A Tour on the Prairies, by Washington Irving

PublishedL Philadelphia, Carey, Lea & Blanchard, 1835

An account of every-day occurrences of an expedition in Oct. and Nov. 1832 through a part of the unorganized Indian country now the state of Oklahoma

CONTENTS:

Introduction

Chapter I [1] The Pawnee Hunting Grounds -- Travelling Companions -- A Commissioner -- A Virtuoso -- A Seeker Of Adventures -- A Gil Blas Of The Frontier -- A Young Man's Anticipations Of Pleasure

Chapter II [2] Anticipations Disappointed -- New Plans -- Preparations To Join An Exploring Party -- Departure From Fort Gibson -- Fording Of The Verdigris -- An Indian Cavalier

Chapter III [3] An Indian Agency -- Riflemen -- Osages, Creeks, Trappers, Dogs, Horses, Half-Breeds -- Beatte, The Huntsman

Chapter IV [4] The Departure

Chapter V [5] Frontier Scenes -- A Lycurgus Of The Border -- Lynch's Law -- The E Danger Of Finding A Horse -- The Young Osage

Chapter VI [6] Trail Of The Osage Hunters -- Departure Of The Count And His Party -- A Deserted War Camp -- A Vagrant Dog -- The Encampment

Chapter VII [7] News Of The Rangers -- The Count And His Indian Squire -- Halt In The Woods -- Woodland Scene -- Osage Village -- Osage Visitors At Our Evening Camp

Chapter VIII [8] The Honey Camp

Chapter IX [9] A Bee Hunt

Chapter X [10] Amusements In The Camp -- Consultations -- Hunters' Fare And Feasting -- Evening Scenes -- Camp Melody -- The Fate Of An Amateur Owl

Chapter XI [11] Breaking Up Of The Encampment -- Picturesque March -- Game -- Camp Scenes -- Triumph Of A Young Hunter -- Ill Success Of An Old Hunter -- Foul Murder Of A Polecat

Chapter XII [12] The Crossing Of The Arkansas

Chapter XIII [13] The Camp Of The Glen -- Camp Gossip -- Pawnees And Their Habits -- A Hunter's Adventure. Horses Found, And Men Lost

Chapter XIV [14] Deer-Shooting -- Life On The Prairies -- Beautiful Encampment -- Hunter's Luck -- Anecdotes Of The Delawares And Their Superstitions

Chapter XV [15] The Search For The Elk -- Pawnee Stories

Chapter XVI [16] A Sick Camp -- The March -- The Disabled Horse -- Old Ryan And The Stragglers -- Symptoms Of Change Of Weather, And Change Of Humors

Chapter XVII [17] Thunder-Storm On The Prairies -- The Storm Encampment -- Night Scene -- Indian Stories -- A Frightened Horse

Chapter XVIII [18] A Grand Prairie -- Cliff Castle -- Buffalo Tracks -- Deer Hunted By Wolves -- Cross Timber

Chapter XIX [19] Hunters' Anticipations -- The Rugged Ford -- A Wild Horse

Chapter XX [20] The Camp Of The Wild Horse -- Hunters Stories -- Habits Of The Wild Horse -- The Half-Breed And His Prize -- A Horse Chase -- A Wild Spirit Tamed

Chapter XXI [21] The Fording Of The Red Fork -- The Dreary Forests Of The "Cross Timber."-- Buffalo!

Chapter XXII [22] The Alarm Camp

Chapter XXIII [23] Beaver Dam -- Buffalo And Horse Tracks. A Pawnee Trail -- Wild Horses -- The Young Hunter And The Bear -- Change Of Route

Chapter XXIV [24] Scarcity Of Bread -- Rencontre With Buffaloes -- Wild Turkeys -- Fall Of A Buffalo Bull

Chapter XXV [25] Ringing The Wild Horse

Chapter XXVI [26] Fording Of The North Fork -- Dreary Scenery Of The Cross Timber -- Scamper Of Horses In The Night -- Osage War Party -- Effects Of A Peace Harangue -- Buffalo -- Wild Horse

Chapter XXVII [27] Foul Weather Encampment -- Anecdotes Of Bear Hunting -- Indian Notions About Omens -- Scruples Respecting The Dead

Chapter XXVIII [28] A Secret Expedition -- Deer Bleating -- Magic Balls

Chapter XXIX [29] The Grand Prairie -- A Buffalo Hunt

Chapter XXX [30] A Comrade Lost -- A Search For The Camp -- The Commissioner, The Wild Horse, And The Buffalo -- A Wolf Serenade

Chapter XXXI [31] A Hunt For A Lost Comrade

Chapter XXXII [32] Republic Of Prairie Dogs

Chapter XXXIII [33] A Council In The Camp -- Reasons For Facing Homeward -- Horses Lost -- Departure With A Detachment On The Homeward Route -- Swamp -- Wild Horse -- Camp Scenes By Night -- The Owl, Harbinger Of Dawn

Chapter XXXIV [34] Old Creek Encampment -- Scarcity Of Provisions -- Bad Weather -- Weary Marching -- A Hunter's Bridge

Chapter XXXV [35] A Look-Out For Land -- Hard Travelling And Hungry Halting -- A Frontier Farmhouse -- Arrival At The Garrison

INTRODUCTION

HAVING, since my return to the United States, made a wide and varied tour, for the gratification of my curiosity, it has been supposed that I did it for the purpose of writing a book; and it has more than once been intimated in the papers, that such a work was actually in the press, containing scenes and sketches of the Far West.

These announcements, gratuitously made for me, before I had put pen to paper, or even contemplated any thing of the kind, have embarrassed me exceedingly. I have been like a poor actor, who finds himself announced for a part he had no thought of playing, and his appearance expected on the stage before he has committed a line to memory.

I have always had a repugnance, amounting almost to disability, to write in the face of expectation; and, in the present instance, I was expected to write about a region fruitful of wonders and adventures, and which had already been made the theme of spirit-stirring narratives from able pens; yet about which I had nothing wonderful or adventurous to offer.

Since such, however, seems to be the desire of the public, and that they take sufficient interest in my wanderings to deem them worthy of recital, I have hastened, as promptly as possible, to meet, in some degree, the expectation which others have excited. For this purpose, I have, as it were, plucked a few leaves out of my memorandum book, containing a month's foray beyond the outposts of human habitation, into the wilderness of the Far West. It forms, indeed, but a small portion of an extensive tour; but it is an episode, complete as far as it goes. As such, I offer it to the public, with great diffidence. It is a simple narrative of every-day occurrences; such as happen to every one who travels the prairies. I have no wonders to describe, nor any moving accidents by flood or field to narrate; and as to those who look for a marvellous or adventurous story at my hands, I can only reply, in the words of the weary knife-grinder: "Story! God bless you, I have none to tell, sir."