| OCR Text |
Show 1836- 1837] Flagg's Far West 343 The origin of the prairie has given rise to much speculation. Some contend that we are to regard these vast plains in the same light as mountains, valleys, forests, and other grand features of Nature's workmanship. And, it is very true, plains of a character not dissimilar are to be met with all over our earth; at every degree of elevation of every extent, and of every stage of fertility, from the exhaustless fecundity of the delta of the Nile to the barren sterility of the sands of the desert. Northern Asia has her boundless pastures and steppes, where the wild Tartar feeds his flock; Africa may boast her Bedouin sands, her tablelands, and her karroos; South America her grassy Uanos and pampas; Europe her purple heather; India her jungles; the southern sections of our own land their beautiful savannas; and wherefore not the [ 95] vast regions of the " Far West" their broad- rolling prairies} The word is of French derivation, signifying meadow; and is applied to every description of surface destitute of timber and clothed with grass. It was, then, upon their own fair prairies of Judea and Mesopotamia that the ancient patriarchs pitched their tents. The tough sward of the prairie, when firmly formed, it is well known, refuses to receive the forest; but, once broken into by the ploughshare or by any other cause, and protected from the autumnal flames, and all is soon rolling with green; and the sumach, the hazel, and the wild- cheny are succeeded by the oak. Such is the argument for the natural origin of the prairie, and its cogency none will deny. But, assuming for a moment a diluvial origin to these vast plains, as a thousand circumstances concur to indicate, and the phenomena are far more satisfactorily and philosophically resolved. In a soil so exhaustlessly fertile, the grasses and herbs would first secure possession of the surface. Even now, whenever the earth is thrown up, from whatever depth, it is imme- |
