a wide space filled with fallen trees, naked stumps, and heaps of shapeless ruins, which marked the path of the tempest. This space was about a fourth of a mile in breadth, and to my imagination resembled the dried-up bed of the Mississippi, with its thousands of planters and sawyers, strewn in the sand, and inclined in various degrees... The horrible noise resembled that of the great cataracts of Niagara, and as it howled along in the track of the desolating tempest, produced a feeling in my mind which it is impossible to describe.

The principal force of the hurricane was now over, although millions of twigs and small branches, that had been brought from a great distance, were seen following the blast, as if drawn onwards by some mysterious power. They even floated in the air for some hours after, as if supported by the thick mass of dust that rose high above the ground... The sky had now a greenish lurid hue, and an extremely disagreeable sulphurous odor was diffused in the atmosphere. I waited in amazement, having sustained no material injury, until nature at length assumed her usual aspect... For some moments I felt undetermined whether I should return to Morgantown, or attempt to force my way through the wrecks of the tempest. My business, however, being of an urgent nature, I ventured into the path of the storm, and after encountering innumerable difficulties, succeeded in crossing it. I was obliged to lead my horse by the bridle, to enable him to leap over the fallen trees, whilst I scrambled over or under them in the best way I could.

Audubon.

A PRAIRIE ON FIRE.

AFTER toiling for an hour, through a wide bottom of tall weeds and matted grass, I reached a grove, erected a small shed of boughs after the manner of the Indians, and lying down, was soon asleep, before a fire, which I had kindled against the trunk of a fallen tree. I was awakened by the increasing violence of a gale. At times it sank into low wailings, and then would swell again, howling and whistling through the trees... After sitting by the fire for a short

time, I again threw myself upon my pallet of dried grass, but could not sleep. There was something dismal and thrilling in the sound of the wind. At times, wild voices seemed shrieking through the woodland. It was in vain that I closed my eyes; a kind of superstitious feeling came over me, and though I saw nothing, my ears drank in every sound...I gazed around in every direction, and sat with my hand on my gun-trigger, for my feelings were so wrought up that I every moment expected to see an armed Indian start from behind each bush. At last I rose up, and sat by the fire. Suddenly, a swift gust swept through the grove, and whirled off sparks and cinders in every direction...In an instant fifty little fires shot their forked tongues in the air, and seemed to flicker with a momentary struggle for existence. There was scarcely time to note their birth before they were creeping up in a tall tapering blaze, and leaping lightly along the tops of the scattered clumps of dry grass. In another moment they leaped forward into the prairie, and a waving line of brilliant flame quivered high up in the dark atmosphere.

Another gust came rushing along the ravine. It was announced by a distant moan; as it came nearer a cloud of dry leaves filled the air; the slender shrubs and saplings bent like weeds: dry branches snapped and crackled. The lofty forest trees writhed, and creaked, and groaned... The next instant the furious blast reached the flaming prairie. Myriads and myriads of bright embers were flung wildly into the air: flakes of blazing grass whirled like meteors through the sky. The flame spread into a vast sheet that swept over the prairie, bending forward, illumining the black waste which it had passed, and shedding a red light far down the deep vistas of the forest; though all beyond the blaze was of a pitchy blackness... The roaring flames drowned even the howling of the wind. At each succeeding blast they threw long pyramidal streams upwards in the black sky then flared horizontally, and seemed to bound forward, lighting at each bound a new conflagration. Leap succeeded leap; the flames rushed on with a race-horse speed... The noise sounded like the roar of a stormy ocean, and the wild tumultuous billows of the flame were tossed about like a G

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sea of fire. Directly in their course, and some distance out in the prairie, stood a large grove of oaks, the dry leaves still clinging to the branches. There was a red glare thrown upon them from the blazing flood...A moment passed, and a black smoke oozed from the nearest tree-the blaze roared among their branches, and shot up for one hundred feet in the air, waving as if in triumph. The effect was fleeting... In a moment the fire had swept through a grove covering several acres. It sank again into the prairie, leaving the limbs of every tree scathed and scorched to an inky blackness, and shining with a bright crimson light between their branches...In this way the light conflagration swept over the landscape; every hill seemed to burn its own funeral pyre, and the scorching heat licked every blade in the hollows. A dark cloud of grey smoke, filled with burning embers, spread over the course of the flames, occasionally forming not ungraceful columns, which were almost instantly shattered by the wind, and driven in a thousand different directions.

For several hours the blaze continued to rage, and the whole horizon became girdled with a belt of living fire. As the circle extended the flames appeared smaller and smaller, until they looked like a slight golden thread drawn around the hills. They then must have been nearly ten miles distant...At length the blaze disappeared, although the purple light, that for hours illumined the night sky, told that the element was extending into other regions of the prairies.

It was sunrise when I rose from my resting-place and resumed my journey. What a change! All was waste. The sun had set upon a prairie still clothed in its natural garb of herbage. It rose upon a scene of desolation. Not a single weed; not a blade of grass was left...The tall grove, which at sunset was covered with withered foliage, now spread out its gaunt, scorched and naked branches, the very type of ruin. A thin covering of grey ashes was sprinkled upon the ground beneath, and several large dead trees, whose dried branches had caught and nourished the flame, were still blazing or sending up streams of smoke... In every direction, barrenness marked the track of the

flames. It had even worked its course against the blast, hugging the roots of tall grass.

The wind was still raging; cinders and ashes were drifting and whirling about in almost suffocating clouds, sometimes rendering it impossible to see for more than one or two hundred yards. Audubon.

DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT OF KENTUCKY. KENTUCKY was formerly attached to Virginia; but in those days the Indians looked upon that portion of the western wilds as their own, and abandoned the district only when forced to do so, moving with disconsolate hearts farther into the recesses of the unexplored forest...Doubtless the richness of its soil, and the beauty of its borders, situated as they are along one of the most beautiful rivers in the world, combined to attract the old Virginians to a land which teemed with the wild luxuriance of untamed nature. ...The conquest of Kentucky was not performed without many difficulties. The warfare that long existed between the intruders and the Redskins was bloody and protracted; but the former at length made good their footing, and the latter drew off their shattered bands, dismayed by the mental superiority and hardy courage of the white men.

The pioneer of this region was a daring hunter, the renowned Daniel Boone. The Virginians thronged in his footsteps towards the Ohio...An axe, a couple of horses, and a heavy rifle, with store of ammunition, were all that were considered necessary for the equipment of the man, who, with his family, removed to the new State. He felt assured that, in that land of exuberant fertility, he could not fail to provide amply for all his wants... To have witnessed the industry and perseverance of these emigrants, must have given evidence of their vigor. Regardless of the fatigue attending every movement which they made, they pushed through an unexplored region of dark and tangled forests, guiding themselves by the sun alone, and reposing at night on the bare ground... Numberless streams they had to cross on rafts, with

their wives and children, their cattle and their luggage, often drifting to considerable distances before they could effect a landing on the opposite shores. Their cattle would often stray amid the rich pasturage of these shores, and occasion a delay of several days... To these troubles add the constantly impending danger of being murdered, while asleep in their encampments, by the prowling and ruthless Indians; while they had before them a distance of hundreds of miles to be traversed before they could reach certain places of rendezvous called "Stations"... To encounter difficulties like these, must have required energies of no ordinary kind; and the reward which these veteran settlers enjoyed was doubtless well merited.

Some removed from the Atlantic shores to those of the Ohio in more comfort and security. They had their waggons, their negroes, and their families... Their way was cut through the woods by their own axemen the day before their advance, and when night overtook them, the hunters attached to the party came to the place pitched upon for encamping. They were loaded with the dainties of which the forest yielded an abundant supply, the blazing light of a huge fire guiding their steps... The flesh of the buffalo, the bear, and the deer, soon hung in large and delicious steaks in front of the embers; the cakes, already prepared, were deposited in their proper places, and under the rich drippings of the juicy roasts, were quickly baked.

In anticipation all is pleasure; and these migrating bands feasted in joyous sociality, careless of any greater difficulties than those of forcing their way through the pathless woods to the land of plenty... Although it took months to accomplish the journey, and a skirmish now and then took place between them and the Indians, still the Virginians cheerfully proceeded towards the western horizon, until the various groups all reached the Ohio. Struck with the beauty of that magnificent stream, they at once commenced the task of clearing land, for the purpose of establishing a permanent residence.

Others, perhaps encumbered with too much baggage, preferred descending the stream. They prepared arks pierced with port-holes, and glided on the gentle current,