grass, an abundance of which they have not had before
since we started on this long journey. Indeed we look, if we except the
wagons, more like a wandering band of Tartars than a company of
christians bound on a business excursion; and the appearance of our men
does not tend to destroy the illusion, as sunburnt and bearded with
their belts stuck full of bowie knives and revolvers, they lounge about
in groups on the ground around the camp fires, or busy themselves
amongst the horses, or in the various sports which are got up by the
travelers on the plains to while away the time. But it requires a more
able pen than mine to describe, vividly, a scene like this. To see it
and feel it in all its beauty, one must be hundreds of miles from
civilization, out on those great ocean like prairies, where the sight
of a tree is welcome to the traveler as the sight of a sail to the
mariner when he has been for a long time traversing an unknown sea. He
must be there on a balmy sunset eve, after a long and wearisome march
over arid plains, destitute of water, and suffocated with the dust.
Then when he can find a camping ground combining all the blessings of
grass, good water and beautiful groves, all that the traveler on the
plains holds essential to human comfort, he will truly appreciate a
scene of this kind, but to the dwellers in cities, who know nothing of
the beauties of nature in Nature's temple, the vast wilderness, no
description would give a life-like picture of such a scene.

28 miles.

15th. Remained at the same camp to-day to recruit our horses, and make
some repairs on the wagons, shoe horses, &c. A part of the men have
been hunting--some of them have just returned, it being noon, and
report having seen a great many antelopes, wild turkies, wolves, &c.;
but have brought in nothing, with the exception of Fuller, who has just
come in with a back load of clams or muscles tied up in his shirt, he
not having any other means of bringing his prize, having stripped
himself of that very necessary garment and constructed it into a bag
for that purpose. Perhaps by night they may succeed in getting some
kind of game for a change. I have been busy repairing the hub of my
wagon, while others are equally busy, shoeing horses, washing clothes,
and attending to other necessary evils of a camp life. This evening I
went out and took tea, (as the old ladies would have it at home, in the
settlements,) that is, I went to the tent of friends