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Show 212 Early Western Travels [ Vol. 26 found. The misnomer is said to have derived its origin from the early settlers of that section of Kentucky south of Green River, which, presenting [ 192] only a scanty, dwarfish growth of timber, was deemed of necessity barren, in the true acceptation of the term." 8 This soil there and elsewhere is now considered better adapted to every variety of produce and the vicissitudes of climate than even the deep mould of the prairies and river- bottoms. The rapidity with which a young forest springs forward, when the annual fires have once been stopped in this species of land, is said to be astonishing; and the first appearance of timber upon the prairies gives it the character, to some extent, of barrens. Beneath the trees is spread out a mossy turf, free from thickets, but variegated by the gaudy petals of the heliotrope, and the bright crimson buds of the dwarf- sumach in the hollows. Indeed, some of the most lovely scenery of the West is beheld in the landscapes of these barrens or " oak openings," as they are more appropriately styled. For miles the traveller wanders on, through a magnificence of park scenery on every side, with all the diversity of the slope, and swell, and meadow of human taste and skill. Interminable avenues stretch away farther than the eye can reach, while at intervals through the foliage flashes out the unruffled surface of a pellucid lake. There are many of these circular lakes or " sinkholes," as they are termed in Western dialect, which, as they possess no inlet, seem supplied by subterraneous springs or from the clouds. The "• In his description of the barrens, Flags; follows quite closely J. M. Peck, Gazetteer of Illinois ( Jacksonville, 1837), pp. 11,12. The term barrens, according to the Century Dictionary, is " a tract or region of more or less unproductive land partly or entirely treeless. The term is best known in the United States as the name of a district in Kentucky,' The Barrens,' underlaid by the subcarbonifcrous limestone, but possessing a fertile soil, which was nearly or quite treeless when that state began to be settled by the whites, but which at present where not cultivated, is partly covered with trees." See a good description in our volume ui, pp. 217- 224.- ED. |