Unfortunately the dogs were not at hand, and the wolves escaped among the
high grass. Mr. Elliott positively refused accepting of any compensation
in lieu of our supper and lodging: he said he considered our lodging a
thing not to be spoken of; and as to our supper--which by-the-by was a
capital one--he had invited us to that. We merely paid for the horse,
thanked him for his hospitality, and departed. During our journey through
Indiana we had invariably to use persuasion, in order to induce the
farmers to take money for either milk or fruit; and whenever we stayed at
a farm-house, we never paid more than what appeared to be barely
sufficient to cover the actual cost of what we consumed.

At Carlisle, a village containing about a dozen houses, we got our vehicle
repaired. We required a new shaft: the smith walked deliberately out--cast
his eye on a rail of the fence close by, and in half an hour he had
finished a capital shaft of white oak.

The next town we came to was Lebanon, and we determined on staying there
that evening, in order to witness a revival. They have no regular places
of worship on the prairies, and the inhabitants are therefore subject to
the incursions of itinerant preachers, who migrate annually, in swarms,
from the more thickly settled districts. There appeared to be a great
lack of zeal among the denizens of Lebanon, as notwithstanding the
energetic exhortations of the preachers, and their fulminating
denunciations against backsliders, they failed in exciting much
enthusiasm. The meeting ended, as is customary on such occasions, by a
collection for the preachers, who set out on horseback, next morning, to
levy contributions on another body of the natives.

From Lebanon we proceeded across a chain of hills, and came in on a
beautiful plain, called the "American bottom." Some of those hills were
clear to the summit, while others were crowned with rich foliage. Before
us, to the extreme right, were six or seven tumuli, or "Indian mounds;"
and to the left, and immediately in front, lay a handsome wood. From the
hills to the river is about six miles; and this space appears evidently to
have been a lake at some former period, previous to the Mississippi's
flowing through its present deep channel. Several stagnant ponds lay by
our road; sufficient indications of the presence of disease, which this
place has the character of producing in abundance. The beauty of the spot,
and the fertility of the soil, ha