his wild and luxurious wilderness of vines, grasses and
flowers flitted the honey bee, called by the Indians, "the white man's
fly," storing his golden burden in the hollow trunks of the trees.
While on the march from Vincennes, in the last days of September, 1811,
Captain Spier Spencer's Yellow Jackets found three bee trees in an hour
and spent the evening in cutting them down. They were rewarded by a find
of ten gallons of rich honey.

The great river itself now passed between high precipitous bluffs,
crowned with oak, sugar, walnut and hickory, or swept out with long
graceful curves into the lowlands and bottoms, receiving at frequent
intervals the waters of clear, sparkling springs and brooks that leaped
down from rocky gorges and hillsides, or being joined by the currents of
some creek or inlet that in its turn swept back through forest, glade
and glen to sun-lit groves and meadows of blue grass.

Everywhere the waters of the great stream were clear and pellucid. The
plow-share of civilization had not as yet turned up the earth, nor the
filth and sewerage of cities been discharged into the current. In places
the gravelly bottom could be seen at a great depth and the forms of
fishes of great size reposing at ease. "Schools of fishes--salmon, bass,
red-horse and pike--swam close along the shore, catching at the bottoms
of the red-bud and plum that floated on the surface of the water, which
was so clear that myriads of the finny tribe could be seen darting
hither and thither amidst the limpid element, turning up their silvery
sides as they sped out into deeper water."

The whole valley of the Wabash abounded with deer, and their tiny hoofs
wrought foot paths through every hollow and glen. The small prairies
bordered with shady groves, the patches of blue-grass, and the sweet
waters of the springs, were great attractions. The banks of the
Mississinewa, Wild Cat, Pine Creek, Vermilion, and other tributaries,
were formerly noted hunting grounds. George Croghan, who described the
Wabash as running through "one of the finest countries in the world,"
mentions the deer as existing in great numbers. On the march of General
Harrison's men to Tippecanoe, the killing of deer was an every day
occurrence, and at times the frightened animals passed directly in front
of the line of march. Raccoons were also very plentiful. On a fur
trading expedition conducted by a French trader named La Fountaine, from
the old Miamitown (Fort Way