lightful prospect, and furnish most
abundant and luxuriant pasturage for stock. Much of the forest land in
the Western Valley produces a fine range for domestic animals and swine.
Thousands are raised, and the emigrant grows wealthy, from the bounties
of nature, with but little labor.

Of _animals_, _birds_ and _reptiles_, little need be said. The buffalo
was in Illinois the beginning of the present century. They are not found
now within three hundred miles of Missouri and Arkansas, and they are
fast receding. Deer are found still in all frontier settlements. Wolves,
foxes, wild cats, raccoons, opossums, and squirrels are plenty. The
brown bear is still hunted in some parts of the western states. Col.
Crockett was a famous bear hunter in Western Tennessee, The white bear,
mountain sheep, antelope and beaver, are found in the defiles of the
Rocky mountains. The elk is still found by the hunter contiguous to
newly formed settlements. All the domestic animals of the United States
flourish here.

Nearly all the feathered tribe of the Atlantic slope are to be found in
the Valley. Pelicans, wild geese, swans, cranes, ducks, paroquets, wild
turkeys, prairie hens, &c. are found in different states, especially on
the Mississippi.

_Reptiles._ The rattlesnake, copperhead snake, moccasin snake, bull
snake, and the various snakes usually found in the Atlantic states are
here. Of the venomous kinds, multitudes are destroyed by the deer and
swine. Chameleons and scorpions exist in the Lower Valley, and lizards
everywhere. The alligator, an unwieldy and bulky animal, is found in the
rivers and lakes south of 34 deg. north latitude. He sometimes destroys
calves and pigs, and very rarely, even young children.

_History._--The honor of the discovery of this country is disputed by
the Spanish, English, and French. It is probable that Sebastian Cabot
sailed along the shores of what was afterwards called Florida, but a few
years after Columbus discovered America. Spanish authors claim that Juan
Ponce de Leon discovered and named Florida, in 1512. Narvaez, another
Spanish commander, having obtained a grant of Florida in 1528, landed
four or five hundred men, but was lost by shipwreck near the mouth of
the Mississippi. Ferdinand de Soto was probably the first white man who
saw the Mississippi river. He is said to have marched 1000 men from
Florida, through the Chickasaw country, to the Mississippi, near the
mouth of Red river, where he to