and independent mode of travelling.

His party is formed of hardy hunters and trappers, and every variety of wild men, moving together on horseback ; at night camping on the ground, and by day hunting the game on which they live. Occasionally this exposed them to some deficiencies in the commissariat that were not always supplied by any very delicate luxuries. Thus Mr. Palliser receives an invitation from the chief of an Indian tribe to a

home," and despite some qualms of dog-feast;" he accepts gladly the "at conscience and of stomach, does not fail to assure us that often afterwards, when assailed by the pangs of hunger, he turned to the remembrance of this feast with envious regret.

Their larder, however, was in general supplied with more palatable food, and Mr. Palliser waxes positively eloquent in his glowing description of the flavour of buffalo meat. He mentions some remarkable instances where both it and the oxen beef were tried by Indians, Europeans, and Americans cided and unanimous in favour of the together, and where the verdict was dewild animal. He several times recurs to this topic, and quaintly concludes an excellent description of the buffalo's appearance and habits, with the criticism of a practised purveyor-" Taken altogether, they are a curious and interesting animal, and uncommonly good eating!"

About the end of October he reaches Fort Union, and here commences his buffalo hunting; first as an amusement, and soon as a necessity. The nature of the sport may be shortly told:

"The first object in approaching a herd of buffalo should be to get as near as possible before charging them; then, rush in with your horse at full speed, single out one animal, and detach him from the herd, which you will soon do, and after a turn or two be able to get a broadside shot, when should you endeavour to strike him behind the foreshoulder. While reloading slacken your horse's speed to a hand gallop. The general method of loading is to empty the charge from the horn slung round your neck into the palm of your hand, whence you can more easily pour it down the barrel; you then take a bullet wet out of your mouth, and throw it down upon the powder; by which means you avoid the necessity of using a ramrod, a most inconvenient process when riding fast on horseback. I found it from experience better to dispense with both powder-horn, ramrod, and copper caps altogether, and use a light self-priming flint gun, carrying the powder loose in the skirt pockets of my shooting coat, and thereby having no further delay than to thrust my hand in for it, and empty it down the barrel of my gun; accuracy in quantity at such close quarters being of small importance."-pp. 111, 112

But winter soon set in, wrapping the plains in universal snow, and binding all things in the rigid chains of that dreary region's iron frost. With

its first cold broke out an epidemic among the inhabitants of the Fort, which soon placed both hunters and doctor hors de combat. The garrison, of nearly fifty souls, thus became dependant on our traveller's prowess, and we have a narrative of fearful slaughters and hardships, which, perhaps, nothing but necessity could have enabled a denizen of Merrion-square and May Fair to have encountered. He had not only himself to slay the game, but to skin and cut it up, and carry back the available meat. On one occasion, he certainly had the assistance of some Indian ladies, but we doubt if their feminine accomplishments imparted much delicacy to the process:

"It was quite a party of pleasure for them, and by the way in which they performed the cutting up, that operation seemed to afford a considerable share of their enjoyment. They skinned and sliced slowly and delibe

rately, doing it in a most scientific manner, and with evident relish, dabbling in the blood, and actually drinking it, the youngest laughing at my aversion, and offering mo some in the palms of her hands."-p. 135.

Lest our readers should fancy that bisons are shot like grouse, and are quiet, defenceless creatures, we select a specimen of one keen encounter:

"I soon came in sight of mine. He was standing a little way off on the open plain, but the skirting willows and brushwood afforded me cover within eighty yards of him, profiting by which I crept up, and taking a deliberate aim, fired. The bull gave a convulsive start, moved off a little way, and turned his broadside again to me. I fired again, over one hundred yards this time; he did not stir. I loaded and fired the third time, whereupon he turned and faced me, as if about to show fight. As I was loading for a fourth shot he tottered forward a step or two, and I thought he was about to fall, so I waited for a little while, but as he did not come down I determined to go up and finish him. Walking up, therefore, to within thirty paces of him, till I could actually see his eyes rolling, I fired for the fourth time directly at the region of the heart, as I thought, but to my utter amazement up went his tail and down went his head, and with a speed that I thought him little capable of, he was upon me in a twinkling. I ran hard for it, but he rapidly overhauled me, and my situation was becoming anything but pleasant. Thinking he might, like our own bulls, shut the eyes in making a charge, I swerved suddenly to one side to escape the shock, but, to my horror, I failed in dodging him, for he bolted round quicker than I did, and affording me barely time to protect my stomach with the stock of my rifle, and to turn myself sideways as I sustained the charge, in the hopes of getting between his horns, he came plump upon me with a shock like an earthquake. My rifle stock was shivered to pieces by one horn, my clothes torn by the other; I flew into mid-air, scattering my prairie hens and rabbits, which had hitherto hung dangling by leathern thongs from my belt, in all directions, till landing at last, I fell unhurt in the snow, and almost over me -fortunately not quite-rolled my infuriated antagonist, and subsided in a snow drift. I was luckily not the least injured, the force of the blow having been perfectly deadened by the enormous mass of fur, wool and hair that clothed his shaggy head-piece."

This recreation was varied by a guerilla warfare against the wolves, from whom he stripped their skins, as spoils of war, and bore them off, not as trophies, but to barter for tobacco,

and other remnants of semi-civilisation. A huge dog, Ishmah by name, halfwolf himself-no doubt on the principle of setting a thief to catch a thief_ formed his companion in these solitary forays. How they managed to bivouac is worth hearing :—

"The woods along the banks of the river afforded me timber, already fallen and in every stage of decomposition, wherewith to light a fire at night; and when I stood and looked about me to choose a convenient spot near an ice-hole, Ishmah used to gaze into my face as if he could read my thoughts, and whine, as much as to say, 'I am tired, too. When I trampled down the snow, cut and strewed the willows, and proceeded to collect the wood, he used to watch me eagerly, and prick up his ears when he saw me take the flint and steel from my pouch, and the dry inner bark of the cotton-wood tree from my chest, in which to kindle the spark. The fire secure and burning well, I turned my attention to him, unharnessed him, unpacked his travail, and placed it aloft against the side of a tree to protect the leather straps from the voracity of the wolves. This done I spread my bed, and filled the kettles with water, took a handful of coffee-berries from my bag, which I roasted in the cover of the kettle, then wrapping them up in a piece of leather, I pounded them on a stump, and put them in the smaller kettle to boil, reserving the large one for the meat. These culinary proceedings Ishmah used to regard with the most intense interest, turning back, from time to time, as the eddies of pungent smoke from the damp fuel compelled him to avert his eyes. When supper was at last cooked and despatched (quickly enough on his part, poor fellow, for his share was sometimes very scanty), he sat up close beside me as I smoked my pipe and sipped my coffee; and when at last I got into bed, he used to lie down at the edge of the robe, with his back close up against my shoulders, and so we slept till morning. As soon as it was daylight we rose, Ishmah submitted patiently to be harnessed, and we resumed our march." -pp. 155-156.

Ishmah's poor relations, the famishing wolves, were sometimes excessively troublesome, and used to entice him to join their wild gambols, so as once closely to jeopardise our traveller's life:

"One day, after a long march, I was looking out for a convenient camping-place, when a she-wolf crossed the ice at some distance from where I was standing. In spite of all my exertions and threats, Ishmah immediately gave chase, and they continued their gambols until I attempted to approach

them, when, of course, the wolf made off at full speed followed by my dog with his travail behind him, loaded with everything I then possessed in the world. I followed shouting after him in vain until he entirely disappeared from my view, after which I continued running on the tracks, till darkness obliged me to abandon the pursuit, and I found myself a long way from timber, out on the broad prairie, alone on a vast barren waste of snow stretching around me on every side.

"My sensations were anything but enviable, on reflecting that I was about one hundred miles from any known habitation, and nearly one hundred and fifty from my destination, destitute of robe and blankets, with but very little powder in my horn, and only two bullets in my pouch. In short I was in a pretty considerable sort of a 'fix,' and had nothing for it but to make tracks again with all speed for the timber. Fortunately I found my way back to the river without much difficulty. It was a beautiful moonlight night, which enabled me to collect some fallen wood, and having lighted a fire, I seated myself beside it, and began to consider the probabilities of my ever reaching a trading post alive, in the event of Ishmah not returning, and how I should economise my ammunition and increase my rate of travelling, so as to effect this object. My prospects were dismal enough, nor did I feel cheered as the cold north breeze froze the perspiration which had run down my forehead and face, and formed icicles in my beard and whiskers, that jingled like bells as I shook my head in dismissing from my mind one project after another. At last, resigning myself to my fate I took out my pipe, determined to console myself with a smoke, when, alas! on feeling for tobacco I found that was gone too. This was the climax of my misfortunes. I looked to the north star and calculated, by the position of the Plough, that it must have been about ten o'clock, the time at which, in England, we have our knees under the mahogany surrounded by friends, discussing a bottle of the best, and awaiting the summons to tea in the drawing-room. I tried to see a faint similarity to the steam of the tea-urn in the smoke from the snow-covered wood on my dreary fire, and endeavoured to trace the forms of sweet familiar faces in the embers, till I almost heard the rustling of fresh white crèpe dresses round me, when, hark! I did hear a rustle-it approaches nearer, nearer, and I recognise the scraping of Ishmah's travail on the snow; another moment and the panting rascal was by my side! I never felt so relieved, and laughed out loud from sheer joy, as I noticed the consciousness he showed by his various cringing movements of having behaved very badly. I was too well pleased, however, at his appearance to beat him, particularly when I found nothing of his harness and load either missing or injured in the

slightest degree. Even the portion of meat which I had secured from the last deer I shot was untouched; so that I had nothing to do but unpack the travail, make my bed, and cook our supper."—pp. 157-59.

But the best hunter cannot always insure game, or unfailing success, and our traveller had soon to observe an involuntary fast for more than two days. His feelings the second night are well described:. :

"I felt very hungry indeed, and was, besides, very tired. I slept feverishly, awakened at intervals from visions of the most rare and delicious dishes placed before me. I dreamed I stood before the hospitable mansion of an old friend, who led me, in spite of my incongruous costume, into his brilliantly-lighted parlour, and placed me down to a table loaded with all the delicacies of every season and climate under heaven, including two soups and a turbot! At last when powdered footmen removed the richlychased covers off these exquisite delicacies, I started up wide awake, to look on nought but snow, and finally I solaced myself with a pipe. On the day following hunted long and hard till considerably after noon without success. The painful sickening sensation of hunger had now quite left me, and I suffered much less on the third than on the second day. Strange to say I had not the least apprehension for the future, but felt perfectly confident the whole time, that sooner or later I should fall in with game. At last I came to some fresh tracks of deer, and soon made out that the animal had not only been walking quietly, but was in the willows close by; this I rightly guessed by the ziz-zag direction of the tracks; for deer before lying down, walk slowly from side to side, as if hesitating where to stop. I remained perfectly still for some time, looking intently with an eye sharpened by hunger, and at length observed something stir in the willows; it was a deer; evening was advancing, and he was going out to feed. I waited anxiously as he came on, slowly, most fortunately towards me, until he approached to within about 100 yards, and then stopped. I drew up my rifle, and would have fired; but he came still nearer, feeding slowly forward till he was scarcely sixty yards off, when I took a steady deliberate shot as he turned his flank towards me. I heard the bullet crack against the shoulder; he rushed a short distance back, and rolled over in the snow."-pp. 161-63.

But as shops are not more plentiful than restaurants, he has to undertake a march of seventy miles to make a purchase of copper caps, where that necessary of his wild life is said to be

procurable. The party is nearly frozen to death, sleeping under a north-eastern snow storm, without a fire, and then nearly perishes for want of food; but these are ordinary incidents, and of what value are they when compared to a box of copper caps? After all, men soon cease to be very particular, and their standard of comfort becomes

wonderfully low. Thus we find it very simply told us-"It continued to pour all night; but we hardly suffered any inconvenience from the rain, and on the whole, with the exception of having nothing to eat, were very comfortable !”

Next follows a succession of bold and daring shots, and some most triumphant expeditions some hundred miles up the Yellowstone river, in which the rifle deals death with terrible precision amongst hosts of antelopes, wapiti, beavers, buffalo, and grosse corne, which last are neither more nor less than wild sheep. It does not sound very romantic or sportsmanlike to go sheep-shootingin fact, it is apt to recal to our minds here, certain very stringent laws about sheep-stealing; but these animals are as wild and nimble as the chamois, and use their huge horns much as the boar would his tusks. So vast a slaughter soon overloads the party with the trophies of victory, and they determine to build a boat to transport, by water, their growing pile of furs and skins. This is soon done most effectually, though mayhap not with the beauty, or after the recognised rules of Lambeth or Putney. They make a framework of willows, kill a couple of bulls, flay them, and stretch the reeking hides upon the frame, lashing them on with elk-skin cord. In the prairies, men have not leisure to serve an apprenticeship to trades; they must improvise, and be satisfied without any very high artistic finish. Thus our traveller's next occupations are those of a shirt maker and a tailor, rather à la Robinson Crusoe :

"I was at this time very badly off for clothes. My large winter grey woollen shooting-coat (or capote) was completely worn out; over and over again I had patched it with pieces of blanket, but still the rents were made worse, and at last it went utterly to pieces. I had, however, with me an elkskin, which had been uncommonly well dressed by one of the men while I was at Fort Union; this I took and cut into a huntingshirt with loose sleeves, sewing it up partly