A Tour on the Prairies

by Washington Irving, John Francis McDermott, Richard Batman

Overview

In 1832, Washington Irving, recently returned from seventeen years’ residence abroad and eager to explore his own country, embarked on an expedition to the country west of Arkansas set aside for the Indians. A Tour on the Prairies is his absorbing account of that journey, which extended from Fort Gibson to the Cross Timbers in what is now Oklahoma. First published in 1835, it has remained a perennial favorite, retaining its original freshness, vigor, and vividness to this day.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780806119588
Publisher:	University of Oklahoma Press
Publication date:	10/15/1985
Series:	The Western Frontier Library Series , #7
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	260
Sales rank:	410,777
Product dimensions:	4.72(w) x 7.48(h) x 0.59(d)

Read an Excerpt

proper to his age and incident to his character, had taken quite a fancy to him. Nothing would suit but he must have the young Osage as a companion and squire in his expedition into the wilderness. The youth was easily tempted, and, with the prospect of a safe range over the buffalo prairies and the promise of a new blanket, he turned his bridle, left the swamp and the encampment of his friends behind him, and set off to follow the Count in his wanderings in quest of the Osage hunters. Such is the glorious independence of man in a savage state. This youth, with his rifle, his blanket, and his horse, was ready at a moment's warning to rove the world; he carried all his worldly effects with him, and in the absence of artificial wants possessed the great secret of personal freedom. We of society are slaves, not so much to others as to ourselves ; our superfluities are the chains that bind us, impeding every movement of our bodies and thwarting every impulse of our souls. Such, at least, were my speculations at the time, though I am not sure but that they took their tone from the enthusiasm of the young Count, who seemed more enchanted than ever with the wild chivalry of the prairies, and talked of putting on the Indian dress and adopting the Indian habits ''during the time he hoped to pass with the Osages. CHAPTER VI. TRAIL OF THE OSAGE HUNTERS DEPARTURE OF THE COUNT AND HIS PARTY A DESERTED WAR-CAMP A VAGRANT DOG—THE ENCAMPMENT. In the course of the morning the trail we were pursuing was crossed by another, which struck off through the forest to the yest in a direct course for the Arkansas River. Beatte, our half-breed, after considering it for a moment, pronounced it the trailof the Osage hunters, and that it must lead to the place where they had forded the river...