e the
work of colonization by the gift of the "Lost Prairie." Money was also
supplied to him, that he might purchase slaves; but before taking
possession of his grant, he went to Missouri to visit his old friend,
and claim his bride. Her father had been dead for some time, but the
daughter was constant.

With his wife, his brother-in-law, his negroes, and several waggons
loaded with the most necessary articles, Finn forced his way to Little
Rock, on the Arkansas River, whence, after a short repose, he again
started in a S.S.W. direction, through a hilly and woody country never
before travelled. At last he reached the "Lost Prairie," nothing was
heard of him for two years, when he appeared at Nachitoches in a long
_cow_[28] laden with produce.

[Footnote 28: A cow is a kind of floating raft peculiar to the western
rivers of America, being composed of immense pine-trees tied together,
and upon which a log cabin is erected.]

From Nachitoches Finn proceeded to New Orleans, where the money received
for his cotton, furs, and honey enabled him to purchase two more negroes
and a fresh supply of husbandry tools. A company was immediately formed,
for the purpose of exploring the Red River, as far as it might prove
navigable, and surveying the lands susceptible of cultivation. A small
steamboat was procured, and its command offered to Finn, who thus became
a captain. Although the boat could not proceed higher than Lost Prairie,
the result of the survey induced hundreds of planters to settle upon the
banks of the river, and Captain Finn lived to become rich and honoured
by his countrymen; his great spirit of enterprise never deserted him,
and it was he who first proposed to the government to cut through the
great rafts which impeded the navigation. His plans were followed, and
exploring steamboats have since gone nearly a thousand miles above
Captain Finn's plantation at Lost Prairie.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

The next morning our American companions bade us farewell, and resumed
their journey; but Captain Finn insisted that Gabriel, Roche, and I
should not leave him so soon. He pointed out that my steed would not be
able to travel much farther, if I did not give him at least two or three
days' repose; as for the horses of my two companions, they had become
quite useless, and our host charged himself with procuring them others,
which would carry them back to the Comanches.

Captain Finn's hospitality was not, however, so hea