lement of its population being related to that kindred race in the
South, and keeping up with it this annual correspondence.

In one of these streams of migration I had found my way to Saint Louis,
in the autumn of 18--. The place was at the time filled with loungers,
who seemed to have nothing else to do but kill time. Every hotel had
its quota, and in every verandah and at the corners of the streets you
might see small knots of well-dressed gentlemen trying to entertain each
other, and laugh away the hours. Most of them were the annual birds of
passage from New Orleans, who had fled from "yellow Jack," and were
sojourning here till the cold frosty winds of November should drive that
intruder from the "crescent city;" but there were many other _flaneurs_
as well. There were travellers from Europe:--men of wealth and rank who
had left behind them the luxuries of civilised society to rough it for a
season in the wild West--painters in search of the picturesque--
naturalists whose love of their favourite study had drawn them from
their comfortable closets to search for knowledge under circumstances of
extremest difficulty--and sportsmen, who, tired of chasing small game,
were on their way to the great plains to take part in the noble sport of
hunting the buffalo. I was myself one of the last-named fraternity.

There is no country in the world so addicted to the _table d'hote_ as
America, and that very custom soon makes idle people acquainted with
each other. I was not very long in the place before I was upon terms of
intimacy with a large number of these loungers, and I found several,
like myself, desirous of making a hunting expedition to the prairies.
This chimed in with my plans to a nicety, and I at once set about
getting up the expedition. I found five others who were willing to join
me.

After several _conversaziones_, with much discussion, we succeeded at
length in "fixing" our plan. Each was to "equip" according to his own
fancy, though it was necessary for each to provide himself with a riding
horse or mule. After that, a general fund was to be "raised," to be
appropriated to the purchase of a waggon and team, with tents, stores,
and cooking utensils. A couple of professional hunters were to be
engaged; men who knew the ground to be traversed, and who were to act as
guides to the expedition.

About a week was consumed in making the necessary preparations, and at
the end of that time, under the sunris