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Show 246 Early Western Travels [ Vol. 26 doe sprang out upon the path, and stood gazing upon me from the wayside until I had approached so near that a rifle, even in hands all unskilled in " gentle woodcraft," had not been harmless. I was even beginning to meditate upon the probable effect of a pistol- shot at twenty paces, when the graceful animals, throwing proudly up their arching necks, bounded off into the thicket. Not many miles from the spot I shared the rough fare of an old hunter, who related many interesting facts in the character and habits of this animal, and detailed some curious anecdotes in the history of his own wild life. He was just about leaving his lodge on a short hunting excursion, and the absence of a rifle alone prevented me from accepting a civil request to bear him company. [ 231] Most of the route from Vandalia to Carlisle is very tolerable, with the exception of one detestable spot, fitly named " Hurricane Bottom; 9' a more dreary, desolate, purgatorial region than which, I am very free to say, exists not in Illinois."* It is a densely- wooded swamp, composed of soft blue day, exceedingly tenacious to the touch and fetid in odour, extending nearly two miles. A regular highway over this mud- hole can scarcely be said to exist, though repeated attempts to construct one have been made at great expense: and now the traveller, upon entering this " slough of despond," gives his horse the reins to slump, and slide, and plunge, and struggle through among the mud- daubed trees to the best of his skill and ability. Night overtook me in the very heart of a broad prairie; and, like the sea, a desolate place is the prairie of a dark night. It demanded no little exercise of the eye and judg-m Hurricane Creek rises near the line of Montgomery and Shelby counties, flows southerly through the western portion of Fayette County, and enters Kas-kaskia River twelve miles below Vandalia. The banks of this creek were formerly heavily timbered, and the low bottoms were occasionally inundated. Flagg considerably exaggerated the actual condition of this region.- ED. |
