s commonly the first thing a pioneer
does; as he cannot in the first year cut down all the trees which cover
his new parcel of land, he sows Indian corn under their branches, and
puts the trees to death in order to prevent them from injuring his crop.
Beyond this field, at present imperfectly traced out, we suddenly came
upon the cabin of its owner, situated in the centre of a plot of ground
more carefully cultivated than the rest, but where man was still waging
unequal warfare with the forest; there the trees were cut down, but
their roots were not removed, and the trunks still encumbered the ground
which they so recently shaded. Around these dry blocks, wheat, suckers
of trees, and plants of every kind, grow and intertwine in all the
luxuriance of wild, untutored nature. Amidst this vigorous and various
vegetation stands the house of the pioneer, or, as they call it, the
log house. Like the ground about it, this rustic dwelling bore marks of
recent and hasty labor; its length seemed not to exceed thirty feet,
its height fifteen; the walls as well as the roof were formed of rough
trunks of trees, between which a little moss and clay had been inserted
to keep out the cold and rain.

"As night was coming on, we determined to ask the master of the log
house for a lodging. At the sound of our footsteps, the children who
were playing amongst the scattered branches sprang up and ran towards
the house, as if they were frightened at the sight of man; whilst two
large dogs, almost wild, with ears erect and outstretched nose, came
growling out of their hut, to cover the retreat of their young masters.
The pioneer himself made his appearance at the door of his dwelling;
he looked at us with a rapid and inquisitive glance, made a sign to the
dogs to go into the house, and set them the example, without betraying
either curiosity or apprehension at our arrival.

"We entered the log house: the inside is quite unlike that of
the cottages of the peasantry of Europe: it contains more than is
superfluous, less than is necessary. A single window with a muslin
blind; on a hearth of trodden clay an immense fire, which lights the
whole structure; above the hearth a good rifle, a deer's skin, and
plumes of eagles' feathers; on the right hand of the chimney a map of
the United States, raised and shaken by the wind through the crannies in
the wall; near the map, upon a shelf formed of a roughly hewn plank, a
few volumes of books--a Bible, the